Kiss the Boys Goodbye: How the United States Betrayed Its Own POWs in Vietnam

by William Stevenson and Monika Jensen-Stevenson

Book Overview

The classic account of the abandonment of American POWs in Vietnam by the US government. For many Americans, the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan bring back painful memories of one issue in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0525249346
• ISBN13: 9780525249344
• Release Date: September 1990
• Publisher: Dutton Books
• Length: 493 Pages
• Weight: 2.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 6.2" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Unbelieveable Read!

This book will simultaneously force you to open your eyes and make you want to close them. The politics than ended the Viet Nam War betrayed our troops being held prisoner.

POW's in Vietnam

When I met my husband in 1979. He had just escaped Vietnem the year before. He was one of the boat people. He told me way back in 1979 that he had seen American POW's as late as 1978 with his own eyes on more then one occasion. He was riding his scooter far out in the country side and saw a group of tall, long haired and bearded Caucasion men working the rice paddy fields under Vietnamese armed guard. When he looked a little too long and too hard the guards aimed thier rifles at him so he looked away and kept driving.He said the caucasian mens faces were very sad.My husband wouldn't lie to me.He still insists it true and we have told many people about itSince then I made it a point to question every Vietnemese refugee I met. Several had told me they saw them with their own eyes as late as 1982.I was also told that it was common knowledge in Vietnam that American POW's were still there.They were surprised that most Americans didn't know about it. They just figured maybe we didn't want them back or didn't care.I don't know if there are any left alive now. It's been so long. But, I pray for them every night.

Stunning Expose Of Government DesertionOf Its Vietnam Vets!

This is a book that should make ordinary American citizens exceedingly sad and angry. Although some may argue that its message is old news, and certainly very dated information, the horror and outrage it should occasion is neither old nor dated. For what the authors contend, and go on to impressively prove, is that our national government deliberately and maliciously betrayed its own soldiers trapped as Prisoners Of War (POWs) in Vietnam, abandoning them in favor of a quick and otherwise painless exit from the war in Southeast Asia. This, as the authors argue, is a truly devastating indictment of the Nixon administration, and one for which they cannot be forgiven. However, it is more than that. It is also a bizarre story of men left behind for the sake of political expedience and due to a number of highly classified clandestine operations, which were purposely kept from the American people. The story line begins with the sad saga of a young ex-marine who escaped from Vietnam on the late 1970s and claimed to have seen a large number of fellow American servicemen still being held by the Vietnamese. However, he was quickly charged with desertion and collaboration with the enemy, in what seemed to be a desperate effort on the part of governmental officials to bury both him and his story of American prisoners as deeply as possible from public view. From here the plot takes a number of bizzare twists and turns.As the authors began to investigate the young marine's story, layers of deception, half-truths, and active censorship began to emerge. What they finally uncovered was an amazing tale of official deception from the highest levels in government, and also a very well organized and relentless abuse of official governmental power. This book reveals convincing evidence of American soldiers and sailors deliberately abandoned for political expedience, and of families torn apart by these acts. It also raises quite provocative questions concerning the very nature of democracy, and the corruptibility of ordinary men given such power. Similarly, they show how the use of claims of national security were used to derail efforts to learn the truth, and of an active conspiracy to keep the public from discovering the truth. There are many of us who have long believed that Nixon and Kissinger made a pact with the devil himself in order to to extricate the United States fro the ongoing horror of Vietnam. What is truly mind-boggling is to discover just how right we were to suspect that they, and many others in the government since that time, would take such drastic action as they have to conceal these facts and to evade the truth. This is a worthwhile book, and one that demands to be read. I hope you can approach it with an open mind. Its arguments and the evidence associated with it are, in my opinion, very convincing. Enjoy!

Excellent reading!

This gripping expose of a major political scandal of the Vietnam War is the story of a investigation by two award-winning journalists. Kiss the Boys Goodbye shows evidence of POWs abandoned in Vietnam. From the government obstruction and missing files to censored testimony the book reveals that the power brokers are really in control. The well-detailed book leaves virtually no stone unturned.The book is not only a "good read," it also contains a wealth of important information that no researcher of the Pow/MIA issue can do without. The author has gone to exhaustive lengths in the detailing of this American tragedy.Consumed by the book from the first page, I am most impressed by the way the author is able to bring out the truth. So for those looking for truly honest answers you would do well to get this book today.

Outstanding, documentation provided, highly recommended

It's hard to believe such a thing could happen. The backdrop is a very complicated one and motives are difficult to understand. What's unsaid may be more important than what is said. Fact is, we left them behind. How can we do this? A freind gave me his copy to read--I'm standing in line to get my copy. reprint ASAP!!!

One of the best PoW/MIA books available!

Kiss The Boys Goodbye is superb. The book is not only a "good read," it also contains a wealth of important information that no researcher of the PoW/MIA issue can do without. In the years that have passed since its first printing (1990) some of the events described have proven to be not entirely accurate, but this is to be expected considering the efforts of our two "Hanoi John" senators and their DOD lackeys (such as reviewer w4hh@3wave.com) to kill the PoW/MIA issue through the spread of disinformation, lies, threats, and cover-ups of a magnitude never before seen in this country (with the exception of the JFK assassination). Remember, these are the people who knew all along who the "Unknown Vietnam Soldier" was (Lt. Michael J. Blassie) but lied about it for years, and have buried DOD-verified remains of MIAs who later turned up alive and well (such as MSgt Mateo Sabog). Monika Jensen-Stevenson may not be 100% accurate on all the facts, but at least she has made a considerable effort to disclose the truth behind our missing men while Joe Schlatter and other government employees have only worked at not disclosing the misdeeds of Washington politicians.