Vietnam If Kennedy Had Lived : Virtual JFK (Hardcover)

~ James Blight (Author), Janet M. Lang (Author), David A. Welch (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Informative and at times exhilarating; recommended for academic collections." --Library Journal, March 2009

"John F. Kennedy's unrealized Vietnam strategy gets a comprehensive workout in this volume. . . . The book offers other new insights (PBS broadcaster and former LBJ advisor Bill Moyers, a possible Kennedy-McNamara 'back-channel')." --Publishers Weekly, Web Exclusive Review, April 2009

"The authors . . . make a fair case that . . . 'virtual history' is a much more serious exercise than counterfactual history. . . . The liveliness of the exchanges and the enthusiasm of the participants do illuminate this critical period in U.S. history." --Foreign Affairs, Sept/Oct 2009

I urge everyone interested in Kennedy, Johnson, and Vietnam, and everyone concerned about the kind of leadership we need to keep our nation out of war, to read this book. It is far and away the best book on these subjects I have ever read-lucid, rich, and balanced, with all sides getting a fair, but critical, hearing. --Robert S. McNamara, secretary of defense under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson (1960-1968)

Review

The authors deftly analyze all sides in the debate. They also draw lessons from the Kennedy presidency that can now be useful as the nation moves to rescue U.S. foreign policy from the morass into which it has fallen during the presidency of George W. Bush. JFK has never looked more persuasive or more relevant than he does here.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 456 pages
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. (March 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0742556999
• ISBN-13: 978-0742556997
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #476,020 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Virtual JFK: Vietnam if Kennedy Had Lived, May 25, 2009

By	Dreamer Action Figure (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

(To be clear, this is a review of the film adaptation of the book.)


There is an excellent 30-year old BBC series that aired numerous times in the U.S., entitled, "Connections." In it, British journalist James Burke explores how, throughout history, often accidental minutiae ends up having profound impact on humankind.

Such is the premise of "Virtual JFK: Vietnam if Kennedy Had Lived," which asked the question of if the "police action" in Vietnam would have happened if President John F. Kennedy hadn't been assassinated.

The filmmaker, Koji Masutani, distills Kennedy's major Cold War policy dealings of his roughly 1,000-day presidency into six major avoidances of war. From this, he postulates that Kennedy consistently avoided war and would have again in Vietnam if he'd lived.

The film spends a lot of time in Kennedy press conferences, the time when we see our presidents most publicly vulnerable and witness shades of their character as they're peppered with often-unfriendly questions in a sink-or-swim format. With the 20/20 clarity of history, we see how in this kinder, gentler age of journalism, the reporters grill him, but still stay respectful. We also see him charm the reporters with charisma and intelligence, which we now know was a necessary part of Kennedy's maintaining an inappropriate personal life in the face of their knowledge.

Since Masutani is so obviously an unabashed Kennedy fan, the question arises of how much footage was discarded during his research that didn't jibe with his conclusion. Kennedy also consistently spoke out of both sides of this mouth regarding troop escalation in Vietnam, his most salient words repeated by his successor, President Johnson, to maintain support for the war. In Masutani's telling, there is no black-and-white ideology. There are only angels (Democrats) and demons (LBJ for escalating troop involvement and Republicans, but Especially Anything Richard Nixon). When the personal side of Kennedy is shown he's young and flashing a million-dollar smile while hamming it up with his his siblings. Down time for Johnson is footage of his lumbering frame in a pool about to kiss his dog.

Kennedy's press conferences also seem to have been used as a template for President Barack Obama. While we watch Kennedy we hear the same cadences, the same "uhhh"s and similar logical expressions of identical ideologies from Obama. The same "youth and inexperience" claims leveled at Obama give us a sense of deja vu.

The events depicted are fascinating about quite uncomfortable subjects. We are subjected to a patient explanation of domino theory. We see a young Fidel Castro and are reminded of Adolf Hitler. We see Nikita Kruschev at the height of his power and can't help but wince at what he could have been. We watch Defense Secretary Bob McNamara coolly lay out how many Americans would die in a Soviet first strike launched from Cuba. Somehow the tone becomes ever more somber as the inexorable march to assassination overtakes the film. However, we're captivated and are compelled to watch, even with full knowledge of how the events played out.

