Part 1. Decisions : getting into Vietnam. Patterns, dilemmas, and explanations ; Recurrent patterns and dilemmas from Roosevelt to Eisenhower ; Picking up the torch : the Kennedy administration ; Intervention in force : the Johnson administration, I ; Coming home to roost : the Johnson Administration, II -- Part 2. Goals : the imperative not to lose. National security goals and stakes ; Domestic political stakes ; The bureaucracy and the inner circle -- Part 3. Means : the minimum necessary and the maximum feasible. Constraints ; Pressures and the president -- Part 4. Perceptions : realism, hope, and compromise. Optimism, pessimism, and credibility ; The strategy of perseverance -- Part 5. Conclusions. The lessons of Vietnam -- Documentary appendix.