Your memo should be about 1200-1500 words long.

Pretend you are President Johnson’s National Security Advisor, McGeorge Bundy, around December 1964. Write a memo to President Johnson stating what you think the U.S. should do in Vietnam in the coming years. You may advocate one of the options that was actually considered in 1964-65, or an idea proposed later on. Your memo should be about 1200-1500 words long. What you believe the U.S.’s political goal should be, and what kind of political and military strategy the U.S. should follow to achieve it. Mention what the U.S. actually did as another option, and explain why you think your idea is better. Also, please pay a special attention to what happened in the mid-1960s.
Your thesis should be crystal clear: this should be the political goal, here is my plan for achieving it, and here is why I think it is the best option. The more detail you include, the better: the degree of political support for war in the U.S., the degree of support for the government in South Vietnam, U.S. and enemy military strengths, roles of allies, centers of gravity, etc. Again, use footnotes or endnotes to give the real historical information and note sources. Cite Clausewitz’s concepts and the ideas in the “Revolutionary War” chapter as relevant. Make sure to think strategically—i.e., the enemy gets a move, so what do you expect the North Vietnamese, the NLF, the USSR and China to do in response to each U.S. option? How does that affect the likely outcome in each case?
You may use online sources for supplementary information, but two book sources are required. The Chicago style of citation is recommended. Footnotes citing sources are required.