SCHANDLER : The unmaking of a president (fülszöveg)
"This book represents a 'second generation' study of an aspect of American decisionmaking in Vietnam. It is well-reasoned, not impressionistic like many earlier
'first generation' works. The scholarship is solid and reflects effective use of interviews as well as primary and secondary documentation. New perspectives have
been given to crucial decisions in Vietnam. I highly recommend this book."
Russell H. Fifield,
University of Michigan
The Tet offensive of 1968 caused the United States government to undertake a comprehensive reevaluation of its objectives and purposes in the Vietnam War. The decisions that resulted from that reevaluation changed the domestic political scene dramatically, placed limits on American participation in Vietnam, and set the stage for the withdrawal of U. S. troops. Drawing on official documents not heretofore released and on interviews with the participants, Herbert Schandler provides the most thorough analysis to date of a crucial turning point in recent American history.
The author writes, "The decisions made in March of 1968 . . . involved elements, not only of military strategy, but of the tides of public and congressional opinion, the continuation of the programs of the Great Society, the stability of the American dollar, the nature and technology of news gathering, national psychology, the fate of the Democratic Party, and the personalities within the decision-making machinery. . . ." He examines the process by which decisions concerning U. S. involvement in Vietnam were made at the highest levels of government. In particular, he analyzes the pressures on the Johnson administration following the Tet offensive and the response to those pressures, considering earlier Vietnam policy as well as the subsequent effects of the President's actions. His book reveals in full measure the complexity of the process by which policy was made.
Herbert Y. Schandler served in the office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, International Security Affairs, and is now Specialist in National Defense at the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress.
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