Mission to Hanoi

by Harry S. Ashmore

"Here is an eye-opening record of how the United States has formulated and conducted its policies on Vietnam. While billions of dollars have been spent and thousands of American lives have been lost, internal dissensions have racked official Washington, and national interest has been tossed to the winds. The authors bluntly indict the President for employing 'rhetorical overkill' in his effort to pursue a hard-line military policy while still professing to seek a negotiated settlement. This penetrating report is the work of two veteran journalists, Harry S. Ashmore (Pulitzer Prize-winning editor and author) and William C. Baggs (editor of the Miami News) whose journeys to North Vietnam at critical junctures in the last two years were authorized by the State Department. Here they recount the events that made them a key link between Washington and Hanoi during the maneuvering that led to the Paris talks, and offer their appraisal of 'an extraordinary exercise in duplicity.' -- from Back