Many people are saying the 2006 election was a repudiation of President Bush and Iraq and/or a backlash against a group of Republican Senators and Representatives who had turned their backs on what the Republican Party says are its core beliefs and/or a disgusted reaction to excesses ranging from Jack Abrahamoff and Duke Cunningham and/or a revulsion to Rep. Foley's emails and text messages to teen male Congressional Pages. Some say all of the above.
I'm not writing this to rehash all the self-inflicted political wounds by the Republicans that gave many conservative voters an excuse to stay home and not vote, and some conservatives and many moderates an excuse to vote Democratic. Nor am I going to give any space to the talking points about all the troubles we will have because the Democrats took control of both houses of Congress. You can read as much of that as you want (and a whole lot more, too) on thousands of blogs covering the spectrum from extreme Left to extreme Right.
I'm here to give some of what former radio personality Paul Harvey called "the rest of the story." Some of what so many in the media and blogs either don't know or don't want to bring to peoples' attention - background.
This doesn't start with the 2006 Mid-Term Election, nor the 2004 Presidential Election. We have to go back well before that, long before the 2000 Presidential Election, Gulf War I, the break-up of the Soviet Union and fall of the Berlin Wall. Back, much farther back, long before the 1979 Iranian Revolution. I believe we have to go back to the end of the 1930s, World War II and the 1950s and '60s to find the seeds that have grown into the situation we have now.
Following World War II many colonial powers attempted to regain control of the colonies that had been captured by the Japanese. One of these was France, which tried to reinstate the status quo ante in Indochina (Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia).
That French Indochinese status quo ante began with missionaries and traders arriving in the early 16th century. By the end of 1884 the French had achieved complete control of Viet Nam. Of course this control didn't stop Vietnamese resistance to that control and was more complete in the cities than the countryside. The resistance continued, waxing and waning, through World War I (and beyond). A key player from soon after World War I was Ho Chi Minh, who was born in May 1890, learned navigation in Saigon in 1911 and worked as a kitchen helper on a French ship until after WWI.
In 1919 he was in Paris, France and tried to meet with American President Woodrow Wilson (who was in Paris for the Versailles Peace Conference) to present a proposal for Vietnamese independence. He was turned away (not surprising, considering the generally held opinion about "white man's burden") and the resistance simmered through the depression of the 1930s. With the start of World War II the Japanese conquered Indochina, driving out the French. It quickly became apparent to the locals that the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" only provided for prosperity to the Japanese, so the resistance turned from welcoming the Japanese to fighting them. Ho Chi Minh was one of the many Indochinese who fought in the guerrilla war against the Japanese occupation. Even a relative backwater as Vietnam received too many Japanese troops to make it anything besides a guerrilla war.
After the defeat of Japan the Indochinese wanted the French to stay away and let them be independent. After all, the French had either evacuated Indochina or been taken captive by the Japanese. They hadn't stuck around and defended the locals from the Japanese, so why should they expect to be welcomed back after the Japanese left? They wanted independence, figuring they couldn't do any worse for themselves. The French , on the other hand, wanted to regain and maintain control of Indochina.
On August 16, 1945 the Viet Minh National Congress ratified the decision of the Indochinese Communist Party's Central Committee and began a general uprising. Knowledge of the Japanese surrender caused the local Japanese commander to surrender his forces to the Indochinese Communist Party on August 17 in Hanoi. The French moved quickly to try and retake Indochina, with US Government support of the French claims, as well as material support but no troops.
The French Navy bombarded Haiphong in November 1946 and by April 1947 full scale war was being fought in northern Vietnam between the French and the Communist Viet Minh. In the south the Viet Minh stuck to their anti-religious belief structure and executed some religious leaders, eliminating the possibility of an alliance with the religious groups against the French.
Action in the north quickly established a pattern with the Viet Minh controlling more and more of the countryside while the French maintained control of urban areas. In 1948 the French tried to mollify the locals and gave what they called "independence" to all Vietnam, then proved just how independent they really were by including the new nation as one of the "associated states" within the French Union. Few in Vietnam took this seriously and many nationalists left the country rather than be seen, even incorrectly, as supporting the French. The United States recognized the Associated State of Vietnam in early 1950, followed a few days later by Communist Chinese recognition of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV).
