The Political Side of the War

I must say that I have really been a fan of both Fog of War and Path to War. They both touch on a side of Vietnam that hasn't really been covered in our other texts: policy. Both films equally portray the importance of Robert McNamara. As Secretary of State, he had a lot to do with which way our foreign policy would go. Fog of War shows the idea of containment as foreign policy, which led to our role in Vietnam. Path to War doesn't go into foreign policy as much, but does display our leaders contemplating on what direction to go. I think both of these films are very critical in understanding why we went to Vietnam. The domino theory created an abundant amount of fear in our politicians, and that fear was used to create foreign policy. It's unfortunate that this was the case. I really don't feel that these films were created to make McNamara look like the bad guy. He definitely seems like a bad guy in Path to War, but I felt the same way, if not stronger, about LBJ. Ultimately, I don't think anyone can blame LBJ or McNamara. As a society, people were against communism. McCarthyism sprung up in the late 40's lasted well into the 50's. It was definitely still existent before Vietnam, which could have easily been the deciding factor in going to Vietnam.