This is the little known story of how the American President and his cabinet carried the United States to the brink of war in Indochina and potentially China—in 1954! Americans and the U.S. were intimately involved in the key battle that ended the French occupation of Vietnam. Operation Vulture tells the story of secret U.S. efforts to sustain the French in Indochina, of the men who labored alongside the French military, of the frantic behind-closed-door meetings and confrontations in Washington as diplomats sought the American’s intervention, and of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s reluctant step back from sending in the Marines and using atomic bombs. Presenting the story from the U.S., French, and Vietnamese points of view, this eBook edition of Operation Vulture is completely revised and rewritten, with new text on almost every international facet of the Dien Bien Phu battle. It provides the most detailed treatment of the secret plan to drop tactical nuclear weapons there. It includes fresh material on American naval and air operations, on the CIA and French intelligence, on U.S. and French efforts to relieve the besieged fortress, on the historical disputes over the diplomacy of Dien Bien Phu and Geneva, and on the cover-up of Eisenhower era records of these events. Also included are new maps specifically prepared for this edition. PRAISE: “A detailed and readable study…” —Foreign Affairs “Dr. Prados’s perceptive...account gains impressive credence from his extensive use of recently declassified material.” —Army Magazine “John Prados is a clever and prodigious digger of historical fact.” —Evan Thomas, New York Times Bestselling Author

The author discusses the three Axioms in the dominant interpretation of the U.S.-Vietnam War that were established by the invisible permanent government right after the National Security Council meeting on September 21, 1960. They are: - There was never a legitimate non-communist government in Saigon (dissolution GVN) - The U.S. had no legitimate reason to be involved in Vietnamese affairs (Tonkin-Gulf-Incident) - The U.S. could not have won the war under any circumstances (U.S. troops honorable withdrawal) There are many reasons why the author decided to write this book, The New Legion. He felt compelled to write it for the longest time; after spending thirteen years in the Communists so-called reeducation camp. He escaped from a canal in the Mekong Delta and drifted in a rickety old boat similar to a childs toy from South Vietnam for fourteen days until he reached the nearest Pacific island, Palawan Islands, Philippines. He knew the pain that all the people who were involved suffered yet he thought that perhaps it might be best to let it become a not-so-distant memory. Now, he has finally decided to write the truth at last. It is the story of loyalty, duty, honor, and love.

To Win a Nuclear War records as fully as we are likely to find what has gone on in the minds of American leaders and nuclear strategists on this awesome subject during these fateful forty years. It is an appalling story... This book compels us to re-think and re-write the history of the Cold War and the arms race."--From the foreword by Ramsey Clark, former Attorney General of the United States. To Win a Nuclear War provides a startling glimpse into secret U.S. plans to initiate a nuclear war from 1945 to the present. Based on recently declassified Top Secret documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, this book meticulously traces how U.S. policy makers in over a dozen episodes have threatened to initiate a nuclear attack. The book also documents the surprising reasons why the war plans were never carried out and discloses the deeper, hidden meaning of the Star Wars program.

Condensed version of a two volume work originally published as: Eisenhower. c1983-c1984.

Weaving together the histories of three distinct conflicts, Phillip B. Davidson follows the entire course of the Vietnam War, from the initial French skirmishes in 1946 to the dramatic fall of Saigon nearly thirty years later. His connecting thread is North Vietnamese General Vo Nguyen Giap, a remarkable figure who, with no formal military training, fashioned a rag-tag militia into one of the world's largest and most formidable armies. By focusing on Giap's role throughout the war, and by making available for the first time a wealth of recently declassified North Vietnamese documents, Davidson offers unprecedented insight into Hanoi's military strategies, an insight surpassed only by his inside knowledge of American operations and planning. Eminently qualified to write this history, Davidson--who served as chief intelligence officer under Generals Westmoreland and Abrams--tells firsthand the story of our tragic ordeal in Indochina and brings his unique understanding to bear on topics of continuing controversy, offering a chilling account, for example, of when and where the U.S. considered using nuclear weapons. The most comprehensive and authoritative history of the conflict to date, Vietnam at War sparkles with a rare immediacy, and brings to life in compelling fashion the war that tore America apart. We witness the chaos in Saigon when fireworks celebrating the Tet holiday are suddenly transformed into deadly rocket and machine-gun fire. We sit in on high-level meetings where General Westmoreland plans operations, or simply engages in some tough "headknocking" with subordinates. And in the end we learn that even the seemingly limitless resources of the U.S. military could not match the revolutionary "grand strategy" of the North Vietnamese. With its easy movement from intimate memoir to trenchant military analysis, from the conference rooms of generals to the battle-scarred streets of Hue, this is military history at its most gripping. A monumental, engrossing, and unforgettable chronicle, Vietnam at War is indispensable for anyone hoping to understand a conflict that still rages in the American psyche.