Nearly 30 years after the end of the Vietnam War, the myth that it was a 'bad war' still passes for history.

For the past three decades conventional wisdom in America has held that the Vietnam War was a "bad war," unlike the "good war" of World War II. But an argument can be made that the Vietnam War not only was a good war but was more vital to America's interests than World War II. To pursue this argument, we need to consider several factors: America's stance at the beginning of World War II; the Cold War; the Communist threat; and the foundation on which the "bad war" myth rests.