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Warriors and Fools: How America's Leaders Lost the Vietnam War and Why It Still Matters
Warriors and Fools is not just another book about the Vietnam War. It is different from most. Unlike some others, the author is a veteran of that conflict, and a retired military officer with nearly thirty years' service. He has spent much of the last three decades studying the war and taught a course on Vietnam at a prestigious senior military war college.
This book is also different from others because it is a story not just of the American decisions and actions during the war. This Vietnam War story uses the latest, ground breaking research and released documentation of the war from the Communist Vietnamese side of the conflict. Consequently, the book delves deeply into the decision making, strategies, motives, and goals of the North Vietnam leaders as they waged their war for unification, first against the French and then against the Americans. The book also uses memoirs, interviews, and oral histories of former South Vietnamese leaders and combatants to discover their views on their struggle to form a new nation free from communist aggression.
Warriors and Fools is both broad and deep in scope in its narration of the Vietnam War story. It takes the reader from the White House's oval office and Hanoi's Politburo room, to the Pentagon's and North Vietnam Army's command centers, to Vietnam's mountain and rice patty battlefields to show the determination, deceit, foolhardiness, mistakes, courage, and horrors of war from the views of both sides.
While it examines multiple participant views, overall the book seeks to answer one specific question - why did the US fail to achieve its principal objective to defend South Vietnam from communist aggression? The story's findings and conclusions are neither orthodox nor revisionist. Those trying to gain insights on how American civilian leaders lost the war that its military could have won; or how the US Congress, Press, or Antiwar activists convinced the Public to stop its support will be disappointed. None of these traditional 'answers' on why the US lost are really valid.
Rather, as this story explains the answer is much more linked to human factors, interactions, and relationships. In this case, the interrelationship between American civilian and military leaders and advisors was extraordinarily divisive and dysfunctional. So much so that it resulted in flawed, timid policies and foolish strategies that led to defeat. Moreover, that troublesome interrelationship was primarily a result of mistrusts, misunderstandings, and misperceptions on their roles, responsibilities, and what they thought would lead to a positive end to the war. In addition, primarily because they were either ignorant of the nature of war or overconfident from their past experiences, civilian and military policymakers ignored or misunderstood their enemy.
Warriors and Fools should be of interest to those who served in the war, and serious students and teachers of this event and period. It is not intended as light reading, or for someone trying to get just a brief understanding of what happened there and in America at the time.
This book is also different from others because it is a story not just of the American decisions and actions during the war. This Vietnam War story uses the latest, ground breaking research and released documentation of the war from the Communist Vietnamese side of the conflict. Consequently, the book delves deeply into the decision making, strategies, motives, and goals of the North Vietnam leaders as they waged their war for unification, first against the French and then against the Americans. The book also uses memoirs, interviews, and oral histories of former South Vietnamese leaders and combatants to discover their views on their struggle to form a new nation free from communist aggression.
Warriors and Fools is both broad and deep in scope in its narration of the Vietnam War story. It takes the reader from the White House's oval office and Hanoi's Politburo room, to the Pentagon's and North Vietnam Army's command centers, to Vietnam's mountain and rice patty battlefields to show the determination, deceit, foolhardiness, mistakes, courage, and horrors of war from the views of both sides.
While it examines multiple participant views, overall the book seeks to answer one specific question - why did the US fail to achieve its principal objective to defend South Vietnam from communist aggression? The story's findings and conclusions are neither orthodox nor revisionist. Those trying to gain insights on how American civilian leaders lost the war that its military could have won; or how the US Congress, Press, or Antiwar activists convinced the Public to stop its support will be disappointed. None of these traditional 'answers' on why the US lost are really valid.
Rather, as this story explains the answer is much more linked to human factors, interactions, and relationships. In this case, the interrelationship between American civilian and military leaders and advisors was extraordinarily divisive and dysfunctional. So much so that it resulted in flawed, timid policies and foolish strategies that led to defeat. Moreover, that troublesome interrelationship was primarily a result of mistrusts, misunderstandings, and misperceptions on their roles, responsibilities, and what they thought would lead to a positive end to the war. In addition, primarily because they were either ignorant of the nature of war or overconfident from their past experiences, civilian and military policymakers ignored or misunderstood their enemy.
Warriors and Fools should be of interest to those who served in the war, and serious students and teachers of this event and period. It is not intended as light reading, or for someone trying to get just a brief understanding of what happened there and in America at the time.
768 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2018
About the author
Harry Rothmann
4 books9 followersColonel (Ret) Rothmann served as an active duty Army officer for over twenty-nine years. He is a 1967 graduate of the United States Military Academy. Upon being commissioned in the Infantry, he served in numerous troop duty assignments in airborne, infantry and ranger organizations, both as a commander and staff officer. These included platoon and company command in combat, and company command and battalion/ brigade operations and training staff officer positions in Vietnam, Germany and the United States from 1968 to 1980. In 1985 he assumed command and supervised the reconstitution of the 3rd Battalion, 502d Infantry (Air Assault), which had been decimated in the Gander, Newfoundland air disaster.
