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Book

Honorable exit : how a few brave Americans risked all to save our Vietnamese allies at the end of the war

Call Number

  • 959.7043 C611 (CEN)

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Edition

First edition.

Publication Information

New York : Doubleday, [2019]

Physical Description

xii, 430 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Summary

"In 1973, the Vietnam War ended in a cease-fire and a U.S. withdrawal that included promises by President Nixon to assist the South in the event of invasion by the North. But in early 1975, when North Vietnamese forces began to attack, Congress refused to send arms or aid. By April 5, the South was on the brink of defeat, spelling execution or years in a concentration camp for the untold number of South Vietnamese who had supported the government in Saigon or worked with Americans. Clarke launches into a narrative that is both a thrilling race against time and an important corrective to the historical record. For what is less known is that during those final days, scores of Americans--diplomats, soldiers, missionaries, contractors and spies--risked their lives to help their former translators, drivers, colleagues, neighbors and friends escape. By the time the last U.S. helicopter left Vietnam on April 30, 1975, these Righteous Americans had spirited 130,000 South Vietnamese to U.S. bases in Guam and the Philippines. The evacuees were resettled in the U.S. and became American citizens, the leading edge of one of America's most successful immigrant groups. Into this tale of heroism on the ground, Clarke weaves the political machinations of Henry Kissinger advising President Ford in the White House while nursing the delusions of the U.S. Ambassador in Saigon, who refused to depart. Groundbreaking, pageturning, and authoritative, Honorable Exit is a deeply moving history of Americans at a little known finest hour."--Provided by publisher.

Contents

  • Principal characters
  • Prologue: The man in the white shirt
  • Omens
  • Walter Martindale's convoy
  • Who lost Vietnam?
  • Designated fall guy
  • "I'd tell the president that!"
  • "In the shadow of a corkscrew"
  • Palpable fear
  • Operation Babylift
  • "People are going to feel badly"
  • "No guarantees!"
  • Playing God
  • "Godspeed"
  • "Make it happen"
  • "I won't go for that"
  • Kissinger's cable
  • Richard Armitage's courageous silence
  • Eighteen optimistic minutes
  • Frequent wind
  • Ken Moorefield's odyssey
  • Into the South China Sea
  • The 420.

Subjects