The French and Viet Minh repeatedly clashed over control of the Vietnam-China border area, with the French also seeking to eliminate Viet Minh activity in northern Laos. In November 1953 the French occupied Dien Bien Phu, a strategic town in northern Vietnam near the Laotian border.
In February 1954 a plan was announced for a peace conference to settle both the Korean and Indochinese conflicts, to be held in Geneva starting in April. Ho Chi Minh and his leading general Vo Nguyen Giap, whose official title was Minister of the Interior, decided to "make a statement" by capturing Dien Bien Phu while the peace conference was in session. The siege began on March 13 and the French garrison surrendered on May 7. Peace talks that achieved something began May 8 and a cease fire and final declaration were completed in July, establishing a demarcation line roughly following the 17th parallel. Viet Minh forces were to move to the north of that line and French to the south.
A 300 day period was established giving civilians free movement between north and south, and over 1,000,000 north Vietnamese civilians fled the north and the rule of the Communist Viet Minh for democracy, weak and corrupt as it was, in the south. The final declaration also called for national elections in July 1956 and maintained that the demarcation line was provisional and would not in any way be considered a political territorial border. Just more agreed terms for the Communists to ignore. So by the end of the 300 day period for every Vietnamese to decide which form of government looked to be better, over 1,000,000 north Vietnamese civilians voted with their feet and fled the north and the rule of the Communist Viet Minh for South Vietnam, while only a relative handful of Communists left the south for the "workers' paradise" in the north.
The president of South Vietnam was Bao Dai, with Ngo Dinh Diem Prime Minister. In September 1954 President Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote to Prime Minister Diem, promising US assistance to help South Vietnam remain non-Communist. Only 9 1/2 years after the Japanese surrender that ended World War II President Eisenhower sent the first military advisors to South Vietnam in February 1955. I'm certain this was at the very least several years earlier than most people realize.
And that's more than enough for the first bite of the apple. Soon (I hope) we'll go past the end of Eisenhower's presidency and get to the really good stuff.
I'm not writing this to rehash all the self-inflicted political wounds by the Republicans that gave many conservative voters an excuse to stay home and not vote, and some conservatives and many moderates an excuse to vote Democratic. Nor am I going to give any space to the talking points about all the troubles we will have because the Democrats took control of both houses of Congress. You can read as much of that as you want (and a whole lot more, too) on thousands of blogs covering the spectrum from extreme Left to extreme Right.
I'm here to give some of what former radio personality Paul Harvey called "the rest of the story." Some of what so many in the media and blogs either don't know or don't want to bring to peoples' attention - background.
This doesn't start with the 2006 Mid-Term Election, nor the 2004 Presidential Election. We have to go back well before that, long before the 2000 Presidential Election, Gulf War I, the break-up of the Soviet Union and fall of the Berlin Wall. Back, much farther back, long before the 1979 Iranian Revolution. I believe we have to go back to the end of the 1930s, World War II and the 1950s and '60s to find the seeds that have grown into the situation we have now.
Following World War II many colonial powers attempted to regain control of the colonies that had been captured by the Japanese. One of these was France, which tried to reinstate the status quo ante in Indochina (Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia).
That French Indochinese status quo ante began with missionaries and traders arriving in the early 16th century. By the end of 1884 the French had achieved complete control of Viet Nam. Of course this control didn't stop Vietnamese resistance to that control and was more complete in the cities than the countryside. The resistance continued, waxing and waning, through World War I (and beyond). A key player from soon after World War I was Ho Chi Minh, who was born in May 1890, learned navigation in Saigon in 1911 and worked as a kitchen helper on a French ship until after WWI.