Colonel (Ret) Rothmann also served on the Army and Joint Staff. From 1982-1985 he was a principal staff officer for NATO and European war planning on the Army Staff. In that position he made recommendations to the Chief of Staff on war plan development and NATO defense issues. From 1990 to 1993, he served as a Strategic Planner for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS). In that capacity he participated in or led efforts on the development of the National Military Strategy, the Joint Strategic Capabilities Plan, and the Roles and Missions Report. During this time he advised the CJCS on the military strategy for Desert Shield/Desert Storm and other defense issues. As a representative for the CJCS, he traveled extensively to the US Combatant Commands to discuss military strategy and defense policy issues.
Colonel (Ret) Rothmann also taught Military History at West Point from 1976-1979, was the Army Chief of Staff personal representative at the National War College from 1993 to 1994, and lectured and taught strategy and operations there. Upon his retirement in 1996 he held the position of Chairman of the Department of Military Strategy and Operations at the National War College.
Colonel Rothmann currently resides in Florida with his wife Susan Flaherty Rothmann, and has three sons and daughter-in-laws, and nine grandchildren.
Colonel (Ret) Rothmann also served on the Army and Joint Staff. From 1982-1985 he was a principal staff officer for NATO and European war planning on the Army Staff. In that position he made recommendations to the Chief of Staff on war plan development and NATO defense issues. From 1990 to 1993, he served as a Strategic Planner for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS). In that capacity he participated in or led efforts on the development of the National Military Strategy, the Joint Strategic Capabilities Plan, and the Roles and Missions Report. During this time he advised the CJCS on the military strategy for Desert Shield/Desert Storm and other defense issues. As a representative for the CJCS, he traveled extensively to the US Combatant Commands to discuss military strategy and defense policy issues.
Colonel (Ret) Rothmann also taught Military History at West Point from 1976-1979, was the Army Chief of Staff personal representative at the National War College from 1993 to 1994, and lectured and taught strategy and operations there. Upon his retirement in 1996 he held the position of Chairman of the Department of Military Strategy and Operations at the National War College.
Colonel Rothmann currently resides in Florida with his wife Susan Flaherty Rothmann, and has three sons and daughter-in-laws, and nine grandchildren.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 23, 2018
This is an editorial review by Kirkus Magazine....
A military history book analyzes the sources of America’s failures in the Vietnam War.
People have been arguing about what went wrong in the Vietnam War since before it ended. Some say it was an unwinnable conflict from the start and that the United States should never have gotten involved. Others believe that the American military could easily have won the war, but its hands were tied by civilian leaders who didn’t have the stomach for more aggressive tactics. Rothmann (None Will Surpass, 2014), a West Point graduate, retired Army colonel, and veteran soldier who led infantry units into combat in Vietnam, has his own theories: “Leader misjudgments and miscalculations were not the only reasons for this failure…they were more a result of personal faults and a lack of trust, honesty, and understanding among and between American civilian leaders and their military counterparts.” Furthermore, neither the U.S. military commanders nor the nation’s civilian leaders had an adequate understanding or respect for their adversary, an expertly organized and dedicated force that pursued its clear goals through subterfuge and strategy. The author uses firsthand accounts from both sides to analyze the conflict from its beginnings in 1950s Cold War politics to the fall of Saigon in 1975. He also critiques the (incorrect) lessons that American leaders took from the Vietnam War and how these have been applied to the country’s subsequent conflicts. Rothmann writes in an accessible prose that reads mostly as general history (with a few of his own reflections and opinions scattered throughout): “I missed much of the sixties in America….My wife had been closer to it. She related that she had a tough time getting a place to stay while I was in Vietnam. No one in her hometown in New Jersey would rent a place for her to stay since she was a soldier’s wife whose husband was away at war.” At nearly 700 pages, this comprehensive, rigorous volume spreads the blame around fairly evenly and justifiably. In the author’s view, there’s no one-sentence explanation for America’s loss in Vietnam. He’s here to lead readers unflinchingly into the nuances.
A thought-provoking, well-researched diagnosis of the Vietnam War.
Pub Date: April 8
A military history book analyzes the sources of America’s failures in the Vietnam War.
People have been arguing about what went wrong in the Vietnam War since before it ended. Some say it was an unwinnable conflict from the start and that the United States should never have gotten involved. Others believe that the American military could easily have won the war, but its hands were tied by civilian leaders who didn’t have the stomach for more aggressive tactics. Rothmann (None Will Surpass, 2014), a West Point graduate, retired Army colonel, and veteran soldier who led infantry units into combat in Vietnam, has his own theories: “Leader misjudgments and miscalculations were not the only reasons for this failure…they were more a result of personal faults and a lack of trust, honesty, and understanding among and between American civilian leaders and their military counterparts.” Furthermore, neither the U.S. military commanders nor the nation’s civilian leaders had an adequate understanding or respect for their adversary, an expertly organized and dedicated force that pursued its clear goals through subterfuge and strategy. The author uses firsthand accounts from both sides to analyze the conflict from its beginnings in 1950s Cold War politics to the fall of Saigon in 1975. He also critiques the (incorrect) lessons that American leaders took from the Vietnam War and how these have been applied to the country’s subsequent conflicts. Rothmann writes in an accessible prose that reads mostly as general history (with a few of his own reflections and opinions scattered throughout): “I missed much of the sixties in America….My wife had been closer to it. She related that she had a tough time getting a place to stay while I was in Vietnam. No one in her hometown in New Jersey would rent a place for her to stay since she was a soldier’s wife whose husband was away at war.” At nearly 700 pages, this comprehensive, rigorous volume spreads the blame around fairly evenly and justifiably. In the author’s view, there’s no one-sentence explanation for America’s loss in Vietnam. He’s here to lead readers unflinchingly into the nuances.
