The Color of Truth McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy Brothers in Arms [Paperback]

Grey is the color of truth.
So observed Mac Bundy in defending America's intervention in Vietnam. Kai Bird brilliantly captures this ambiguity in his revelatory look at Bundy and his brother William, two of the most influential policymakers of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. It is a portrait of fiercely patriotic, brilliant and brazenly self-confident men who directed a steady escalation of a war they did not believe could be won. Bird draws on seven years of research, nearly one hundred interviews, and scores of still-classified top secret documents in a masterful reevaluation of America's actions throughout the Cold War and Vietnam.
Contents

Introduction

1 Harvey Hollister Bundy: The Patriarch

2 Groton: A Very Expensive Education

3 Yale: The Great Blue Mother

4 The War Years, 1941-1945

5 Stimson's Scribe

6 Portrait of a Young Policy Intellectual, 1948-1953

7 Dean Bundy of Harvard, 1953-1960

8 William Bundy and the CIA, 1951-1960

9 The Kennedy Years

10 The Cuban Missile Crisis

11 Autumn Assassinations

12 LBJ and Vietnam, 1964

13 Vietnam: The Decision, 1965

14 Vietnam Quagmire, 1966-1969

15 The Ford Foundation

16 Vietnam Aftermath

Notes

Interviews

Select Bibliography

Acknowledgments

IndexCharles Maechling, Jr.The Boston GlobeA fascinating account of how...two archetypes of the best and the brightest helped to shape the policies that led to the debacle of Vietnam.Bruce NussbaumBusiness WeekCompelling....Along with Halberstam'sThe Best and the BrightestandThe Wise Menby Walter Isaacson and Evan Thomas, Kai Bird'sThe Color of Truthforms a trilogy that shows that America, in times of difficulty, finds wise men to lead it. But they often lack the courage of their convictions to do so properly.Ronald SteelThe Washington PostA darl3