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Year of the Hawk: America's Descent into Vietnam, 1965
From a celebrated military historian, a powerful, “highly recommended” ( Library Journal , starred review) account of the most pivotal year of the Vietnam War—the cataclysm that “continues to haunt American politics and culture” ( Publishers Weekly ).
The Vietnam War was the greatest disaster in the history of American foreign policy. The conflict shook the nation to its foundations, exacerbating already deep cleavages in American society, and left the country baffled and ambivalent about its role in the world. Year of the Hawk is a military and political history of the war in Vietnam during 1965—the pivotal first year of the American conflict, when the United States decided to intervene directly with combat units in a struggle between communist and pro-Western forces in South Vietnam that had raged on and off for twenty years.
By December 1965, a powerful communist offensive had been turned back, and the US Army had prevailed in one of the most dramatic battles in American military history, but nonetheless there were many signs and portents that US involvement would soon slide toward the tipping point of tragedy. Vividly interweaving events in the US capital with action in Southeast Asia, historian James A. Warren explores the mindsets and strategies of the adversaries and concludes that, in the end, Washington was not so much outfought in Vietnam as outthought by revolutionaries pursuing a brilliant, protracted war strategy. Based on new research, Year of the Hawk offers fresh insight into how a nationalist movement led by communists in a small country defeated the most powerful nation on earth and is “a well-researched overview of how America got into Vietnam—and why it shouldn’t have” ( Kirkus Reviews ).
The Vietnam War was the greatest disaster in the history of American foreign policy. The conflict shook the nation to its foundations, exacerbating already deep cleavages in American society, and left the country baffled and ambivalent about its role in the world. Year of the Hawk is a military and political history of the war in Vietnam during 1965—the pivotal first year of the American conflict, when the United States decided to intervene directly with combat units in a struggle between communist and pro-Western forces in South Vietnam that had raged on and off for twenty years.
By December 1965, a powerful communist offensive had been turned back, and the US Army had prevailed in one of the most dramatic battles in American military history, but nonetheless there were many signs and portents that US involvement would soon slide toward the tipping point of tragedy. Vividly interweaving events in the US capital with action in Southeast Asia, historian James A. Warren explores the mindsets and strategies of the adversaries and concludes that, in the end, Washington was not so much outfought in Vietnam as outthought by revolutionaries pursuing a brilliant, protracted war strategy. Based on new research, Year of the Hawk offers fresh insight into how a nationalist movement led by communists in a small country defeated the most powerful nation on earth and is “a well-researched overview of how America got into Vietnam—and why it shouldn’t have” ( Kirkus Reviews ).
320 pages, Hardcover
First published November 16, 2021
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160 people want to read
About the author
James A. Warren
12 books13 followersJames Warren is a freelance writer specializing in modern American military history. He has written books on the Vietnam War and the cold war, and contributed the chapter on the Vietnam War to The Atlas of American Military History (1993). His reviews and articles have appeared in MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, as well as in Society and The Providence (RI) Journal.
He is the author of a highly acclaimed History of the U.S. Marines from Iwo Jima to Iraq, American Spartans, and Portrait of a Tragedy: America and the Vietnam War. He lives in Narragansett, Rhode Island.
He is the author of a highly acclaimed History of the U.S. Marines from Iwo Jima to Iraq, American Spartans, and Portrait of a Tragedy: America and the Vietnam War. He lives in Narragansett, Rhode Island.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
September 9, 2025
Thank you, NetGalley, for granting me a free copy of this ebook in exchange for an honest review.
The Vietnam War has long been considered one of the great tragedies of American history, and was the defining event for a generation of young Americans. Year of the Hawk chronicles the initial deployment of American troops to Vietnam in 1965, back when most Americans, driven by a post-World War II idealism, supported intervention in the civil war dividing the country. The book isn't quite as narrowly focused on 1965 as one might expect, given the amount of backstory needed to set up the conflict and introduce all the key players. Because the Vietnam War remains a massive influence on our culture, it can be challenging to write about it in a way that feels fresh. Year of the Hawk was often very dry, and a bit discordant in how it shifted between the political, social, and military theaters. Ironically, the section of the book I enjoyed the most was the epilogue, which runs through the rest of the war and its repercussions.
