Sir, Quynh Dao’s excellent article, “The Vietnam War – 30 years on” (News Weekly, April 23, 2005) rightly deplores the persistent misunderstanding of the significance of the Vietnam War. I would like to add a note on the role of Ho Chi Minh, who is equally misunderstood. When Ho Chi Minh first returned to Vietnam,…
The 30th anniversary of the election of the Whitlam Government prompts consideration of its dismissal, three years later. Kenneth Gee re-examines these events. On 11 November 1975, Sir John Kerr, Governor-General of Australia, dismissed from office Gough Whitlam and his Labor Government, bringing to an end a financial and political crisis that went close to…
Was it wrong to send troops to Vietnam? No, says Kenneth Gee, despite public reconsiderations by some of those involved. General Cosgrove, who fought in Vietnam, now doubts whether Australia should have been there. Malcolm Fraser also now believes that the Vietnam War had been misguided. This is understandable, since the United States, in its bungled…