Vietnam War

* Re “Curtis LeMay Was Right About Vietnam,” Commentary, May 30: Gen. LeMay had a theory that more bombing would have ended the Vietnam War sooner. (But what about their civil war?) I have a theory also.

Following the French defeat in Vietnam, mandated elections were not allowed by the United States and the South Vietnamese regime. Had these gone forward, Ho Chi Minh would have walked, not marched, into Saigon and by electoral, not civil war, victory. The Vietnam War could have been avoided with the same result for that country, then and today. Had the U.S. won the war, the civil war might still be raging.

RICHARD BAKER

Beverly Hills