勞思光韋齋隨筆_越南赤變十年書感The New York Times 多篇“A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America’s Last Years in Vietnam” by Lewis Sorley

Lewis Sorley, 90, Who Said the U.S. Won (but Then Lost) in Vietnam, Dies

His Pulitzer Prize-nominated history of the war was warmly received by the Pentagon but rejected elsewhere for ignoring what many said made the war “unwinnable.”

The military historian Lewis Sorley in 2011 after accepting a Distinguished Graduate Award at West Point. A third-generation graduate, he had been an officer in the Vietnam War and declared in his book “A Better War” that “there came a time when the war was won.”Credit...Kimberly Becker

Mr. Sorley’s revisionist book “A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America’s Last Years in Vietnam,” published in 1999, enjoyed a vogue at the Pentagon in the early years of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, when officers were assigned to read it in the hope that it might offer a positive prognosis for those conflicts.

As it turned out, it didn’t. And outside the Pentagon, the book’s main thesis was largely rejected.

Lewis Sorley, 90, Who Said the U.S. Won (but Then Lost) in ...


The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com › 2024/10/30 › books › lewis...





Nov 1, 2024 — Lewis Sorley, a military historian and retired U.S. Army officer who argued that the United States won the war in Vietnam, only to later ...



Vietnam's Joy in Victory


The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com › vietnams-joy-in-victory





Feb 7, 1973 — R Davis article praises Vietnam war resisters and antiwar demonstrators for contributing to peace in Vietnam; accuses Nixon Adm of ...
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Opinion | Why Vietnam Was Unwinnable


The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com › 2017/08/22 › vietnam-was-...





Aug 22, 2017 — America did not experience a “lost victory” in Vietnam; in fact, victory was likely out of reach from the beginning. There is a broad consensus ...


Of Defeat and Victory


The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com › 1975/04/18 › archives › of-...





Apr 18, 1975 — Ten years ago, on April 17, 1965, 25,000 people marched in Washington against the war in Vietnam. It was then two months after Lyndon ...


The Vietnam War Was Already Lost, but I Had to Go Anyway


The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com › 2019/07/10 › the-vietnam-...





Jul 10, 2019 — Fifty years ago, American troops began withdrawing, but tens of thousands were yet to die.

勞思光研究中心

韋齋隨筆_越南赤變十年書感

南越覆亡到今年恰恰十年。美國「時代周刊」特別出了一個專輯，檢討越戰；論述所涉範圍甚廣。但我看了這些文章之後，卻覺得別有所感。

本來越戰中美國的失敗，不外兩個主要原因。其一是：美國人對這次戰爭的意義並無共同認識；其二是：美國所採取的「不求戰勝」的原則本身即只能導向失敗。

就第二點說，美國當局人士近年似乎早已明白，即如，國防部長溫柏格就曾經在論及美國使用軍力的原則時說，必須「有明確的求勝的意向」。這表示他明白「不求戰勝」是十分荒謬而危險的想法。

但第一點所涉及的問題卻遠較第二點複雜。美國用了大量人力財力在越南作戰，何以竟不同時向國人宣說這次戰爭的真意義呢？當時執政人物如詹森總統對越戰的躊躇不決的態度，通常被人看作重要因素；這次「時代周刊」也特別刊載這方面的第一手資料。可是，詹森個人的心理狀態，只不過是更廣大的社會心理的表現。為甚麼當時美國不用堂堂正正的態度表明立場？這個問題的答案決不再任何個人身上，而在於整個美國社會。

作爲一個旁觀者，我自己的印象是非常深刻的。一九六九年，尼克遜正在執政,越戰進入後期；我正訪問哈佛大學。那時，校園中充滿「反越戰」的學生。我曾經分別找過許多美國青年閒談,探問他們反對越戰的理由。結果，我所獲得的答案形形色色，難以俱述。可是，使我驚詫的是：這些青年中 並無一人意識到對北越作戰是在保衛民主自由。他們中間有些人根本同情共產主義，這還可說是政治信仰問題；但另一些人實在認為共產黨是專制極權的，却仍然主張美國不要去管閒事——理由是「不應侵犯別國」。這表明美國社會根本不會建立「保衛自由世界」這種整體觀點。缺乏了這個基本觀點，他們自然不了解越戰的意義了。

今天的美國青年如何想法？「十年」真够造成新觀念嗎？

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