The Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Policy, 1965-1968

📖 The Scoop

"This volume covers an unhappy period in US as well as JCS history. As the Vietnam War turned into a bloody stalemate, the strategy of "close-in" containment for the Far East proved to be unbearably costly. After the Six Day War of 1967, the Middle East became increasingly polarized between East and West. NATO had to cope with France's secession from the integrated command. Across a broad range of issues, the Joint Chiefs of Staff found themselves at odds with Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara. They wanted to escalate sharply the air campaign against North Vietnam, preserve superiority in strategic nuclear capability, and restore a US-based reserve of conventional units being drained by Vietnam's demands. Many times, their recommendations were rejected by President Lyndon B. Johnson who accepted instead those of Secretary McNamara. Indeed, the sidelining of the Joint Chiefs of Staff emerges as the dominant theme of this volume"--Preface.

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