In Asia we face an ambitious and aggressive China, but we have the will and we have the strength to help our Asian friends resist that ambition. Sometimes our folks get a little impatient. Sometimes they rattle their rockets some, and they bluff about their bombs. But we are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.
DO NOT judge attention to this quote as a political statement. DO consider it a call to attention on just how quickly the sentiments of politicians are inclined to change.
On this date in 1965, a few months after the quote above was given… The first United States troops with a combat mission, a Marine Corps Hawk air defense missile battalion, are sent to South Vietnam.
Update: This link to the timeline of the Vietnam War was omitted at time of publishing.
Originally published on The Minot Voice: February 9, 2015