The powerful special assistant for national security to John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson presents an enduring mystery. How did somebody as intelligent as McGeorge Bundy convince not only himself but also two presidents that sending troops to a small country far away was essential to America's future? Andrew Preston, a historian, goes over familiar ground, but adds to it on the basis of new research in a dozen archives. Bundy, who became dean of the faculty of arts and sciences at Harvard University at the age of 34, used to advise his students to read Shakespeare's "Henry IV" to under- stand American history. By this, Mr Preston speculates, Bundy understood that nothing could be secure without order.
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