from JMA
OK, so can we agree then that the US used the situation at the time to "takeover"?
and the US has stuck itself with nannytude since WWII in some eyes - or with evil step-mothertude in other eyes.

Leaving my soundbites aside, the idealism expressed by GEN Westmoreland was equalled or exceeded by the idealism of the economic side of the New Frontier and its successor Great Society. One can trace that idealism back in US history through Ike (our Crusader in Europe), Truman, FDR, Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt, to Turner's 1893 "Frontier Thesis".

Walt Rostow (e.g., his 1960 "Stages") typified the economic side, which was intended to become a managed, perpetual motion machine that would solve the World's problems, as outlined from the gitgo by JFK:

.... a New Frontier -- the frontier of the 1960's, the frontier of unknown opportunities and perils, the frontier of unfilled hopes and unfilled threats. ... Beyond that frontier are uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered problems of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus. [JFK, 1960 Nomination Acceptance]
Given unlimited economic growth in the US, but more important to the argument, in the Third World, the terms "unsolved", "unconquered", "unanswered" would drop into the dustbin of history. So, the Alliance for Progress, etc., which engaged the US (and US business interests) in many other economies.

Similarly, the US became engaged in global military matters, where one can trace an idealistic line through Maxwell Taylor, William Westmoreland and Creighton Abrams. Of the last and the Vietnam War, his son stated (last sentence of Lewis Sorley's, "A Better War"): "He thought the Vietnamese were worth it." Others (including JMM) thought otherwise.

Dayuhan's thesis ("easier to blame the Americans than to admit that the bloody wogs ran you out of town") may have some validity to it. I would not be so dogmatic. I do view US actions after WWII to the present as being motivated more by an unselfish spirit than by a selfish intent to achieve global American domination. You can call that "patriotic orthodoxy" if you wish - I've been called both "fascist" and "communist"; so what the hell, being called a "patriot" is an improvement.

Though I believe most of these Americans were motivated by idealism (I'd say excessive idealism, which allowed some of them to lie without apparent guilt), their actions could be rationally viewed as part of an outright global power grab. If your ox or water buff is gored (as the various colonial powers were), you really don't give a damn about the gorer's motives.

Regards

Mike