The best and the brightest

There are many people who didn't much admire David Halberstam, the New York Times journalist who died in a road accident on Monday.

Lyndon Johnson, for instance, thought him a traitor for his reports from Vietnam. Others thought him a media insider with a pompous view of its institutions, as reflected in his book The Powers That Be. And even his elegies to baseball have their critics. Richard Ben Cramer paints a much more realistic Joe DiMaggio, and has a much harsher view.

But while acknowledging that Halberstam was too much the romantic (although even this was not always a fault), with too much respect for the myths of a bygone age, I am among those who thought him a true great and mourn his passing.

His book The Best and the Brightest, in particular, is sparkling. And important. It is a classic study of the way political decisions are made, with an importance far beyond its subject. 

Halberstam shows how politicians often commit themselves to a course of action before they realise it and are then tugged along by a need to remain consistent. If you haven't read it, I recommend it strongly.

Comments

[Candadai Tirumalai]

When Arthur Sulzberger, the publisher of "The New York Times" called on John Kennedy in 1963, the President said that David Halberstam was too immersed in the immediate situation in Vietnam to write about it objectively. And while the "Times" has sometimes responded to the suggestions of Presidents, in this instance it did not, letting Mr. Halberstam continue to file his despatches from Vietnam.

[IRJMilne]

"...too much respect for the myths of a bygone age"

Could someone more knowledgeable tell me in what respect this is true of him? Out of curiosity.