Johnson And Nixon's Foreign Policies In The Vietnam War

President Johnson used the foreign policy tools of the consensus to fight a communist insurrection in Vietnam – he provided a military shield in the form of American ground troops, and economic aid to nurture local democratic institutions. Nothing worked. Anticommunism policy following the Bay of Pigs and Cuban Missile Crisis had left room for proponents of de-escalation rather than containment, which was only exacerbated by the continued lack of progress in Vietnam. Years of fighting in dragged on without clear progress while war bills racked up relentlessly and thousands of drafted soldiers died. The first heavily-televised depictions of the horrors of war exacerbated anti-war sentiments by giving Americans their first visual glimpses of the daily violence and desolation.

Harvey Dent once said, “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villain.” Lyndon B. Johnson has shown to be a very disputable figure in American history. He is seen as a “villain” by many for his involvement in the Gulf of Tonkin, resulting in the damage of three Northern Vietnamese boats, as well as killing four Northern Vietnamese sailors and wounding six, all the while the USS Maddox exited with only one bullet. Many see this as the ultimate reason for the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War. Johnson was also labeled negatively for his high expectations for the American citizens and frivolous planning, such as in his “Great Society” speech, in which he set up high standards for the people in his image of a perfect society, where he

The history of the Vietnam War had a violent beginning. Before the assassination of President Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson had little to no involvement in the Vietnam conflict. Beforehand the United States had mainly sent supplies and aid to South Vietnam against North Vietnam. After the assassination of both president Kennedy and the President of South Vietnam, the war became inevitable.

Grabber: When Lyndon B. Johnson first took over the campaign in Vietnam as president , he experienced backlash from his citizens and officials with his tactics and overall involvement. Roadmap: When President Johnson was moved into office after John F Kennedy’s death, he had to prove to the public he could follow in his footsteps with the pressing issues of Vietnam. His attacks and methods against the communist threat were debated amongst citizens and officials as to whether he was correct in expanding influence in Vietnam, or that he was taking away from the resources America had. President Johnson ultimately decided to back down from the presidency after his term because his public standing started to drop. Nixon then stepped

President Lyndon Johnson asked U.S Congress for permission to increase the U.S military in Indochina, because two U.S destroyers called in that they had been fired on by North Vietnamese forces. President Johnson received authorization to proceed any actions that is necessary to get revenge and to encourage the repairs of security and worldwide peace, he was granted approval when Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. The Johnson Administration believed that increasing the U.S military presence in Vietnam was the only answer, the South Vietnamese troops stayed generally ineffective. In supporting South Vietnamese raids and applying a U.S program for the Lao border to disturb supply lines, U.S military started supporting South Vietnamese raids of the North Vietnamese coast. In the Gulf of Tonkin two destroyers by the name of the Maddox and the Turner Joy, were stationed to strengthen these action by The United States Navy. The commander on the Turner Joy reported being attacked by North Vietnamese Patrol boats twice, once on August 2 and the second on August 4. However, doubts later occurred as to whether or not the Turner Joy was attacked. Under those circumstances, Johnson instantly asked permission from Congress to defend U.S militaries in Southeast Asia. The Senate passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution with just two restricting votes, and the House of Representatives passed it collectively. Congress upheld the determination with the supposition that the president

Johnson felt that if Vietnam became communist, then American interests and security would be threatened by a stronger communist network. Politically, Johnson would lose the mid-term elections

When the Vietnam War ended, people still thought of it as the Cold War. Richard Nixon tried to ease tension between the U.S., China and the Soviet Union, which did not fail. Nixon was the first president to visit the country of China, he was a strong opponent of communism. Communism basically means a person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs; and the abolition of private property. Citizens of the United States thought that the act of cutting its military budgets was not a good idea. Some thought just because things weren’t as hectic, that we didn’t need expensive weapons.

The purpose of the Vietnam War was to stop communist expansion and to protect South Vietnam from attacks by North Vietnam and rebels within South Vietnam who hoped to unite the two countries under communism (Nelson, 488). This war was one of the most excruciating experiences in American history. It left us wounded and deflated as a superpower. Americans’ view of their country after a loss and embarrassment like this one was now ruined. No one president is entirely responsible for the development of this war, but Johnson was the first to send combat troops to Vietnam. Years later, after learning the deception of the Johnson administration, blame may be placed more upon Johnson and his manipulation of Congress and the public by publicizing a threat to our security that never existed. The administration took advantage of Congress and exaggerated or simply created an attack on the U.S. as an excuse to use military action on North Vietnam.

Johnson Presidency made the nation question his motives towards the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War became serious John increase the United States troops and sent the troops to Vietnam. Johnson wanted to win the war before he

Another issue that Johnson was involved in during his presidency was the Vietnam War. This took up most of his presidency and was the reason he did not run for the second term. The decisions he made in this war were not entirely wrong but just ruined his reputation entirely. He was ridiculed by the American people for the way he handled this war. However, the real question is, was he even trying to win it? Every time we started to get ahead in the war, he would change the rules.

The true history of the Vietnam War does not appear to be widely know, and did not begin with the Eisenhower Administration, but in fact actually dates back to 1945 and the end of WWII. The issues first began when the Japanese recognized their lost efforts during WWII and surrendered. This is now as the First Indochina War, which took place between 1946 and continued until 1954. Their surrender left Vietnam vulnerable as they were now any formal national government. An aspiring communist organizer/ leader, Ho Chi Minh, tried to promote independence for Vietnam in the fall of 1945 and took advantage of the lack of leadership in Vietnam at the national level in an attempt to make this a reality. However, this was unsuccessful as what ensued was a highly contested battle for control of the country between the French colonial forces and the Viet Minh. Eventually, both British and Chinese officials arrived in Vietnam to monitor and facilitate the withdrawal of Japanese troops from the region. Politically and ideologically, this was motivated by anti-communist sentiments, as a result, the British and the Chinese both permitted French colonial rule to prevail as they preferred this over allowing communists to control the country. During the war the French described Viet Minh solders as “elusive”, and an unknown French soldier was quoted as saying: “The enemy melted into the jungle.” This would serve to be a foretelling of what

After Nixon was elected, he redefined Vietnam policy. Referring to the policy as ‘Vietnamization’, it called for the slow takeover of the responsibility of South Vietnam by the South Vietnamese leaders (Lecture 17). The Nixon Doctrine said that the United States would continue to give aid to our allies, but would continue sending troops into the region. Beginning in 1972, the United States began withdrawing from Vietnam, until eventually all US troops were removed from the region by 1975. After the United States removed all military presence from the region, North Vietnam took control of the

By the time Nixon had entered office, America had been involved in military action for four years, and already over thirty thousand American lives lost, many tried to push Nixon to extract the entire military campaign in Vietnam and cut our loses in a battle that many didn’t even want us to engage in. Nixon believed that it would not be productive to have gotten ourselves into a war and pull out to see the lose of many American lives just to see the massacre of the South Vietnamese like we had nearly 15 years prior. Nixon’s policy of Vietnamizaton was ultimately based on the attempt to ease our way out of the Vietnam War but successfully try to train and equip the forces of South Vietnam to sustain the power of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese communist regime. Soon Nixon and his administration looked to diminish the American involvement in Vietnam without having to extract our forces, leaving the South Vietnamese forces without help. In Nixon’s speech, which was nationally broadcasted on November 3rd, 1969 where he called this strategy Vietnamization. Many Americans including returning veterans wanted a immediate extraction of U.S. troops, many thought that the amount of time we had spent their had been enough, but Nixon and his foreign

The conflict concerning Vietnam can be dated back to the Cold War and the fight against widespread communism. The fear of a domino theory in Southeast Asia lies at the heart of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Starting with president Truman and ending with Nixon, the Vietnam conflict continued to become progressively worse with time. Unlike previous wars, the Vietnam War tarnished America’s image as it was the first time in history the U.S. came out defeated while being far more advanced. However whether or not this conflict can be referred to as “Johnson’s War” is controversial. While Johnson is responsible for the escalation of the war, one man can not fully be at fault as this conflict was inherited by his predecessors and Johnson was within reach of acquiring a peace treaty until being interfered.

President Kennedy saw the Vietnam situation as America’s fight to stop the spread of communism. Kennedy, who was young and well liked by the American people, did not really see much protest from the American people. He wanted equality in America, and supported open-mindedness in his country; at his assassination in 1963 only 15,000 troops were in Vietnam. His successor, Lyndon B. Johnson greatly increased the number of troops that went to Vietnam, reaching 500,000 in 1966. Television allowed the American public to see what these soldiers were facing and that this was a senseless war. Too many men were coming home in American flag draped coffins, causing many Americans to rebel and move to the new hippie counterculture.