Vietnam if Kennedy had lived : virtual JFK / James G. Blight, Janet M. Lang, and David A. Welch.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [351]-398) and index.

Foreword / Fredrik Logevall -- Prologue: Whither Vietnam, If Kennedy Had Lived? -- Ch. 1. Why Kennedy, Johnson, and Vietnam? Why Now? -- Ch. 2. Who's Who at the Musgrove Conference -- Ch. 3. What JFK Decided: November 1961 -- Ch. 4. What JFK Decided: October-November 1963 -- Ch. 5. What LBJ Decided: The "Long 1964" -- Ch. 6. Virtual JFK, Not Counterfactual JFK: Vietnam if Kennedy Had Lived -- Epilogue: Does It Matter Who Is President in Matters of War and Peace? A Tale of Three Choices -- App. A. Excerpts From Declassified Documents and Secret Audiotapes -- App. B. JFK What If Questionnaire for Musgrove Participants.

"At the heart of this provocative book lies the fundamental question: Does it matter who is president on issues of war and peace? The Vietnam War was one of the most catastrophic and bloody in living memory, and its lessons take on resonance in light of America's current devastating involvement in Iraq. Tackling head-on the most controversial and debated "what if" in U.S. foreign policy, this unique work explores what President John F. Kennedy would have done in Vietnam if he had not been assassinated in 1963. Drawing on a wealth of recently declassified documents, frank oral testimony of White House officials from both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and the analysis of top historians, this book presents compelling evidence that JFK was ready to end U.S. involvement well before the conflict escalated. With vivid immediacy, readers will feel they are in the president's war room as the debates raged that forever changed the course of American history - and continue to affect us profoundly today as the shadows of Vietnam stretch into Iraq."--BOOK JACKET.