Research Catalog

Details

Additional authors

1. United States. Department of Defense. Historical Office.

Description

1. xiii, 694 pages, 28 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps; 26 cm.

Summary

1. From the Dust Jacket: McNarmara, Clifford and the Burdens of Vietnam, 1965-1969, volume VI in the newly-named Secretaries of Defense Historical Series, covers the incumbency of Robert S. McNamara, as well as the brief, but significant, tenure of Clark M. Clifford. McNamara's key role in the ever-deepening U.S. involvement in Vietnam between 1965 and 1968 forms the centerpiece of the narrative. During these years, Vietnam touched every aspect of Lyndon B. Johnson's administration, determining budget priorities, provoking domestic unrest, souring relations with NATO, and complicating negotiations with the Soviet Union. McNamara's early miscalculations about Vietnam became the source of deep disappointments. Relations with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, never good, frayed almost to the breaking point as McNamara repeatedly rejected military advice in favor of his civilian experts. McNamara's carefully crafted plans failed, his frustrations grew, and he became estranged from the President. His private attempts to check the war's momentum contradicted his public statements supporting the military effort and tarred McNamara as a hypocrite. McNamara's successor, Clark Clifford, arrived with a reputation as a hawk, but focused most of his effort on extricating the United States from Vietnam. McNamara and Clifford presided over the Department of Defense during momentous and dangerous times. Vietnam was one of a series of wars, emergencies, and interventions involving U.S. interests. Intervention in the Dominican Republic, declining U.S. prestige and power in Europe and NATO, war in the Middle East, heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula, arms control talks with the Soviet Union, and violent protests at home competed for attention. Overseeing the Vietnam War and contending with these complex policy issues taxed even McNamara's enormous energy and brilliant intellect as he struggled to manage DoD programs. His long-cherished cost-cutting programs fell by the wayside; his favored weapons systems were swept aside; his committed efforts to limit strategic arms faltered; and his reputation was permanently tarnished. McNamara, Clifford and the Burdens of Vietnam highlights the interaction of McNamara and Clifford with the White House, Congress, the JCS, the Department of State, and other federal agencies involved in policy formulation. The two secretaries increasingly found that the cost of winning the war became a morally prohibitive as the price of losing.

Series statement

1. Secretaries of Defense historical series ; v. 6

Uniform title

1. Secretaries of Defense historical series ; v. 6.

Subject

1. McNamara, Robert S., 1916-2009
2. Clifford, Clark M., 1906-1998
3. United States. Department of Defense > History
4. United States. Department of Defense
5. 1961-1975
6. Vietnam War, 1961-1975 > United States
7. Military policy
8. Politics and government
9. United States > Politics and government > 1963-1969
10. United States > Military policy
11. United States

