On Aug 7, 1967, an editorial in The New York Times on the Vietnam War noted the futility of a vastly superior military force unable to quell a peasant guerrilla insurgency in which “the enemy’s tenacity defies [an] awesome U. S. effort.” The editorial noted that the U. S. was... Continue reading

For a long time, I have been intrigued by Arthur Schlesinger’s assertion in his 1967 book, The Bitter Heritage, that Vietnam is the result of “a series of small decisions” made by a succession of administrations in the belief that just “one more step” in a succession of steps would... Continue reading

Emily Parker is senior fellow and digital diplomacy adviser at the New America Foundation. I just read her essay, “To Be Read by All Parties,” in The New York Times Book Review, Feb 19, in which she describes her recent experience serving on the State Department’s policy planning staff. The... Continue reading

In his review of George F. Kennan, An American Life (New York Times Book Review, Nov. 13, 2011), Henry Kissinger comments on Kennan’s habit of reviewing each side of an issue because “the challenge of statesmanship” requires a balance of “both power and morality.” Kissinger’s stewardship of the Vietnam War... Continue reading

They had known each other since their days at Harvard when Kissinger was a graduate student and Morgenthau, a visiting professor from the University of Chicago. They came to the United States from Germany. They were separated in age by a generation; Morgenthau was born in 1904, Kissinger in 1923.... Continue reading

Of America’s three Vietnam Presidents, only Lyndon Johnson demonstrated a lack of enthusiasm for international politics and foreign policy. Almost immediately following the humiliation of the American sponsored Bay of Pigs disaster in April, 1961, former Vice President Nixon visited Kennedy at the White House in a show of support.... Continue reading

In my forthcoming book, “The Vietnam War Debate: Hans J. Morgenthau and the Attempt to Halt the Drift into Disaster,” I write about the failure of America’s national leadership under three American Presidents to understand the nature of the war they waged which produced the greatest American foreign policy disaster... Continue reading