Gen Maxwell Taylor

Maxwell Taylor, the U.S. general who wanted to ``stick it out'' in Vietnam at almost any price, emerges, inadvertently perhaps, in his son's dry, plodding biography as a man who didn't learn from experience. The military stalemate in Korea, over which the general presided, was to him ``confirmation that the U.S. could confront Communist aggression virtually anywhere in the world and bring about at least an acceptable conclusion.'' Years after he played a key role in the Cuban missile crisis, Taylor romanticized the event, denying that there was any chance it could have led to a world war. As U.S. ambassador to Vietnam under Johnson, he invoked Eisenhower's ``domino theory,'' warning of the loss of all Southeast Asia. The author also credits his father with pioneering the military strategy of ``flexible response.'' The early chapters dealing with Taylor's heroism in WW II will especially interest military buffs. Photos. (June)