Prochnau

WILLIAM PROCHNAU: //ONCE UPON A DISTANT WAR: YOUNG WAR CORRESPONDENTS AND THEIR EARLY VIETNAM BATTLES//

3-12 Great material on the setting of Vietnam 14 Nothing was as it seemed 15-18 Ngo Dinh Diem 19-20 Who was fooling whom? 24-26 Project Build-up; New Face of War
 * Chapter 1: A Nice Little War in a Land of Tigers and Elephants**

31 A new kind of war correspondent 33 Korea contrasted with Vietnam 38 Bigart's "All-American Dummy Act" 40-43 U.S. government denials that we were in a "war" 44-45 Helicopters 47-48 Diem survives coups [what is a coup anyway] 49 "Sink or swim with Ngo Dinh Diem" 54 It doesn't work—that's the story
 * Chapter 2: The Changing of the Guard**

58 Difficult role of John Mecklin: press versus U.S. government 65 Small footbridges: my experience 67 McNamara's zest for statistical analysis 71 Paragraph on McNamara 72-76 Strategic Hamlets: Pham Ngoc Thao
 * Chapter 3: What Fools We Mortals**

86-87 Descriptive material on South Vietnam 88-89 Advisory effort; John Paul Vann 90 The war was right; the strategy was wrong
 * Chapter 4: Old Man, Young Man**

108-109 Peter Arnett; my brief time with him 122-123 Madame Nhu 125-126 Cercle Sportif: Sully, Westmoreland
 * Chapter 5: We Band of Brothers**

137 Foreign correspondents: objectivity v. visa 140-141 Halberstam's view of U.S. role 154-155 Nicknames for the war in Vietnam
 * Chapter 6: Halberstam's War**

156-165 Halberstam's operating style 174 Halberstam's anger: was this bad/good for the U.S.
 * Chapter 7: The Making of an Angry Man**

Analyze dissidence on the Saigon side as manifested in coups. What comparable dissidence occurred on the U.S. side? 188-197 Conflicts between rival U.S. military services 208-211 Senator Mansfield
 * Chapter 8: The Rebels in the Field—The Colonels**

224-228 Battle of Ap Bac. Catch the details. 236-237 General York 243-244 U.S. reactions
 * Chapter 9: Turning Point**

245-246 What is the proper role of the press? 247 Paragraph on "two turning points" 253-254 Favorable opinions of the press 256 Madame Nhu conducted her business in French 259 What did it mean to "turn"? 260-261 Don't miss all the pictures
 * Chapter 10: Warning Shots**

274 Analyze this page carefully, beginning with the second paragraph 294 Last paragraph
 * Chapter 11: Battle Stations**

This is a key chapter for us. Buddhist crisis deepens. 300-322 Who are the players? What is their agenda? How are they using each other to advance their agenda?
 * Chapter 12: Firefight on the Eightfold Noble Path**

347 Henry Cabot Lodge 357-362 Battle between press and U.S. government increases
 * Chapter 13: Maggie and the Rover Boys**

Note how hard it was (compared to now) for the correspondents to communicate with their home office in the U.S. 366-371 Diem orders attack on Buddhist pagodas. 390-393 Washington cable: ok to dump Diem
 * Chapter 14: Flight of the Pigeons**

407-408 Walter Cronkite interview with JFK: stay or leave?
 * Chapter 15: The Armada**

436-444 Analyze the plotting against Diem 457-459 Deniability
 * Chapter 16: Teetering**

This is another key chapter. 460-484 Analyze the details of how the coup took place.
 * Chapter 17: The End of the Beginning**

485 Lies
 * Chapter 18: Roll Call**