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Learn more about the project: Lam, Vinh-The, and Darryl Friesen. "A Web-based Database of CIA Declassified Documents on the Vietnam War." Online 28, no. 4 (2004): 31-35.
Title:
Implications of an unfavorable outcome in Vietnam
Date of Creation:
September 11, 1967
Date of Declassification:
March 18, 1993
Type of Document:
Report
Level of Classification:
SECRET
Status of Copy:
SANITIZED
Pagination, Illustration:
37 p.
Abstract:
This Report looks at the implications of an unfavorable outcome in Vietnam. It includes the following sections: Problems and Assumptions; Some General Propositions; Implications For Asia (Southeast Asia; China; The US Role in Asia); Soviet-American Relations; The Insurgency Problem; The US and The Third World; The Atlantic Alliance. It presents the following conclusions: 1) An unfavorable outcome in Vietnam would be a major setback to the reputation of US power which would limit US influence and prejudice our other interests in some degree which cannot be reliably foreseen; 2) Probably the net effects would not be permanently damaging to this country's capacity to play its part was a world power working for order and security in many areas; 3) The worst potential damage would be of the self-inflicted kind: internal dissension which would limit our future ability to use our power and resources wisely and to full effect, and lead to a loss of confidence by others in the American capacity for leadership; 4) The destabilizing effects would be greatest in the immediate area of Southeast Asia where some states would probably face internal turmoil and heightened external pressures, and where some realignment might occur; similar effects would be unlikely elsewhere or could be more easily contained.
Indexing Terms:
Declassified Documents Reference System Location:
1993-003094
Link to Full Text: