The revisionism that I am talking about is my own. I was a supporter of the American action to protect South Vietnam from North Vietnam. I kept my opinions totally to myself because the hippie generation around me at the time were anti-war. They had no sense of what communism was, nor the expansionist behavior of the USSR or China. They believed in ‘universal love and peace.’
My current position is to look at the modern state of Vietnam and realize that it has joined the world of commerce. Many people died on both sides to keep South Vietnam from being a communist satrapy of the Soviet Union or China. Now both China and the Soviet Union, as aggressive communist states, have disappeared. The new Vietnam is also not a direct threat to any of its neighbors .
The reality is that the Democratic Congress elected in 1972 refused to uphold the American commitments in the peace negotiations that promised support for South Vietnam if they were again attacked. As a result of that Democratic Congressional refusal, North Vietnam simply overran the country and drove a few hundred thousand people out.
Now we can look at the consequences. Hundreds of thousands and possibly over a million people on both sides died and we ended up getting very close to what the U.S. wanted. Now Vietnam does not have a democracy but we have a commercial society that will someday be more free and open for citizens. We also got several hundred thousand extremely productive and wonderful Vietnamese immigrants to America. As well as thousands of good Vietnamese restaurants. Many that make vegetarians happier than they would be otherwise.
Considering the loss of American lives I am now beginning to think the effort was not 100% justifiable. I know I am ignoring the deterrent factor that kept other nations from being aggressive in the years after 1962.