Kennedy and Vietnam
Kennedy was a public believer in the domino theory and had valued the policy of containment since 1956. His worry with Vietnam was that if it was to fall to Communism, then Combodia, Laos, and India would follow- and then what? He did not agree with the policy of massice retaliation (a favourite of his predesessor, Eisenhower). Instead, Kennedy argued a flexible response was needed against the Soviets and Communism. This is evident when one looks at his actions in Vietnam- he did not use nuclear weapons and instead found worth in counterinsurgency. This meant guerrilla warfare, intellegence gathering, infiltrarion, targeting leaders, etc. In January 1961, Kennedy met with Eisenhower to discuss the transition between both leaders and thier governments. During this discussion, Eisenhower mentioned the threat of Communism springing up in South East Asia. Like Eisenhower, Kennedy's government failed to see the distinction between Soviet Communism and a want for independance whi