Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft 133d ago

In a stunningly detailed new book, ex-Los Angeles Times reporter and author Jack Cheevers pieces together heretofore unseen government cables and memos gleaned from dozens of Freedom of Information requests, eyewitness accounts, and the rich history of Vietnam to bring the story of how the Vietnam War became a killing fields for millions and the worst US foreign policy failure of the 20th Century. Focusing on the key years of 1961-1963, Cheevers pinpoints the exact moments where the Kennedy Administration could have made the right decisions but due to factionalism in his own administration and among agencies, including the CIA, the US Military, and State Department, he succumbed to the worst instincts and chose coup. The rest as they say, is history.