Operation Vulture: America's Dien Bien Phu

This is the little known story of how the American President and his cabinet carried the United States to the brink of war in Indochina and potentially China—in 1954! Americans and the U.S. were intimately involved in the key battle that ended the French occupation of Vietnam. Operation Vulture tells the story of secret U.S. efforts to sustain the French in Indochina, of the men who labored alongside the French military, of the frantic behind-closed-door meetings and confrontations in Washington as diplomats sought the American’s intervention, and of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s reluctant step back from sending in the Marines and using atomic bombs.

Presenting the story from the U.S., French, and Vietnamese points of view, this eBook edition of Operation Vulture is completely revised and rewritten, with new text on almost every international facet of the Dien Bien Phu battle. It provides the most detailed treatment of the secret plan to drop tactical nuclear weapons there. It includes fresh material on American naval and air operations, on the CIA and French intelligence, on U.S. and French efforts to relieve the besieged fortress, on the historical disputes over the diplomacy of Dien Bien Phu and Geneva, and on the cover-up of Eisenhower era records of these events. Also included are new maps specifically prepared for this edition.

PRAISE:
“A detailed and readable study…” –Foreign Affairs on Operation Vulture

“Dr. Prados’s perceptive…account gains impressive credence from his extensive use of recently declassified material…” –Army Magazine on Operation Vulture

“John Prados is a clever and prodigious digger of historical fact.” –Evan Thomas, New York Times Bestselling Author

“Prados…offers a rare fresh look at the war in Southeast Asia.” –Publishers Weekly on The Hidden History of the Vietnam War

“This highly detailed look at one of the major spymasters of the post WWII era is another intriguing work by the prolific Prados…” –Publishers Weekly on William Colby and the CIA

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
John Prados is a senior research fellow on national security affairs, including foreign affairs, intelligence, and military history, at the National Security Archive. He is an award-winning author of 22 books, most recently The Family Jewels: The CIA, Secrecy, and Presidential Power and Islands of Destiny: The Solomons Campaign and the Eclipse of the Rising Sun. In addition to three Pulitzer Prize nominations, Prados is the recipient of the Henry Adams Prize in American History and the notable book award from the United States Naval Institute. He holds a PhD in International Relations from Colombia University and is a contributing editor to MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History.