Lloyd C. Gardner - Böcker

Haunting questions remain about our involvement in Vietnam. Perhaps the most persistent of these is whether President Kennedy would have ended American involvement in Vietnam if he had lived.For many Americans, Oliver Stone's film JFK left no doubt that before his assassination Kennedy had determined to quit Vietnam. Yet the historical record offers a more complex answer. In this fresh look at the archival evidence, noted scholars take up the challenge to provide us with their conclusions about the early decisions that put the United States on the path to the greatest American tragedy since the Civil War. The tensions and turmoil that accompanied those decisions reveal the American presidency at the center of a storm of conflicting advice.The book is divided into four sections. Parts one and two delve into the political and military contexts of the early decisions. Part three raises the intriguing questions of Kennedy's and Johnson's roles in the conflict, particularly the thorny issue of whether Kennedy did, in fact, intend to withdraw from Vietnam and whether Johnson reversed that policy. Part four reveals an uncanny parallel between early Soviet policy toward Hanoi and U.S. policy toward Saigon.

Through a wide variety of documents—including newly opened presidential papers, congressional debates, military reports, treaties, and newspaper articles—the authors trace the origins of the war back to pre–World War II attitudes and then proceed through the development of the "domino theory" and the policies of Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon to the fall of South Vietnam in 1975.Each of the editors has written an introductory essay to place the documents in heir historical context. These essays explore the controversial questions raised by Vietnam—such as whether each president understood what he was getting into, whether (as some now charge) the media and public opinion undermined America's ability to win the war, whether official statements were intended to mislead the American people, and, most fundamentally, why America was in Vietnam.

The first Vietnam War, a war of diplomatic maneuver and decisions made from afar, began in 1941, while the fires of World War II raged. With masterly command of documents never before analyzed in a book, Lloyd C. Gardner paints an absorbing picture of the events of that fateful period.

This book presents perspectives on the Vietnam War, its global repercussions, and the role of this war in modern history. The volume reveals 'America's War' as an international event that reverberated all over the world: in domestic settings of numerous nation-states, combatants and non-combatants alike, as well as in transnational relations and alliance systems. The volume thereby covers a wide geographical range - from Berkeley and Berlin to Cambodia and Canberra. The essays address political, military, and diplomatic issues no less than cultural and intellectual consequences of 'Vietnam'. The authors also set the Vietnam War in comparison to other major conflicts in world history; they cover over three centuries, and develop general insights into the tragedies and trajectories of military conflicts as phenomena of modern societies in general. For the first time, 'America's War' is thus depicted as a truly global event whose origins and characteristics deserve an interdisciplinary treatment.

This book presents perspectives on the Vietnam War, its global repercussions, and the role of this war in modern history. The volume reveals 'America's War' as an international event that reverberated all over the world: in domestic settings of numerous nation-states, combatants and non-combatants alike, as well as in transnational relations and alliance systems. The volume thereby covers a wide geographical range - from Berkeley and Berlin to Cambodia and Canberra. The essays address political, military, and diplomatic issues no less than cultural and intellectual consequences of 'Vietnam'. The authors also set the Vietnam War in comparison to other major conflicts in world history; they cover over three centuries, and develop general insights into the tragedies and trajectories of military conflicts as phenomena of modern societies in general. For the first time, 'America's War' is thus depicted as a truly global event whose origins and characteristics deserve an interdisciplinary treatment.

Winner of the 2004 New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance Book Award for Scholarly Non-Fiction Named a 2005 Honor Book by the New Jersey Council for the HumanitiesEssential reading for anyone interested in the most famous American crime of the twentieth centurySince its original publication in 2004, The Case That Never Dies has become the standard account of the Lindbergh kidnapping. Now, in a new afterword, historian Lloyd C. Gardner presents a surprise conclusion based on recently uncovered pieces of evidence that were missing from the initial investigation as well as an evaluation of Charles Lindbergh’s role in the search for the kidnappers. Out of the controversies surrounding the actions of Colonel Lindbergh, Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of the New Jersey State Police, and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, Gardner presents a well-reasoned argument for what happened on the night of March 1, 1932.The Case That NeverDies places the Lindbergh kidnapping, investigation, and trial in the context of the Depression, when many feared the country was on the edge of anarchy. Gardner delves deeply into the aspects of the case that remain confusing to this day, including Lindbergh’s dealings with crime baron Owney Madden, Al Capone’s New York counterpart, as well as the inexplicable exploits of John Condon, a retired schoolteacher who became the prosecution’s best witness. The initial investigation was hampered by Colonel Lindbergh, who insisted that the police not attempt to find the perpetrator because he feared the investigation would endanger his son’s life. He relented only when the child was found dead.After two years of fruitless searching, Bruno Richard Hauptmann, a German immigrant, was discovered to have some of the ransom money in his possession. Hauptmann was arrested, tried, and sentenced to death. Throughout  the book, Gardner pays special attention to the evidence of the case and how it was used and misused in the trial. Whether Hauptmann was guilty or not, Gardner concludes that there was insufficient evidence to convict him of first-degree murder.Set in historical context, the book offers not only a compelling read, but a powerful vantage point from which to observe the United States in the 1930s as well as contemporary arguments over capital punishment.

A masterful account of Lyndon Johnson and America's fall into Vietnam by one of our finest historians, filled with fresh interpretations, deft portraits, and new perspectives. Absolutely terrific...simply the best book on the period. —Marilyn B. Young

A stunning new narrative of the road to America's Longest War in which the US's premier diplomatic historian excavates the roots of the American misadventure in Iraq. Here, Gardner illuminates a vital historical thread connecting Walt Whitman Rostow's defense of US intervention in Southeast Asia, Brzezinski's renewed attempts to protect American power into the arc of crisis' and the efforts of both Bush administrations to establish a 'landing zone' in the Iraq region.'

Leading scholars of Vietnam examine the links between the Vietnam War and the war in Iraq - and the obsession of US foreign policy makers with the Vietnam Syndrome. Contributors look at the unlearned lessons of Vietnam and consider how the US has again found itself in the midst of an ill-advised war without any chance of a quick victory with sweeping regime change.

From the devastatingly effective' (Andrew Bacevich) chronicler of American foreign policy, a scathing new assessment of the hawkish militarism of the American presidency in the 21st century.'

The War on Leakers joins the growing debate over surveillance and the national security state, bringing to bear the unique perspective of one of America's most respected diplomatic historians. Gardner examines how the government and media have grappled with national security leaks over nearly five decades, what the relationship of leaking has been to the exercise of American power during and after the Cold War, similarities and differences between leakers over time and the implications of all this for how we should think about the role of leakers in a democracy.