On the use of national power, the career of Amb Max Taylor #book
4 stars
Had just read "Strategy for Defeat" by Sharp and wondered if Taylor had also written a bio. He sure as hell did. It's a beast at 400+ pages, but he surely lived in interesting times. As his story wended through the Johnson admin's attempt to seize some kind of victory out of the war in Vietnam I couldn't help but think that this person also jumped out of a plane to invade Europe ahead of Normandy. He knew war...
Anyway, his story was more revealing than Sharp's. Sharp... while a high ranking officer was in the middle tier of command during Vietnam and also was only there for a narrow window. Taylor was there from 61 and had a vantage point to see and point out the why of every major call. I found his closing chapter difficult to get through as it was written before the close of …
Had just read "Strategy for Defeat" by Sharp and wondered if Taylor had also written a bio. He sure as hell did. It's a beast at 400+ pages, but he surely lived in interesting times. As his story wended through the Johnson admin's attempt to seize some kind of victory out of the war in Vietnam I couldn't help but think that this person also jumped out of a plane to invade Europe ahead of Normandy. He knew war...
Anyway, his story was more revealing than Sharp's. Sharp... while a high ranking officer was in the middle tier of command during Vietnam and also was only there for a narrow window. Taylor was there from 61 and had a vantage point to see and point out the why of every major call. I found his closing chapter difficult to get through as it was written before the close of the Vietnam war and could not prognosticate it's end, but I found his final analysis instructive and enduring. Anyone interested in the application of national power could benefit from Taylor's summation of the fundamentals. Unsaid in so many words in all this text, but alluded to is Taylor's clear opinion that JFK was far superior an executive than LBJ and that his early death led to a ship of state not well steered. It's a bit of a passing of the buck, but I can see why he thinks it. He also does some work in here with introspection... a bit of "if they had followed my advice" comes out.
All in all a good auto-bio/history. Not 5 stars, but 4 for sure.