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

Bibliographic Data

ID2342222
AuthorsJeffrey P Kimball (Miami University), Jeffrey Kimball (Miami University, corresponding author)
Year1988
Volume14
Issue3
Pages433-458
Publication date1988-04-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueArmed Forces & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0095-327X • E-ISSN: 1556-0848
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0095327x8801400306
OpenAlexW2144880233
LanguageEN
Citations received10

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

Argument (complex analysis) · Asymmetric warfare · Criticism · Democracy · Economic history · Just war theory · Legend · Militant · Mythology · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Spanish Civil War · Terrorism · Victory · Vietnam War · Classics · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · History · Law

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