Dien Bien Phu, 1954-05-07

On the defeat of the French at Dien Bien Phu, 1954-05-07: We should have seen it at the end of colonial era in Southeast Asia, which it really was.  But, instead we saw it in Cold War terms, and we saw it as a defeat for the free world which was related to the rise of China, and it was a total misreading of a pivotal event which cost us very dearly.