Haunting Legacy; Vietnam and the American Presidency from Ford to Obama
Washington DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2011. Second printing [stated]. Hardcover. xi, [1], 355, [1] pages. Notes. Index to quotations. Index. Inscribed by Marvin Kalb on title page. Inscription reads To Marshall [unclear] Marvin Kalb. Previous owner's information on fep. Printed on acid-free paper. The United States had never lost a war, that is, until 1975, when it was forced to flee Saigon in humiliation. Haunting Legacy is must reading for anyone trying to understand the power of the past to influence war-and-peace decisions of the present, and of the future. The authors spent five years interviewing hundreds of officials from every post war administration and conducting extensive research in presidential libraries and archives, and they've produced insight and information never before published. Equal parts taut history, revealing biography, and cautionary tale, Haunting Legacy is must reading for anyone trying to understand the power of the past to influence war-and-peace decisions of the present, and of the future. In Haunting Legacy, the father-daughter journalist team of Marvin Kalb and Deborah Kalb presents a compelling, accessible, and hugely important history of presidential decisionmaking on one crucial issue: in light of the Vietnam debacle, under what circumstances should the United States go to war? Might America again be sucked into an unwinnable conflict, for example? Does a president always need congressional approval, or can the White House act on its own? More