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Salon
Salon
Politics
Dennis Aftergut

How Vietnam changed me — and America

Newspaper story on one of Nguyen Hong My's American adversary-in-the-sky whom he’s since befriended (Photo courtesy of author)

In 1950, Harry Truman made a wrong turn that tragically rerouted the histories of two countries. It happened as the Iron Curtain fell in Eastern Europe, as Mao Zedong's party took over China and as Joe McCarthy flogged anti-communist hysteria for political gain at home.

It was a mistake that led to calamity akin to the one in which Vladimir Putin has ensnared his nation and its neighbor in 2022. 

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