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More About This Title America's Lost War Vietnam: 1945-1975
English
In college and high school classrooms across the United States, students display a keen interest in knowing more about what they rightly sense was a pivotal event in the recent past, one that brought a sea change in the life of the nation.
In a long-awaited alternative to the lengthy and overly expensive texts on the Vietnam War, Charles Neu presents America’s Lost War, a balanced, lively narrative account of that tragic conflict, one that sweeps across the whole time-span of the war and explores American, Vietnamese, and international perspectives. Recreating the physical and psychological landscape of the war, Neu fluidly describes policy disputes—among leaders of both the United States and North Vietnam—as well as individual policy makers, battles, and military realities, tracing the legacy of the “Vietnam” phenomenon that shapes American domestic politics and elections, as well as foreign relations, to the present day.
English
Charles E. Neu received his B.A. from Northern University and his Ph.D. from Harvard University. He was Professor of History at Brown University from 1970 to 2003 and since 2004 has been Adjunct Professor of History at the University of Miami. He is the author of many articles, chapters, encyclopedia entries, and reviews, and has written, co-edited, or edited the following books: An Uncertain Friendship: Theodore Roosevelt and Japan, 1906-1909 (1967); The Troubled Encounter: The United States and Japan (1975); The Wilson Era: Essays in Honor of Arthur S. Link (1991); and After Vietnam: Legacies of a Lost War (2000). Over the years he has received grants from the American Council of Learned Societies, the American Philosophical Society, the Charles Warren Center For Studies in American History, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Howard Foundation, the national Endowment for the Humanities, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center For Scholars. He has directed six NEH Summer Seminars for school teachers and college teachers, and has also given the J. Milton Nance Lecture at Texas A&M University, the Michael H. Freedman History Lecture at Roger Williams University, and the Schouler Lecture and the Albert Shaw Memorial Lecture at the John Hopkins University. At Brown he chaired the Department of History for six years and for many years taught both a seminar and a lecture course on the Vietnam War. In 1998 he received the Barrett Hazeltine Citation For Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching.
English
Foreword VII
Preface and Acknowledgments XIII
Chapter One: The First Indochina War, 1945-1954 1
Origins of the Revolution 2
The Impact of World War II 3
America’s Response 5
The Expansion of the Cold War 8
The Deepening Commitment 10
The Elephant and the Tiger 12
America’s Dilemma 14
Eisenhower Takes Charge 16
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu 18
Washington’s Response 21
The Geneva Settlement: The Emergence of Two Vietnams 24
Chapter Two: The Emergence of South Vietnam, 1954-1961 29
The Rise of Ngo Dinh Diem 30
The United States and Ngo Dinh Diem 32
The Consolidation of Diem’s Rule 34
Progress in South Vietnam 36
Mounting Discontent 38
Hanoi’s Quest for Unification 41
A New War 44
Chapter Three: The New Frontier in Vietnam, 1961-1963 48
JFK and the World 48
Challenge in Southeast Asia 50
Seeming Progress in South Vietnam 53
The New Advisory War 56
The Battle of Ap Bac 58
The Illusion of Victory 59
The Challenge to Diem 61
Reassessment in Washington 62
The Fall of Diem 65
Reactions to the Coup 67
Chapter Four: The Transformation of the War, 1963-1965 71
LBJ Settles In 72
Deterioration in South Vietnam 73
The View from Hanoi 75
The View from Washington 77
The Gulf of Tonkin Incident 78
The Campaign of 1964 80
America Steps Forward 81
War Moves and Peace Moves 84
The Forty-Four Battalion Request 87
The President’s Decision 89
The Generals Take Over 91
Battle of the Ia Drang Valley 93
Chapter Five: The Stalemated War; 1965-1967 98
Preparing for a Long War 99
Signs of Discontent 100
Westmoreland’s War 101
Strategy of Attrition 103
America’s Enemy 105
A War without a Front 108
Confusion and Disillusionment 110
Seeking a Steady Course 112
Search and Destroy 113
Hopes for Victory 115
Prospects for 1967 118
Doubts and Divisions 119
The Order of Battle Controversy 122
Illusions of Victory 124
Chapter Six: Tet and Beyond, 1968 129
Origins of the Tet Offensive 130
The Siege of Khe Sanh 131
The Shock of Tet 132
The U.S. Military’s Response 136
Reassessment in Washington 139
The War at Home 142
The Bloodiest Year 144
Washington’s Calculations 147
The Fall Campaign 148
Chapter Seven: Nixon’s War, 1969-1970 155
The New Administration Takes Hold 155
The Vietnam Dilemma 157
No Quick Exit 158
The Allure of Vietnamization 161
Threats and maneuvers 162
One War 165
The Enemy Regroups 168
The Cambodian Incursion 171
A Changing War 175
Hau Nghia Province 176
The Endless War 178
Chapter Eight: From Lam Son 719 to the Paris Peace Accords, 1971-1973 181
Lam Son 719 181
Pressure to End the War 184
The View from Saigon 186
Hanoi’s Calculations 188
Nixon’s Maneuvers 190
The Easter Offensive 191
Nixon’s Response 194
After the battle 195
Politics and Diplomacy 196
The Election of 1972 198
Peace at last 202
Chapter Nine: The Fall of South Vietnam, 1973-1975 207
Nixon Turns Inward 208
War without End 209
Hanoi Prepares for War 212
Crisis in South Vietnam 213
Washington’s Response 216
The Great Spring Offensive 217
The Fall of Saigon 219
Vietnamese Perspectives 223
American Perspectives 225
Guide to Acronyms 233
Table: Comparative Military Casualty Figures 234
Bibliographical Essay 235
Index 259
Maps
Indochina, 1908-1954 XX
Southeast Asia, 1954 11
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu 20
North and South Vietnam, 1954 31
Provinces and Provincial Capitals 83
The Ho Chi Minh Trail 106
The Tet Offensive 135
Cross-Border Operations 170
Lam Son 719 183
The Easter Offensive 193
The Great Spring Offensive 220
Photographs follow pages 70, 128, 206
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“This intelligent synthesis will be a fine addition to The American History Series. . . . It is rare these days that I pick up a book on the Vietnam War and actually learn something new and interesting.”
–Robert K. Brigham, History Department Chair and Shirley Ecker Boskey Professor of History and International Relations, Vassar College
“A terrific book, written with detachment in a fine, clear, vivid style.”
–Ernest R. May, Charles Warren Professor of History, Harvard University
