The Open Question

Much of the difficulty in the prosecution of the war in Indochina has arisen from the failure of three successive Presidents to make clear to the American people that what is happening in Southeast Asia is no more or less than one battle in the third world war—a war now cold, now hot— between the United States and the Soviet Union. Instead of so presenting our engagement with the forces of Communism, we are exhorted in the name of the interests of the Vietnamese people. But, however worthy of sympathy that people, or any other people suffering from injustice, may be, there can be no excuse for the United States making war on such an account.

The legitimate foundation of a free nation’s warmaking powers is overriding national interest of so critical a nature that only the making of war can defend it. In our time there is only one occasion of so critical a nature—the Soviet drive to world domination, which, unopposed and unrestricted, would bring about our national extinction.

FS

About the Author

Frank S. Meyer

Frank S. Meyer was a senior editor of National Review.

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Much of the difficulty in the prosecution of the war in Indochina has arisen from the failure of three successive Presidents to make clear to the American people that what is happening in Southeast Asia is no more or less than one battle in the third world war—a war now cold, now hot— between the United States and the Soviet Union. Instead of so presenting our engagement with the forces of Communism, we are exhorted in the name of the interests of the Vietnamese people. But, however worthy of sympathy that people, or any other people suffering from injustice, may be, there can be no excuse for the United States making war on such an account.

The legitimate foundation of a free nation’s warmaking powers is overriding national interest of so critical a nature that only the making of war can defend it. In our time there is only one occasion of so critical a nature—the Soviet drive to world domination, which, unopposed and unrestricted, would bring about our national extinction.