Hello and welcome to this day an esoteric political history from Radiotopia.

My name is Jody Avergan.

This day, February 11, 1954, it actually happened on February 10th,

1954, President Eisenhower was asked about escalating tensions in Vietnam,

where for several years, Vietnamese forces were fighting French

colonial forces and on this day at least President Eisenhower indicated that

he did not want the United States to get involved.

At this press conference on February 10th,

he said, quote, I cannot conceive of a greater tragedy

for America than to get heavily involved

in an all-out war in any of those regions.

Around the same time, reports are that he told his advisors that, quote,

he simply could not imagine the United States putting ground forces anywhere in Southeast Asia.

That of course, as you know, would change into the late 50s and into the 60s and 70s.

The war in Vietnam would escalate and escalate and involve more and more US troops.

So the question for us in this moment and on this episode is what do we make of Eisenhower's

declaration that the US would not get involved way back in 1954 and why that actually started to change pretty quickly.

So here to discuss as always is Nicole Hammer of Columbia.

Hello, Nicky.

Hello Jody.

And Kelly Carter Jackson of Wellesley.

Hello Kelly.

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