Genre/Form

1. History.

Contents

1. Movers and Shakers. DoD's senior leadership ; Civilian-military divide ; Commander in chief ; National security policymaking apparatus ; Mastering the Pentagon -- Vietnam : Escalation Without Mobilization. Pondering escalation ; Hidden escalation ; More troops, more money ; Enemy dictates the course of action ; McNamara's 180-degree turn ; Conflicting assessments ; President's decision -- Air War Against North Vietnam, 1965-1966. Targeting North Vietnam ; Rolling thunder ; Working toward an extended bombing pause ; Resuming rolling thunder ; POL debate ; Rolling thunder: indecision, discord, and escalation -- Paying For A War: Budgets, Supplements, And Estimates, 1965-1967. FY 1966 defense budget ; 1965 supplemental ; August supplemental amendment to the 1966 budget ; FY 1966 supplemental ; FY 1967 defense budget ; Vietnam spending and the economy -- Vietnam: Escalating A Ground War, July 1965-July 1967. Planning a ground war ; Hard choices ; Cost-effective deployments ; Barrier concept ; More troops, more questions ; Search for a winning formula -- More Than Expected: Supplementals And Budgets, 1966-1968. Enacting the FY 1966 supplemental ; FY 1967 defense budget ; Need for a FY 1967 supplemental budget ; Price of escalation ; Enacting the FY 1967 supplemental ; FY 1968 budget request ; Defending the FY 1968 budget -- Vietnam: An Endless War, 1967-1968. Accelerating troop deployments ; Shaping public opinion ; Manning the barrier ; Khe Sanh ; Tet offensive ; New secretary ; Ground war grinds on ; Settling in or getting out ; Fighting while negotiating -- Air War Against North Vietnam: Escalation To Cessation, 1967-1968. State of the air war at the outset of 1967 ; Targeting debate ; Rift widens ; Pennsylvania initiative ; After tet -- Bills Come Due: Budgets And Supplementals, 1968-1970. Final FY 1968 defense budget ; How big a tax increase? ; Proposed FY 1969 budget submission ; Juggling the numbers ; Passage of the FY 1968 SEA supplemental ; Enactment of the FY 1969 budget ; FY 1970 defense budget -- Home Front. Conscripts and volunteers: lower standards, greater inequality ; Project 100,000 ; Race and casualties ; Burning cities: rising protest ; March on the Pentagon ; 1968 riots -- Another Cuba?. Intervention in the Dominican Republic ; Justifying intervention ; Operational plans and planning operations ; Perils of peacekeeping ; Withdrawal.
2. Arms Control : An Elusive Goal. Multilateral force ; Test ban and nonproliferation ; Threshold test ban treaty debate ; Comprehensive test ban treaty ; Nuclear nonproliferation treaty ; Arms control-through 1967 ; Arms control 1968 -- ABM: Centerpiece Of Strategic Defense. Strategic forces, 1965 ; Civil defense ; Soviet buildup ; Old bombers, new bombers, advanced bombers ; ABM debate ; To Glassboro ; Announcing the deployment of the ABM ; Clifford's approach to strategic arms -- NATO Readjustment. France secedes ; Nuclear planning group ; Flexible response ; NATO and Vietnam -- NATO: Burden-Sharing And U.S. Troop Reduction. Framing the issue ; Force structures ; Reduction of U.S. forces in Europe ; Assessing Germany's share of the load ; OSD, the JCS, and troop reductions in Germany ; Tripartite talks ; Clark Clifford and NATO ; Aftermath of Czechoslovakia -- Crisis In The Middle East. Genesis of the crisis ; Onset of an emergency ; Personal diplomacy ; To the breaking point ; Six-day war ; Arab reaction ; Attack on the Liberty and the U S -Soviet crisis ; Aftermath ; Rearming Israel -- Battle Over Military Assistance. FY 1966 MAP request ; Vietnam assistance and FY 1966 MAP ; FY 1967 MAP ; More is needed ; Export-import bank credit controversy ; FY 1969 MAP ; Final MAP proposal -- Year Of Crises. Losing H-bombs ; Pueblo and the Blue House ; Prague spring: Moscow summer ; REDCOSTE and the Czech effect -- Strategy And Cost-Effectiveness. Cost-efficient war? ; Strategic forces ; Procurement contracting impact ; Cost reduction ; Global drawdown ; Conclusion.

Call number

1. IBM 12-970

Note

1. Volumes 1-5 have series title: History of the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references (pages 654-671) and index.

Author

1. Drea, Edward J., 1944-

Title

1. McNamara, Clifford, and the burdens of Vietnam, 1965-1969 / Edward J. Drea.

Imprint

1. Washington, D.C. : Historical Office, Office of the Secretary of Defense, 2011.

Type of content

1. text

Type of medium

1. unmediated

Type of carrier

1. volume

Series

1. Secretaries of Defense historical series ; v. 6
2. Secretaries of Defense historical series ; v. 6.

Bibliography

1. Includes bibliographical references (pages 654-671) and index.

Chronological term

1. 1961-1975

Added author

1. United States. Department of Defense. Historical Office.

Other form:

1. Online version: Drea, Edward J., 1944- McNamara, Clifford, and the burdens of Vietnam, 1965-1969 (OCoLC)911205592

LCCN

1. 2012460014

ISBN

1. 9780160881350 (hardcover)
2. 0160881358 (hardcover)

Gpo item no.

1. 0306

Sudoc no.

1. D 1.2:H 62/3/V.6

Research call number

1. IBM 12-970
2. JFF 20-468