America In Vietnam: A Documentary History

By Thomas J. McCormick

Book Overview

Through a wide variety of documents--including newly opened presidential papers, congressional debates, military reports, treaties, and newspaper articles--the authors trace the origins of the war back to pre-World War II attitudes and then proceed through the development of the "domino theory" and the policies of Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon to the fall of South Vietnam in 1975.

Each of the editors has written an introductory essay to place the documents in heir historical context. These essays explore the controversial questions raised by Vietnam--such as whether each president understood what he was getting into, whether (as some now charge) the media and public opinion undermined America's ability to win the war, whether official statements were intended to mislead the American people, and, most fundamentally, why America was in Vietnam.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393305554
• ISBN13: 9780393305555
• Release Date: May 1989
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 360 Pages
• Weight: 0.86 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

An Excellent Complement to the Pentagon Papers

This collection of documents is especially useful for documents not in the Pentagon Papers, including some amazing ones from the 1950s. It's concise and annotated, emphasizing the origins of the war; half of the documents are dated prior to 1960.

Oregon State University's critique

William Appleman Williams was a prolific and influential writer of a dozen revisionist books that challenged prevailing views of American history, deploring the United States as an imperialist power pressing its economic and ideological will around the globe. He was a professor at the University of Wisconsin from 1960 to 1968 and at Oregon State University from 1968 to 1986, when he retired with the title emeritus. The genially combative professor, who termed himself a radical and was often called the founder of the New Left school of American history, was particularly critical of America's role in the Cold War and in Vietnam. With passionate argument and complex analysis, he championed self-determination for all people and argued that a refusal by Americans to acknowledge a national desire for expansion and global hegemony has led to major errors and confusion over the nation's future.