During Julia Child's time in France, she was very fortunate not to be confronted by many difficult decisions. She does talk about a friend of hers named Lee Brady, who worked at the US Embassy in France. In 1950, Brady was assigned to work at the Public Affairs Office in Indochina (Vietnam). This meant that he would be taking orders from the emperor Boa Dai, seen by the rest of the world as a puppet for the French. Child tells the reader "... a most difficult and dangerous assignment indeed. He would be forced to work with the Boa Dai regime, which had not been freely chosen by the majority of the citizens (104). Not only was Brady putting himself at risk by working for an unpopular government, but he was also going against the American ideals that he had grown up with, the ideas of voting for a strong leader. Child points out that "What was an emissary of the US government supposed to say when the Communist claimed, correctly, that his government supported a puppet, dictator and horror?" (104). It seemed like the wrong choice from many angles, but for Brady his only other option was to quit. He chose to go to Indochina in the end, though what became of him when the US got involved in the Vietnam War is not mentioned in this book.
I think that Brady made the wrong decision to go to Indochina. Not only was he not following his own morals and ideas, but he was also putting himself in danger by supporting an unpopular government in a country that was on the brink of civil war. It does not seem fair though that the only other option was to resign his position and find a new job. I can Kind of understand why he chose to do what he did, but in hindsight I do not agree with his decision.
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I can understand your argument, but I just don't agree with it. Sorry, but the position that the person took wasn't wrong. Vietnam was going to be taken over by the communists. Rather than involve the United States in a civil war that it didn't belong in, an ambassador could be sent to try an alleviate the situation. True, the country was ruled by a dictator, but the bigger issue was trying to stop a war. The whole point was to stop the advance of communism for the sake of America.
I agree with Andrea that this decision seemed like a bad one. Much of the time, when someone puts aside their own morals, it only leads to bad things. The book I'm reading also shows this. E. Howard Hunt, who worked for Richard Nixon, chose to put aside his morals and organize watergate. He thought he was doing the best thing for his country, but his decision eventually sent him to jail.
Of course I don't know all the information, but I can't understand why Brady would have chosen to go to Indochina. I get that he wanted to keep his job, but why would he want to have a job that required him to work against his morals and his country?
I agree with you Andrea, it is unfortunate that he had to choose between what he knew was right and his need for a job. But I think there are times when there are things more important than money and I believe this was one of those times. If one does not stand up for what they think is right then who will?
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