Customer Reviews

Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War

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When excerpts from Douglas Brinkley's forthcoming book on John Kerry and the Vietnam War appeared in The Atlantic in December 2003, I couldn't help feeling sorry for the author. Obviously he had spent a lot of time researching and writing a book that would be forgotten before the ink was even dry. Of course, at that time Senator Kerry's campaign for the presidency was dead in the water, while the supposedly smart money was accumulating around Howard Dean.

Now Douglas Brinkley has the last laugh. His time spent on "Tour of Duty" looks like a shrewd bet. Not only has Kerry locked up the Democratic nomination to challenge George W. Bush--his experiences in the Vietnam War have become central to the campaign in a way few could have predicted.

Anyone hoping to gain a better understanding of the veteran senator who would be president should start here. Brinkley shows Kerry's growth from youth to manhood through the harrowing crucible of the Vietnam War. Anyone who doubts the genuine courage and skill that Kerry showed as a Navy lieutenant in that conflict must contend with the evidence that Brinkley has amassed. With the cooperation of his subject, he has also produced a highly intimate portrait of Kerry's thoughts and writings at the time. Brinkley thereby succeeds in warmly humanizing a public figure often criticized for aloofness.

Brinkley's Kerry is a compelling Renaissance Man: brave soldier, compassionate friend, charismatic politician, agile intellectual, avid sportsman. In short, he's a little too good to be true. And that's where one begins to have some doubts about this book. An associate of the late Stephen Ambrose, Brinkley seems to be a serious historian. And one might expect him to be broadly sympathetic to his subject--if he weren't, I doubt that Senator Kerry would have offered him access to his private papers.

Still, Brinkley seems reluctant to criticize Kerry or even raise questions about his motives or judgment. This becomes more apparent when the narrative shifts from Mekong Delta war stories to antiwar protests and political campaigns. The final chapter, a glowing description of Kerry's presidential announcement in September 2003 (an event which seemed to fall flat at the time), reads like a ghostwritten hack campaign biography.

It's too bad, because Brinkley was ideally situated to place the strengths and weaknesses of Kerry's candidacy in the context of his past. (A first-class example of this type of book is David Maraniss' biography of the young Bill Clinton, "First in His Class".)

Brinkley's book also seems to have been rushed a bit into publication. Editors of political books ought to be able to spell Rep. John Dingell's name right, for example, and to know that Chuck Hagel is a Republican Senator from Nebraska, not a Democrat.

That being said, Brinkley has produced a truly useful piece of work. Both Republicans and Democrats will be studying it carefully--the former probing for weaknesses, the latter looking for reassurance. But if John Kerry is half the man Doug Brinkley seems to think he is, the Republicans should be worried, and the Democrats should be proud.

I saw Doug Brinkley interviewed on the Today Show about this book and, although I don't know much about John Kerry, I thought "Tour of Duty" sounded interesting so I got a copy. Regardless of one's political views, this is an extraordinary book about the life and experiences of a young soldier in Vietnam grappling with what it's like to kill, survive emotionally and physically in a hellish environment (Kerry was wounded several times), and come to terms with a conflict he ultimately thought to be unwinnable--even thought he was right in the middle of it. This is not a Kerry campaign book, but a phenomenal, unbiased work of history on Professor Brinkley's part and, without question, one of the best and most riveting war books I've read. And I read a lot of them.

Douglas Brinkley, a respected historian and biographer, has put together an extensively researched, well-written portrait of a young John Kerry as well as a fascinating account of an important period of American history.

Whether you like Kerry the candidate or not, this book will provide insight to the man. Kerry, by the way, gave Brinkley unrestricted access to his letters, journals, and personal papers, and exercised no editorial control over the end result. (And yes, Brinkley interviewed dozens of vets who served with Kerry.)

It is telling of Brinkley's professionalism that in almost every subsequent article or commentary about Kerry, "Tour of Duty" is used as a point of reference. The book is cited line and page to settle points about Kerry's life and times. It is also a mark of Brinkley's journalistic integrity that the paperback edition contains clarifications suggested by readers and interviewees.

When you scan the O'Neill/Corsi hit piece, compare the quality of the writing, research, and tone to Brinkley's. Like comparing Rush Limbaugh to Edward R. Murrow.


(An aside to a prior reviewer - even the FR site has exposed the old "Giap thanks Kerry" bit as an urban legend. Get with it.)

