Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In a stunningly detailed new book, ex-Los Angeles Times reporter and author Jack Cheevers pieces together heretofore unseen government cables and memos gleaned from dozens of Freedom of Information requests, eyewitness accounts, and the rich history of Vietnam to bring the story of how the Vietnam War became a killing fields for millions and the worst US foreign policy failure of the 20th Century. Focusing on the key years of 1961-1963, Cheevers pinpoints the exact moments where the Kennedy Administration could have made the right decisions but due to factionalism in his own administration and among agencies, including the CIA, the US Military, and State Department, he succumbed to the worst instincts and chose coup. The rest as they say, is history.
The author joined National Security Archive fellow Arturo Jimenez-Bacardi to talk about his book, as well as the Archive’s work in this tumultuous period just before Kennedy’s own assassination. Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, editor-in-chief at Responsible Statecraft, moderated.
###
Quincy Institute is an independent, nonprofit think tank.
Help fund our research: quincyinst.org/donations
Read our reporting: ResponsibleStatecraft.org
Twitter: https://x.com/QuincyInst
TikTok: tiktok.com/quincyinst
Facebook: facebook.com/quincyinst
Instagram: instagram.com//quincyinst
Website: quincyinst.org
In a stunningly detailed new book, ex-Los Angeles Times reporter and author Jack Cheevers pieces together heretofore unseen government cables and memos gleaned from dozens of Freedom of Information requests, eyewitness accounts, and the rich history of Vietnam to bring the story of how the Vietnam War became a killing fields for millions and the worst US foreign policy failure of the 20th Century. Focusing on the key years of 1961-1963, Cheevers pinpoints the exact moments where the Kennedy Administration could have made the right decisions but due to factionalism in his own administration and among agencies, including the CIA, the US Military, and State Department, he succumbed to the worst instincts and chose coup. The rest as they say, is history.
The author joined National Security Archive fellow Arturo Jimenez-Bacardi to talk about his book, as well as the Archive’s work in this tumultuous period just before Kennedy’s own assassination. Kelley Beaucar Vlahos, editor-in-chief at Responsible Statecraft, moderated.
###
Quincy Institute is an independent, nonprofit think tank.
Help fund our research: quincyinst.org/donations
Read our reporting: ResponsibleStatecraft.org
Twitter: https://x.com/QuincyInst
TikTok: tiktok.com/quincyinst
Facebook: facebook.com/quincyinst
Instagram: instagram.com//quincyinst
Website: quincyinst.org
