Conflicting Emotions Quotes
A talented, charismatic leader, Alcibiades, was deposed by a religiously conservative faction in Athens who condemned him as a heretic to the God Mercury. Alcibiades escaped to the arch enemy, Sparta, where he was welcomed and became a leader there until he had an affair with the Spartan King’s wife. He then worked for the Persians, enemies of all Greeks, and finally was welcomed back to Athens where he was again made a military leader.
The Pentagon had requested 2 more battalions of Marines to protect the Danang Air Base in Vietnam. The President was persuaded that since the South Vietnamese could not be motivated to fight, that we would not likely defeat the Vietcong and that we should negotiate a an American exit. However, his security and military advisors told Johnson that unless the manpower request was granted, our major airbase in Vietnam could fall to the enemy with large American Casualties. And there was no assurance that the North Vietnamese would even be willing to negotiate. Johnson realized at that point in time that the Vietnam War was unwinnable unless we resorted to nuclear weapons. With American lives that needed “protection” the President was caught in the dilemma that brought down his administration. He again escalated the war when he wanted to do the opposite but felt that he could not.
