The Path to Vietnam: Origins of the American Commitment to Southeast Asia

by Andrew J. Rotter

Overview

What path led Americans to Vietnam? Why and how did the United States become involved in this conflict? Drawing on materials from published and unpublished sources in America and Great Britain, historian Andrew Rotter uncovers and analyzes the surprisingly complex reasons for America's fateful decision to provide economic and military aid to the nations of Southeast Asia in May 1950.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780801419584
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	01/22/1988
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.06(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Andrew J. Rotter is Professor of History at Colgate University.

What People are Saying About This

Lloyd Gardner

Andrew Rotter has written the first introduction to American involvement in Vietnam which employs insights from the field of political economy. This excellent work will be mandatory reading for all who are interested in the origins of the war.

Walter LaFeber

With original research and new insights, Andrew Rotter's work succeeds in placing the initial U.S. commitment to Vietnam in a larger and most instructive context. One of the most important books about the conflict to appear in recent years.

Editorial Reviews

The United States became committed to a non-Communist Vietnam on May 1, 1950, when President Truman allocated $10 million in military aid to French fndochina. In this persuasive, richly documented study, Rotter analyzes why the Truman administration took that momentous step.

Choice

"With original research and new insights, Andrew Rotter's work succeeds in placing the initial U.S. commitment to Vietnam in a larger and most instructive context. One of the most important books about the conflict to appear in recent years."

Walter LaFeber

"Andrew Rotter has written the first introduction to American involvement in Vietnam which employs insights from the field of political economy. This excellent work will be mandatory reading for all who are interested in the origins of the war."

Lloyd Gardner

A well-documented and sound addition to an understanding of the economic and diplomatic factors that explain our ascending commitment to Vietnam in the early postwar period.

Journal of American History

The great merit of Rotter's work lies in his demonstration of how the commitment to supporting the French in Indochina was connected to the economic reconstruction of Europe and Japan as essential elements of containment.

Foreign Affairs

A well-documented and sound addition to an understanding of the economic and diplomatic factors that explain our ascending commitment to Vietnam in the early postwar period.

-- "Journal of American History"

The great merit of Rotter's work lies in his demonstration of how the commitment to supporting the French in Indochina was connected to the economic reconstruction of Europe and Japan as essential elements of containment.

-- "Foreign Affairs"

The United States became committed to a non-Communist Vietnam on May 1, 1950, when President Truman allocated $10 million in military aid to French fndochina. In this persuasive, richly documented study, Rotter analyzes why the Truman administration took that momentous step.

-- "Choice"

From the Publisher