A thought-provoking, well-researched diagnosis of the Vietnam War.
Pub Date: April 8
November 8, 2019
A comprehensive look at the American war in Vietnam from a US military perspective. I can give it three stars for effort, but its analysis is flawed for the simple, basic reason as the US "mission" itself. The notion of "Communist aggression" was an abstraction exploited to justify what could only be seen on the ground as another colonial intervention, using much the same tactics and policies as the French and Japanese. As long as Ho Chi Minh could wrap himself in the mantle of Vietnamese nationalism and unity against foreign troops, his cause was bound to win hearts and minds. Battlefield victory was secondary, and for that reason inevitable.
Thus US forces could not match their enemy's resolve, as Rothman says. He's also correct in that Vietnam was a cold war stalemate until US boots hit the ground. However, it was lost the minute the US decided to take over from Ngo Dinh Diem. No "American resolve" in the world could compensate for this unless the country were turned into a vast, bombed-out concentration camp administered by the US armed forces. If such "resolve" is what it takes to win ill-conceived and self-serving wars of empire, let Vietnam be an object lesson indeed for Napoleons of the future.
Thus US forces could not match their enemy's resolve, as Rothman says. He's also correct in that Vietnam was a cold war stalemate until US boots hit the ground. However, it was lost the minute the US decided to take over from Ngo Dinh Diem. No "American resolve" in the world could compensate for this unless the country were turned into a vast, bombed-out concentration camp administered by the US armed forces. If such "resolve" is what it takes to win ill-conceived and self-serving wars of empire, let Vietnam be an object lesson indeed for Napoleons of the future.
March 13, 2023
Vietnam War A Different Perspective!
I liked how brutally honest the Author was about the complete lack of perspective & knowledge of War Planning the 3 Presidents (Kennedy, Johnson & Nixon), as well as, the 3 Administrations had! The absolute Disdain all 3 had for the Military Advisors who were mostly Generals with Actual Experience in War (WW 2 or Korean or both)!! The Blatant incompetence of these 3 Administrations that got thousands of young Americans killed!!! My father who served in the Navy for 25 years had 6 tours of duty in Vietnam on Aircraft Carriers was called a baby killer & Spit on his face by a women while filling the car up with gas after arriving home off an Aircraft Carrier, but when I asked him what that was about he just said he went to "Nam" so that lady would continue to have that right to voice her opinion!!!! Not sure my dad would feel the same way about this book as I do, but felt I needed to know more about the Vietnam War than I did out of respect for my dad's years of service!!!!!!
I liked how brutally honest the Author was about the complete lack of perspective & knowledge of War Planning the 3 Presidents (Kennedy, Johnson & Nixon), as well as, the 3 Administrations had! The absolute Disdain all 3 had for the Military Advisors who were mostly Generals with Actual Experience in War (WW 2 or Korean or both)!! The Blatant incompetence of these 3 Administrations that got thousands of young Americans killed!!! My father who served in the Navy for 25 years had 6 tours of duty in Vietnam on Aircraft Carriers was called a baby killer & Spit on his face by a women while filling the car up with gas after arriving home off an Aircraft Carrier, but when I asked him what that was about he just said he went to "Nam" so that lady would continue to have that right to voice her opinion!!!! Not sure my dad would feel the same way about this book as I do, but felt I needed to know more about the Vietnam War than I did out of respect for my dad's years of service!!!!!!
September 20, 2020
I purchased this book because of the amazing reviews on Amazon and oh boy, they were all right. Such a good book
, very well writen and a plot that keeps you obsessed with every page since the first one. I couldn't put this down until I ended. The research for this book is really impresive, he develop a very complex topic in a way that is easy to read and understand. Highly recommended.
, very well writen and a plot that keeps you obsessed with every page since the first one. I couldn't put this down until I ended. The research for this book is really impresive, he develop a very complex topic in a way that is easy to read and understand. Highly recommended.
August 17, 2021
Excellent
I would hope that every civil leader of our country read this book. It is the most comprehensive reading I have ever read about the war our country faces. Even now we are seeing the pull out of military men from Afghanistan. Repeating again Saigon. We as Americans need to live by the statement “stand for the right” and “be the good”
I would hope that every civil leader of our country read this book. It is the most comprehensive reading I have ever read about the war our country faces. Even now we are seeing the pull out of military men from Afghanistan. Repeating again Saigon. We as Americans need to live by the statement “stand for the right” and “be the good”
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews