Tour of duty : John Kerry and the Vietnam War / Douglas Brinkley.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Brinkley, Douglas.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Kerry, John, 1943-.

Kerry, John.

United States. Congress. Senate.

Legislators--United States--Biography.

Legislators.

United States.

United States. Congress. Senate--Biography.

Soldiers--United States--Biography.

Soldiers.

Vietnam War, 1961-1975--Biography.

Vietnam War, 1961-1975.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xii, 546 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Other Title:

John Kerry and the Vietnam War

Place of Publication:

New York : William Morrow, 2004.

Summary:

Covering more than four decades, Tour of Duty is the definitive account of John Kerry's journey from war to peace. Written by acclaimed historian Douglas Brinkley, this is the first full-scale, intimate account of Kerry's naval career. In writing this riveting narrative, Brinkley has drawn on extensive interviews with virtually everyone who knew Kerry well in Vietnam, including all the men still living who served under him. Kerry also entrusted to Brinkley his letters home from Vietnam and his voluminous "War Notes" -- journals, notebooks, and personal reminiscences written during and shortly after the war. This material was provided without restriction, to be used at Brinkley's discretion, and has never before been published.

John Kerry enlisted in the Navy in February 1966, months before he graduated from Yale. In December 1967 Ensign Kerry was assigned to the frigate U.S.S. Gridley; after five months of service in the Pacific, with a brief stop in Vietnam, he returned to the United States and underwent training to command a Swift boat, a small craft deployed in Vietnam's rivers. In June 1968 Kerry was promoted to lieutenant (junior grade), and by the end of that year he was back in Vietnam, where he commanded, over time, two Swift boats. Throughout Tour of Duty Brinkley deftly deals with such explosive issues as U.S. atrocities in Vietnam and the bombing of Cambodia. In a series of unforgettable combat-action sequences, he recounts how Kerry won the Purple Heart three times for wounds suffered in action and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Navy's Silver Star for gallantry in action.

When Kerry returned from Southeast Asia, he joined the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), becoming a prominent antiwar spokesperson. He challenged the Nixon administration on Capitol Hill with the antiwar movement cheering him on. As Kerry's public popularity soared in April-May 1971, the FBI considered him a subversive. Brinkley -- using new information acquired from the recently released Nixon tapes -- reveals how White House aides Charles Colson and H. R. Haldeman tried to discredit Kerry. Refusing to be intimidated, Kerry started running for public office, eventually becoming a U.S. senator from Massachusetts. But he never forgot his fallen comrades. Working with his friend Senator John McCain, he returnned to Vietnam numerous times looking for MIAs and POWs. By the time Bill Clinton was elected president in 1992, Kerry was the leading proponent of "normalization" of relations with Vietnam. When President Clinton officially recognized Vietnam in 1995, Kerry's three-decade-long tour of duty had at long last ended.

Contents:

Prologue: April 22, 1971 (Washington, D.C.) 1

Chapter 1 Up from Denver 18

Chapter 2 The Yale Years 39

Chapter 3 California Bound 65

Chapter 4 High Seas Adventures 77

Chapter 5 Training Days at Coronado 98

Chapter 6 Trial by Desert 117

Chapter 7 In-Country 129

Chapter 8 PCF-44 154

Chapter 9 Up the Rivers 188

Chapter 10 Death in the Delta 209

Chapter 11 Braving the Bo De River 231

Chapter 12 Taking Command of PCF-94 254

Chapter 13 The Medals 281

Chapter 14 The Homecoming 319

Chapter 15 The Winter Soldier 346

Chapter 16 Enemy Number One 378

Chapter 17 Duty Continued 412

Epilogue: September 2, 2003 (Charleston, South Carolina) 435

Interviews 466.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [498]-518) and index.

ISBN:

0060565233

OCLC:

53846764

Online:

Publisher description