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4.22 AVERAGE
4.22 AVERAGE
challenging
informative
sad
slow-paced
I was interested in how United States involvement in Viet Nam started, partly due to the fact as I was in college everyone was wondering if they would in up in Viet Nam rather that graduating college. Secondly, after reading The Sympathizer
by Viet Thanh Nguyen and other books, I wanted to learn more about the involvement started and why it was a failure. Unfortunately, it is another tale of how the government lied to the public and refused to listen to people in Viet Nam how poorly the war was going and that the government in South Viet Nam was weak as was the army. The title is ironic because JFK and LBJ had gathered the best and brightest, but had failed to see through the failures of the policy and ignoring the truth. The following is a quote from another review the explains the book better than I can: Halberstam gives us the inside story of how America entrapped itself in the Viet Nam War. He shows how the legacy of McCarthyism and 1940’s politics over China left a decimated State Department and influenced JFK’s and LBJ’s thinking. He details the many times JFK and others who doubted the war altered their positions out of fear of being seen as soft. He shows how the arrogance and overconfidence of Kennedy’s team and subsequently Johnson’s led the US into war. He takes us through the constant escalation ending with the Tet offensive of 1968 and the fall of the façade of competence, the public’s realization that its government, as well as the war, was lost and out of control. Along the way we learn the backgrounds, motivations and impact of key figures: Robert McNamara, Dean Rusk, John Paton Davies, McGeorge Bundy, William Bundy, Walt Rostow, Dean Acheson, George Ball, Averill Harriman, Clark Clifford, Roger Hilsman, John McNaughton, Maxwell Taylor, Paul Harkins, William Westmoreland, Robert Kennedy and of course JFK and LBJ.
by Viet Thanh Nguyen and other books, I wanted to learn more about the involvement started and why it was a failure. Unfortunately, it is another tale of how the government lied to the public and refused to listen to people in Viet Nam how poorly the war was going and that the government in South Viet Nam was weak as was the army. The title is ironic because JFK and LBJ had gathered the best and brightest, but had failed to see through the failures of the policy and ignoring the truth. The following is a quote from another review the explains the book better than I can: Halberstam gives us the inside story of how America entrapped itself in the Viet Nam War. He shows how the legacy of McCarthyism and 1940’s politics over China left a decimated State Department and influenced JFK’s and LBJ’s thinking. He details the many times JFK and others who doubted the war altered their positions out of fear of being seen as soft. He shows how the arrogance and overconfidence of Kennedy’s team and subsequently Johnson’s led the US into war. He takes us through the constant escalation ending with the Tet offensive of 1968 and the fall of the façade of competence, the public’s realization that its government, as well as the war, was lost and out of control. Along the way we learn the backgrounds, motivations and impact of key figures: Robert McNamara, Dean Rusk, John Paton Davies, McGeorge Bundy, William Bundy, Walt Rostow, Dean Acheson, George Ball, Averill Harriman, Clark Clifford, Roger Hilsman, John McNaughton, Maxwell Taylor, Paul Harkins, William Westmoreland, Robert Kennedy and of course JFK and LBJ.
challenging
dark
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
This is brilliant writing, Halberstam’s journalist background lending his prose that wonderful flow that makes dense chapters breeze by. For the delight of his sentence construction alone I would already recommend this to everyone I know. Not to mention the painful relevance of the subject matter.
There's a depressingly timeless aspect to Halberstam's 1972 account of our backslide into Vietnam. The parallels to the current Global War on Terror, among other things, are obvious, the tropes so classical I'm amazed at his restraint in only once mentioning "Greek tragedy." The narratives traced from the Chinese Civil War through World War II, Korea, and the McCarthy era were yet another revelation we never did and still do not teach history well, if at all. But my biggest takeaway went beyond the "best and brightest" cliche: Forget the Whiz Kids, there were capable, knowledgeable civil servants, military officers, and journalists at nearly every level whose insights, warnings, and recommendations were nevertheless defeated or rendered irrelevant by personality clashes and (often intentional) systemic dysfunction. The arrogance and shortsightedness of social/political elites are nothing new, but the futility of some underlings’ persistent efforts to fix things was infuriating and terrifying. Selfish, short-term bureaucratic loyalty and political expediency defeated moral fiber at every turn, regardless of whether anyone had the courage to speak out, to lose friends or careers, to keep filing accurate memos from “cleared” hamlets straight into ignominious reassignment or ignored filing cabinets. Half a century later, in the throes of renewed military fiascos abroad and economic and public health crises at home, I can’t say that’s changed.
Content Warnings
Minor: Racial slurs
Halberstam's book is a masterful, detailed account of how the administrations of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson became ever more entangled in the net of Vietnam despite intelligent advisors. Although knowledge of the events and personalities are receding into history, the book still offers lessons for situations that threaten to ensnare today's decision makers.
An incredibly good narrative on how America became so heavily involved in Vietnam. His profiles of the major figures, such as Robert McNamara, Dean Rusk, and MacGeorge Bundy, are both enlightening and disheartening. It is disheartening because many of these guys were so smart that they should have (and probably did) know better than to make the decisions they made. I guess the moral that anyone who reads this books should take away is that any president and/or administration that misleads and does not inform the American people of his or its policies, that doesn't get detailed, truthful, and correct intelligence on the enemy, is doomed to failure.
A really (really) thorough examination of the kennedy/johnson cabinet who were feted as the most able cabinet in US history. The irony being that they managed to sleep walk into vietnam. Facinating account of how highly education people can become deluded when they confuse the outcome they want with reality. A must read for any fan of history/politics/psychology
Read this years ago when it first appeared. As a result, I read everything Halberstam wrote. Whenever I hear anyone discuss hiring only the "best and the brightest" now, I shudder.
Halberstam is one of my favorite nonfiction writers, and this one did not disappoint. A detailed and precise description of the events leading up to our involvement in Vietnam, through the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, this book left me with a very clear picture of what happened during this time period that I used to feel was "unknowable".
Highly recommend.
Highly recommend.
You know what the saddest thing about Vietnam is? It's that at every turn... Every single turn: "Respect for the president demanded that bad news be filtered down.". And even though we should expect the current generation of politicians to have learned lessons from this awful war that killed millions and harmed tens of millions and probably destroyed the social fabric of the United States permanently... They all act the same way. If you need proof just read the recent Washington Post expose that details how no one wanted to tell the truth about Afghanistan. And this generation of boomers who are now the political elite clearly have learned absolutely nothing. The best and the brightest...
Very detailed account of the run up to the Vietnam war, and all the political, bureaucratic and military intrigues. Readable but too elaborate for my taste.
In the epilogue (p.614):"now that illusion was gone, the real world was tougher than the world of doctored war games and high-level meetings". Reality caught up to the generals and bureaucrats.
How the US military described the ARVN promotion system (South Vietnamese army): Fuck up and move up. "They did not realize that by now the slogan applied to their own Army as well" (p.281).
Halberstam recommends thia Atlantic article at the end of this book:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1968/04/how-could-vietnam-happen-an-autopsy/306462/?single_page=true
In the epilogue (p.614):"now that illusion was gone, the real world was tougher than the world of doctored war games and high-level meetings". Reality caught up to the generals and bureaucrats.
How the US military described the ARVN promotion system (South Vietnamese army): Fuck up and move up. "They did not realize that by now the slogan applied to their own Army as well" (p.281).
Halberstam recommends thia Atlantic article at the end of this book:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1968/04/how-could-vietnam-happen-an-autopsy/306462/?single_page=true