On today, the 45th anniversary of the John F. Kennedy's death, Gordon M. Goldstein has published an Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times in which he claims that the assassination of JFK ensured heightened U.S. involvement in Vietnam. His new book Lessons in Disaster is based on interviews with McGeorge Bundy, national security adviser to both JFK and LBJ. In these interviews, Bundy claims that JFK had planned, if reelected in 1964, to pull most U.S. advisers out of Vietnam. As you may remember, I argued in class that JFK had made no clear commitment to pull out of Vietnam. In light of this new evidence, I may have to revise my conclusions.
1 comment:
Wow that sounds really interesting. It's amazing to think what our country's history would be like if JFK had not been assassinated. If he had made no grave blunders in the remaining year or so left in his first term, he would have probably been reelected. If his reelection would have meant that the Vietnam War would have ended far sooner, the Democrats might have been able to keep the White House (and their party unity) in 1968. President Nixon and Watergate might not even have happened. It's another one of those "what if" things, just like Recount, that makes you think about what would the United States have been like if the order of presidents as we know it today was changed. It's an interesting idea. I might very well read this book.
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