Folder 61 George W. Ball SR 2640 pp.10-13

What was effect?

I think Viet Nam was probably the greatest single error that America has made in its national history. That sounds like an overstatement but I don't think it is. It demoralized our society. For a whole generation there will be a mark left because they went through a period where the country was being torn apart. It created a vision to the world that we were of doubtful judgment to make this kind of a commitment… Viet Nam had not only disastrous effects on the social fabric and social cohesion of America, but I think it set us back a very long way so far as foreign policy was concerned… It was disastrous because it gave the impression that the U.S. was reckless, that we were arrogant and had a disdain for the life of the local people, the indigenous people in the areas particularly in the Third World where we would consent. I think Viet Nam will go down in history as a really disastrous point … and it'll be a long time overcoming that. It created inhibitions on the use of American power, it tended us, contributed again to the unwillingness of the Americans to serve in the armed forces, which I think we're suffering from now. I can't think of any event that had a worst set of series and set of consequences than the Vietnam War.