Vietnam: Explaining Americas Lost War

In Vietnam, Gary R. Hess describes and evaluates the main arguments of scholars, participants, and journalists both revisionist and orthodox in their approach as they consider why the United States was unable to achieve its objectives. While providing a clear and well–balanced account of the existing historical debate, Hess also offers his own interpretation of the events and opens a dialogue about the usefulness of historical argument in reaching a deeper understanding of the conflict. This concise book is essential reading for students and teachers of the Vietnam War as it provides a clear and well–balanced account of existing historical debate and a thought–provoking look at the future of historical scholarship.

Preface ix

1 From the Streets to the Books: The Origins of an Enduring Debate 1

2 A Necessary War or a Mistaken War? 25

3 Kennedy Exceptionalism or Missed Opportunity for Peace or Lost Victory? The Movement toward War, 1961–1965 50

4 The Revisionist Critique of the Other War The Clausewitzian Alternative 84

5 The Revisionist Critique of the Strategy for Defeat The Clausewitzian Alternative 84

6 The Media and the War: Shaping or Reflecting Public Opinion? 133

7 The Tet Offensive: A decisive American Victory or a Prolongation of Stalemate? 154

8 Nixon–Kissinger and the Ending of the War; A Lost Victory or Neither Peace nor Honor? 179

9 Conclusion 207

Bibliography 211

Index 214

Gary R. Hess is Distinguished Research Professor of History at Bowling Green State University. He is a past president of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations and a former chair of the U.S. State Department s Committee on Historical Diplomatic Documentation. His publications include Vietnam and the United States: Origins and Legacy of War 1941–1945 (1998) and Presidential Decisions for War: Korea, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf (2001).

This is a book one will wish to assign to students: it laysout, with enviable clarity, what is at stake, what evidence existsfor reaching a judgment, what various historians have concluded onthe basis of the evidence they use and/or ignore, and Hess′s ownposition on the matter. Because he is an honest historian, Hessdoes not pretend to be neutral. ( International HistoryReview, June 2009)

"[Hess] has simply provided the best general overview of theliterature on the Vietnam War that has been written to date."(Review of Politics, March 2009)

A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year

"Gary Hess s new book is a survey of the scholarship onthe Vietnam War which pits this revisionist historiography (theso–called winnable war tradition) against the morenumerous orthodox historiography (the unwinnable wartradition) ... .[The book is] an enormously stimulating volumewhich usefully organises the literature on thematic lines andclarifies the battle lines between the orthodox and revisionistschools." (Reviews in History, January 2009)