McNamara commissioned the Vietnam Study Task Force on June 17, 1967. He was inspired by the confrontation at Harvard the previous November as he had discovered that the students he had been debating knew more about Vietnam's history than he did. The task was assigned to Gelb and six officials whom McNamara instructed to examine just how and why the United States became involved in Vietnam, by answering his list of 100 questions starting with American relations with the Viet Minh in World War II. McNamara expected them to be done by September 1967; they finished by January 1969. Though Gelb was a hawk who had written pro-war speeches for the Republican Senator Jacob Javits, he and his team, which grew to 36 members by 1969, became disillusioned as they wrote the history; at one point when discussing what were the lessons of Vietnam, future general Paul F. Gorman, one of the historians, went up to the blackboard to write simply, "Don't." The team counted Gelb, Gorman, Melvin Gurtov, Hans Heymann, Richard Moorstein, Daniel Ellsberg, Richard Holbrooke, John Galvin, Paul Warnke and Morton Halperin among its members.
mcnamara commissioned the vietnam study task force on june 17 1967 he was inspired by the confrontation at harvard the previous november as he had discovered that the students he had been debating knew more about vietnam's history than he did the task was assigned to gelb and six officials whom mcnamara instructed to examine just how and why the united states became involved in vietnam by answering his list of 100 questions starting with american relations with the viet minh in world war ii mcnamara expected them to be done by september 1967; they finished by january 1969 though gelb was a hawk who had written pro-war speeches for the republican senator jacob javits he and his team which grew to 36 members by 1969 became disillusioned as they wrote the history; at one point when discussing what were the lessons of vietnam future general paul f gorman one of the historians went up to the blackboard to write simply "don't" the team counted gelb gorman melvin gurtov hans heymann richard moorstein daniel ellsberg richard holbrooke john galvin paul warnke and morton halperin among its members