View of the Vietnam War through US Presidential Policy

George C. Herring's America's Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975, focuses on America's involvement in Vietnam from the time before what Americans call the Vietnam War to the time of American troop withdrawal and the official end of involvement when North Vietnam gained control of all of Vietnam in 1975. The main thing I liked about this book was how much it focused on what the presidential administrations of this period were doing in relation to US policy in Vietnam (and anti-Communism policy in general). I thought it was great how the author shows how the presidents were not the only ones involved in making decisions through discussing the involvement of advisers and others in the administration and their influence on the actual policies implemented (as well as those policies that ended up being rejected).

The main problem I had with this book is the lack of detail on what was going on on the ground (and in the air in relation to the air raids and bombings) in Vietnam, especially regarding what was going on in the North. I suspect this is is due to the book's focus being on the Presidential administrations and the only details relate to what happened due to those policies or events that influenced policy. However, I felt the author did not adequately discuss how the antiwar movement at home in US affected policy. He does touch on it, but barely. Overall, this book gives a great account of the policies that the US carried out to help the South economically and militarily during America's Longest "War," which was never officially declared a war. I found that Sacred War by William J. Duiker nicely fills in the void in relation to what was going on in Vietnam, including the North, but it does not give you as much detail as to what was going on in the US to influence what was happening in Vietnam, so you these two books nicely complement each other.