What We Still Don't Know About the Vietnam War, 30 Years Later

For many Americans over the age of 60, the Vietnam War remains a sore political point. While some remember President Johnson’s 1964 speech where he pledged not to send Americans to fight overseas, few recall that President Kennedy was responsible for America’s initial military involvement. Kennedy believed that the U.S. needed to stop the spread of communism in Southeast Asia—the falling domino theory. At first, the U.S. supported South Vietnam with money and around 800 military advisers. But by 1963, Kennedy increased the number of military personnel to nearly 16,000. Scholar and historian Jane Miller Chai is an expert of those first two crucial years. With her as your guest, she’ll shed light on the facts and myths associated with this period, as she reveals: • President Johnson’s frustration over been handed a war he wanted no part of. • The connection between President Kennedy’s assassination and the beginning of war. • The lesson learned in the Vietnam War that is benefiting us in Iraq and Afghanistan. CREDENTIALS: As a journalist, Jane Miller Chai’s focus on Asia began during the years before the Vietnam War escalated from police action to military action. Initially, she was Editor for Asia at the Japanese Readers Digest in Tokyo, and later named division head for the Associated Press in New York. THE TIGER AND THE HARE, her second book, is a historical novel.