|
|
|
|
A Slice of Life
by Francine Brokaw
Lessons in Disaster: McGeorge Bundy and the Path to War in Vietnam by Gordon M. Goldstein
Why do we go to war? McGeorge Bundy was the national security adviser to both Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. This book takes readers back in time to the events and the meetings that made up America’s involvement in Southeast Asia. Before his death, Bundy was working with Gordon Goldstein on a project to document his involvement and the decisions that went into the Vietnam War. They spent countless hours together. Unfortunately, before the book could be written, Bundy passed away. Goldstein took all the information and went on to write this fascinating book, which is an intense look at the Kennedy and Johnson administrations and the decisions that were made in the 1960s.
Even those readers who think they know everything about this time in history will learn many lessons. And there are incredible parallels between what happened in Vietnam and later in Iraq. At the time the cold war was raging at its height, and the fear of communism spreading throughout the world was one of the reasons for the conflict. The domino theory was front and center.
Kennedy was advised to use tactical nuclear weapons in Laos but using his cool head, he dismissed his advisors’ suggestions. He was advised that if China and North Vietnam intervened in Laos, he should also use nuclear weapons on them as well.
Having been stung by the disaster of the Bay of Pigs, JFK was not eager to use more force than necessary anywhere else in the world. He told Arthur Schlesinger, “If it hadn’t been for Cuba we might be about to intervene in Laos.”
Kennedy once said, “Vietnam represents the cornerstone of the Free World in Southeast Asia, the keystone to the arch, the finger in the dike.” This sounds a lot like today’s reasoning that Iraq is the cornerstone of democracy in the Arab world.
As President, Kennedy resisted his advisors’ arguments to use combat troops in Vietnam. Deputy Secretary of Defense Gilpatric, said in 1962 that the president “emphasized the importance of playing down the number of U.S. military personnel involved in Vietnam and that the U.S. military role there was for advice, training, and support of the Vietnamese armed forces and not combat.” And in November 1963, before his assassination, JFK said, he wanted “to bring Americans home, permit the South Vietnamese to maintain themselves as a free and independent country.” Johnson was on the same page when he ran for the Presidency in 1964, but in 1965 he reversed his decision and started deploying the troops.
This book delves into the history of Vietnam and the region, and is an eye-opening look behind the scenes of decision making that took America into combat. McGeorge Bundy admitted he had reservations about enlarging American involvement in Vietnam, but he didn’t press hard enough to reverse the actions that were taken. He knew mistakes were made.
Henry Kissinger calls this book, “An illuminating window into a seminal time." It is a great way to learn about the past so the mistakes are not repeated in the future.
© 2008 Francine Brokaw
Let's Talk About It!
Issues newsgroup
Join us to talk about this article!
|
|
|
