The War Bells Have Rung: The LBJ Tapes and the Americanization of the Vietnam War

In the summer of 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson faced an agonizing decision. On June 7, General William Westmoreland had come to him with a "bombshell" request to more than double the number of existing troops in Vietnam. LBJ, who wished to be remembered as a great reformer, not as a war president, saw the proposed escalation for what it was—the turning point for American involvement in Vietnam.

This is one of the most discussed chapters in modern presidential history, but George Herring,...