McMaster’s career survived without ‘toning down’ book

In 1996, I got a call from a friend who was (and is) a historian in North Carolina, Dick Kohn. Prof. Kohn suggested that I might be able to help a young Army officer completing his Ph.D. studies at the University of North Carolina. Kohn was concerned that Maj. H.R. McMaster might soon be in big trouble with senior leadership….McMaster was about to publish a critical book about the Vietnam War….

“In our telephone discussions, McMaster was very polite, but he did not follow my suggestions about toning down his criticism. It was clear he was extremely smart, very well-read, a fine researcher and a man of strong convictions. Later I predicted his career would suffer. I was wrong….”

— From “One of the Army’s best is about to face his greatest challenge” by Perry M. Smith in the Augusta Chronicle (Feb. 25)