The color of truth : McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy, brothers in arms : a biography

**"Grey is the color of truth."** So observed Mac Bundy in defending America's intervention in Vietnam. Kai Bird brilliantly captures this ambiguity in his revelatory look at Bundy and his brother William, two of the most influential policymakers of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. It is a portrait of fiercely patriotic, brilliant and brazenly self-confident men who directed a steady escalation of a war they did not believe could be won. Bird draws on seven years of research, nearly one hundred interviews, and scores of still-classified top secret documents in a masterful reevaluation of America's actions throughout the Cold War and Vietnam. The Color of Truth is the definitive biography of McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy, two of "the best and the brightest" who advised presidents about peace and war during the most dangerous years of the Cold War. The Bundy brothers embodied all the idealism and hubris that animated American foreign policy in the decades after World War II. They will be remembered forever as anti-communist liberals who, despite their grave doubts about sending Americans to fight in Southeast Asia, became key architects of America's war in Vietnam. The brothers reached the apex of the national security establishment under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Kennedy appointed Mac Bundy to be his national security adviser, and Bill Bundy moved into senior positions at the Pentagon and the State Department. Both were intimately involved in many of the triumphs and deceits of the Kennedy years, including the Bay of Pigs fiasco, plots to assassinate Fidel Castro and the Cuban Missile Crisis. But it was their role in guiding the nation to war in Vietnam that engulfed them in controversy and indelibly marked them as failed figures in American history. Based on nearly a hundred interviews with the Bundy brothers, their families and colleagues, and on thousands of pages of archival documents - including some White House memos that remain classified - Bird's account contains dramatic new information that alters the history of the Vietnam War. From the Pulitzer Prize-winning coauthor of American Prometheus—this biography of the Bundy Brothers inspired for the Academy Award-winning film Oppenheimer•.In this definitive biography of McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy, two of'the best and the brightest'who advised presidents about peace and war during the most dangerous years of the Cold War, Kai Bird pens a portrait of the fiercely patriotic, brilliant, and brazenly self-confident men who directed a steady escalation of a war they did not believe could be won.Drawing on seven years of research, nearly one hundred interviews, and scores of still-classified top secret documents in a masterful reevaluation of America's actions throughout the Cold War and Vietnam, The Color of Truth tells the tale of the anti-communist liberals who, despite their grave doubts about sending Americans to fight in Southeast Asia, became key architects of America's war in Vietnam. Like the bestselling The Wise Men, this dual biography is both an inside account of the making of U.S. foreign policy in an era of nuclear weapons and a stunning group portrait of the heirs of the Wise Men—including Robert McNamara, George Ball and Robert Kennedy—and the presidents they served.

"Grey is the color of truth."

So observed Mac Bundy in defending America's intervention in Vietnam. Kai Bird brilliantly captures this ambiguity in his revelatory look at Bundy and his brother William, two of the most influential policymakers of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. It is a portrait of fiercely patriotic, brilliant and brazenly self-confident men who directed a steady escalation of a war they did not believe could be won. Bird draws on seven years of research, nearly one hundred interviews, and scores of still-classified top secret documents in a masterful reevaluation of America's actions throughout the Cold War and Vietnam.

The Washington Post - Ronald Steel

A darkly dramatic story, told with sensitivity and political passion, of pride, power, privilege, hubris, and idealism—not only of the Bundys but of the nation they served.

ContentsIntroduction1 Harvey Hollister Bundy: The Patriarch2 Groton: A Very Expensive Education3 Yale: The "Great Blue Mother"4 The War Years, 1941-19455 Stimson's Scribe6 Portrait of a Young Policy Intellectual, 1948-19537 Dean Bundy of Harvard, 1953-19608 William Bundy and the CIA, 1951-19609 The Kennedy Years10 The Cuban Missile Crisis11 Autumn Assassinations12 LBJ and Vietnam, 196413 Vietnam: The Decision, 196514 Vietnam Quagmire, 1966-196915 The Ford Foundation16 Vietnam AftermathNotesInterviewsSelect BibliographyAcknowledgmentsIndex The acclaimed portrait of McGeorge and William Bundy, two brothers who served as architects of American policy during the Cold War and Vietnam--"a darkly dramatic story, told with sensitivity and political passion, of pride, power, privilege, hubris, and idealism" (Ronald Steel, "The Washington Post"). of photos. This dual biography of two brothers whose legal and political careers spanned World War II, the Cold War, and Vietnam is based on scores of interviews with the subjects, their families, and their colleagues, and offers a fascinating glimpse into the making American foreign policy. 50,000 first printing. Chronicles the lives and political careers of McGeorge and William Bundy and discusses how they influenced the United States' role in the Cold War and the Vietnam War