"Impressively researched . . . Sheds much new light on the prolonged and often angry debate between those who waged the war and those who opposed it" (George C. Herring, author of America's Longest War).

In the 1960s, the scare of communism provided the rationale for war in Vietnam. The deception of the Gulf of Tonkin Incident and the resulting resolution essentially gave President Lyndon B. Johnson a blank check in the region. Military historian and veteran of both the Iraq and Afghan wars, Pat Proctor breaks down the half-truths and outright lies of both the Johnson and Nixon Administrations and demonstrates how they brought the United States into a conflict that cost more than fifty thousand American lives over the course of eight years.

Providing historical context that highlights how the decision to use force is made—and how it is "sold" to the American public—Proctor also explores how this dishonesty ultimately led to the unraveling of Johnson's presidency and the credibility gap in the public political debate of the time. More than that, Containment and Credibility applies the lessons of the sixties to the growing threats of today.