Vietnam : the early decisions Part one. The political context Vietnam: an episode in the cold war Robert A. Divine A way of thinking: the Kennedy administrations initial assumptions about Vietnam and their consequences Brian VanDeMark From the Colorado to the Mekong Lloyd C. Gardner Hanois response to American policy 1961 1965: crossed signals William J. Duiker Part two. The military context The zen of escalation: containment and commitment in Southeast Asia John Prados Conspiracy of silence: LBJ the Joint Chiefs and escalation of the war in Vietnam George C. Herring Part three. Kennedy and Johnson Lyndon Johnson and the legacy of Vietnam William Conrad Gibbons The Kennedy Johnson transition: the case for policy reversal John M. Newman NSAM 263 and NSAM 273: manipulating history Larry Bernan Part four. The Soviet dimension Turnabout The Soviet policydilemma in the Vietnamese conflict Ilya V. Gaiduk