What linchpin misleads US voters, hiding a 1619–2026 imperial foreign policy?

In a Matrix movie-like system of false belief, virtually 100 percent of US voters are led to believe, on the biggest war since 1945, a false claim that says the US entered Viet Nam in 1954, presented as for a noble purpose to fight communism. Although about 50 percent of voters have figured out that the US is an imperial nation, the other 50 percent, trusting the false claim of a 1954 entry, falsely think the US purpose in foreign policy worldwide has continued to be noble.

The false claim that the US entered Viet Nam in 1954 is pervasive. It is in high school curriculum, colleges, universities, books, government statements, seminars, and websites.

But rather than a 1954 entry, thousands of hidden reports show that US businesses operated in Viet Nam during 1865–1954, enabled by French invasion brutality. A State Dept consular office opened there in 1889. Those decades of business were for an ignoble purpose: With the French cutting off heads and ruling by terror, it was business enabled by force.

Since at least 1873, Viet Nam pleaded with the US government to engage in peaceful commerce, no invasion needed. Viet Nam even offered to adopt US-style institutions.

However, the Western attacks continued. After the French invasion fell in defeat in 1954, US leaders attacked trying to continue the wrongful business. That was the real reason for the US-Viet Nam War.

The false belief of a noble foreign policy has led many voters to unwittingly support wrongful force behind 100-plus coups, destabilizations, and invasions into 2026. For current and recent wrongful foreign policy areas, please see Current Areas in this website.

Many people say, ‘But what can I do? I am just one person.’ In “Lions for Lambs,” a film probing the falsities of the so-called War on Terror, a professor played by Robert Redford tells a student, “They bank on your willful ignorance.” A newspaper writer played by Meryl Streep challenges the US public with, “Connect the dots.”

The dots lead to the false claim as the nucleus of US foreign policy. The false claim is presented in detail in this writer’s two books, in https://briandroesch.substack.com, and in this website.

The resulting wrongful foreign policy has the following main effects:

1. US soldiers die and are injured, and their families harmed, while misled about the wrongful purpose;

2. Pursuing the wrongful business expansion by force, US leaders, including all presidents, have often mislabeled foreign opponents as communists or terrorists, when they are instead good citizens defending their nations against the wrongful US actions.

3. That misleading of the US public fosters a false attitude of superiority among many Americans. The false term “American Exceptionalism” hides the fact that part of the US standard of living is from resources and property gained from the 100-plus coups, destabilizations, and invasions during 1945–2026.

A prime example of good people fighting back appears in Viet Nam’s victory over the US and France. In 1954, Viet Nam defeated the French invasion. That victory threatened to end the hidden 1865–1954 US business that had been enabled by brutal force. So, in early 1955, US leaders attacked, trying to continue their early business. That was the real reason for the US-Viet Nam War.

The false claim of a 1954 entry hides that real reason.

As part of that false claim, a false assertion is that a country called “North Viet Nam” existed that the US fought. But no such country ever existed. North and south, Viet Nam remained one country after 1954. The overwhelming majority in the south, like in the north, helped defeat the French in 1954, and then they did not disappear: They defended against US attacks. Misled, US soldiers found out the hard way.

It is “an absurd concept” to think the 1954 Geneva Accords created two countries, historian Joseph Buttinger wrote. Click for full quote. Article 14(a) of the Accords says, in plain words, that France had a temporary duty to administer the southern “regrouping zone” until elections. That means Viet Nam was not split into two countries. Instead, the Accords simply created two temporary zones to separate the armies of the two sides, which were entangled in many places.

The Accords explicitly stated that the temporary line between the north and south zones “should not in any way be interpreted as constituting a political or territorial boundary.”

The Accords also prohibited the US from inserting soldiers into Viet Nam. After all, Viet Nam was one country.

But leaders of the superpower US pressured France to leave. The US then illegally moved US soldiers into the southern half.

Viet Nam knows that most southern people fought tooth and nail against the illegal US insertion of soldiers. US soldiers learned the hard way. It was as if a foreign nation invaded the US and at New Orleans. Most US citizens in the south would fight back, tooth and nail.

Corporate Tsunami in Countryside Paradise : 1875–1900 Origin of US War in Viet Nam (2020) details the early US business. And, in the 1940s, US leaders set up a system for worldwide business expansion, often by force. They decided not to tell the US public. As part of that system, in 1954 the US leaders pressured France to depart from Viet Nam. Then, the US leaders attacked trying to continue the early business.

Betrayal by Foreign Policy Fault Line 1619–2024, US in Viet Nam 1865–1975 (February 2026) shows that the real reason for the US-Viet Nam War—business expansion by force—has continued to drive foreign policy during 1975–2024. Though stopping communism and terrorism was a factor, it was not the main reason. Analytical lenses show the connection through the decades.

At Viet Nam’s April 30, 2025 celebration of its 1975 victory, Viet Nam said that a US-Viet Nam strategic partnership exists, but that the war was a US imperial invasion. That was an appeal to the US public, if not the US government, to state the truth.

But the false claim is pervasive in US high schools, colleges, books, websites, and discussions.

But now, voters can read the truth. So, voters can require government to provide truthful facts to supplement the truthful facts that this volume documents. Then, voters could meet their traditional role to debate and guide the general direction of foreign policy. Should the US support fair trade and mutual economic growth like it says? Or should it pursue business expansion by force like it often does?

US soldiers who die for foreign policy deserve that much. The approximately 3.5 million citizens of Viet Nam, whe died after Viet Nam made repeated offers for mutual trade and peace during 1873 into the 1960s, deserved that much. Today’s world deserves that much.