0 - The Black Vault

THE BDM CORPORATION
b. US Foreign Policy
The following perceptions dominated US
policy-making during this period:
thinking and foreign
0 The growing importance of Asia in world politics. It was thought
that the withdrawal of the French from Indochina would create
power vacuums and conditions of instability which would make Asia
susceptible to becoming a battleground in the then-growing East-
West cold war conflict.
* The tendency to give credence to the worldwide communist threat
in monolithic terms.
This view was based on the relatively extensive
influence -exerted by the Soviet Union over other communist
nations and over the communist parties in non-communist
states. Moreover, the West, especially the US, felt challenged
by the expansionist policies openly proclaimed by leaders of
virtually all communist movements of the period.
0 The attempt of the Viet Minh to evict the French from Indochina
as part of the communist plan of world domination, The attempt
of Ho Chi Minh's communist regime to evict the French from Indochina
was seen as part of the Southeast Asian manifestation of
the communist worldwide aggressive intent.
taking a crucial stand against expanding worlo communism.
France was seen z
* The tendency to interpret seL.urity as a function of the internal
order maintained by individu, ates, Thi policy of containing
communism (Truman Doctrine) not only viewed security as a function
of the balance of power between states but also of the
internal order of all states.
Advocates of this doctrine tended
to equate security with the maintenance of a world order that,
under US leadership, woula ensure the triumph of American values
(or at least ensure that US interests would be served).
The above perceptions contributed to a widely held assumption
by the US leadership that if Indochina was lost to communism, the
remaining nations of Southeast Asia would be infiltrated by communists and
ev~ntually fall by chain reaction.
This strategic concept, which came to
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