Virtual JFK Vietnam If Kennedy Had Lived

by Blight, James G.; Lang, janet M.; Welch, David A.; Logevall, Fredrik

• ISBN13: 9780742557000
• ISBN10: 0742557006
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-02-16
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

The Virtual JFK DVD is now available! For more information on the film companion to the book, visit http://www.virtualjfk.com/ It Matters Who Is President'¬ ;Then and Now At the heart of this provocative book lies the fundamental question: Does it matter who is president on issues of war and peace? The Vietnam War was one of the most catastrophic and bloody in living memory, and its lessons take on resonance in light of America's current devastating involvement in Iraq. Tackling head-on the most controversial and debated "what if" in U.S. foreign policy, this unique work explores what President John F. Kennedy would have done in Vietnam if he had not been assassinated in 1963. Drawing on a wealth of recently declassified documents, frank oral testimony of White House officials from both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and the analysis of top historians, this book presents compelling evidence that JFK was ready to end U.S. involvement well before the conflict escalated. With vivid immediacy, readers will feel they are in the president's war room as the debates raged that forever changed the course of American history'¬ ;and continue to affect us profoundly today as the shadows of Vietnam stretch into Iraq.

Author Biography

James G. Blight is CIGI Chair of Foreign Policy Development, Balsillie School of International Affairs. University of Waterloo. Janet M. Lang is research professor, Balsillie School of International Affairs, University of Waterloo. David A. Welch is CIGI Chair of Global Security, Balsillie School of International Affairs, and professor of political science, University of Waterloo.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Paperback Edition	p. ix
Foreword	p. xxi
Prologue: Whither Vietnam, If Kennedy Had Lived?	p. xxv
Why Kennedy, Johnson, and Vietnam? Why Now?	p. 1
Who's Who at the Musgrove Conference	p. 31
What JFK Decided: November 1961	p. 53
What JFK Decided: October-November 1963	p. 97
What LBJ Decided: The "Long 1964"	p. 143
Virtual JFK, Not Counterfactual JFK: Vietnam if Kennedy Had Lived	p. 199
Epilogue: Does It Matter Who Is President in Matters of War and Peace? A Tale of Three Choices	p. 251
Excerpts From Declassified Documents and Secret Audiotapes	p. 275
JFK What If Questionnaire for Musgrove Participants	p. 341
Credits	p. 347
Endnotes	p. 351
Acronyms	p. 399
Acknowledgments	p. 401
Index	p. 405
About the Authors	p. 423
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