Yesterday, I said that millions of Americans see the story of Vietnam differently than the standard liberal establishment story of heroic leftwing protest and tragic American hubris and deserved and inevitable defeat. Most of the email was positive and in agreement. But somewhere around 20% of it came from people saying that not only was I wrong, but that this whole interpretation was my idiotic, partisan, crazy interpretation. Here’s an excerpt from one such email:

And now you come along and say that “millions of Americans” are experiencing this kind of historic regret over Vietnam. They are? Where? Who? Wha’? When? In the last 40 years, I haven’t heard an expression of this regret by even one person, let alone a million, if we except my bro, who didn’t start saying it until talk radio, or someone, came up with that perspective about three years ago.

Me: I don’t think my argument was remotely crazy or incorrect, in fact I still see no need to go on at length defending it. But I do find it fascinating that so many people think I invented this storyline. It’d be flattering to think it’s all me, except that such an interpretation would also mean that it’s all a lie. Weren’t there bumper stickers in the early 1970s that said something to the effect of “funny, we were winning when I was there?” Haven’t there been piles of movies — from Hollywood – playing off the idea that. What is it Rambo says in First Blood Part II: “Sir, do we get to win this time?”

There’s even a whole revisionist school among scholars on Vietnam, led these days by Mark Moyar in his reportedly brilliant Triumph Forsaken.

President Bush has said in several interviews that the biggest lesson he learned from the Vietnam War was not to let the “politicians run the war” which is not only a widely used cliché but deservedly so.

I could go on, but I think people get the point. I think it is really amazing that so many people thought I made up the idea that millions of Americans see Vietnam differently than John Kerry does. That’s not to say that there weren’t good criticisms of my post or that it left out some nuance, fine fine; it’s a blog post. But this was really striking.