Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1. "Colonialism, Communism, or Catholicism?": Mr. Diem Goes to Washington 25
2. "Our System Demands the Supreme Being": America's Third Great Awakening 60
3. "These People Aren't Complicated": America's "Asia" at Midcentury 88
4. "Christ Crucified in Indo-China": Tom Dooley and the North Vietnamese Refugees 127
5. "The Sects and the Gangs Mean to Get Rid of the Saint": "Lightning Joe" Collins and the Battle for Saigon 172
6. "This God-Fearing Anti-Communist": The Vietnam Lobby and the Selling of Ngo Dinh Diem 217
Conclusion 263
Notes 277
Bibliography 339
Index 367

Promotional Information

Argues that American cultural conceptions of religion and race during the 1950s played a crucial role in framing an ideology through which U.S. policymakers understood their options in Vietnam.

About the Author

Seth Jacobs is Assistant Professor of History at Boston College.

Reviews

"In combining a history of American cultural politics of the 1950s with a careful examination of American diplomacy toward Diem, Seth Jacobs creates a rich and engaging narrative, one that advances our understanding of Vietnamese-American relations in innovative, original, and important ways. Jacobs fundamentally recasts how we view this critical period in the history of Vietnam and the Cold War." Mark Bradley, author of Imagining Vietnam and America: The Making of Postcolonial Vietnam, 1919-1950 "Seth Jacobs makes a seminal contribution to the study of the origins of American involvement in Vietnam. Combining prodigious research in a rich variety of primary sources, a sophisticated conceptual framework that illuminates the intersection of high politics and popular culture, and an especially engaging writing style, Jacobs fundamentally recasts how we view this critical period in the history of the Vietnam wars and the Cold War."--Mark Bradley, author of Imagining Vietnam and America: The Making of Postcolonial Vietnam, 1919-1950 "Seth Jacobs's interesting and provocative argument adds a new interpretation to the massive literature on the United States and the path toward full deployment in Vietnam. Jacobs writes with a lively, punchy style that makes his work both entertaining and instructive."--Michael Latham, author of Modernization as Ideology: American Social Science and 'Nation Building' in the Kennedy Era