The roundtable participants are Lloyd Gardner, Robert Jervis, Jeffrey Kimball, and Marilyn Young. This review is part of that roundtable. It would not be too far off the mark to suggest that Vietnam has already become America s most analyzed war. Even so, almost everything about the war remains highly controversial. Men make their own history, begins a famous saying by Marx, but not just as they please.
Men make their own history, pretty much as they please.
During that time period the crucial decisions were made, and the future all but sealed. Not surprisingly, policymakers who advised both presidents remember things differently. Johnson took office in a deeply emotional time, and enjoyed considerable leeway in his decisions. Foreign leaders likewise counseled against American involvement. Charles de Gaulle was anathema to Washington for his contrary ideas about Europe, but his arguments made sense and were voiced by several others of equal stature.