Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam

The war in Vietnam was one of the most divisive issues of the 1960’s, already one of the most factious decades in American history. In his groundbreaking book Dereliction of Duty, H.R. McMaster reveals just how and why the United States became involved in this disastrous war.

McMaster, a brigadier general in the U.S. Army, brings an insider’s understanding to the policies and decisions behind Vietnam. With a cast of characters that includes President Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, General Maxwell Taylor, McGeorge Bundy and other top aides, Dereliction of Duty is a searing indictment of those who deliberately deceived the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the U.S. Congress and the American public, with tragic consequences.

Brigadier General H.R. McMaster is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy and holds a Ph.D. in military history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution on War Revolution and Peace and a member of the Council of Foreign Relations. McMaster is currently Chief of Concept Development and Experimentation at the U.S. Army’s Training and Doctrine Command.