Lesser of two evils principle

The "Lesser of two evils" principle was a Cold War-era foreign policy principle used by the United States.

The principle dealt with third world dictators and what the US' policy for dealing with them should be.

The United States had long held support for democtacy to be one of their stated cornerstones of U.S. foreign policy. However, following the Second World War democracy was still a fairly uncommon occurance, and dictatorships continued to hold power over many of the world's most stragetically important reigons. The United States would thus form alliances with certain dictators, believing them to be the closest thing their respective nations had to a legitimate government. Many of these dictators were pro-capitalist, and thus consistant with at least some of the US' ideological goals.

Conflicts over dictatorships began to occur when the Soviet Union began to support Communist revolutions and guerilla uprisings against established dictatorial regimes. In many cases these movements succeded, and replaced an American ally dictator with a viciously anti-American and pro-Soviet one. This struggle posed a question- if the end result was destined to be a dictatorship, should not the US try to align itself with the dictator who will best serve American interests and oppose the Soviets? This is what became known as the "lesser of two evils" principle.

Probably the best example of this principle in action was the political stuggle behind the Vietnam War. Ngo Dinh Diem was the dictatorial ruler of South Vietnam during the inital stages of the war. Though his regime was brutal, he was also an anti-Communist who was determined to fight the expansions of the Comminist North. Ho Chi Minh was the dictatorial ruler of North Vietnam and an ardent Marxist who wanted to see a united, Communist Vietnam. The United States thus supported the regime of Diem and his successors during the war, believing that he was the "lesser of two evils."

Wheter or not the United States has always sponsored the "lesser" of two dictators is often a topic of debate. Again, in the case of Vietnam, some argued that Ho Chi Minh's Communist beliefs clouded the US' attempts to view his regime objectively, and in fair comparrison to Diem's.

The Soviet Union, it must be said, had its own "lesser of two evils" policy as well. Needless to say, it was almost always the polar opposite of the US version.