Books > Reference & Interdisciplinary > Communication studies
|
Buy Now
Vietnam-on-the-Potomac (Hardcover, New)
Loot Price: R2,916
Discovery Miles 29 160
|
|
Vietnam-on-the-Potomac (Hardcover, New)
Expected to ship within 10 - 15 working days
|
This intriguing volume examines how the small group communication
of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson and their key advisors influenced
the decisions to escalate the war in Vietnam from January 1961 to
July 1965. Using an historical-critical research method, Moya Ann
Ball traces the Vietnam decisions from the combative rhetoric of
Kennedy's presidential campaign through the creation of a small
group communication culture in the Kennedy administration, which,
sustained and reinforced in the Johnson administration, became the
motivating force behind the decisions to overtly escalate the war
in July 1965. Ball asserts that this small group communication
culture was formed by the convergence of such characteristics as
the decision-making group's assembly effect, the group's reaction
to situational demands, the sharing of dramatic communication, and
normative behavior. The analysis is based on primary sources (many
of them declassified through the author's efforts) from the Kennedy
and Johnson Libraries, and on correspondence and interviews with
advisors such as McGeorge Bundy, Robert S. McNamara, Walt W.
Rostow, Dean Rusk, and James C. Thomson. Contrary to current
literature, Ball uncovers that: Kennedy was not the "natural
leader" of the Vietnam decision-making group, but became the leader
in death that he had not been in life; the decision makers'
communication rooted them rhetorically to a combat position from
which it seemed impossible to move; Johnson stalled on overt action
in Vietnam and, rather than leading his advisors, was led by them;
and the decisions to escalate the war emerged in a "context of
discovery" in the Kennedy administration and then were rationalized
in a "context ofjustification" in the Johnson administration.
Vietnam-on-the-Potomac will prove invaluable to communication
specialists, political scientists, and historians.
General
Is the information for this product incomplete, wrong or inappropriate?
Let us know about it.
Does this product have an incorrect or missing image?
Send us a new image.
Is this product missing categories?
Add more categories.
Review This Product
No reviews yet - be the first to create one!
|
You might also like..
|
Email address subscribed successfully.
A activation email has been sent to you.
Please click the link in that email to activate your subscription.