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In response to the H-Diplo Article Review by John Dumbrell of Jonathan Colman's “Lost Crusader? Chester L. Cooper and the Vietnam War, 1963-68,” http://www.h-net.org/~diplo/reviews/PDF/AR384.pdf I had the good fortune to get to know Chet Cooper quite well during our Critical Oral History project on the Vietnam War (http://www.watsoninstitute.org/project_detail.cfm?id=34). Like many who served in the Johnson administration, he often felt a tension between the desire not to cross the President and fidelity to his own good judgment. He spoke of it often, and he wrote of it in his memoir in his typically inimitable fashion. "I would frequently fall into a Walter Mitty-like fantasy: When my turn came, I would rise to my feet slowly, look around the room and then directly at the President, and say very quietly and emphatically, 'Mr. President, gentlemen, I most definitely do NOT agree.' But I was removed from my trance when I heard the President's voice saying, 'Mr. Cooper, do you agree?' And out would come a 'Yes, Mr. President, I agree.'" (_The Lost Crusade: America in Vietnam_, 1970, 233.) Chet's candor was always refreshing, though. He was basically admitting to groupthink. There is a good dissertation waiting to be written on the Johnson administration and Vietnam attempting to determine who muted their doubts out of loyalty and who did so out of fear. David A. Welch Balsillie School of International Affairs
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