Dr Peter Edwards as an Official Historian interviewed by Greg Swanborough for 'The sharp end'

Roll 15 Take 1. The two main thrusts of Australia's policy leading to Vietnam was firstly the spread of Communism with the treat to Australia's security; feeling was that Australia was neglected in the Cold War as it was in 1942; secondly was the relations with the United States - defence spending in the 1950s was very low and Australia relied as Prime Minister Menzies said on our great and powerful friends; the United States was tired of carrying the burden and put pressure on Australia to contribute; in 1960 Australia was concerned with Indonesia; fear that Australia won't get United States support there unless Australia gave support to the US elsewhere and that was Vietnam; Take 2; a retake of take 1; take 3; events leading up to Diem's assassination; Nixon doctrine of de-Americanization which became Vietnamization; Take 6; Nixon's invasion of Cambodia; escalation in the war triggered protests such as Kent State university in the US; take 7; 120,000 people marched in the anti-war Moratorium marches and angered fuelled by the Kent State University killings; Vietnam war was the major turning point from relying on powerful friends to self reliance in an Alliance framework.