Road to Disaster

Many books have been written on the tragic decisions regarding Vietnam made by the young stars of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. Yet despite millions of words of analysis and reflection, no historian has been able to fully explain why such decent, brilliant, and previously successful men failed so badly. With this book—more than twenty years in the making—that changes.

In Road to Disaster, acclaimed historian Brian VanDeMark draws upon decades of archival research, his own exclusive interviews with many of the officials  involved with the war, and a wealth of previously unheard recordings by Robert McNamara and Clark  Clifford, who served as defense secretaries for presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Beyond that, Road to Disaster is the first account of the war to look at the cataclysmic decisions of those in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations through the prism of recent research in cognitive science, psychology, and organizational theory to explain why “the best and the brightest” became trapped in situations that suffocated creative thinking and willingness to dissent; why they found change so hard; and why they were so blind to their
own errors.

A comprehensive history of America’s descent into Vietnam during the 1960s that posits a striking new way of understanding that catastrophe,  Road to Disaster is a landmark in scholarship and a work of paramount importance, both in comprehending what happened and why, and—just as importantly—preventing fiascoes in the future.

“Original and thought provoking....The sense of introspection it provides adds poignancy to the records of meetings and field trips by U.S. civilian and military leaders, who never quite came to grips with the unfolding tragedy.”