American Tragedy by David Kaiser

From the Publisher

Fought as fiercely by politicians and the public as by troops in Southeast Asia, the Vietnam War—its origins, its conduct, its consequences—is still being contested. In what will become the classic account, based on newly opened archival sources, David Kaiser rewrites what we know about this conflict. Reviving and expanding a venerable tradition of political, diplomatic, and military history, he shows not only why we entered the war, but also why our efforts were doomed to fail.

American Tragedy is the first book to draw on complete official documentation to tell the full story of how we became involved in Vietnam—and the story it tells decisively challenges widely held assumptions about the roles of Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson. Using an enormous range of source materials from these administrations, Kaiser shows how the policies that led to the war were developed during Eisenhower's tenure and nearly implemented in the closing days of his administration in response to a crisis in Laos; how Kennedy immediately reversed course on Laos and refused for three years to follow recommendations for military action in Southeast Asia; and how Eisenhower's policies reemerged in the military intervention mounted by the Johnson administration. As he places these findings in the context of the Cold War and broader American objectives, Kaiser offers the best analysis to date of the actual beginnings of the war in Vietnam, the impact of the American advisory mission from 1962 through 1965, and the initial strategy of General Westmoreland.

A deft re-creation of the deliberations, actions, and deceptions that brought two decades of post-World War IIconfidence to an ignominious end, American Tragedy offers unparalleled insight into the Vietnam War at home and abroad—and into American foreign policy in the 1960s.

Washington Post Book World - Kai Bird

Kaiser's book is an invaluable contribution to the on-going task of peeling back further layers of the history.

Foreign Affairs

[Kaiser's] Vietnam book is strongest on the Kennedy period...

New York Times Book Review - Gideon Rose

The book is a detailed narrative of the war-related decisions of the Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson administrations.

Jerusalem Post - Shimshon Arad

It's been a long time since we had a ‘big' book on the war in Vietnam. [It] is that book.

Chicago Tribune - Stanley I. Kutler

Kaiser writes very good history; he deserves a wide serious audience.

Publishers Weekly

This masterpiece of governmental history locates the roots of the Vietnam War not in the Johnson or even Kennedy administration, but back in the military policies of the Eisenhower era. Eisenhower and his advisors took an aggressive attitude--including an openness to using nuclear weapons--toward communist advances anywhere, "especially in Southeast Asia," Kaiser finds. Neutralist, nonaligned governments in emerging nations, such as in Laos, were treated as enemies; Kennedy was more open to nonaligned governments and more interested in d tente than in war. But the positions of the Eisenhower administration were entrenched institutionally among both civilian and military advisors in the State and Defense Departments. Drawing on a host of documents from recently opened government archives and tape recordings of White House meetings, Kaiser offers voluminous and meticulous evidence that Kennedy repeatedly rejected, deferred or at least modified recommendations for military actions--most notably in Laos. Misled by aides into thinking we were winning in Vietnam, even after Diem's overthrow, Kennedy never aggressively redirected policy there. President Johnson, less skilled than Kennedy in foreign affairs, readily reverted to Eisenhower's narrow policy framework, despite the emergence of critics among his advisers whose thinking echoed Kennedy's. Kaiser repeatedly says they ignored problems they couldn't solve and failed to heed clear evidence that their assumptions were flawed, making defeat a foregone conclusion. This is a commanding work that sheds bright light on questions of responsibility for the Vietnam debacle. (Apr.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Library Journal - Karl Helicher

[An] excellent investigation of the roots of the Vietnam War…Having spent nine years researching recently declassified documents, the author describes in exactly detail the evolution of Vietnam policies from 1961 to 1965, the year that Johnson committed the United States to a war it couldn't win…The first rate research is complemented by an intriguing model of intergenerational policy-making, whereby Kaiser attributes much of the failure to the heavy-handed actions of the 'GI Generation,' the successful leaders of World War II. Highly recommended.

New York Review of Books - Jonathan Mirsky

A persuasive and splendidly informed book... Kaiser's theme throughout this fascinating but depressing study is that the main actors, defying expert knowledge, could not see that their project was doomed and never defined their ultimate objectives apart from keeping Hanoi from winning.

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Table of Contents