Publishers Weekly
08/22/2022
Selverstone (Constructing the Monolith), head of the Presidential Recordings Program at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center, offers an intriguing deep dive into a topic long debated among scholars of the Vietnam War: had President Kennedy not been assassinated, would he have followed through on his plans to withdraw U.S. troops, or drastically escalated the conflict, as his successor Lyndon Johnson did? Kennedy partisans believe he would have taken America out of the war; Johnson supporters contend that—faced with the military and political situation in South Vietnam in 1964 and 1965—Kennedy would have ratcheted up U.S. involvement. Though Selverstone acknowledges that the answer is “ultimately unknowable,” his thorough analysis of tape recordings from the Kennedy and Johnson White Houses and other historical evidence leads him to conclude that Kennedy and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who had halted withdrawal planning before Kennedy’s death, likely would have taken a similar approach to Johnson’s. Kennedy “never relinquished his interest in brushfire wars, nor did he dampen his rhetoric about their necessity,” Selverstone writes. “He continued to operate from a worldview that embraced the precepts of domino thinking... and the demonstration of resolve.” Scrupulous and revealing, this is a persuasive answer to one of the Vietnam War’s biggest what-ifs. (Nov.)
Edward Miller
This pathbreaking book redefines the terms of the long-running debate over John Kennedy’s Vietnam withdrawal plan. Weaving analysis and narrative together in compelling fashion, Selverstone cuts through the Camelot mythology to reveal the bureaucratic and political origins of the plan, as well as the reasons for its subsequent abandonment. A major contribution from a preeminent historian of JFK’s foreign policies.
Andrew Preston
With the precision of a surgeon’s scalpel, the courage of a mountaineer, and the storytelling instincts of a mystery writer, Selverstone tackles head-on one of the most tantalizing what-ifs in modern history. The Kennedy Withdrawal weighs all the evidence, from every angle, to render a verdict that is at once surprising, convincing, and authoritative. This will surely be the definitive account of JFK’s intentions in Vietnam.
Fredrik Logevall
A splendid work. I doubt there is any scholar anywhere who knows the archival material better than Selverstone does, and he is surely unsurpassed in his familiarity with the Kennedy tapes. His prose is consistently smooth, clear, and engaging. This book will be the go-to account on Kennedy and the Vietnam War for a long time to come.
Vietnam Veterans of America - Marc Leepson
In this worthy book, Selverstone…takes a deep dive into whether or not Kennedy would have greatly escalated the war as Johnson did within two years after assuming the presidency…Revealing.
Foreign Policy - Michael Hirsh
Selverstone dissects one of the last enduring shibboleths of the Cold War: the Camelot myth that President John F. Kennedy would have avoided the quagmire of Vietnam had he lived.
Frances FitzGerald
Had JFK lived, would he have withdrawn from Vietnam or sent in American regular troops, as Johnson did? This question has been a matter of intense debate since the war ended in 1975. Selverstone provides a fascinating look at what the president and his advisors said about the war in private, and what that can tell us about Kennedy’s views on withdrawal.
