Irony of Vietnam: The System Worked [Hardcover]

Leslie H. Gelb (Author), Richard K. Betts (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1979

Designed to reach a wide audience of scholars and policymakers, the Brookings-Wharton Papers on Urban Affairs 2000 is an annual series that serves as a forum for cutting-edge, accessible research on urban policy. The editors seek to integrate broader research into the urban policy discussion by bringing urban studies scholars together with economists and researchers studying subjects with important urban implications. The six papers in this inaugural volume are divided into two sections. The first three assess the state of urban research and policy. The others address important aspects of the urban economy: education, racial segregation, and federal housing policies.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 387 pages
• Publisher: Brookings Institution (December 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0815730721
• ISBN-13: 978-0815730729
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,527,872 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Analysis On Vietnam And Why We Staggered &Stalemated!, June 14, 2000

By 

Joseph J. Janos III (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Irony of Vietnam: The System Worked (Paperback)

One of a series of must read books on Vietnam for all who want to enter the field of International Relations and Foreign Policy. The author in a very methodical way details how America's National Security Apparatus of decision-making simply stalemated over Vietnam, not due to blunders but to positions that were well argued from both stand points. One group of advisors recommended no withdraw at any price. The other could not agree on how to win a victory and then exit. In the meantime, four presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon tried to win and escape at the same time as American boys blood reigned on the soaked soil of Vietnam. Although few blame Harry Truman's mistake by forcing a limited war to save South Korea, fewer know Truman started us in Vietnam as well when he first gave $10 million in Military Aid to the French in 1947. However, every president after him escalated the war to win it, only to see all attempts for peace evaporate when trying to stop it. What you find is the explanation in this book on why such outstanding advisors to five presidents could only agree to escalation to prevent withdrawal but develop no victory strategy at the same time. Leslie Gelb answers and details the blunders at the very center of National Security Council points of view. If you want to see how decisions were made back then, this is the book for you! In the end, you will question why so many failed leaving so many to die and few excuses to remember.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Superb Book, November 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Irony of Vietnam: The System Worked (Paperback)

This is an excellent, balanced, and well-written study of American foreign policy in Vietnam by two unusually able scholars. It refutes the modern mythology that LBJ and/or Nixon "dragged Congress kicking and screaming" into the conflict, and notes that a plurality of New Hampshire voters who supported McCarthy in Feb. 1968 went on to support George Wallace and Gen. Curtiss ("Bomb Hanoi back to the stone age") LeMay in the November election--that is, they were Hawks protesting a "no-win" policy rather than Doves who wanted to abandon South Vietnam to the Communists. Highly recommended.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books on American foreign policy wrt Vietnam, November 24, 1997

By 

Doomster "[e-mail]" (Silicon Valley, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Irony of Vietnam: The System Worked (Paperback)

Very well-researched book regarding American policy towards Vietnam. The authors explore the constraints of each president, especially LBJ, when they had to deal with Vietnam. Especially incisive is the authors' view of "minimum necessary" vs "maximum feasible" constraints on US presidents w.r.t. Vietnam. This is not a conspiracy book or a first-person account. It is geared towards the academe who wants to learn about how US foreign policy was conceived and implemented wrt Vietnam.