For much of its history, the United States has claimed to support "freedom" and "self-determination" abroad. Yet consider the case of Vietnam in the 1950s. Everyone agreed, Westerners and Communists alike, that a free election would undoubtedly mean a victory for the Communist Ho Chi Minh. It would seem, then, that the United States was prepared to support self-determination only if voters could be expected to make decisions favored by Washington. Bearing in mind the ideals that were supposedly at stake in the Cold War, evaluate America's strategy in that interminable ideological struggle.

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The Answer of For much of its history, the United States has claimed to support "freedom" and "self-determination" abroad. Yet consider the case of Vietnam in the 1950s. Everyone agreed, Westerners and Communists alike, that a free election would undoubtedly mean a victory for the Communist Ho Chi Minh. It would seem, then, that the United States was prepared to support self-determination only if voters could be expected to make decisions favored by Washington. Bearing in mind the ideals that were supposedly at stake in the Cold War, evaluate America's strategy in that interminable ideological struggle.

For Much of Its History, the United States Has Claimed