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Meditations on the Vietnam War: The Ia Drang Valley 1965

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"When Robert S. McNamara became Secretary of Defense in 1961, he ushered in sweeping changes aimed at completely reorganizing the Department of the Army and its methods of warfare.  He was highly displeased with Army Secretary Elvis J. Stahr, Jr.'s , report on the status of Army aviation plans.  McNamara realized the current Army procurement program was hopelessly inadequate in every category of aircraft and considered it dangerously conservative.  Furthermore, McNamara felt that the Army failed to exert any strong, unified aviation effort and was plagued by reticence and budgetary restraint which were blocking the adaptation of necessary aircraft and equipment.  Most important, he believed that officers with progressive ideas about airmobility were not being heard. "McNamara was convinced that a breakthrough in airmobility was possible with the new Bell helicopter models.  He was given a list of officers who also believed Army aviation needed new direction, and the

Meditations on the Vietnam War: Graduated Pressure 1965 - 1967

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Perhaps no one had more influence over the way the U.S. war in Vietnam was fought than Robert McNamara .  Although his contributions on the road to the Vietnam War came late in the journey, McNamara left a large footprint on how that war was fought from 1961 up to his resignation as Secretary of Defense at the end of 1967.  This meditation looks at McNamara's perspective and policies through the eyes of two books in my collection: Dereliction of Duty , one of the best political analyses on the lead-up to the war, and McNamara's own fascinating memoir, In Retrospect .  McNamara orchestrated his will upon the US course in Vietnam while winning a political chess game with his opponents and in competition with the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).  As we will see, it was McNamara who crafted a strategy of half-measures in an attempt to steer a "middle" course in Vietnam between the extreme views of no intervention at all and all-out military intervention.   Like most

Meditations on the Vietnam War: Long Road to an Absurd War

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My recent viewing of the PBS documentary The Vietnam War  triggered something in my obsessive nature.  I was inspired to pull out and revisit the material I have in the 30+ books and official reports I collected in my library back in the 80's and 90's.  Over half of these books are devoted to the military aspects of the war in some form or fashion, since I have a special interest in military history.  The other half are split between various political and cultural studies of the war.  The more I skimmed through this material (for the first time in almost two decades) the more intrigued I became with certain patterns I saw develop through the various works when reviewed altogether - something I've probably never done before.  I divided my collection up into various categories and began to consider the little bunches of books for what they are, a plethora of often conflicting perspectives - an accurate reflection of how America still views the war itself. Some themes