Was JFK going to pull out of Vietnam?
http://wtracyparnell.blogspot.com/2022/06/the-assassination-and-mrs-paine-jfk-and_27.html
JFK and Vietnam again? There are two separate questions, questions that bizarre conspiracy advocates like Jim DiEugenio don't see to be able to separate. The first is: "What did JFK plan to do on November 22, 1963?" The second and different question is: "What would JFK have done once it was shown that the South Vietnamese government was incapable of defending itself from the North's aggression without US help?"
The answer to me for the first is: He had no plans to simply leave at the time of his death. The plan was to draw down US troops as the South was able to take on more of the war. But simply not pull out.
Here's a critical quote from the top secret Pentagon Papers which contained the classified memos and communications between the Kennedy White House, State Department and the Pentagon, on the Administration's policies towards South Vietnam following the overthrow of Diem:
"In the course of these policy debates [i.e., how to deal with Diem], several participants pursued the logical but painful conclusion that if the war could not be won with Diem, and if his removal would lead to political chaos and also jeopardize the war effort, then the war was probably unwinnable. If that were the case, the argument went, then the U.S. should really be facing a more basic decision of either an orderly disengagement from an irretrievable situation, or a major escalation of the U.S. involvement, including the use of U.S. combat troops.
These prophetic minority voices were, however, raising an unpleasant prospect that the [Kennedy] Administration was unprepared to face at that time. In hindsight, however, it is clear that this was one of the times in the history of our Vietnam involvement when we were making fundamental choices. The option to disengage honorably at that time now appears an attractively low-cost one. But for the Kennedy Administration the costs no doubt appeared much higher. In any event, it proved to be unwilling to accept the implications of predictions for a bleak future.
The Administration hewed to the belief that if the US be but willing to exercise its power, it could ultimately have its way in world affairs.
Again: "The Administration [at the time of JFK's death] hewed to the belief that if the US be but willing to exercise its power, it could ultimately have its way in world affairs."
In their accounts of their time in the Administration, McNamara, Rusk and Bundy - along with RFK - all said that there was no plan - none - at the time of JFK's death to leave. None at all.
As to the second question: Nobody knows. I don't think even JFK, if asked at the time, could give an answer. He would have faced the same problem that LBJ did: surrender the South to the North with all of the consequences that entails, e.g., massive refugee crisis that spills over to the rest of the region, loss of US credibility in that part of the world, et cetera; or send in troops in hopes that American force was sufficient to win.
The Pentagon Papers link is here:
https://nara-media-001.s3.amazonaws.com/arcmedia/research/pentagon-papers/Pentagon-Papers-Part-IV-B-5.pdf