Honorable Exit

Author : Thurston Clarke
Publisher : Anchor
ISBN 13 : 1101872349
Total Pages : 466 pages
Book Rating : 4.45/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Honorable Exit written by Thurston Clarke and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2020-03-24 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A MAIN SELECTION OF THE MILITARY BOOK CLUB A groundbreaking revisionist history of the last days of the Vietnam War that reveals the acts of American heroism that saved more than one hundred thousand South Vietnamese from communist revenge In 1973 U.S. participation in the Vietnam War ended in a cease-fire and a withdrawal that included promises by President Nixon to assist the South in the event of invasion by the North. But in early 1975, when North Vietnamese forces began a full-scale assault, Congress refused to send arms or aid. By early April that year, the South was on the brink of a defeat that threatened execution or years in a concentration camp for the untold number of South Vietnamese who had supported the government in Saigon or worked with Americans. Thurston Clarke begins Honorable Exit by describing the iconic photograph of the Fall of Saigon: desperate Vietnamese scrambling to board a helicopter evacuating the last American personnel from Vietnam. It is an image of U.S. failure and shame. Or is it? By unpacking the surprising story of heroism that the photograph actually tells, Clarke launches into a narrative that is both a thrilling race against time and an important corrective to the historical record. For what is less known is that during those final days, scores of Americans--diplomats, businessmen, soldiers, missionaries, contractors, and spies--risked their lives to assist their current and former translators, drivers, colleagues, neighbors, friends, and even perfect strangers in escape. By the time the last U.S. helicopter left Vietnam on April 30, 1975, these righteous Americans had helped to spirit 130,000 South Vietnamese to U.S. bases in Guam and the Philippines. From there, the evacuees were resettled in the U.S. and became American citizens, the leading edge of one of America's most successful immigrant groups. Into this tale of heroism on the ground Clarke weaves the political machinations of Henry Kissinger advising President Ford in the White House while reinforcing the delusions of the U.S. Ambassador in Saigon, who, at the last minute, refused to depart. Groundbreaking, page-turning, and authoritative, Honorable Exit is a deeply moving history of Americans at a little-known finest hour.

Author : Éric Vuillard
Publisher : Other Press, LLC
ISBN 13 : 163542352X
Total Pages : 161 pages
Book Rating : 4.25/5 ( download)

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Download or read book An Honorable Exit written by Éric Vuillard and published by Other Press, LLC. This book was released on 2023-04-25 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the award-winning author of The Order of the Day, a piercing account of the lesser-known conflict preceding the Vietnam War that dealt a fatal blow to French colonialism. How can a modern army lose to an army of peasants? Delving into the last gasps of the First Indochina War (1946–1954), which saw the communist Việt Minh take control of North Vietnam, Éric Vuillard vividly illustrates the attitudes that both enabled French colonialist abuses and ultimately led to their defeat and withdrawal. From the Michelin rubber plantation, where horrific working conditions sparked an epidemic of suicides, to the battlefield, a sense of superiority over the “yellow men” pervaded European and American forces. And, as with so many conflicts throughout history, there were key actors with a motivation deeper than nationalism or political ideology—greed. An Honorable Exit not only brings to life scenes from the war, but also looks beyond the visceral reality on the ground to the colder calculations of those who seek to benefit from conflict, whether shrewd bankers, who can turn a military win or loss into financial gain, or intelligence operatives like the CIA, who aim to influence governments across the globe.

Author : Thurston Clarke
Publisher : Anchor
ISBN 13 : 0385539657
Total Pages : 448 pages
Book Rating : 4.54/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Honorable Exit written by Thurston Clarke and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2019-04-30 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A MAIN SELECTION OF THE MILITARY BOOK CLUB A groundbreaking revisionist history of the last days of the Vietnam War that reveals the acts of American heroism that saved more than one hundred thousand South Vietnamese from communist revenge In 1973 U.S. participation in the Vietnam War ended in a cease-fire and a withdrawal that included promises by President Nixon to assist the South in the event of invasion by the North. But in early 1975, when North Vietnamese forces began a full-scale assault, Congress refused to send arms or aid. By early April that year, the South was on the brink of a defeat that threatened execution or years in a concentration camp for the untold number of South Vietnamese who had supported the government in Saigon or worked with Americans. Thurston Clarke begins Honorable Exit by describing the iconic photograph of the Fall of Saigon: desperate Vietnamese scrambling to board a helicopter evacuating the last American personnel from Vietnam. It is an image of U.S. failure and shame. Or is it? By unpacking the surprising story of heroism that the photograph actually tells, Clarke launches into a narrative that is both a thrilling race against time and an important corrective to the historical record. For what is less known is that during those final days, scores of Americans--diplomats, businessmen, soldiers, missionaries, contractors, and spies--risked their lives to assist their current and former translators, drivers, colleagues, neighbors, friends, and even perfect strangers in escape. By the time the last U.S. helicopter left Vietnam on April 30, 1975, these righteous Americans had helped to spirit 130,000 South Vietnamese to U.S. bases in Guam and the Philippines. From there, the evacuees were resettled in the U.S. and became American citizens, the leading edge of one of America's most successful immigrant groups. Into this tale of heroism on the ground Clarke weaves the political machinations of Henry Kissinger advising President Ford in the White House while reinforcing the delusions of the U.S. Ambassador in Saigon, who, at the last minute, refused to depart. Groundbreaking, page-turning, and authoritative, Honorable Exit is a deeply moving history of Americans at a little-known finest hour.

