In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lesson of Vietnam ED 3240 Spring 2008 Book Report b y Sherri Mannausau

The Non-Fiction Book In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam By Robert S. McNamara Pages: 335 Published by Random House, Inc. (1995)

McNamara’s Journey to Washington Robert McNamara – Born June 9, graduated from University of California with a B.A. in Economics 1937 graduated from Harvard with a Master’s in Business Administration

McNamara’s Journey to Washington 1940 McNamara taught at Harvard’s business school 1946 McNamara joined Ford Motor Co. and was a very successful executive 1961 he became John F. Kennedy’s secretary of defense

Please note: That Robert S. McNamara did not get formal training to be the Secretary of Defense. President John F. Kennedy was not trained to be a President either. There was not a handbook on how to handle the Vietnam War.

The Early Years – Kennedy’s administration tries to decide what direction to go with Vietnam in a meeting with Eisenhower The assumption behind the increased involvement: The Domino Theory

The Fateful Fall of 1963 August 24-November 22, 1963 Three pivotal events: –Overthrow and assassination of South Vietnam’s President Ngo Dinh Diem –President’s Kennedy’s decision to begin withdrawal of US forces –JFK’s assassination

A Time of Transition What would Kennedy have done with Vietnam? Deeper involvement with Vietnam comes in the first 8 months of Johnson’s administration Diem’s death confronted an unraveling political situation in Saigon Growing demands for more US military action

The Tonkin Gulf Resolution North Vietnamese torpedo boats, attacked the U.S.S. Maddox President Lyndon Johnson, decided to request for immediate air attacks against North Vietnam Congress passed the resolution

In Congress there was a disagreement on the true meaning of the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, and whether or not the "Attack" on the U.S. ships was in fact a legitimate event. President Johnson, and Richard Nixon used the Tokin incident to justify later military action in Southeast Asia.

The 1964 Election and Its Aftermath Johnson’s Administration policy on Vietnam drifted during the 1964 election. Military and political conditions in South Vietnam worsened. Divisions developed within the American government over what to do Do we avoid involvement or the loss of South Vietnam to communist control

The Decision to Escalate Most critical phase of America’s thirty-year involvement in Indochina. January 28-July 28, The US embarks on a course of massive military intervention in Vietnam This ultimately destroyed Lyndon Johnson’s presidency

The Christmas Bombing Pause Problems with US military operations became apparent This led to proposals for further escalation Diplomatic resolution of war was wanted. This caused a month-long bombing pause at the end of 1965 Hanoi and Vietcong responded negatively and in 1966 there was an ever- widening war

Trouble Deepens Between January 1966 and mid-May 1967, the war and its casualties grew substantially Three attempts to start negotiations failed A request to increase troops from General Westmoreland The President and his secretary of defense did not see eye-to-eye

Estrangement and Departure McNamara writes a controversial memorandum to the President on May 19, He tells the President that the War in Vietnam is acquiring momentum and must by stopped. He wanted to propose compromise and negotiations to stop the war. It put an estrangement on his relationship with the President, but there was still loyalty and he never resigned. In 1968 McNamara became president of World Bank and was done with the Johnson’s administration. The war continues.

The Lessons of Vietnam McNamara reflects: –Was the US wise to intervene militarily in Vietnam? The US would need to know more about the former Soviet Union, China and Vietnam’s intentions with communism. No matter what, the danger of Communist aggression was real and substantial during the Cold War years. –What mistakes did the US make? The US should have withdrawn from South Vietnam either in late 1963 following Diem’s assassination or in early 1965 during military weakness in South Vietnam. –What lesson can be learned? The criteria governing intervention should recognize that, as we learned in Vietnam, military force has only a limited capacity to facilitate the process of nation building. Military force, by itself, cannot rebuild a “failed state.”

The Lessons of Vietnam McNamara sums up his reflection with a poem by Rudyard Kipling “The Palace.” He states the poem is haunting to him. yard_kipling/poems/20784

References McNamara, Robert S. (1995). In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam. Random House, Inc. New York. Rudyard Kipling. The Palace. Retrieved from: yard_kipling/poems/20784

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