At the Water's Edge: American Politics and the Vietnam War

American Ways Series

by Melvin Small

More than most wars in American history, the long and contentious Vietnam War had a profound effect on the home front, during the war and especially after. In At the Water's Edge, Melvin Small delivers the first study of the war's domestic politics. Most of the military and diplomatic decisions made by Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, Mr. Small shows, were heavily influenced by election cycles, relations with Congress, the state of the economy, and the polls. Although all three presidents and their advisers claimed that these decisions were taken exclusively for national security concerns, much evidence suggests otherwise. In turn, the war had a transforming impact on American society. Popular perceptions of the "war at home" produced a dramatic and longstanding realignment in political allegiances, an assault on the media that still colors political debate today, and an economic crisis that weakened the nation for a decade after the last U.S. troops left Vietnam. Domestic conflict over the war led to the abolition of the draft, the curtailment of the intelligence agencies' unconstitutional practices, formal congressional restraints upon the imperial presidency, and epochal Supreme Court rulings that preserved First Amendment rights. The war ultimately destroyed the presidency of Lyndon Johnson and indirectly forced the resignation of Richard Nixon. Those presidents who followed through the remainder of the twentieth century constructed their foreign policies mindful that they would not survive politically if they were to lead the nation into another protracted limited war in the Third World.

Genres: History

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Melvin Small is a distinguished professor of history emeritus at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan after receiving his BA from Dartmouth College. Over the past two decades he has concentrated his research and writing on the postwar era, with an emphasis on the Vietnam War, the antiwar movement, and presidents Johnson and Nixon.

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

At the Water's Edge, by Melvin Small, is about the role that domestic politics played in US Strategy towards Vietnam. To some extent it also covers the exploitation of the US political system by the North Vietnamese. Its a really interesting story in the sense that so much of the modern political dynamic really begins with the Vietnam War.

The antiwar movement is really what colors the modern Democratic party -- its weak on defense, captured by minority interest groups, and generally anti-American. Of course, as a Democrat, I am not saying that this is true in anyway. I am just saying that the origins of that mindset begging here.

Similarly, the contemporary caricature of the Republican party begins here. They are demagogues who are saying one thing and doing another. They are a white men's club made up of the priviledged for the priviledged. They cloak themselves in the flag to justify their sinister objectives. Again, I am not assigning reality, but just echoing that our modern political dialog is still very much wrapped up in the parameters set by Vietnam.

To these observations, you can add distrust of the media, cynicism about government and authority figures. Yet, also a real disdain for protestors and those disaffected from the political system.

The Water's Edge is filled with clever little anecdotes about the machinations of LBJ and Nixon during Vietnam. One thing that struck me in particular, is that Nixon's reputation as a domestic "liberal" really results from Halderman. Nixon was so in the weeds on Vietnam, he just stopped caring about domestic programs. That left the whole realm of policy to the surprisingly progressive Halderman.

The prose is clean if uninspired. But the pull of the narrative is compelling, and at points, chilling, given the modern parallel's between the Iraq war and Vietnam. As an aside, what in the hell was George Bush thinking when he analogized withdrawl from Iraq to withdrawl from Vietnam? Did he really think that most Americans thought we should have stayed in Vietnam longer?

The most interesting conclusion from this work is that the antiwar movement in Vietnam was a failure. It may have checked the unlimited escalation of the war in Vietnam, but it did not bring it to an end much sooner than it would have otherwise. All three affected presidents were on the same timeline. They all wanted out, but for all of them, it had to come after reelection. No one wanted to be the guy who "lost Vietnam." That meant, the war would have to end in their second term. It also meant that it went on needlessly for something like 8 years. Our terms of withdrawl were attainable much earlier. What's worse, by the time we left, Congress was in no mood to assist South Vietnam any further. We stood idly by as our sattelite fell out of orbit. Perhaps had LBJ successfully negotiated a conclusion to the war, our resolve as a country to help South Vietnam may have been stronger.

In any case, for those of you not interested in the subject matter for its own sake, let me say that someone once described Iraq as Vietnam on crack. I think a read of this book will illustrate the insight of that remark.

[Eli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty good book. At times, it was actually surprisingly page-turning and at others it was unsurprisingly dry.

One thing that somewhat bothered me is the absence of footnotes or endnotes. Small does make great use of a section of notes and references at the end, though. I guess this is understandable because most of his research is new to the field, seeing as he states that no one has explicitly researched American domestic atmosphere during the war.

I also appreciated his apparent lack of political bias. Since Small is discussing the Vietnam War, he's discussing what the presidents did in part of the war. So most of it is negative. But at the end, he notes that aside from the war, Johnson and Nixon did make some good domestic and foreign steps during their terms.

I'm glad that I picked this book for my book review. It's very informative and connects a lot of dots in modern history and current events.

[James Muglia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really loved reading this unique account of the way the Vietnam War affected U S. domestic politics. Melvin Small provides a thorough play by play of the beginnings, throughout, and the aftermath of the U S. domestic dynamics of the war. Fantastic achievement and great contribution from Professor Small.

[Rose Bonar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book. It gave me lots of information about the Viet Nam war that I never knew or understood before.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Melvin Small performs a valuable service bridging the domestic to the foreign policy dimensions of analyzing Vietnam. Small has been an astute commentator on Vietnam's outsized influence on the U.S., and his articulate summaries would serve as excellent additions to any Vietnam War course syllabus.

[Ronando: I Stand With Palestinians · Rating 3 out of 5]

An account of Vietnam from a political homefront perspective. Well worth reading, possibly after you've read something else first. I suggest Stanley Karnow's Vietnam: A History first to get a good perspective on Vietnam before reading about what was going on at home.

[John]

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