The Stab-in-the-Back Legend and the Vietnam War

Although associated with post-World War I Germany, the stab-in-the-back perspective is a common cultural response to defeat in war. An American, post-Vietnam War version maintains that the military could have won the war but for the activities of Democratic presidents, Congress, civilian strategists, the press, and antiwar protesters. The roots of the legend lie in arch-conservative assumptions, partisanship, wartime right-wing criticism of Lyndon Johnson's war, militant cold war attitudes, and attempts of purveyors of the myth to defend failed policies and strategies and to counter the "Vietnam syndrome." Seriously flawed historically, logically, and empirically regarding the possibility of victory and the role of the press and the antiwar movement, the stab-in-the-back argument nevertheless enjoys partial public acceptance because of the influence of its proponents and also because it is an essential component of a larger myth: the "Lost Cause."