From Publishers Weekly
This impressively detailed study traces the gradual U.S. entanglement in Vietnam, from the early days of the Truman administration to the early 1960s when the South Vietnamese government formally requested that President Kennedy send U.S. Special Forces teams. Arnold discusses Truman's rejection of Ho Chi Minh and the Vietminh version of Vietnamese nationalism, explains our reluctant support of France's post-WW II colonial reassertion in Southeast Asia, recounts how North Korea's 1950 invasion of the South caused immediate reverberations in Vietnam and reveals how close the U.S. came to direct military intervention in 1954 during the Vietminh's siege of the French fortress at Dien Bien Phu. The book also analyzes President Eisenhower's critical 1955 decisions relating to Indochina: accepting the burden of training the South Vietnamese Army, authorizing the creation of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization and aligning U.S. policy with the flawed leadership of President Ngo Dinh Diem. By the author of the Bantam History of the Vietnam War , this authoritative review explains clearly how the U.S. got caught in the quagmire. Photos.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Arnold offers a balanced, concise introduction to the decision-making surrounding American intervention in Vietnam. He concentrates on the Eisenhower administration (1953-61), but provides the needed background with a survey of the Truman years and touches on how existing policy affected the Kennedy team. The influence of prominent individuals (John Foster Dulles, Arthur Radford, "Lightning Joe" Collins, Ngo Dinh Diem, and the always-fascinating Edward Lansdale) on the sometimes torturous foreign policy process is a key element in understanding the rationale underlying White House actions. Arnold provides the necessary preface to the final scenes on the embassy roof in Saigon. Recommended for Vietnam collections.
- John R. Vallely, Siena Coll. Lib., Loudonville, N.Y.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- John R. Vallely, Siena Coll. Lib., Loudonville, N.Y.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
