In the history of American warfare, no military action is so controversial or misunderstood as the Vietnam Conflict. Since America's first involvement in the 1940s, to the present, the causes, effects, and lingering ambiguities have been discussed and debated at great length. Vietnam is the quintessential intellectuals' war. This dictionary of quotations records the words of the famous, the nonfamous, and the infamous alike. Presidents and dissidents and everyone in between cover the gamut of topics related to the war and their comments range from the sobering to the shocking to the ironic to the profound. The quotations are arranged by year, beginning in 1944 with the first hints of the trouble to come in Southeast Asia, and continuing up through the present day. The final section is a collection of generally undated proverbs, graffiti and comments that describe war in general and capture the Vietnam experience in particular. Each quotation includes the speaker and the time or occasion that prompted it, as well as background information on the utterance and the events to which it refers. Subject, keyword, and name indexes allow for easy reference.