Reporting Vietnam
Reporting Vietnam
Just prior to a discussion of a possible troop withdrawal from Vietnam, Kennedy and his advisers discuss media coverage of the war in Southeast Asia. The group is particularly concerned about New York Times reporter David Halberstam and UPI correspondent Neil Sheehan. According to Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, the two were "allowing an idealistic philosophy to color all their writing."
John F. Kennedy was the 35th President of the United States, 1961-1963.
Biographical sketch from American President.
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Robert McNamara was Secretary of Defense, 1961-1968.
Biographical sketch from American President.
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William P. Bundy was Deputy Assistant of Defense for International Security Affairs, 1961-1963.
William P. Bundy obituary from the New York Times.
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McGeorge Bundy was National Security Advisor, 1961-1966.
Obituary from the New York Times.
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W. Averell Harriman was Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern and Pacific Affairs, 1961-1963.
Biographical sketch from American President.
Profile from the Truman Library.
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David Halberstam was a reporter for the New York Times.
David Halberstam obituary from the New York Times.
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Neil Sheehan was a reporter for United Press International (UPI).
Neil Sheehan biography from the Academy of Achievement.
JFK Daily Diary, October 2, 1963.
New York Times Front Page, October 2, 1963.
Meeting Tape 114/A49, John F. Kennedy Library and Museum. Raw audio file available at the Miller Center's White House Tapes portal.
David Halberstam's report on the situation in Vietnam from the New York Times, August 19, 1963.
"Telegram From Malcom Browne of the Associated Press, David Halberstam of The New York Times, Peter Kalischer of CBS News, and Neil Sheehan of United Press International to the President," July 7, 1963 | Source: U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian.
Bibliographies
Bibliography - Vietnam Conflict, Miller Center of Public Affairs.
Bibliography of the Vietnam War, Prof. Edward E. Moise, Clemson University.
Vietnam War Bibliography, Richard Jensen, University of Illinois-Chicago.
Scholarship
William M. Hammond, Reporting Vietnam: Media and Military at War, (University Press of Kansas, 1999).
Daniel C. Hallin, The Uncensored War: The Media and Vietnam (Oxford: 1986).
David Halberstam, The Best and The Brightest (New York: 1969).
John M. Newman, JFK and Vietnam: Deception, Intrigue, and the Struggle for Power (New York: 1992).
Melvin Small, Antiwarriors: The Vietnam War and the Battle for America's Hearts and Minds (Wilmington, Delaware: 2002).
Clarence R. Wyatt, Paper Soldiers: The American Press and the Vietnam War, (University of Chicago, 1995).
Archives
John F. Kennedy Library and Museum, Digital Archives, Vietnam War, 1961-1975
U.S. Department of State: Office of the Historian, August-December 1963.
The Virtual Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University.
January 8, 1963, Meeting Tape 69.1 and 69.2
South Vietnamese troops and their U.S. military advisers engaged Vietcong forces in what became known as the Battle of Ap Bac. Three U.S. soldiers died in the skirmish, which received extensive coverage in the American press. Several of those accounts were critical of the South Vietnamese performance, generating searching editorials on the status of the U.S. military advisory effect.
February 2, 1963, Meeting Tape 71.1 and 71.2
Following the Battle of Ap Bac in early January 1963, in which South Vietnamese troops and U.S. military advisers came under heavy attack, Army Chief of Staff General Earle G. Wheeler led a fact-finding mission to Vietnam to assess the situation. Three days after he returned to the United States, Wheeler briefed the president on the state of the press and the U.S. advisory mission in Vietnam.
Reporting Vietnam
See Stephanie van Hover, Marc J. Selverstone, and Patrice Preston-Grimes, "Window Into the White House," Social Education, vol. 72, no. 3 (April 2008), 130-135.
Teaching with the Tapes
Chester Pach, "The United States in the 1960s," Ohio Univesity.
Jeff Woods, "White House Tapes," Arkansas Tech University.