If Year of the Hawk distinguishes itself in one way, its in the author's decision to explicitly place the blame for the escalation of the war on Lyndon B. Johnson's shoulders. Most historians, whether out of deference for Johnson's domestic policies or just a reluctance to point fingers, usually try to spread the blame among the powers that be. But the situation in Vietnam required diplomacy, not gunfire, Warren argues, and Johnson was hindered both by a lack of finesse in international affairs and his own insecurity about being "the first American president to lose a war." Johnson couldn't escape Vietnam, and ultimately, neither could anyone else.
The Vietnam War has long been considered one of the great tragedies of American history, and was the defining event for a generation of young Americans. Year of the Hawk chronicles the initial deployment of American troops to Vietnam in 1965, back when most Americans, driven by a post-World War II idealism, supported intervention in the civil war dividing the country. The book isn't quite as narrowly focused on 1965 as one might expect, given the amount of backstory needed to set up the conflict and introduce all the key players. Because the Vietnam War remains a massive influence on our culture, it can be challenging to write about it in a way that feels fresh. Year of the Hawk was often very dry, and a bit discordant in how it shifted between the political, social, and military theaters. Ironically, the section of the book I enjoyed the most was the epilogue, which runs through the rest of the war and its repercussions.
If Year of the Hawk distinguishes itself in one way, its in the author's decision to explicitly place the blame for the escalation of the war on Lyndon B. Johnson's shoulders. Most historians, whether out of deference for Johnson's domestic policies or just a reluctance to point fingers, usually try to spread the blame among the powers that be. But the situation in Vietnam required diplomacy, not gunfire, Warren argues, and Johnson was hindered both by a lack of finesse in international affairs and his own insecurity about being "the first American president to lose a war." Johnson couldn't escape Vietnam, and ultimately, neither could anyone else.
December 26, 2021
The Vietnam War is arguably the greatest single debacle in American military history: an epic, long war which saw our armed forces win on the battlefield but lose in the all-important sense of securing South Vietnam from the threat of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Communist threat, because in many ways the "Commies" did a better job of winning hearts and minds than we and our erstwhile allies in Saigon could manage. I've been reading a lot about the war over the last few years, perhaps in some way to come to terms with whatever it was about the war that made my birth father (a Vietnam vet) who he was (in the sense of "a guy who fathers a child and then misses that child's life"). I've read many great books about the conflict ("A Rumor of War" and "Dispatches" are the two tops so far), and this one isn't quite in their league. But it does a good job of explaining why 1965, the "year of the hawks," was such a crucial turning point, a year in which the war was lost even before it properly began for American forces in-country.
"Year of the Hawk," by James A. Warren, examines the tentative steps that the Kennedy and Johnson administrations took towards expanding American influence in South Vietnam and in trying to combat the insurgency of the civil war experienced in that country between the corrupt Diem government (and the no-less-corrupt governments that succeeded it) and the forces of North Vietnam and the Viet Cong, bent on uniting the country into one Communist unit in the wake of Indochina's defeat of the French colonialists in 1954. Warren pulls no punches in his assessment of the "best and brightest" who formulated the policy of American involvement, from Dean Rusk and Robert McNamera to General William Westmoreland and Johnson himself, a president obsessed with power who saw any effort to let the Vietnamese war play out without American involvement as a betrayal of JFK's aggressive behind-the-scenes support for what was supposed to be a democratic republic in the country's southern realm. The book is at its best when detailing the chronology of events leading up to the first introduction of American ground forces in 1965 (Marines landing at the beach at Da Nang), and in the boardroom discussions about how the war was supposed to unfold (versus the reality of what happened once the Army and other American services met the enemy on the field of battle).
In his descriptions of the combat itself, I have to say that Warren loses me a little; I had a hard time keeping straight the various divisions and battalions and so on engaged in battle. But the combat itself is rendered in graphic, sometimes gory, detail, and lends to the overall thesis of the book about America's profound inability to be of any help in securing South Vietnam from the clutches of Ho Chi Minh and his allies. Beholden to the view (mistaken, as it turns out) that the North Vietnamese were being directed in their actions from either Moscow or Bejing, American strategists never considered that the quest to unite the two Vietnams lay in a more nationalistic, less Communist direction, or that the ways in which to win over the South were not through awesome displays of firepower but in little acts of charity and aid that could foster goodwill among the peasants and farmers who didn't trust the Saigon government to have their best interest (a belief which was correct, in that Saigon's government looked down upon the rural inhabitants of the country). The amount of expenditure wasted in the pursuit of goals that could never be realized is one of the overwhelming tragedies of the war, a hubris on par with Greek tragedy in the sense of "Americanization" that was doomed to failure. The American forces counted success in body bags; the Vietnamese saw success in the gradual erosion of their opponents' will to continue the fight.
"Year of the Hawk" is a very well-done chronicle not just of the year in which America committed to Vietnam, but also of what we lost as a nation in doing so. We lost the moral high ground in many ways, and 1965 would prove to be the beginning of the period we have experienced since, the push and pull between being the leaders of the Free World and being the world's biggest punching bag for everything that's wrong. Vietnam was the conflict that we never should've gotten into, and we're still dealing with the repercussions of that conflict some sixty years since we first began looking at the war as something we could help conclude on our terms. As James A. Warren demonstrates, we should've never even bothered.
"Year of the Hawk," by James A. Warren, examines the tentative steps that the Kennedy and Johnson administrations took towards expanding American influence in South Vietnam and in trying to combat the insurgency of the civil war experienced in that country between the corrupt Diem government (and the no-less-corrupt governments that succeeded it) and the forces of North Vietnam and the Viet Cong, bent on uniting the country into one Communist unit in the wake of Indochina's defeat of the French colonialists in 1954. Warren pulls no punches in his assessment of the "best and brightest" who formulated the policy of American involvement, from Dean Rusk and Robert McNamera to General William Westmoreland and Johnson himself, a president obsessed with power who saw any effort to let the Vietnamese war play out without American involvement as a betrayal of JFK's aggressive behind-the-scenes support for what was supposed to be a democratic republic in the country's southern realm. The book is at its best when detailing the chronology of events leading up to the first introduction of American ground forces in 1965 (Marines landing at the beach at Da Nang), and in the boardroom discussions about how the war was supposed to unfold (versus the reality of what happened once the Army and other American services met the enemy on the field of battle).
In his descriptions of the combat itself, I have to say that Warren loses me a little; I had a hard time keeping straight the various divisions and battalions and so on engaged in battle. But the combat itself is rendered in graphic, sometimes gory, detail, and lends to the overall thesis of the book about America's profound inability to be of any help in securing South Vietnam from the clutches of Ho Chi Minh and his allies. Beholden to the view (mistaken, as it turns out) that the North Vietnamese were being directed in their actions from either Moscow or Bejing, American strategists never considered that the quest to unite the two Vietnams lay in a more nationalistic, less Communist direction, or that the ways in which to win over the South were not through awesome displays of firepower but in little acts of charity and aid that could foster goodwill among the peasants and farmers who didn't trust the Saigon government to have their best interest (a belief which was correct, in that Saigon's government looked down upon the rural inhabitants of the country). The amount of expenditure wasted in the pursuit of goals that could never be realized is one of the overwhelming tragedies of the war, a hubris on par with Greek tragedy in the sense of "Americanization" that was doomed to failure. The American forces counted success in body bags; the Vietnamese saw success in the gradual erosion of their opponents' will to continue the fight.
"Year of the Hawk" is a very well-done chronicle not just of the year in which America committed to Vietnam, but also of what we lost as a nation in doing so. We lost the moral high ground in many ways, and 1965 would prove to be the beginning of the period we have experienced since, the push and pull between being the leaders of the Free World and being the world's biggest punching bag for everything that's wrong. Vietnam was the conflict that we never should've gotten into, and we're still dealing with the repercussions of that conflict some sixty years since we first began looking at the war as something we could help conclude on our terms. As James A. Warren demonstrates, we should've never even bothered.
January 3, 2023
I lived very close to this military conflict as a young military officer who volunteered in the early 60s to go to a tropical place as an advisor. Being in Korea at the time, I was motivated to get out of the cold. The American people had recently counted nearly 400,000 coffins from WWII and 36,000 deaths during the Korean conflict w/o a real solution to land boundaries and were not so inclined to continue its world policing assignment. Being connected with the national guard and army reserve I trained for civil rights protests, and college campus riots, and at Officer Candidate School I was continually trained in new tactics, due to the failure of the old ones in Vietnam. This conflict was not a popular event.
The author is definitely not a HAWK, but he does present many details of the failures that led to the defeat of the world's greatest superpower. His comment, "How could an army of rice farmers led by a cadre of communist fanatics frustrated the will of the greatest power on the face of the earth?"
The at-home protesters asked tough questions: How can you justify destroying 5,300 villages in 1965 and another 2,400 in later bombings?" (U S Govt figures) Much of this book discusses mistakes made by ALL those associated with the conflict. There were no winners, only losers. SAD!
A history I have lived and one that needs to be understood by all. I recommend a read but, be prepared for a lot of sadness.
The author is definitely not a HAWK, but he does present many details of the failures that led to the defeat of the world's greatest superpower. His comment, "How could an army of rice farmers led by a cadre of communist fanatics frustrated the will of the greatest power on the face of the earth?"
The at-home protesters asked tough questions: How can you justify destroying 5,300 villages in 1965 and another 2,400 in later bombings?" (U S Govt figures) Much of this book discusses mistakes made by ALL those associated with the conflict. There were no winners, only losers. SAD!
A history I have lived and one that needs to be understood by all. I recommend a read but, be prepared for a lot of sadness.
November 11, 2021
Year of the Hawk: America’s Descent Into Vietnam, 1965 by James A. Warren is a fascinating book about the people and events that precipitated the Vietnam War, as well as an account of the first troops sent to fight in that war. They were sent to Vietnam by President Johnson despite his campaign promise not to escalate our involvement and despite having been cautioned against it by many highly respected experts at the time. The soldiers there fought a difficult war, one without a clear enemy and without the support of a majority of the people back home. Nonetheless, they fought bravely, with many enduring serious injuries and even years in POW camps. It saddens me that so many lives on both sides of the war were upended by the decisions of just a handful of people in power.
This book is very well-researched and includes both American and Vietnamese perspectives and reports. I struggled to follow the frequent military terminology (platoon, battalion, flak, sorties, etc.), but still learned a great deal from reading it. If you have an interest in American history then I would highly recommend this book to you.
This book is very well-researched and includes both American and Vietnamese perspectives and reports. I struggled to follow the frequent military terminology (platoon, battalion, flak, sorties, etc.), but still learned a great deal from reading it. If you have an interest in American history then I would highly recommend this book to you.
September 30, 2023
Anything about history is fair game for me and so this book caught my attention as I was perusing the books displayed at my local library branch. I had not done that for a while, but it is always fun to pick up a book just by looking at its title and taking a chance. This was well worth my time to read. The author obviously states his very low opinion of the war in Vietnam from the beginning through the very end. He makes a good case, and I was sympathetic to his point of view I guess since I think LBJ was one of our worst presidents and military leaders tend to be really great or terribly bad and history usually proves out the latter. Being a young child and not having anybody in my family directly related to the war, this part of our nation's history has passed me by, so it was educational to read about the early buildup to the war and the reasons given for our involvement in the first place. I think it was wise of the author to focus on the earlier years and not the whole war because that is when the decision was made that could not be reversed, go to a place you did not understand and had misread the intent of the enemy and believe you can win anyway because you are bigger and badder than they are. We seem to be pretty good at that as a nation in my lifetime.
January 22, 2022
Essentially a long ¨Military History¨ essay, ¨Year of the Hawk¨ is concise, yet detailed, look at the
USA´s descent into madness that was the War in Vietnam.
I was 15-years-old in 1965, and kind of caught up in the Cold War rhetoric coming out of Washington and the press. By 1966 I was changing my mind about Vietnam. By ´67 I was definitely anti-war.
In retrospect, it´s too bad Lyndon Johnson didn´t pull the plug on the government in Saigon 1966, like Joe Biden did in Afghanistan in August of 2021.
Of course the sorriest fact about Vietnam is, the idiot son of an asshole, who had spent his Vietnam era military duty in a ¨champagne¨ unit of the Texas Air National Guard, committed the US to not one but two mini-Vietnams, Iraq and Afghanistan.
However George Dubya Bush paid scant political price for his blunder. Both those wars were fought by an all volunteer force. The AVF was a knee-jerk reaction to the massive draftee army that fought in Vietnam. The creation of the AVF, its supporters, ranging from Vietnam Veterans Against the War to its chief architect, ¨free market¨ economist Milton J. Friedman, was touted as an antidote to endless warfare. In the 1960s and 70s college students made up the bulk of anti-Vietnam War activists. With presidential wars being fought by ¨those who wanted to be there,¨ college students didn´t give a shit in the 2000s.
USA´s descent into madness that was the War in Vietnam.
