The United States had never lost a war --that is, until 1975,
when it was forced to flee Saigon in humiliation after losing to
what Lyndon Johnson called a "raggedy-ass little fourth-rate
country." The legacy of this first defeat has haunted every
president since, especially on the decision of whether to put
"boots on the ground" and commit troops to war.
In "Haunting Legacy," the father-daughter journalist team of
Marvin Kalb and Deborah Kalb presents a compelling, accessible, and
hugely important history of presidential decisionmaking on one
crucial issue: in light of the Vietnam debacle, under what
circumstances should the United States go to war?
The sobering lesson of Vietnam is that the United States is not
invincible --it can lose a war --and thus it must be more
discriminating about the use of American power. Every president has
faced the ghosts of Vietnam in his own way, though each has been
wary of being sucked into another unpopular war. Ford (during the
"Mayaguez" crisis) and both Bushes (Persian Gulf, Iraq,
Afghanistan) deployed massive force, as if to say, "Vietnam, be
damned." On the other hand, Carter, Clinton, and Reagan (to the
surprise of many) acted with extreme caution, mindful of the
Vietnam experience. Obama has also wrestled with the Vietnam
legacy, using doses of American firepower in Libya while still
engaged in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The authors spent five years interviewing hundreds of officials
from every post war administration and conducting extensive
research in presidential libraries and archives, and they've
produced insight and information never before published. Equal
parts taut history, revealing biography, and cautionary tale,
"Haunting Legacy" is must reading for anyone trying to understand
the power of the past to influence war-and-peace decisions of the
present, and of the future.
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