A Brief Overview of Richard Nixon’s No More Vietnams

By: Domenic Gatto

During my period of service to the U.S. Army, I traveled overseas and fought in the Vietnam conflict. In Richard Nixon’s book, No More Vietnams, he details the events leading up to the conflict and gives meaning to the issues surrounding the initial bombing of Vietnam. This is one of my favorite books, as it provides a closer look into the endeavors of the federal government during the Vietnam years.

One of Richard Nixon’s main points in this book is that the U.S. became involved with Vietnam for one purpose: to provide relief to the South Vietnamese from an oppressive Communist North Vietnam government. Richard Nixon writes about the smear campaigns that plagued the U.S. government during this time, as well as the formation of the decisions that led to the 1972 bombing of Vietnam and the mining of the Haiphong harbor in that same year. Nixon gives readers insight into both the mistakes and victories of the U.S. military during this supposedly “unwinnable” conflict.

While Richard Nixon was known as a supremely partisan politician, he mostly shrugs his party affiliation in this novel and presents the actions of the U.S. government in a straightforward manner. His personal goal was to free the Vietnamese people from the tyrannical Communist powers in their country, and Richard Nixon describes the Vietnam conflict as a mistake because his plan failed. In the book Richard Nixon also strongly criticizes the actions of Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. No More Vietnams makes important information about the Vietnam era apparent to the public that wasn’t available during the war.