"The Best and the Brightest (1972) is an account by journalist David Halberstam of the origins of the Vietnam War published by Random House. The focus of the book is on the foreign policy crafted by academics and intellectuals who were in President John F. Kennedy's administration, and the consequences of those policies in Vietnam. The t…
"The Best and the Brightest (1972) is an account by journalist David Halberstam of the origins of the Vietnam War published by Random House. The focus of the book is on the foreign policy crafted by academics and intellectuals who were in President John F. Kennedy's administration, and the consequences of those policies in Vietnam. The title referred to Kennedy's "whiz kids"—leaders of industry and academia brought into the administration—whom Halberstam characterized as insisting on "brilliant policies that defied common sense" in Vietnam, often against the advice of career U.S. Department of State employees."
Thank you, lin, from a former U.S. Army Vietnamese translator/interpreter.
Before I went into the Army (2 Sept. 1969) I tended to believe our elites, a tendency which experience totally reversed for me by the time I came out (4 April 1972).
I am glad you were able to complete your mission and come home. ThankYou for your continuing engagement.
My public high school was renowned for producing Westinghouse Science winners. And sending middle-class Brooklyn kids to the Ivies and other schools of excellence.
These students certainly would fit the moniker 'best and brightest.' Some went on to do big and some to do good things. Many found a niche which fit them. Some crashed and burned. Not all that different from the majority of us who were not singled out as spectacular by the reigning standards.
The construct of 'elites' and how it has been deployed by propagandists is another story.
"The Best and the Brightest (1972) is an account by journalist David Halberstam of the origins of the Vietnam War published by Random House. The focus of the book is on the foreign policy crafted by academics and intellectuals who were in President John F. Kennedy's administration, and the consequences of those policies in Vietnam. The title referred to Kennedy's "whiz kids"—leaders of industry and academia brought into the administration—whom Halberstam characterized as insisting on "brilliant policies that defied common sense" in Vietnam, often against the advice of career U.S. Department of State employees."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Best_and_the_Brightest
Thank you, lin, from a former U.S. Army Vietnamese translator/interpreter.
Before I went into the Army (2 Sept. 1969) I tended to believe our elites, a tendency which experience totally reversed for me by the time I came out (4 April 1972).
I am glad you were able to complete your mission and come home. ThankYou for your continuing engagement.
My public high school was renowned for producing Westinghouse Science winners. And sending middle-class Brooklyn kids to the Ivies and other schools of excellence.
These students certainly would fit the moniker 'best and brightest.' Some went on to do big and some to do good things. Many found a niche which fit them. Some crashed and burned. Not all that different from the majority of us who were not singled out as spectacular by the reigning standards.
The construct of 'elites' and how it has been deployed by propagandists is another story.