Public Affairs: The Military and the Media, 1968-1973

The U.S. Army in Vietnam series documents the Army's role in the Vietnam War. Most of its volumes deal with the Army's particular military interests: the conduct of combat opera tions, logistics, engineering, communications and electronics, and advice and support for America's allies. Two, however depart from that pattern to address a subject unique to recent war, the evolving relationship between the military and the news media. The first of those volumes, Public Affairs: The Military and the Media, 1962-1968, appeared in 1988. An account of military-media relations during the early years of the war it covered the formulation of military policies for dealing with the press in Vietnam and how those policies influenced the conduct of the war prior to the Tet offensive of 1968. Picking up where that volume ended- just after Tet, as the search for a negotiated settlement to the conflict began- this account carries the story forward through the administration of President Richard M. Nixon to the final withdrawal of American forces from South Vietnam in 1973. It is a tale well worth telling, not only because it draws upon hitherto unavailable sources but because it documents events and precedents that will continue to affect military relations with the news media during future operations. Indeed, many of the book's episodes and themes will have a familiar ring to those who have followed military relations with the media during operations in Grenada and Panama, the war in the Persian Gulf, and a host of subsequent peace operations.