The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2015

54 JULY-AUGUST 2015 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL “Lessons Learned” from State From the standpoint of State Department FSOs, the lessons to be learned from the Vietnam experience were numerous and clear. T o draw meaningful lessons from our Vietnam experience it is essential to bear in mind the climate of the times during which fateful decisions were taken. In 1954 it was widely accepted that we faced a monolithic commu- nist bloc bent on expansion through military means. Indochina was seen with considerable logic in that context, as a primary locus for that expansion and there was a remark- ably broad consensus in this country that the United States Department of State, Washington, D.C. MEMORANDUM FOR LIEUTENANT GENERAL BRENT SCOWCROFT, THE WHITE HOUSE May 9, 1975 Subject: Lessons of Viet-Nam Attached is a paper on “Lessons of Viet-Nam” which you requested. Signed: George S. Springsteen, Executive Secretary Attachment: As stated EA: DFLambertson Clearances: EA: Mr. Miller EA: Mr. Habib Released and Declassified May 3, 2000 UNCLASSIFIED P750085-0923 should combat it. In the early 1960s, America was imbued with an activist, outward-looking spirit, one reflection of which was the notion that American resources and American expertise could solve any problem anywhere. It was only in the late 1960s, when our participation in what was perceived to be an unjust and unwinnable war became objectionable to broad segments of the American people, that our policies outstripped the national consensus and support for them began to wane. Having been badly burned in Vietnam, the American people now appear to have quite different, and more limited, visions of our proper role in the world and our ability to influence events.