The Irony of Vietnam: The System Worked

Description

"If a historian were allowed but one book on the American involvement in Vietnam, this would be it." — Foreign Affairs When first published in 1979, four years after the end of one of the most divisive conflicts in the United States, The Irony of Vietnam raised eyebrows. Most students of the war argued that the United States had "stumbled into a quagmire in Vietnam through hubris and miscalculation," as the New York Times's Fox Butterfield put it. But the perspective of time and the opening of documentary sources, including the Pentagon Papers, had allowed Gelb and Betts to probe deep into the decisionmaking leading to escalation of military action in Vietnam. The failure of Vietnam could be laid at the door of American foreign policy, they said, but the decisions that led to the failure were made by presidents aware of the risks, clear about their aims, knowledgeable about the weaknesses of their allies, and under no illusion about the outcome. The book offers a picture of a steely resolve in government circles that, while useful in creating consensus, did not allow for alternative perspectives. In the years since its publication, The Irony of Vietnam has come to be considered the seminal work on the Vietnam War. Front Cover Title Page Copyright Information Table of Contents Foreword Preface to the Classic Edition Abbreviations Introduction Part One: Decisions: Getting into Vietnam Patterns, Dilemmas, and Explanations Recurrent Patterns and Dilemmas from Roosevelt to Eisenhower Picking Up the Torch: The Kennedy Administration Intervention in Force: The Johnson Administration, I Coming Home to Roost: The Johnson Administration, II Part Two: Goals: The Imperative Not to Lose National Security Goals and Stakes Domestic Political Stakes The Bureaucracy and the Inner Circle Part 3: Means: The Minimum Necessary and the Maximum Feasible Constraints Pressures and the President Part Four: Perceptions: Realism, Hope, and Compromise Optimism, Pessimism, and Credibility The Strategy of Perseverance Part Five: Conclusions The Lessons of Vietnam Documentary Appendix Bibliographical Note Notes Index Back Cover