About the lecture

In this module, we look at the historical debate surrounding the US’s involvement in the Vietnam War, focusing in particular on: (i) the term ‘long 1964’, and how historians have used it as a framework for studies of the period when the US escalated the Vietnam War; (ii) how the Vietnam War differs from other wars that the US has been involved in; (iii) the image of Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ) as a warmonger: David Halberstam’s ‘The Best and the Brightest’ (1972); and (iv) the revised image of LBJ.

About the lecturer

Professor Andrew Preston is Professor of American History at the University of Cambridge. He specialises in the history of American foreign relations, primarily since 1898. He has published widely on this subject, including his books The War Council: McGeorge Bundy, the NSC, and Vietnam, Sword of the Spirit; Shield of Faith: Religion in American War and Diplomacy; and American Foreign Relations: A Very Short Introduction.