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Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Gen. Harkins explains why we lost the Vietnam War: Halberstam was Jewish

I think there is a lot to fault the media for in the Vietnam War. But I was surprised to see this in the oral history that Gen. Paul Harkins, Gen. Westmoreland’s predecessor in Vietnam, gave to the LBJ Library: “Halberstam was a Jew, and he didn’t like Diem.” (Part 1, p. 26) The implication ...

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Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons
Wikimedia Commons

I think there is a lot to fault the media for in the Vietnam War. But I was surprised to see this in the oral history that Gen. Paul Harkins, Gen. Westmoreland's predecessor in Vietnam, gave to the LBJ Library: "Halberstam was a Jew, and he didn't like Diem." (Part 1, p. 26) The implication was that Halberstam was driven by an anti-Catholic bias. Novel theory of why we lost the Vietnam War, to say the least.  

I think there is a lot to fault the media for in the Vietnam War. But I was surprised to see this in the oral history that Gen. Paul Harkins, Gen. Westmoreland’s predecessor in Vietnam, gave to the LBJ Library: “Halberstam was a Jew, and he didn’t like Diem.” (Part 1, p. 26) The implication was that Halberstam was driven by an anti-Catholic bias. Novel theory of why we lost the Vietnam War, to say the least.  

Like his original mentor, George Patton, Harkins was an equal opportunity hata. For example, he also says: “the Buddhists — they just blow everything way out of importance, as far as I’m concerned.” (Part 1, p. 27)

If eccentric, Patton at least was bright and insightful in his own maddening way. I am not sure the same was true of Harkins. He may have just been a big wanker.

Thomas E. Ricks covered the U.S. military from 1991 to 2008 for the Wall Street Journal and then the Washington Post. He can be reached at ricksblogcomment@gmail.com. Twitter: @tomricks1
Tag: History

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