Vietnam War - United States - Political Aspects, Vietnam War - General & Miscellaneous, U.S. Politics & Government - 1968-1977, U.S. Politics & Government - 1945 - 1989, U.S. Politics & Government - 1963-1969, 20th Century American History - Vietnam War,

Lyndon Johnson's war

Name: Lyndon Johnson's war
Author: Larry Berman
ISBN: 9780393307788

by Larry Berman

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Overview

Lyndon Johnson's war focuses on the repercussions from President Johnson's failure to address the fundamental incompatibility between his political objectives at home and his military objectives in Vietnam.

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Editorials

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Berman discusses the reactions of LBJ and his advisors to the failure of military policy in Vietnam, the manipulation of intelligence from the field to portray success and the widening division between the hawks and the doves. ``The portrait of the embattled and unyielding president that emerges is vivid and memorable,'' said PW. Photos. (May)

Library Journal

This sequel to Berman's Planning a Tragedy: The Americanization of the War in Vietnam ( LJ 5/1/82) covers the period from 1967 through Johnson's decision (March 1968) not to seek reelection. During this time, Johnson's administration debated, among other things, both a bombing halt and a significant increase in U.S. combat forces in Vietnam. Although little of the substance of these debates is new, documentary sources (some recently declassified) fill in many details. On the other hand, the author's argument that LBJ knew of and hid the truth about the ``Order of Battle'' figures is not supported by any evidence, and even could this theory be proven, it would not add materially to our understanding of the war, since Westmoreland's own manipulation of battle figures is already known. Appropriate for comprehensive Vietnam War collections.-- Kenneth W. Berger, Duke Univ. Lib., Durham, N.C.