April 30 this year marks the 30th anniversary of communist North Vietnam’s conquest of South Vietnam, symbolised by the image of a Soviet-built T-54 tank smashing through the gate of the Presidential Palace in Saigon. But, as Quynh Dao argues, many influential Western public figures and media commentators to this day persist in misunderstanding what the Vietnam War was all about.One enduring myth is that the West became involved in the Vietnam War to prevent communism spreading, but that it turn…
