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With Honor: Melvin Laird in War, Peace, and Politics
In 1968, at the peak of the Vietnam War, centrist Congressman Melvin Laird (R-WI) agreed to serve as Richard Nixon’s secretary of defense. It was not, Laird knew, a move likely to endear him to the American public—but as he later said, “Nixon couldn’t find anybody else who wanted the damn job.” For the next four years, Laird deftly navigated the morass of the war he had inherited. Lampooned as a “missile head,” but decisive in crafting an exit strategy, he doggedly pursued his program of Vietnamization, initiating the withdrawal of U.S. military personnel and gradually ceding combat responsibilities to South Vietnam. In fighting to bring the troops home faster, pressing for more humane treatment of POWs, and helping to end the draft, Laird employed a powerful blend of disarming Midwestern candor and Washington savvy, as he sought a high moral road bent on Nixon’s oft-stated (and politically instrumental) goal of peace with honor.
The first book ever to focus on Laird’s legacy, this authorized biography reveals his central and often unrecognized role in managing the crisis of national identity sparked by the Vietnam War—and the challenges, ethical and political, that confronted him along the way. Drawing on exclusive interviews with Laird, Henry Kissinger, Gerald Ford, and numerous others, author Dale Van Atta offers a sympathetic portrait of a man striving for open government in an atmosphere fraught with secrecy. Van Atta illuminates the inner workings of high Laird’s behind-the-scenes sparring with Kissinger over policy, his decisions to ignore Nixon’s wilder directives, his formative impact on arms control and health care, his key role in the selection of Ford for vice president, his frustration with the country’s abandonment of Vietnamization, and, in later years, his unheeded warning to Donald Rumsfeld that “it’s a helluva lot easier to get into a war than to get out of one.” Best Books for Regional Special Interests, selected by the American Association of School Librarians, and Best Books for Special Interests, selected by the Public Library Association
The first book ever to focus on Laird’s legacy, this authorized biography reveals his central and often unrecognized role in managing the crisis of national identity sparked by the Vietnam War—and the challenges, ethical and political, that confronted him along the way. Drawing on exclusive interviews with Laird, Henry Kissinger, Gerald Ford, and numerous others, author Dale Van Atta offers a sympathetic portrait of a man striving for open government in an atmosphere fraught with secrecy. Van Atta illuminates the inner workings of high Laird’s behind-the-scenes sparring with Kissinger over policy, his decisions to ignore Nixon’s wilder directives, his formative impact on arms control and health care, his key role in the selection of Ford for vice president, his frustration with the country’s abandonment of Vietnamization, and, in later years, his unheeded warning to Donald Rumsfeld that “it’s a helluva lot easier to get into a war than to get out of one.” Best Books for Regional Special Interests, selected by the American Association of School Librarians, and Best Books for Special Interests, selected by the Public Library Association
664 pages, Hardcover
First published February 29, 2008
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 10, 2023
A thorough and readable biography of Laird.
Van Atta ably covers Laird’s role in the search for an exit from Vietnam, his involvement in “Vietnamization,” and his difficult working relationships with Nixon and Kissinger (Van Atta describes how Laird and Kissinger remained friends despite it)
The narrative is smooth. The book is pretty thorough, but some may find it uncritical. It reads very much like an “authorized biography,” and Van Atta wrote it in part because Laird never penned a memoir of his own. Also, readers will almost definitely find the Vietnam sections to be more interesting than other parts of Laird’s life.
There aren't too many issues with the book. At one point Van Atta refers to "the assassination in 1963 of President Bui Diem." Van Atta writes that Laird directed the planning for Operation Lam Son 719, although the documentary evidence points to McCain and Abrams. When covering the Lavelle affair, Van Atta writes that these air strikes were unauthorized by Nixon, Laird, or Abrams. According to some of Nixon's tapes (released in 2002 and 2003), however, Nixon directly ordered such a campaign, though he later claimed it was unauthorized. Van Atta also portrays the 1972 "Christmas bombing" as "strictly an attempt to bring Hanoi back to the negotiating table." That plan, however, predated any snags in the peace talks. The bombing took place so that Nixon could demonstrate his "sincerity" to Thieu, and Nixon had ordered preparation of these plans before any breakdown of the talks took place.
A well-written and accessible work.
Van Atta ably covers Laird’s role in the search for an exit from Vietnam, his involvement in “Vietnamization,” and his difficult working relationships with Nixon and Kissinger (Van Atta describes how Laird and Kissinger remained friends despite it)
The narrative is smooth. The book is pretty thorough, but some may find it uncritical. It reads very much like an “authorized biography,” and Van Atta wrote it in part because Laird never penned a memoir of his own. Also, readers will almost definitely find the Vietnam sections to be more interesting than other parts of Laird’s life.
There aren't too many issues with the book. At one point Van Atta refers to "the assassination in 1963 of President Bui Diem." Van Atta writes that Laird directed the planning for Operation Lam Son 719, although the documentary evidence points to McCain and Abrams. When covering the Lavelle affair, Van Atta writes that these air strikes were unauthorized by Nixon, Laird, or Abrams. According to some of Nixon's tapes (released in 2002 and 2003), however, Nixon directly ordered such a campaign, though he later claimed it was unauthorized. Van Atta also portrays the 1972 "Christmas bombing" as "strictly an attempt to bring Hanoi back to the negotiating table." That plan, however, predated any snags in the peace talks. The bombing took place so that Nixon could demonstrate his "sincerity" to Thieu, and Nixon had ordered preparation of these plans before any breakdown of the talks took place.
A well-written and accessible work.
September 10, 2008
Very insightful DoD/political insight from incredible author.
June 18, 2015
A good man and great patriot.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews