Vietnam War Debate: Hans J. Morgenthau and the Attempt to Halt the Drift into Disaster

431 Pages·2011·1.264 MB·English

by  Louis B. Zimmer

The Vietnam War Debate
Hans J. Morgenthau and the
Attempt to Halt the Drift into
Disaster

The Vietnam War Debate
Hans J. Morgenthau and the
Attempt to Halt the Drift into
Disaster
Louis B. Zimmer
LEXINGTON BOOKS
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
t
x
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
e
Zimmer, Louis B., 1931–
T
The Vietnam War debate: Hans J. Morgenthau and the attempt to halt the drift into
disaster/Louis B. Zimmer.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-7391-3769-7 (cloth: alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-7391-3771-0 (electronic)
1. Vietnam War, 1961–1975—United States. 2. Vietnam War, 1961-1975—
Political aspects—United States. 3. Morgenthau, Hans J. (Hans Joachim), 1904-1980—
Political and social views. I. Title.
DS558.Z54 2022
959.704'3—dc23 2011028016
(cid:2) ™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
Natalie, Natalie, Natalie

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Author’s Note xi
Preface xv
Chapter 1: Background to a Needless War 1
Chapter 2: Morgenthau and Bundy: The Harvard Dean Fails
the Vietnam Reality Test 41
Chapter 3: Media Neglect of the National Interest 77
Chapter 4: Morgenthau and Schlesinger and the National Interest 117
Chapter 5: Morgenthau and the Council on Foreign Relations 167
Chapter 6: Morgenthau’s Influence, Fulbright’s Conversion,
and the Stupidity of Smart Men 225
Chapter 7: “What I Have Said Recently, I Have Been Saying
for Years, without Anybody Paying Attention.” 275
Epilogue 339
Bibliography 357
Index 369
vii

Acknowledgments
It is a truism that librarians are special people: they serve their patrons in
countless ways and, in my experience, with boundless dedication and extraor-
dinary patience. In the course of the past twelve years, I have been the grateful
beneficiary of their invaluable help in a variety of ways: they have introduced
and assisted me in negotiating the database systems to obtain photocopies of
newspaper and periodical material; they have either sent me photocopies of
finding aids or have instructed me on how I may find certain select documents
among a vast assortment of material supplied on the internet that are not, for
this researcher, quickly and easily mastered; this is particularly so because I
am not technologically proficient; I also work alone, and my sole research
assistant is my wife. These librarians, these special people, have always and
with great patience answered my questions though, I suspect, they politely
concealed their bemusement at what I should have been able to figure out for
myself; they have also, in several instances, taken the time to help me thread
microfilm, a task I still endure with some embarrassed bewilderment.
Thus, in no special order, my grateful thanks to the following who have
made my research journey a rich and pleasurable experience.
To the librarians in the manuscript room at the Library of Congress:
Patrick Kerwin, Lea Kerwin, Jeff Flannery, Bruce Kirby, and Fred Bauman;
to Stephen Plotkin and June Payne, at the JFK Library; to Mrs. Shirley Burke
at the Miller Center of International Affairs, the University of Virginia; to
Michael Parrish, John Wilson, Shannon Jarrett, and Barbara Constable at the
LBJ Library; to Dan Santamaria and Christine Lutze at the Seeley G. Mudd
Library, Princeton University; to Dee Anna Grimsrud at the State Histori-
cal Society of Wisconsin; to Jeanine M. Mazak, Sarah Roberts, Dorothy T.
Frye, and Lisa M. Schmidt at Michigan State University; to Bill Massa at
ix