I had no plans to read this book, but after receiving it as a gift, I gave it a whirl. I am glad that I did. While Brinkley deserves some chiding for only bringing campaign biography analytical rigor to the subject, he does a fine job of describing John Kerry's life during the Vietnam era, and more generally, presenting the difficult choices that Americans of Kerry's generation faced. Kerry comes off as an admirable (though certainly not faultless) young man making his way through difficult time with intelligence and integrity.

How to deal with the actual, living experience of war, then and now, is the underlying topic of Douglas Brinkley's troubling book. Troubling because in John Kerry's experience of Vietnam as a young soldier, there were no easy answers or solutions, even when it was clear that the war was wrong. How to behave? What decisions to make? How to maintain loyalty to one's comrades and decency to one's enemy? How to think about the experience years later, and apply it to the radically different environment created by the interplay of George W. Bush's insistence on invading Iraq and Saddam Hussein's efforts to disguise his own weakness, in a period when the CIA was warning he had the ability to kill millions with biological and chemical weapons, and was still seeking nuclears. No simple answers here, only the guidance that one has to do one's level best with the struggle to do the right thing. A powerful book, but not a happy one. What it does suggest that John Kerry has been through a crucible that would make him more cautious and serious than the people who got us into Iraq, and the compassion and empathy for others that might make him more capable of helping us find solutions for where we are now with Iraq and with the world.

Brinkley's text helps explain why every one of Kerry's crew members in Vietnam, regardless of party affiliation, are supporting him in his quest for the presidency. Brinkley's account describes an especially mature, serious, and thoughtful young man, trying to do what he feels is right for the country. Kerry's enormous courage, integrity, patriotism, and strength of character are on full display here. If you want to get a sense of what type of person John Kerry is, read this book.

I really expected nothing but rah-rah, Kerry boosterism from this book but was surprised at the candor of the material. I was particularly interested in the Swift Boat era. According to this, John Kerry signed up for a second Viet Nam tour as a Swift Boat commander not because he wanted to be in the thick of the action but rather to have his own command. Only after he arrived in Viet Nam did he discover that he got more than he bargined for. Roy Hoffman (who now is now a critic) was the one who came up with the dubious use of Swift Boats in the Mekong Delta. In other words it appears that Kerry saw all the action he did because of circumstances not rabid heroism.

The "Winter Soldier" hearings and the subsequent Senate Foriegn Relations Committee testimony is also viewed with candor. If people would bother to read it they might have very different views of Kerry's role at that very difficult time.

An enjoyable read with some gingerbread and some warts to spice things up. Refreshingly positive overall.

Kerry's biggest crime is, of course, that he is everything their hero is not. Kerry served in Vietnam, honourably in both senses. He got wounded three times - which meant his tour of duty was over, and he got a medal for bravery. However, he also served honourably in that he questioned the actions of his fellow soldiers. Just this story about how they were supposed to treat local fishermen; Kerry was disgusted. Does that show a flip-flopper? Kerry's even greater moment of bravery came when he stood up against the establishment and spoke out. This book is more than an ordinary biography, it also covers the brown water corps, and it is also a story about an intelligent young man that learns that life is more complex than he was tought.
Contrary to what the detractors of the book claims there are plenty of sources, not just Kerry's war diaries. The writing is actually quite riveting, Brinkley can write, but still sober. A far cry from the somewhat shrill and desperate tone of Unfit for Commmand.

I had hoped for an insightful biography of John Kerry. This is just a whitewashed story of his life. Everything is bathed in positive rays of sunshine. People who did not like John Kerry are described as being part of a "cult of envy". It's hard to believe this book is not satire; Kerry is the Doc Savage of his generation. The stories of the war years were more interesting and kept me from rating the book lower. I will still be searching for a true, objective biography of the man.

This book was well-written and well-researched, regardless of how I may feel about Kerry's political stance. My husband is retired Navy, a veteran of the riverine war in Vietnam. My husband read this book and recommended it to me, not on the basis of the character (or lack thereof) of John Kerry but because the descriptions and history of the riverine war were accurate. For those who want to disparage the book, there are numberless accounts of Vietnam veterans whose time in-country lasted a day or lasted five years. My husband reads every one he can get his hands on, so I know they are out there. That he recommended this to me above so many others he has read is because, in his words, "this one is accurate." Forget that John Kerry happens to be the sailer in question and study the Vietnam War.