Introduction: The Great "What If?" -- Assumption: January 1961-December 1961 -- Escalation: January 1962-June 1962 -- Formulation: July 1962-December 1962 -- Modification: January 1963-April 1963 -- Acceleration: May 1963-August 1963 -- Declaration: September 1963-October 1963 -- Implementation: October 1963-November 1963 -- Cancellation: November 1963-March 1964 -- Epilogue: The Shadow of Camelot

"In October 1963, President Kennedy proposed withdrawing from Vietnam, gaining him a durable reputation as a skeptic on the war. However, drawing on secret White House tapes, Marc Selverstone reveals that JFK never had a firm intention to withdraw. The real value of the proposal lay in obtaining political cover for his open-ended Vietnam policy"--