Author : Michael A. Eggleston
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 147661458X
Total Pages : 229 pages
Book Rating : 4.88/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Exiting Vietnam written by Michael A. Eggleston and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-04-04 with total page 229 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although the Paris Peace Accords ended direct United States military involvement in Vietnam on January 27, 1973, the process of withdrawal lasted over three years. This illuminating volume chronicles this withdrawal, its background, and its impact through a combination of official history and first-person accounts from key players at every level. Brief historical narratives join recollections from U.S. servicemen and support staff, North and South Vietnamese soldiers, and such notable figures as Henry Kissinger, Alexander Haig and Richard Nixon to reveal the human story behind the history. A biographical dictionary summarizes the lives of important individuals, a glossary presents unusual terms and acronyms, and an appendix analyzes the war casualties under each U.S. president.

Author : Eric Vuillard
Publisher : Pan Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 1035003988
Total Pages : 118 pages
Book Rating : 4.83/5 ( download)

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Download or read book An Honourable Exit written by Eric Vuillard and published by Pan Macmillan. This book was released on 2023-04-20 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the International Booker Prize shortlisted author of The Order of the Day and The War of the Poor comes a searing account of a conflict that dealt a fatal blow to French colonialism. 'Excoriating and profound . . . A remarkable work' - Scotsman 'Absolutely spectacular' - France Info 19 October 1950. The war is not going to plan. In Paris, politicians gather to discuss what to do about Indochina. The conflict is unpopular back home in France: too expensive, and too far away for the public to care. Withdrawal is not an option – a global power cannot surrender to an army of peasants – but victory is impossible without more soldiers and more money. The soldiers can be sourced from the colonies, but the money is out of the question. A solution needs to be found. In this gripping and shocking novel, Éric Vuillard exposes the tangled web of politicians, bankers and titans of industry who all had a vested interest in France’s prolonged presence in lands far from Paris. Skilfully skewering the guilty, Vuillard shows us how key players in conflicts throughout history often have a motivation even deeper and darker than nationalism and political ideology – greed. As well as bringing scenes from the battlefields to life, Vuillard looks beyond this visceral reality on the ground to the cold calculations of the boardroom elite with the power to turn a military win or loss into their financial gain. Short, sharp and brutal, An Honourable Exit by Éric Vuillard is a journey behind closed doors to witness how history is really made.

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 1458 pages
Book Rating : 4.55/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Scribner's Magazine ... written by and published by . This book was released on 1920 with total page 1458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Edward Livermore Burlingame
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 988 pages
Book Rating : 4.70/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Scribner's Magazine written by Edward Livermore Burlingame and published by . This book was released on 1920 with total page 988 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Marvin Kalb
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 13 : 0815724438
Total Pages : 303 pages
Book Rating : 4.38/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Road to War written by Marvin Kalb and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2013-05-09 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Not since Pearl Harbor has an American president gone to Congress to request a declaration of war. Nevertheless, since then, one president after another, from Truman to Obama, has ordered American troops into wars all over the world. From Korea to Vietnam, Panama to Grenada, Lebanon to Bosnia, Afghanistan to Iraq—why have presidents sidestepped declarations of war? Marvin Kalb, former chief diplomatic correspondent for CBS and NBC News, explores this key question in his thirteenth book about the presidency and U.S. foreign policy. Instead of a declaration of war, presidents have justified their war-making powers by citing "commitments," private and public, made by former presidents. Many of these commitments have been honored, but some betrayed. Surprisingly, given the tight U.S.-Israeli relationship, Israeli leaders feel that at times they have been betrayed by American presidents. Is it time for a negotiated defense treaty between the United States and Israel as a way of substituting for a string of secret presidential commitments? From Israel to Vietnam, presidential commitments have proven to be tricky and dangerous. For example, one president after another committed the United States to the defense of South Vietnam, often without explanation. Over the years, these commitments mushroomed into national policy, leading to a war costing 58,000 American lives. Few in Congress or the media chose to question the war's provenance or legitimacy, until it was too late. No president saw the need for a declaration of war, considering one to be old-fashioned. The word of a president can morph into a national commitment. It can become the functional equivalent of a declaration of war. Therefore, whenever a president "commits"the United States to a policy or course of action with, or increasingly without, congressional approval, watch out—the White House may be setting the nation on a road toward war. The Road to War was a 2013 Foreword Reviews honorable mention in the subject of War & Military.

Author : Charles Hitchcock Sherrill
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 338 pages
Book Rating : 4.41/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Have We a Far Eastern Policy? written by Charles Hitchcock Sherrill and published by . This book was released on 1920 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : National Civic Federation
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 914 pages
Book Rating : 4.53/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Annual Meeting written by National Civic Federation and published by . This book was released on 1911 with total page 914 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: