An analysis of groupthink's applications to the Vietnam and Iraq wars
Abstract
It is difficult to know exactly why leaders and their advisors make decisions. Despite this, scholars have long attempted to gain insight into this largely unintelligible process, especially when the decision is acknowledged by many to be a poor one. In 1972, Irving Janis published a book that intended to explain why groups of seemingly rational and intelligent men could make disastrous decisions, a theory he named groupthink. When groupthink was first introduced, the Vietnam War was provided as an example of the theory in action. Though at the time Vietnam seemed like a plausible case of groupthink, declassified documents now available tell a decidedly different story. It is now evident that Lyndon Johnson agonized over the decision to send combat troops to Vietnam and that he did in fact seek the advice of people with an array of opinions on the best course of action in Vietnam. The application of groupthink to Vietnam becomes even weaker when compared to the cogent role groupthink played in the Iraq War. The Iraq War not only displayed symptoms of groupthink at an executive level, but precipitated it down into the lowest levels of government and the American people. Consequently, the Iraq War has thus far manifested itself as the most potent case of groupthink documented in modern times. While many of the symptoms found in Vietnam could be construed as coincidental, much of the groupthink symptoms found in the case of Iraq appear to be the result of careful calculation by the Bush administration.
Notes
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Thesis Completion
2007
Semester
Fall
Advisor
Houghton, David Patrick
Degree
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)
College
College of Sciences
Degree Program
Political Science
Subjects
Dissertations, Academic -- Sciences;Sciences -- Dissertations, Academic
Format
Identifier
DP0022203
Language
English
Access Status
Open Access
Length of Campus-only Access
None
Document Type
Honors in the Major Thesis
Recommended Citation
McCrea, Melissa Nicole, "An analysis of groupthink's applications to the Vietnam and Iraq wars" (2007). HIM 1990-2015. 701.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/honorstheses1990-2015/701