ROLLING THUNDER:  AIR STRATEGY

May  2003

Compiled by Stephen B.T. Chun, Bibliographer
Air University Library
Maxwell AFB, AL

Contents

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All sites listed were last accessed on May 23, 2003.

Some articles listed below require access to subscription databases.  If you cannot gain access, contact you local library for availability.  AU students and faculty can contact  AUL's  Web Maintainer for a password.

Internet Resource

Young, Stephen B. LBJ's Disengagement Strategy.
Available online at: http://www.historynet.com/vn/bllbjstrategy

Books

Baral, Jaya Krishna.  The Pentagon and the Making of US Foreign Policy: A Case Study of Vietnam, 1960-1968.  Atlantic Highlands, NJ, Humanities Press, 1978.  333 p.
Civilian-Military Interaction in the Pentagon--II, pp 109-155.
Competition among Federal Actors to Influence Foreign Policy-Making, pp 156-233.
Book call no.:  327.730597  B224p

Clodfelter, Mark.  The Limits of Air Power:  The American Bombing of North Vietnam.  New York, Free Press, 1989.  297 p.
Book call no.:  959.704348  C643L

Cornell University.  Air War Study Group.  The Air War in Indochina, edited by Raphael Littauer and Norman Uphoff.  Rev. ed.  Boston, Beacon Press, 1972.  289 p.
The Air War Against North Vietnam, pp 31-49.
Book call no.:  959.7  C814a

Herring, George C.  America's Longest War:  The United States and Vietnam, 1950-1975.  3rd ed.  New York, McGraw-Hill, 1996.  354 p.
Enough, but Not Too Much: Johnson's Decisions for War, 1963-1965, pp 120-157.
On the Tiger's Back: The United States at War, 1965-1967, pp 158-165.
Book call no.:  959.7  H567a  1996

Hoopes, Townsend.  The Limits of Intervention: An Inside Account of How the Johnson Policy of Escalation in Vietnam Was Reversed.  New York, D. McKay Co., 1969.  245 p.
Book call no.:  973.92  H788L

Lewy, Guenter.  American in Vietnam.  New York, Oxford University Press, 1978.  540 p.
The Bombing of North Vietnam, pp 374-406.
Book call no.:  959.7  L678a

McNamara, Robert S. and others.  Argument Without End:  In Search of Answers to the Vietnam Tragedy.  New York, PublicAffairs, 1999.  479 p.
U.S. Military Victory in Vietnam:  A Dangerous Illusion?, pp 313-371.
Book call no.:  959.7043373  M169a

Momyer, William W.  Airpower in Three Wars.  Maxwell AFB, AL, Air University Press, 2003.  401 p.
Reprint of the edition first published in 1978.
Book call no.:  358.4  M733a  2003

Morrocco, John.  Thunder from Above.  Boston, Boston Pub. Co., 1984.  192 p.
Rolling Thunder:  Air War, 1941-1968, pp 50-64.
Book call no.:  959.704348  M833t

Nordeen, Lon O., Jr.  Air Warfare in the Missle Age.  2nd ed.  Washington, Smithsonian Institution Press, 2002.  337 p.
Rolling Thunder:  North Vietnam, 1964-1968, pp 1-38.
Book call no.:  358.40904  N828a  2002

Partridge, Earle E.  Air Interdiction in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam:  An Interview with Earle E. Partridge, Jacob E. Smart, and John W. Vogt, Jr.  Washington, Office of Air Force History, 1986.  105 p.
Book call no.:  358.4142  P275a

Sharp, Ulysses S. Grant.  Strategy for Defeat:  Vietnam in Retrospect.  San Rafael, CA, Presidio Press, 1978.  324 p.
See pp 63-131.
Book call no.:  959.7  S531s

Smith, John T.  Rolling Thunder:  The American Strategic Bombing Campaign Against North Vietnam, 1964-68.  Walton on Thames, Surrey, Eng., Air Research Publications, 1994.  360 p.
Book call no.:  959.70438  S652r

Thies, Wallace J.  When Governments Collide: Coercion and Diplomacy in the Vietnam Conflict 1964-1968.  Berkeley, University of California Press, 1980.  446 p.
The Perils of Escalation, pp 71-142.
Negotiating while Fighting, pp 143-209.
The Government as Coercer:  Idioms and Orchestration, pp 284-348.
Coercive Violence:  "Controllability" and Consensus, pp 349-374.
Book call no.:  959.7  T439w

Thompson, James Clay.  Rolling Thunder:  Understanding Policy and Program Failure.  Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1980.  199 p.
Book call no.:  959.7  T473r

