Vietnam Now: A Case for Normalizing Relations with Hanoi

(Hardback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

Former Republican Congressman John LeBoutillier criticizes current Republican policies toward Vietnam and forcefully argues for normalizing relations with Hanoi. LeBoutillier exposes what he terms the hypocrisy of present U.S. policy toward its former foe and reveals, for the first time, Oval Office secrets about the abandonment of hundreds of American prisoners of war. Vietnam Now clearly demonstrates the advantages of normalized relations, including a severe weakening of Soviet influence throughout Southeast Asia and a reassertion of American economic and diplomatic power in the world's most rapidly growing region. Vietnam Now is the first book written by a Republican to challenge the conservative policies that govern U.S. relations with Vietnam. LeBoutillier counters what he calls a handful of super-conservative Republicans who continue to preach the policy of Vietnam isolation. He argues that it is finally time to recognize our former foe and, in the words of a Vietnamese diplomat, stop the bleeding that still continues from the war.

Reviews

. . . LeBoutillier has written a book, Vietnam Now, in which he calls for normalizing relations with Vietnam. The reason he gives is American policies in Southeast Asia have thus far directly contributed to greatley increased Soviet influence.' LeBoutillier also calls for Vietnam to make a full accounting of American MIAs, to release all its political prisoners and Amerasian children, and to withdraw from Cambodia. The latter came to pass last September, a month before LeBoutillier's book was published. The book has an introduction by one of the author's heroes, Richard M. Nixon.-Arts of War
A Reagan coattail congressman from 1981 to 1983, president of Accuracy in Academia, and author of the diatribe Harvard Hates America (1978), LeBoutillier has well-established solid Right credentials. Thus his argument and his excoriating critique of Reagan's policies and inept leadership catch one's attention. The heart of LeBoutillier's case is that normalization is necessary to gain the return of POWs/MIAs, whom he is convinced are still alive in Indochina. The author weaves a fascinating saga of deceit, cover-up, and indifference that began with Henry Kissinger, and continued through the Ford, Carter, and Reagan administrations, to hide the fact that the US knowingly left Americans behind and even spurned an offer to have 53 returned. Although the story is intriguing, its authenticity is difficult to verify since the author invokes off the record' revelations made to him personally, or simply states that sources revealed' critical pieces of evidence. Conspiracy theses aside, LeBoutillier makes a cogent case for normalization, and the book is certainly interesting. . . .-Choice
LeBoutillier, a former conservative Republican member of Congress and subsequently president of Account for POW/MIAs, Inc., makes an impassioned case for the United States to normalize its relations with Vietnam and help the country shake off Soviet influence. An insider book, this weighs the domestic, regional, and super-power implications of normalizing relations--a major payoff of which would be a full accounting of prisoners of war and those missing in action. . . . A well-written book for a general audience, this provides an interesting case in ideological transformation in postwar U.S. policy toward Vietnam.-Library Journal
." . . LeBoutillier has written a book, Vietnam Now, in which he calls for normalizing relations with Vietnam. The reason he gives is American policies in Southeast Asia have thus far directly contributed to greatley increased Soviet influence.' LeBoutillier also calls for Vietnam to make a full accounting of American MIAs, to release all its political prisoners and Amerasian children, and to withdraw from Cambodia. The latter came to pass last September, a month before LeBoutillier's book was published. The book has an introduction by one of the author's heroes, Richard M. Nixon."-Arts of War
"LeBoutillier, a former conservative Republican member of Congress and subsequently president of Account for POW/MIAs, Inc., makes an impassioned case for the United States to normalize its relations with Vietnam and help the country shake off Soviet influence. An insider book, this weighs the domestic, regional, and super-power implications of normalizing relations--a major payoff of which would be a full accounting of prisoners of war and those missing in action. . . . A well-written book for a general audience, this provides an interesting case in ideological transformation in postwar U.S. policy toward Vietnam."-Library Journal
"A Reagan coattail congressman from 1981 to 1983, president of Accuracy in Academia, and author of the diatribe Harvard Hates America (1978), LeBoutillier has well-established solid Right credentials. Thus his argument and his excoriating critique of Reagan's policies and inept leadership catch one's attention. The heart of LeBoutillier's case is that normalization is necessary to gain the return of POWs/MIAs, whom he is convinced are still alive in Indochina. The author weaves a fascinating saga of deceit, cover-up, and indifference that began with Henry Kissinger, and continued through the Ford, Carter, and Reagan administrations, to hide the fact that the US knowingly left Americans behind and even spurned an offer to have 53 returned. Although the story is intriguing, its authenticity is difficult to verify since the author invokes off the record' revelations made to him personally, or simply states that sources revealed' critical pieces of evidence. Conspiracy theses aside, LeBoutillier makes a cogent case for normalization, and the book is certainly interesting. . . ."-Choice

Author Bio

JOHN LeBOUTILLIER served in the U.S. Congress from 1981 to 1983. For the past six years he has been the president of Account for POW/MIAs Inc., the largest private group in the United States dedicated to bringing home living American POWs still held in Indochina--and to educating the American people about issues of the POWs and MIAs.