In 1919 he was in Paris, France and tried to meet with American President Woodrow Wilson (who was in Paris for the Versailles Peace Conference) to present a proposal for Vietnamese independence. He was turned away (not surprising, considering the generally held opinion about "white man's burden") and the resistance simmered through the depression of the 1930s. With the start of World War II the Japanese conquered Indochina, driving out the French. It quickly became apparent to the locals that the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" only provided for prosperity to the Japanese, so the resistance turned from welcoming the Japanese to fighting them. Ho Chi Minh was one of the many Indochinese who fought in the guerrilla war against the Japanese occupation. Even a relative backwater as Vietnam received too many Japanese troops to make it anything besides a guerrilla war.
After the defeat of Japan the Indochinese wanted the French to stay away and let them be independent. After all, the French had either evacuated Indochina or been taken captive by the Japanese. They hadn't stuck around and defended the locals from the Japanese, so why should they expect to be welcomed back after the Japanese left? They wanted independence, figuring they couldn't do any worse for themselves. The French , on the other hand, wanted to regain and maintain control of Indochina.
On August 16, 1945 the Viet Minh National Congress ratified the decision of the Indochinese Communist Party's Central Committee and began a general uprising. Knowledge of the Japanese surrender caused the local Japanese commander to surrender his forces to the Indochinese Communist Party on August 17 in Hanoi. The French moved quickly to try and retake Indochina, with US Government support of the French claims, as well as material support but no troops.
The French Navy bombarded Haiphong in November 1946 and by April 1947 full scale war was being fought in northern Vietnam between the French and the Communist Viet Minh. In the south the Viet Minh stuck to their anti-religious belief structure and executed some religious leaders, eliminating the possibility of an alliance with the religious groups against the French.
Action in the north quickly established a pattern with the Viet Minh controlling more and more of the countryside while the French maintained control of urban areas. In 1948 the French tried to mollify the locals and gave what they called "independence" to all Vietnam, then proved just how independent they really were by including the new nation as one of the "associated states" within the French Union. Few in Vietnam took this seriously and many nationalists left the country rather than be seen, even incorrectly, as supporting the French. The United States recognized the Associated State of Vietnam in early 1950, followed a few days later by Communist Chinese recognition of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV).
The French and Viet Minh repeatedly clashed over control of the Vietnam-China border area, with the French also seeking to eliminate Viet Minh activity in northern Laos. In November 1953 the French occupied Dien Bien Phu, a strategic town in northern Vietnam near the Laotian border.
In February 1954 a plan was announced for a peace conference to settle both the Korean and Indochinese conflicts, to be held in Geneva starting in April. Ho Chi Minh and his leading general Vo Nguyen Giap, whose official title was Minister of the Interior, decided to "make a statement" by capturing Dien Bien Phu while the peace conference was in session. The siege began on March 13 and the French garrison surrendered on May 7. Peace talks that achieved something began May 8 and a cease fire and final declaration were completed in July, establishing a demarcation line roughly following the 17th parallel. Viet Minh forces were to move to the north of that line and French to the south.
A 300 day period was established giving civilians free movement between north and south, and over 1,000,000 north Vietnamese civilians fled the north and the rule of the Communist Viet Minh for democracy, weak and corrupt as it was, in the south. The final declaration also called for national elections in July 1956 and maintained that the demarcation line was provisional and would not in any way be considered a political territorial border. Just more agreed terms for the Communists to ignore. So by the end of the 300 day period for every Vietnamese to decide which form of government looked to be better, over 1,000,000 north Vietnamese civilians voted with their feet and fled the north and the rule of the Communist Viet Minh for South Vietnam, while only a relative handful of Communists left the south for the "workers' paradise" in the north.
The president of South Vietnam was Bao Dai, with Ngo Dinh Diem Prime Minister. In September 1954 President Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote to Prime Minister Diem, promising US assistance to help South Vietnam remain non-Communist. Only 9 1/2 years after the Japanese surrender that ended World War II President Eisenhower sent the first military advisors to South Vietnam in February 1955. I'm certain this was at the very least several years earlier than most people realize.
And that's more than enough for the first bite of the apple. Soon (I hope) we'll go past the end of Eisenhower's presidency and get to the really good stuff.
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