The Best and the Brightest

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The Best and the Brightest (1972) is a book about the origins of the Vietnam War by the journalist David Halberstam and published by Random House. The book focuses on the foreign policy crafted by academics and intellectuals who were in President John F. Kennedy's administration and on the consequences of that policy in Vietnam. The book title refers to Kennedy's "whiz kids"—leaders of industry and academia brought into his administration—whom Halberstam characterizes as insisting on "brilliant policies that defied common sense" in Vietnam, policies often implemented against the advice of career U.S. Department of State employees.

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