It wasn't about proxy wars in Viet Nam

I can't say he was thinking specifically of that when he wrote his famous editorial but what he did afterwards does not support this idea.

Vietnam became a major cause for Luce and he encouraged his publications to follow his lead. An ardent interventionist, he supported greater involvement in the conflict. Speaking before a group of Time Inc. staff after a 1960 trip around the world he stated:

“. . . the policy I advocate is intervention — intervention. I advocate interference in the internal affairs of other countries. Long years ago, there was a very young man in the State Department whom I met …. up in Baghdad. He was a very minor fellow… and he was saying, ‘You know, the great phoniness and stultification of …. diplomatic thing is non-interference in internal affairs.’ It isn’t true; everybody does interfere. We interfere if we give money or if we don’t give money. We ought to interfere more and better.”