Perhaps part of the film's worship of Kennedy shows in how it makes it appear that his policies were in now way shaped by his close trusted advisors, to whom absolutely no credit is given, from Robert Kennedy on down. The other major peacemaker in the movie is successor president Lyndon Johnson's VP, Hubert Humphrey, who vehemently disagreed with Johnson on the level of involvement in Vietnam. It's almost as if we're to believe that fully formed peaceful warriors descend from the heavans to help humankind resolve our warlike tendencies before being either cut down or defeated in an election.

A fair amount of time is given to President Johnson, who ends up being extremely sympathetic. The blustery, arm-twisting, greatest legislator-turned-President of the 20th century is shown as a soft-spoken and ultimately broken man who ends up bleeding into history over the thousands of American boys killed in Vietnam. Lady Bird Johnson as well, who actually gets more screen time than Jackie.

In spite of his personal shortcomings and political moral ambiguities, Kennedy was a peacemaker. Whether he would have avoided all out war in Vietnam will probably be forever open to debate.

In the final analysis, we emerge from the film thankful for someone of Kennedy's ilk during an all-too-long international nightmare.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Don't Bother, October 15, 2009

By	Eddie Kasica (New York City) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

If anything is clear about the many "mysteries of history" it is this: John F. Kennedy -- had he not been taken out by his own National Security State -- would not have "Americanized" the war in Vietnam. The 60,000 American boys would not have been sacrificed, and (more importantly) neither would have been the 3,000,000 Southeast Asians in what would become the Johnson/Nixon/Kissinger genocide.

So what's the point of this book? No point at all. James Blight has gathered together for a weekend of kippers, strawberry scones, and piping hot Kopi Luwak a bunch of talking heads, some of whom are agenda-setting liars(some with blood on their hands such as the always dull Chet Cooper), passionately devoted to the myth that "Well, heck. It just don't matter who's POTUS. JFK, LBJ, Chester A. Arthur -- Vietnam as we know it was inevitable."

Yeah, sure. As inevitable as that terrible war we fought in Laos, as inevitable as the nuclear war we fought over the Berlin Wall, and the nuclear war we fought over Cuba, and the thousands of troops sent to Indonesia to stop the Leftist insurgents there, and the dramatic expansion of US nuclear arsenals in the early 60s. . .

Oh, wait. You say that none of these things happened? Yeah, that's right, they didn't. And they didn't happen because of one man: John F. Kennedy.

What's particularly obnoxious about this book is what Blight et. al. chooses to ignore. You know who is barely mentioned in this 420-page book?: Mr. Henry Cabot Lodge. Not mentioned at all is Lt. Col. Lucien Conein. Not mentioned: Ed Lansdale(except in passing), Ted Shackley and CIA Saigon station chief William Colby. ('Though George Clooney is mentioned.) Why is this important? (Not the Clooney part.) Because these five men -- among many others -- were traitors and did all they could to sabotage just about all aspects of JFK's Vietnam policy ON THE GROUND. Behind Kennedy's back, for example, they arranged for the murder of the Ngo brothers.

Also repugnant is who was not invited to the Hamptons chat: Howard Jones, Jim Douglass, David Kaiser, John Newman, the great Gareth Porter(whose masterpiece "Perils of Dominance" blows away all the arguments made by the LBJ Fanboys), Lawrence Freedman, among others: all men whose expertise on Vietnam ranges far and wide, much further and wider than this silly experiment was obviously willing to go. Guess that's the price you pay for access to Bill Moyers.

For reality, buy Jim Douglass's "JFK and the Unspeakable"(whose account of the Saigon intrigue through the summer and autumn of '63 is unmatched). And be sure to pick up the excellent DVD "Virtual JFK" to be released here at Amazon next week.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Virtual JFK,Vietnam if Kennedy had lived, February 16, 2009

By	John McDermott (Seattle, Washington USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This film truly made history come alive for me. I could see direct parallels to our involvement in Iraq. How I wish American national leadership from 2000 to 2008 had the capacity of discernment, policy correction and promulgation displayed in this film. The marriage of professional historical review, film presentation and learned narration was thought provoking and moving. The film is well focused and well paced. I appreciated the relatively long segments given to hear President Kennedy explain at length to the world what his thought process and beliefs were on the great issues before him, our nation and the world. It was clear that the use of concise language based on fact and knowledge was prised by him and, I beleive, was appreciated by the American public. America needs to seek leaders who do not disdain intellect, curiosity (defined as a desire to learn or know)and use of language now and in the future. Film such as Virtual JFK brings us back to an even keel to consider what was past to apply to the now and future. Thank you Mr. Masutani (director) and Mr. Blight (historian, co-producer and narrator).