Book Review: Part III Embers of War

       The role of Pres. Lyndon Johnson in Vietnam has been told by many reporters and historians.  The role of his predecessors, Kennedy and Eisenhower, not so much.   But for understanding, their respective roles are crucial.  reaching back to FDR,  Logevall describes the opinions of the WW II chief executive and his successor, Harry Truman.   While they debated the post war alignments, they became increasingly concerned with Russia and its dictator, Josef Stalin.  Stalin kept them focused on Russia and international communism.
      It was that single focus that was a major contributor to our descent to the Indochinese War- or the American war as it is known today in a unified Vietnam.   John Foster Dulles was the Secretary of State who directed foreign policy during the critical post war years.  His strong anticommunism meshed with Eisenhower's own intense feelings against the spread of the communist philosophy throughout the world.   Anti-French sentiment was also a factor as policy makers debated assistance to the french colonial forces as they marched to their doom at Dien Bien Phu.
     The internal struggles and disagreements within the French military are noted in detail as troops on the ground struggled against a foe who possessed fewer numbers and severe logistical problems.  Zhou En Lai, the red Chinese diplomat, emerges as a force to be reckoned with as he appears on the international stage in Geneva, carefully cultivating a role as leading representative of his boss, Mao Tse Dong.
     The politics in Switzerland's conference in 1954 remain a classic study in gamesmanship as parties jockey for position as troops maneuver on the ground in Tonkin.  Inevitably, the French defeat reveals the weakness in their bargaining position; and the unwillingness of Eisenhower and Dulles to commit American forces leads to partition, thereby setting the stage for what was to come almost a decade later.
    This book is, without a doubt, the best at the background story of Vietnam and the American War.
avail in paperback, published by Random House, 2013