OT mysterious quote (was: Horcrus disposal (was Re: The List update))

[Eustace_Scrubb]

Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)wrote:

> >> I somehow long ago imbibed the belief that Eisenhower said, in
> > reference to the Suez crisis (1956 - before I was born), "Never get
> > involved in a land war on the Asian continent." It was a wonderful
> > quote when people were discussing the Vietnam War and it was again a
> > wonderful quote when people discussed the Gulf and Iraq Wars.
> > 
> > But Lee locked herself in a room with Google and emerged after a 
> long
> > time, saying that Eisenhower had never said any such thing. So who 
> did?

Then ~Eloise

> It was MacArthur, and it *did* refer to Vietnam.
> 
> http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=994381
> ~Eloise

Now Eustace_Scrubb:
Being a pedant (and a historian), I tried to find where
Everything2.com was getting the source of the quote...and I can't find
any direct attribution of this to MacArthur--only through the Princess
Bride connection.

However, I do find that another American General, Maxwell Taylor, who
served in the Kennedy White House, said this :  "I have been among the
officers who have said that a large land war in Asia is the last thing
we should undertake."  Then he explains why he felt Vietnam didn't
_really_ violate this advice.

The rest of the quote can be found at 
http://www.bartleby.com/73/1887.html

FWIW, and we now return you to the normal feverish speculation,

Cheers,

Eustace_Scrubb