Johnson, Nixon, and the Doves

by Melvin Small

Book by Small, Melvin

336 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1988

About the author

Melvin Small is a distinguished professor of history emeritus at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan after receiving his BA from Dartmouth College. Over the past two decades he has concentrated his research and writing on the postwar era, with an emphasis on the Vietnam War, the antiwar movement, and presidents Johnson and Nixon.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of Melvin Small's book is somewhat deceptive. Johnson, Nixon, and the Doves sounds like a book concerned with antiwar protesters. It is not. Small is concerned with the impact of protesters on the Oval Office. In this sense it is a highly conventional study of high politics. Using presidential papers and interviews with former high advisors to Johnson and Nixon, Small makes, the case that the antiwar movement had an important impact on policy formulation at certain key junctures. As proof of this contention he demonstrates that the presidents and their advisors were concerned with the impact which their policies would have on public support for the war effort. The ultimate triumph of the antiwar movement was the fact that Nixon felt obligated to hide the incursions into Cambodia from the public. At that point the whole country had become opposed to the war - the antiwar movement's success had made it superfluous.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three and a half stars. A study of how the antiwar protests affected the policies and actions of Presidents Johnson and Nixon; the author makes clear from the beginning and throughout how this isn't the sort of thing one can get exact empirical evidence on, but the waffling gets a little frustrating at times, even knowing that there were not clear answers.