RAND's Influence and Division in the Vietnam War

The provided excerpts chronicle the RAND Corporation's deep, often contentious, involvement in research related to the Vietnam War, highlighting its shift from initial Cold War consensus to internal division mirroring American society. A major focus is the Viet Cong Motivation and Morale Project, which involved interviewing prisoners and defectors, with findings that were frequently contested, particularly those of Leon Goure, who presented optimistic analyses of U.S. bombing effectiveness that were favored by officials like Robert McNamara but criticized internally for potential bias. The sources also detail RAND's broader defense work, including early origins as an Air Force project, its research on counterinsurgency, air power, and pacification efforts, as well as the controversy surrounding Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, which led to a crisis of trust between RAND and its government clients. Finally, the text touches on RAND's related research in neighboring countries like Laos and Thailand and the eventual move toward diversification into domestic issues.

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