The 25-Year War; America's Military Role in Vietnam

New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc. [A Touchstone Book], 1984. First Paperback Printing [stated]. Trade paperback. Good. [14], 236, [6] pages. Illustrations. Maps. Chart. Notes. Glossary. Selected Bibliography. Index. Cover has some wear and soiling. Inscribed by author on title page to "a gallant Army wife and true patriot". Name of previous owner and bookplate on fep. Ink underlining and other marks and comments noted in a number of places. An individual unnamed in the text is identified by a marginal comments at page 128. Bruce Palmer Jr. (April 13, 1913 - October 10, 2000) was a United States Army General. He was commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps, 1965-1967, and concurrently commander of Task Force 120 and United States Land Forces, Dominican Republic, May 1965. He was commander of the II Field Force, Vietnam, and deputy commander of the United States Army, Vietnam, 1967-1968 and was acting Chief of Staff of the United States Army July 1-October 11, 1972; supervised the drawdown of Army forces from Vietnam; and was commander in chief of the United States Readiness Command. The 25 Year War: America's Military Role in Vietnam is a book by General Bruce Palmer, Jr. about the Vietnam War. The book is split into two parts, the first which follows chronologically the events leading to the fall of Saigon in 1975 and mentions Palmer's position in those events. The second part is called 'Assessment' and more broadly calls out what was done right and wrong and also offers an alternate role the US could have played in the conflict. Although Palmer is at times in agreement with the purpose of the operations carried out in secret, such as incursions into Laos or Cambodia, he disagrees strongly with the deception involved. Palmer saw Schlesingers's warnings to the military about observing the proper chain of command following the resignation of Nixon as being disrespectful to the integrity of the US military.