The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam, Max Boot, c. 2018.

Having completed a biography of Jackie Kennedy, I was drawn to this book for this week.

The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam, Max Boot, c. 2018.

I was aware of this book, had read excerpts but I do not recall if I've ever checked it out from the library.

With Biden getting every more involve in Ukraine and Gaza, this seems like a great time to re-look at the "origins" of the Vietnam "war."

From 2018, my notes elsewhere:

From the Grapevine Library.

605 pages of biography
4 pages: acknowledgements
50 pages: notes (mostly just sources of citations; uninteresting)
15 pages: select bibliography
39 pages: index

Coordinator of Information (COI) becomes, as of June, 1942,
Office of Strategic Services (OSS)

Worked initially out of the Military Intelligence Service office at 74 New Montgomery Street in San Francisco; later able to re-join the US Army; later, about 1947, switched to US Air Force, a new service; but always kept ties with OSS. 

First thing I did was check the index for Jackie Kennedy who might have been more involved JFK's decisions regarding Vietnam much more than previously known.

One gets the feeling this would have been quite a triad: JFK, Jackie, and Robert.

Prologue
The Day of the Dead: Saigon, November 1 - 2, 1963

This "chapter" alone is quite interesting.

Introduction
The Misunderstood Man

"The legendary Edward Lansale, a covert operative so influential that he was said to be the model for Graham Greene's The Quiet American and for the main characters in The Ugly American, remains, even more then four decades after the conclusion of the Vietnam War, one of the most fascinating and mysterious, yet misunderstood, figures in post-1945 American foreign policy."

One author: "South Vietnam, it can truly be said, was the creation of Edward Lansdale."

A "dirty tricks" specialist."

Right-wing conspiracy that Lansdale was behind the assassination of JFK. Oliver Stone carried that theme: General Y.

Max Boot now takes on these authors who also wrote of Lansdale:

• David Halberstam, 1969, classic, The Best and the Brightest
• Neil Sheehan, 1988, Pulitzer Prize. A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam
• Tim Weiner, 2007, Pulitzer Prize for his book, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA
  

 

Prologue

Introduction

Chapter 1: In Terrific Flux

• born in 1908; amazing changes in the US between 1908 and FDR, 1945

Chapter 2: Enfant Terrible

• marriage, early years of matrimony; two children 
• chapter ends with Pearl Harbor
• Lansdale had been in the US Army; got out; and then not able to get back in even after 1939, German invasion of Poland; Lansdale married with two children
  

Chapter 3: An Institution Run By Its Inmates 

unable to join the Army (enlarged thyroid), through contacts ended up working as a civilian in San Francisco, a new military intelligence agency --> Military Intelligence Service, office at 74 New Montgomery Street, San Francisco. 

1942: OSS

in San Francisco, the OSS head was Navy Commander William H Vanderbilt III!!!

worked for OSS during WWII

p. 48 -- not sure if adequately explains how Lansdale transitioned from OSS office in San Francisco to ending up with 4,000 troops in Manila, Philippines. Was assigned to G-2.  Still in the US Army.

explains how Lansdale became a covert warrior, not an intelligence gatherer. -- p. 41.

began on August 6, 1945 -- atomic bomb over Hiroshima; then August 9, Nagasaki; five days later, the war was over.

across the entire south Pacific, European colonies began to fight for independence: Dutch Indonesia (Sukarno); Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam; Inchon, Seoul, South Korea. 

Lansdale was looking for excitement and did not want to return to San Francisco as an ad writer.

1945: age, born 1908, so: 37 years old.

• WWII
• OSS --> forerunner of the CIA.
• ends with Lansdale on way to Asia in 1945 after the war.

Part Two: Colonel Landslide
1945 - 1954

Chapter 4: The Time Of His Life

The US and the Philippines: history. 

Two months after end of WWII in the Pacific, US sent 4,000 troops, including Major Ed Lansdale to the Philippines. 

Although the US lost in Vietnam, the US won in the Philippines.

• in the Philippines immediately after the war, as an Army major
• as I'm reading this, it reminds me, I need to finish The Naked and the Dead; 

The first conflict ended in 1902, the Spanish-American War. 

Then, WWII, the story of General MacArthur.

Lansdale lands in the Philippines just seven months after the conclusion of the Battle of Manila and only three months after the last Japanese units on Luzon had surrendered.

Lansdale and his troops settle in Clark Field, 55 miles outside Manila, October, 1945.

Major Lansdale: assigned to relatively small intelligence division (G-2) for Army Forces Western Pacific.

Under the Napoleonic staf system adopted by the US armed forces, the personnel staff, G-1; intelligence, G-2; operations, G-3; logisitcs, G-4 and so on.

Lansdale interested in nation building -- making the Philippines a better country for its people.

His first success in remote islands, p. 60 - p. 61 -- he knew then what he wanted to do and how to do it.

How Lansdale won over the Negritos -- p. 63 - 64.

Chapter 5: In Love and War.

• jumps from US Army to USAF where he thought he would have more elbow room
• p. 81 -- how he ends up in USAF and then in intelligence
  
• love affair with Pat Kelly
• tour comes to an end
  

Chapter 6: The Knights Templar

begins with the army transport ship General A. W. Greely carrying Lansdale and his family back to the US -- had been away from the US since the fall of 1945.

 leaves Pat behind. Comes clean with Helen and asks for a divorce.

 

Trial separation; Marin County, across the bay from San Francisco; two sons, age ten and eight.

 Lansdale, by himself, moves to Denver to teach at newly created Air Force Intelligence School at Lowry AFB in Denver.

That's right: he was a major in the USAF.

Bored in Denver; Cold War escalating.

George Kennan, "Mr X."

McCarthyism. NSC-68 -- p. 97. great history. Must-read. Truman's re-org.

• History of OSS, CIA.
• Georgetown Circle,  p. 99. Must read.
• Lansdale working to get back to his mistress in the Philippines. His own wife still geographically elsewhere when Lansdale arrived in DC.
• p. 101: although assigned to a civilian organization, he had just been promoted to lieutenant colonel and soon would become a full colonel
  

Chapter 7: "A Most Difficult and Delicate Problem"

• At my leisure I can go through all the chapters from chapter 7 to chapter 21. 
• But Chapter 21 sounds like the crux of the book. 
• From Chapter 7 to Chapter 21, it appears these chapters cover the years Lansdale was in the Philippines (later: wrong).  
• So, let's backtrack to when he first got involved with Vietnam.

Chapter 19: Guerilla Guru

Lansdale had joined the CIA precursor, the Office of Policy Coordination, in 1950. Due to dissatisfaction with the bureaucracy, he jumped ship in 1957, quit the CIA and jointed the staff of the US Air Force, "in the world's biggest and possibly most depressing office building." -- p. 313.

The Pentagon -- built in sixteen months, by 15,000 workers, working around the clock -- built during WWII. 

Great history of the early days of the Pentagon, p. 313 - 314.

Mentions Ray Spruance, in passing, page 314. Amazing how deep and broad American leadership is.

Retired Marine general Graves B. Erskine -- in the interwar years (WWI / WWII)) -- Marines' "small wars" in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua, experiencing guerrilla war firsthand. In 1945, as commander of the Third Marine Division, he spearheaded the bloody invasion of Iwo Jima. Then Special Ops in the Pentagon.

So, Lansdale ends up at the Pentagon in 1957. I was six years old. Erskine convalescing from heart attack, so Lansdale ran the office.

Eisenhower was president.

Lansdale ran the Office of Special Operations -- everything associate with guerilla warfare -- which, of course, was what Vietnam was all about.

 Lansdale was a colonel but usually went to work in civilian clothes. Wow.

Was one of the first to realize that future wars would be shadowy guerilla conflicts rather than the huge nation wars in WWII. 

So, let's go back one chapter, to chapter 18, but before we do, what was Part Three?

Part Three
Nation Builder
1954 - 1956

Part Four
Washington Warrior
1957 - 1963

Chapter 18: Heartbreak, the first chapter in Part Four: Washington Warrior, 1957 - 1963.

Truce in Korea: 1953.

Philippines:  The 1957 Philippine presidential and vice presidential elections were held on November 12, 1957. Incumbent President and Vice President to Ramon Magsaysay, Carlos P. Garcia was elected for a full term as President of the Philippines.

During this period, Lansdale promoted to BG.

So, Chapter 18: Heartbreak Hotel:

• Lansdale had left DC in 1950, under President Truman;
• now returned in 1957, President Eisenhower and McCarthyism
• second term, elected 1956
• US economy surging; stock market hit a peak in 1954 not seen since just before the Wall Street crash of 1929.
• 1955: opening of Disnneyland in Annaheim, CA; and,
• 1955: Ray Kroc's first McDonald's franchise in a suburb of Chicago
• Playboy's inaugural issue, 1953, end of the year
• 21-year-old Elvis Presley, 1956, on Ed Sullivan show
  
• Lansdale with two sons and wife Helen, pretty much separated for a decade 
• still emotionally involved with Pat in the Philippines -- and then I realize I need to go back even farther.

I'll end up have to go back through chapters 7 - 9 that I skipped earlier, but let's go back to chapter 10.

Chapter 10: "A Real Vindication."

Philippines presidential campaign, 1953.

Magsaysay: a Lansdale protégé -- his next protégé, Ngo Dinh Diem, never had the talent of connecting with ordinary people like Magsaysay did.

His man won and Eisenhower / Nixon were thrilled with the methods and the results.

Lansdale wins the National Security Medal -- see recipients, bottom of page 163 and top of page 164.

The Philippines were a huge success and the credit was given to Lansdale.

Part Three
Nation Builder
1954 - 1956

Chapter 11: La Guerre sans Fronts

Begins with part-time intelligence agent Graham Greene -- first visit to Vietnam, 1951 (the year I was born). 

Cochin China: southern Vietnam.

Tonkin: northern Vietnam.

Hue: in central Vietnam.

Westerners were fascinated by this area of the world, as was Lansdale.

French. List of famous visitors, p. 174.

But when Lansdale visited, it was already a war zone.

 By the time Lansdale arrived, the French Indochina War was already more than seven years old; American war not yet started.

But astute visitors saw that that was about ready to change.

French losing to a movement known as Vietminh, an abbreviation for Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi (the Revolutionary League for the Independence of Vietnam) -- like the Huks in the Philippines.

I think at this point, I could quit reading the book. I get it.

Chapter 21: The Ambassador Who Never Who

Begins with the inauguration of JFK in 1961.

• At this point, I think I understand Lansdale enough to consider having read the book and using the book as a historical reference book to follow what was going on this arena from the Philippines uprising immediately after WWII to 1975, the Church hearings in Congress.

So, let's skip ahead and see what Lansdale did after Vietnam.

Chapter 22: "The X Factor" -- 1961

 Chapter 23: "Worms of the World Unite" -- 1961

Chapter 24: "Washington At Its Nuttiest" -- 1962

Part 5
Bastard Child
1964 - 1968

Chapter 25: "A Hell of a Mess"

• begins with the assassination of JFK, November 22, 1963
• just three weeks after Ngo Dinh Diem's death
• Lansdale conspiracy theory, killing JFK
• chapter ends with Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Chatper 26: "Concept for Victory:

• Edward Lansdale: 56 years old
• unemployed
• unemployed for the first time since 1942 when he had moved from advertising to the OSS
• forced out of the Pentagon
• offered a job at Food for Peace which he accepted, p. 435
• began work there December 3, 1963

