Tightly argued and persuasive, this is a detailed analysis of the relationship between the US doctrine of containment of communism and US foreign policy in Vietnam. It has five major themes: why and how did the US first become involved in the Indochina conflict? What strategy did the US initially adopt to pursue its objectives there? How did communist leaders attempt to counter US moves and with what success? What factors led the US eventually to decide to introduce combat troops into South Vietnam? What does the US experience in Vietnam have to say about the overall strategy of containment and the more general issue of when and in what conditions the US should intervene in civil disturbances where its security interests are not directly engaged? The book concludes with an overview of the US experience in Vietnam and a discussion of whether there were feasible alternatives to the containment strategy that was pursued.