商品簡介
A memoir of extraordinary scope, William Lloyd Stearman's reminiscences in An American Adventure provide a unique window on early aviation, combat in the Pacific during World War II, life as a diplomat behind the Iron Curtain, the Vietnam War, and the complexity of national security decision making in the White House over a period spanning almost two decades.
Stearman begins his memoir with a description of his childhood as the son of aviation pioneer Lloyd Stearman, offering a unique perspective on the beginnings of the aviation industry, including how Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, now Lockheed Martin, came into being. He then covers his naval combat experiences in the Pacific War and later struggles as one of the Navy's youngest ship captains. Following graduate school he moved to the front lines of the Cold War, and he writes about his life as a diplomat who negotiated with the Soviets, spent nine years in Berlin and Vienna, and was director of psychological operations against North Vietnam. His reflections on his seventeen years with the National Security Council at the White House include an analysis of why we could and should have won in Vietnam and how we betrayed our Vietnamese allies.
After leaving the White House he taught at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. He had a hand in the return of the Iowa-class battleships to active service during the Reagan administration, but later worked in vain, because of opposition by the Navy, to retain any of them in a fire-support role for the Marine Corps.
