| Description |
x, 821 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 25 cm |
| Contents |
The little pipsqueak: February 1965 -- pt. 1. The roots of war -- The "loss" of China: 1949-1950 -- Paralyzed with fear: 1950 -- Korea: 1950 -- The part-time isolationists: 1951 -- pt. 2. The initial descent -- Nothing but a grim joke: 1945-1950 -- The keystone in Southeast Asia: 1951 -- A great crusade: 1951-1952 -- Pouring money down a rat hole: 1953 -- Pouring money down a rat hole: 1953 -- You shall not fight unaided: 1953 -- La Guerre sale: 1954 -- We cannot engage in active war: 1954 -- Diplomacy of bluster and retreat: 1954 -- The best available prime minister: 1954-1955 -- This is our offspring: 1955-1956 -- A blank grant of power: 1957-1958 -- Nothing more than a mirage: 1958-1960 -- pt. 3. Into the morass -- Vietnam is the place: 1961 -- You're just crazier than hell: 1961 -- A world of illusion: 1962 -- The beginning of the beginning 1962 -- You did visit the same country, didn't you?: 1963 -- A stone rolling downhill: 1963 -- pt. 4. Escalation and deception -- Get in, get out, or get off: 1963-1964 -- The damn worst mess I ever saw: 1964 -- Aggression unchallenged is aggression unleashed: 1964 -- No wider war: 1964-1965 -- Harder choices: 1965 -- We are very deep already: 1965 -- This could be quagmire: 1965 -- Sliding farther into the morass of war: 1965 -- Let them know they are in a war: 1966 -- Once our flag is committed: 1966 -- Where does it all end?: 1966-1967 -- There is a rot in the fabric: 1967 -- A very near thing: 1968 -- Everyone has turned into a dove: 1968 -- The vice president has very few guns: 1968 -- pt. 5. Nixon's war -- Win the peace: 1969 -- This chamber reeks of blood: 1970 -- We'll bomb the bastards off the earth: 1970-1971 -- Peace is at hand: 1972 -- A spirit of doubt and contrition: 1972-1975 |
| Summary |
"A Grand Delusion is the first comprehensive single-volume American political history of the Vietnam War. Spanning the years 1945 to 1975, it is the definitive story of the well-meaning but often misguided American political leaders whose unquestioning adherence to Cold War dogma led the nation into the tragic misadventure in Vietnam. At the center of this narrative are seven such men - Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, J. William Fulbright, Mike Mansfield, and George McGovern. During their careers, each occupied center-stage in the nation's debate over Vietnam policy." "Mann focuses in particular on the role played by leading members of Congress, including Senator Mansfield's and Kennedy's shaping of American policy toward Vietnam in the 1950s; Congress's acquiescence in the 1950s to the Eisenhower administration's support of the American-backed Diem government; and the blank check that Congress gave to Lyndon Johnson with the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin resolution." "Mann considers as well the evolution of opposition to the war, including pivotal hearings conducted by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1966 to 1968; the small band of war opponents led by senators Fulbright, McGovern, and Wayne Morse; Mansfield's quiet-but-persistent lobbying campaign to dissuade his friend Lyndon Johnson from escalating the war in 1965; the bitter political feud that erupted between Fulbright and Johnson - erstwhile friends - over the war; McGovern and Hatfield's determined effort to force Richard Nixon to withdraw American forces from Vietnam; and Congress's assertion of its Constitutional role in war making in the early 1970s, culminating in the passage of the War Powers resolution in 1973." "In addition to being a piercing analysis of the political currents that resulted in and eventually ended the war, A Grand Delusion is an epic tragedy filled with fascinating characters and a keen reflection on the antagonisms and beliefs that divided the nation during those tumultuous years."--BOOK JACKET |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 733-799) and index |
| Subject |
Vietnam War, 1961-1975 -- United States.
|
| SUBJECT |
Asia -- Politics and government -- 1945- http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh87003817
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Vietnam -- Politics and government -- 1945-1975. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85143268
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United States -- Politics and government -- 20th century. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85140455
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| LC no. |
00049824 |
| ISBN |
0465043690 alkaline paper |
|