I was 15-years-old in 1965, and kind of caught up in the Cold War rhetoric coming out of Washington and the press. By 1966 I was changing my mind about Vietnam. By ´67 I was definitely anti-war.
In retrospect, it´s too bad Lyndon Johnson didn´t pull the plug on the government in Saigon 1966, like Joe Biden did in Afghanistan in August of 2021.
Of course the sorriest fact about Vietnam is, the idiot son of an asshole, who had spent his Vietnam era military duty in a ¨champagne¨ unit of the Texas Air National Guard, committed the US to not one but two mini-Vietnams, Iraq and Afghanistan.
However George Dubya Bush paid scant political price for his blunder. Both those wars were fought by an all volunteer force. The AVF was a knee-jerk reaction to the massive draftee army that fought in Vietnam. The creation of the AVF, its supporters, ranging from Vietnam Veterans Against the War to its chief architect, ¨free market¨ economist Milton J. Friedman, was touted as an antidote to endless warfare. In the 1960s and 70s college students made up the bulk of anti-Vietnam War activists. With presidential wars being fought by ¨those who wanted to be there,¨ college students didn´t give a shit in the 2000s.
July 26, 2025
The Year of the Hawk is a stark reality of the American Conflict in Vietnam and the year of 1965 where Americans were thoroughly sucked into the beliefs of Domino theory Communism takeover. American pride and false sense of superiority did match the ability to defeat the Vietnamese. The “war” was truly lost as everything and everyone tossed into Vietnam and neighboring nations could not beat the combatants by waging war nor winning the hearts and minds of the locals by “brainwashing” and corruption. At very dark past history shadowed by patriotism, doubt, and survival were but some of the feelings one dealt with for a world climate wear the U.S. was the top dog in the world. The book added a better understanding of the politics and the “military-industrial complex.
June 17, 2022
As a high school senior during the significant years of this book and who joined the Marines in the summer of '65 reading of what President Johnson and his advisors decided was most interesting. Near the end of the book the author wrote; "...Lyndon Johnson went to war because he was more afraid of the personal and political consequences of admitting that the United States had been betting on the wrong horse than he was of starting a major land ware in Southeast Asia." The author also cites many situations that POTUS, SecDef, SecState, and national security advisor underestimated the civil war fight in South Vietnam. BTW: I went to Vietnam as a rifle platoon leader in 1967-68.
August 2, 2022
Vietnam is a complex subject for anyone to tackle, and Warren does not succeed. The book suffers from a lack of flow. It's organized in a haphazard manner, for the most part, meandering here and there. It also suffers from the author including too much background information. If I want to know the life stories of Ho Chi Minh and General Giap, for example, I'll read a survey text. There's some great research in this book, and good writing, also, but you have to pick and choose and read what looks interesting.
July 21, 2022
I did not enjoy this book at all and ultimately did not finish it! I was a Naval and Merchant Marine Officer in August 1965 and was hopeful the book would have content about the sealift of the 1st Cavalry (Airborne) that occurred in 1965. I was under the impression it was one of the largest undertakings of moving troops (perhaps 15000) of the war. The sealift was not mentioned at all and there was only very limited mention of the 1st Cav.
March 20, 2023
I enjoyed the book but it wasn’t great as a starting point for understanding the Vietnam War - coming off of a book about the Korean War and then one about the Cuban missile crisis, I was hoping for more focus on the big picture players and choices, and I got more of an understanding of a few specific engagements than I expected. I still think it’s well-done and worth the read for sure, just not the research starting point I was planning on.
January 20, 2023
This book had some good Vietnamese perspectives that I feel like I miss out on in most American-focused accounts of the Vietnam War. I liked that it didn't get bogged down in too many details but covered a variety of topics, yes there was a lot but that's usually what I expect from this type of book.
February 22, 2022
Excellent book to better understand the decisions made by the Johnson Administration to escalate the US involvement in Vietnam. I like the level of detail that James Warren goes into to understand the escalation from the US and North Vietnam's perspective.
December 9, 2024
James A. Warren provides a comprehensive analysis of the initial full year of increased U.S. engagement in the Vietnam War. By incorporating both international and domestic viewpoints, this work serves as an excellent resource for enthusiasts of the Vietnam War.
March 21, 2022
Another book about lost opportunities due to hubris, many ignored warnings, and politics. This error would be repeated 40 some years later in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands of lives lost needlessly.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews