U.S. pulled out of the country without an apparent victory in the early 1970s:
Intellectual freedom is stirring as well. Viet Nam now has three private universities, and Hanoi's new Internet access provider, VIETNAM, has as much business as it can handle. Late last year, when Hanoi officials tried to ignore the killing of an innocent policeman, hundreds demonstrated in front of the Hanoi People's Court. Amid name calling and rock throwing, they demanded--and the court eventually decreed--the policeman's execution. "Opinion may not be expressed openly," says a Hanoi writer, "But it's out there, and if the government doesn't pay attention, they know they'll have a problem."
The sentiment expressed by the Hanoi wrier in the above passage is reflective of the views held by many close to the war, who now believe that history has vindicated both capitalistic and democratic ideals. Time magazine correspondent Bruce W. Nelan quotes Walt Rostow, former special assistant to Lyndon Johnson, who said, "This was a war about the balance of power [in keeping with the domino theory] in all of Southeast Asia . . . We lost the battle in Viet Nam, but we won the war in Southeast Asia."
In his assessment in "Lessons From the Lost War," Nelan states the following as a central question--a question relevant to the validity of the American dual capitalistic and democratic system: "Did the Viet Nam War, tragedy though it was, provide the time and security from the communist threat for Asia to develop its present independence and booming free-market prosperity?"
The answer to the above question wou
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