Includes bibliographical references and index.

Part I. Decisions: getting into Vietnam -- Patterns, dilemmas, and explanations -- Recurrent patterns and dilemmas from Roosevelt to Eisenhower -- Picking up the torch: the Kennedy Administration -- Intervention in force: the Johnson Administration, I -- Coming home to roost: the Johnson Administration, II -- Part II. The imperative not to lose -- National security goals and stakes -- Domestic political stakes -- The bureaucracy and the inner circle -- Part III. Means: the minimum necessary and the maximum feasible -- Constraints -- Pressures and the president -- Part IV. Perceptions: realism, hope, and compromise -- Optimism, pessimism, and credibility -- The strategy of perseverance -- Part V. Conclusions -- The lessons of Vietnam.