The Role of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the United States Involvement in the Vietnam Conflict.

Abstract

Reasons for the United States' entrance into the Vietnam War are many and varied. The U.S. feared a spread of Communism throughout the world. The Bay of Pigs invasion was a military embarrassment. The Kennedy and Johnson administrations lacked a closeness with the military. Secretary of Defense McNamara chose to run the defense department as a business. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JOS) constantly bickered and displayed service parochialism that blocked consensus in advice to the President and Secretary of Defense. However, the JCS had a duty to properly advise the National Command Authorities (NCA) on how to best support the national interests and how to best use the military arm of national power. For reasons cited here and personalities of senior officials, military and civilian, both failed in their duties. Had the JCS and the NCA focused on national interests, the national security strategy and the national military strategy before 1965, the Vietnam War may not have been one of the worst periods in American history.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Apr 06, 1998
Accession Number
ADA342192

Entities

People

  • Craig P. Mccurdy

Organizations

  • United States Army War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Department Of Defense
  • Governments
  • International Organizations
  • Korean War
  • Military Strategy
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • New York
  • North Vietnam
  • Nuclear Weapons
  • South Vietnam
  • Southeast Asia
  • United States
  • Universities
  • Vietnam War
  • War Colleges
  • Warfare

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Strategic Security Studies