Tilford, Earl H., Jr.  Setup:  What the Air Force Did in Vietnam and Why.  Maxwell AFB, AL, Air University Press, 1991.  308 p.
Rolling Thunder and the Diffusion of Heat, pp 89-163.
Book call no.:  959.704348  T572s

United States.  Congress.  Senate.  Committee on Armed Services.  Preparedness Investigating Subcommittee.  Air War Against North Vietnam.  Hearings, 90th Cong, 1st sess.  Washington, GPO, 1967.  5 vols.
Book call no.:  959.7  C749a

United States.  Congress.  Senate.  Committee on Armed Services.  Preparedness Investigating Subcommittee.  Investigation of the Preparedness Program:  Summary Report ... on Air War Against North Vietnam.  Washington, GPO, 1967.  10 p.
Book call no.:  959.7  C749if

United States.  Pacific Command.  Report on the War in Vietnam, as of 30 June 1968 (the Sharp Report).  Washington,  GPO, 1969.  347 p.
Report of air and naval campaigns against North Vietnam and Pacific Command-wide support of the War, June 1964-July 1968, by U.S.G. Sharp, USN, pp 6-54.
Book call no.:  959.7  P117r

Van Staaveren, Jacob.  Gradual Failure:  The Air War over North Vietnam, 1965-1966.  Washington, Air Force History and Museums Program, 2002.  388 p.  (The United States Air Force in Southeast Asia)
Rolling Thunder Begins, pp 69-99.
Book call no.:  959.704348  V281g

War in the Third Dimension:  Essays in Contemporary Air Power, edited by R.A. Mason.  London, Brassey's Defence Publishers, 1986. 228 p.
The Air War in Vietnam, by A.L. Gropman, esp. pp 33-41.
Book call no.:  358.403  W253

Documents

Drew, Dennis M.  Rolling Thunder 1965:  Anatomy of a Failure.  Maxwell AFB, AL, Air University Press, 1986.  60 p.  (Cadre paper, no.86-3)
Doc. call no.:  M-U  37097-36  no.86-3

Hoeffding, Oleg.  Bombing North Vietnam:  An Appraisal of Economic and Political Effects.  Santa Monica, CA, RAND Corp., 1966.  35 p.  (Research memorandum, no.5213-1-ISA)
Doc. call no.:  M-U  30352-9  no.5213-1-ISA

Huggins, Peter W.  Airpower and Gradual Escalation: Reconsidering the Conventional Wisdom.  Maxwell AFB, AL, School of Advanced Airpower Studies, 2000.  139 p.  (Thesis, School of Advanced Airpower Studies, 2000).
Also available online at:  http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ada391670
Doc. call no.:  M-U 43998-1  H891a

Poulos, Thomas.  The United States Strategy of the Rolling Thunder Air Campaign during the Vietnam War.  Maxwell AFB, AL, Air War College, 1996.  32 p.  (Research report)
Doc. call no.:  M-U  43117  P875u

Periodicals

Air Power--What It Is Doing in the Vietnam War:  Interview with the Air Force Chief of Staff (Gen. John P. McConnell).  U.S. News and World Report  60:28-29  May 9, 1966.

The Air War:  Less than a Success.  Newsweek  68:21-22  August 29, 1966.

As the Air War Heats Up in Vietnam.  U.S. News and World Report 60:27  May 9, 1966.

Bombing:  An Admiral's Report. Newsweek  69:49  May 29, 1967.

Cerami, Joseph R.  Presidential Decisionmaking and Vietnam: Lessons for Strategists. Parameters  36:66-80  Winter 1996-1997.
Also available online at: http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usawc/Parameters/96winter/cerami.htm

Clodfelter, Mark.  Of Demons, Storms, and Thunder:  A Preliminary Look at Vietnam's Impact on the Persian Gulf Air Campaign. Airpower Journal  5:17-32  Winter 1991.
Also available online at:  http://search.ebscohost.com/direct.asp?an=9604301077&db=aph

LeMay, Curtis E.  General LeMay Tells How to Win the War in Vietnam.  U.S. News and World Report  61:36-38+  October 10, 1966.

Pape, Robert A., Jr.  Coercive Air Power in the Vietnam War.  International Security 15:103-146 Fall 1990.

Wendt, Diego M.  Using a Sledgehammer to Kill a Gnat:  The Air Force's Failure to Comprehend Insurgent Doctrine during Operation Rolling Thunder. Airpower Journal 4:52-54  Summer 1990.
Also available online at:  http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/4sum90.html

Wilson, Stephen W.  Taking Clodfelter One Step Further:  Mass, Surprise, Concentration, and the Failure of Operation Rolling Thunder.  Air Power History  48:40-47  Winter 2001.
Also available online at:  http://search.ebscohost.com/direct.asp?an=5718821&db=aph

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