Chapter 27: Escalation

• Ambassador Maxwell Taylor's tenure in Saigon began in the summer of 1964
• Lansdale bored at Food for Peace
• wants to get back to Vietnam
• sons grown; family update, p. 455
• Cabot Lodge asked Lansdale to go along to Vietnam with him as his assistant, to help him out in a lot of non-military things
• still corresponding with Pat Kelly -- wow
• still with his wife and his family

Chapter 28: The Impossible Missions Force

• Lansdale back in Vietnam, late summer, 1965
• an increasingly Americanized war in Vietnam; an increasingly divided nation at home
• now embedded in Saigon; Senior Liaison Office; 194 Cong Ly, on the road to the airport
• Lansdale was now Major General Edward G. Lansdale, USAF (Retired); and a future hero of the antiwar movement -- p. 467

Chapter 29: Waging Peace in a Time of War

• chairing the Mission Liaison Group, p. 475
• perceptive: p. 479
• very depressed
• chapter ends in spring of 1966: the only real question for Lansdale and his team members was whether they should stay in a diminished capacity or leave in defeat

Chapter 30: To Stay or To Go

• war escalates
• begrudgingly remains in Vietnam but very, very pessimistic

Chapter 31: Waiting for the Second Coming

• 1967: bipartisan support of the war breaking down
• Vietnam 1967 elections over
• Lansdale "tuckered out"-- ready to return home

Chapter 32: The Long Goodbye

• January 31, 1968: enemy attacking Saigon
• mid-June, 1968, Lansdale due to leave Vietnam for the last time, p. 527
• departed June 16, 1968, p. 519

Part Six
The Beaten Man
1968 - 1987

Chapter 33: The War At Home

• 1968: the year of revolution; just like the years of 1789, 1848, 1989
• year of the Tet Offensive and Lyndon Johnson stepping down
• back to Helen, p 535
• Nixon, Kissinger
• May 4, 1970: Kent State shootings
  

Chapter 34: A Defeat in Disguise

• 1972, the Watergate breakin
• Lansdale fire at home; fortunately his memoir was complete but he lost "all" his important papers
• origin of fire never determined; Max Boot doesn't talk about that; passes over that;
• John Paul Vann burial at Arlington National Cemetery, June 16, 1972, p. 554; Lansdale there, in a rumpled suit; not noticed;
• late April, his old aide Dave Hudson who had worked with him in Saigon, 1967 - 1968, had committed suicide; his story, p. 555; wow, what a story;
• then, Helen dies, another incredible story, p. 555
• Helen dies at age 71; they had been married 38 years, p. 556
• Pat: a decade-long liaison followed by sixteen years of intermittent contacts
• Ed flies out to San Francisco to meet Pat
• married July 4, 1973; he married 1908 - he was 65 years old; Alexandria, VA
• Paris Peace Accords

Chapter 35: The Abandoned Ally

• Nixon resigns; 1974
• even before the fall, Lansdale tried to help his old friends in South Vietnam
• Cambodia, killing fields, p. 571
• a look back -- Lansdale reflects -- p. 572

Chapter 36: The Family Jewels
1975: an annus horribilis for Edward Lansdale
not only the fall of Saigon but also the fall of the CIA at least compared to its founding in 1947
the Church hearings, p. 579

Chapter 37: The End of the Road

• still wanted to be ambassador to the Philippines under Jimmy Carter
• Lansdales, well off, living in McLean -- description of McLean, p. 587
• Ronald Reagan, 1980, elected president
• 1981; age 73: Ed Lansdale suffered a ministroke
• drove from DC to Denver, CO, to give a talk at Air Force Academy
• August 25, 1983: collapsed in hall of his home in Mclean
• temporary pacemaker and then a permanent pacemaker; at the end
• 79th birthday, February 6,1987
• dies sometime during the night of Sunday, February 22, 1987 to Monday, February 23, 1987
• services / funeral, Fort Myer, February 27, 1987
• wow, even I have tears at this point

Afterword: Lansdalism in the 21st Century