America's Rasputin: Walt Rostow and the Vietnam War
 
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From Publishers Weekly
British professor Milne borrows the title of his book from a comparison made by a critic of Rostow's influence on Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, but the Rostow presented here has none of the Russian monk's cynicism or pragmatism. Rostow began as an idealist who put his faith in the American Dream's exportability in both its political and economic contexts. Like President Kennedy, he believed in taking the Cold War to America's enemies--and extending it to those likely to fall under Communist influence. With the force of a powerful intellect and a persuasive personality, Rostow supported intervention in Vietnam, the war's successive Americanization and staying the course. His idealism hardened into ideology in the Johnson years. Milne describes Rostow's principled refusal to concede that the war was un-winnable and his inability to recognize the consequences of a truncated Great Society and intensified Cold War. An unrepentant Rostow spent the remaining years of his career indicting others for their irresolution in waging what he still considered a necessary war. Milne's indictment of Rostow depends on his interpretation of Vietnam as misguided and its consequences as uniformly bleak. Both interpretations are becoming debatable enough to make this book a polemic as well as a scholarly study. (Mar.)  
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Review
"In his comprehensive examination of Walt Rostow's role in Vietnam decision making, David Milne adds a valuable and nuanced perspective on the questions of how and why Vietnam became an American war and what went wrong there. America's Rasputin is a well researched and critical yet sensitive treatment of an exceptional man who wielded significant influence in the Lyndon Johnson Administration during a critical phase of the Vietnam War."   -H.R. McMaster, author of Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies that Led to Vietnam

Submitted On:

07 May 2008

File Author:

Milne, David

File Size:

2.18 MB