Introduction ; 1. Munich and Vietnam: Lessons Drawn ; 2. Truman in Korea ; 3. Eisenhower in Indochina ; 4. Kennedy and Johnson in Vietnam and the Caribbean ; 5. Nixon and Kissinger in Vietnam ; 6. Reagan in Lebanon, Grenada, Central America, and Afghanistan; 7. Bush in Panama, the Persian Gulf, and Somalia ; 8. Clinton in Haiti and the Balkans ; 9. Legacies of Munich and Vietnam for the Post-Cold War World ; 10. Using Force, Thinking History ; Notes ; Bibliography ; Index ; About the Author
Summary
In examining the influence of historical analogies on decisions to use--or not use--force, military strategist Jeffrey Record assesses every major application of U.S. force from the Korean War to the NATO war on Serbia. Specifically, he looks at the influence of two analogies: the democracies? appeasement of Hitler at Munich and America's defeat in the Vietnam War. His book judges the utility of these two analogies on presidential decision-making and finds considerable misuse of them in situations where force was optional. He points to the Johnson administration's application of the Munich ana
