Walter Lippmann and the American Century — 41 Mythmaking

1. 1. Lippmann advised Kennedy to treat France with respect for De Gaulle and to be patient with Khrushchev.
2. 2. Lippmann warned Kennedy that he faced a series of 'inglorious and unpopular rearguard actions' and needed a 'truly agonizing reappraisal' of realities.
3. 3. Kennedy's Vienna summit with Khrushchev in June 1961 led to a military buildup and the Berlin Wall crisis after Khrushchev threatened to turn over West Berlin access to East Germany.
4. 4. Lippmann proposed a compromise to exchange Soviet missile bases in Cuba for American bases in Turkey during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
5. 5. Lippmann criticized Kennedy for suspending diplomacy by imposing a blockade on Cuba before negotiating privately with the Soviets.
6. 6. Kennedy resolved the Cuban Missile Crisis by accepting Khrushchev's first message (Soviet withdrawal for no invasion) while secretly agreeing to remove Turkish missiles later.
7. 7. Lippmann served as a spokesman for Kennedy's nuclear strategy, arguing that nuclear command cannot be divided or shared.
8. 8. Lippmann sympathized with De Gaulle's push for European independence, arguing that Western Europe had outgrown dependence on America.
9. 9. Philip Graham offered Lippmann a million-dollar contract to move from the Herald Tribune to the Washington Post and Newsweek.
10. 10. Lippmann criticized Kennedy for being politically cautious and unwilling to force measures through Congress.
11. 11. Lippmann argued that the price of a military victory in Vietnam was higher than American vital interests justified, and advocated for a neutral Vietnam.
12. 12. Lippmann initially supported staying with Diem in Vietnam, hoping a rift between North Vietnam and China would enable a negotiated settlement.