President Lyndon. B Johnson and the Vietnam War Essay

In the first essay Fear, Ambition, and Politics by Robert Dallek, he talks about the way that the United States started to really conflict with Vietnam and how some of Lyndon Johnson’s issues led the U.S. into it. One thing was clear and it was that Lyndon Johnson did not want communism to spread. Johnson’s advisors would continuously report to him that things were starting to become more serious in Saigon. Johnson did not want to send troops though, saying the he would “not permit the independent nations of the East to be swallowed up by Communist conquest, and it would not mean sending American boys 9 or 10,000 miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing themselves.” Clearly his word did not last though. Dallek seems to have a rather negative view of Johnson because he wasn’t taking the precautionary steps to prevent certain events, and he could not keep his word. Johnson seemed to disagree with his own actions about what we should do in Vietnam because it was so unpredictable. He did not want American involvement, but the pressure ended up getting the best of him. He sent one of his advisors, McGeorge Bundy, to Vietnam to talk about what we should do to help alleviate South Vietnam. Bundy thought that U.S. action was a must or “defeat would be inevitable and there is still time to turn it around.” Johnson then decided to start bombing the North on February 8th, but he was not pleased with having to make this decision. This is known as the Rolling

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

Johnson’s escalation in Vietnam was a defining moment of his presidency. Many things influenced him to escalate, including the cold war context, the advice from the working group, the weakness of the South Vietnamese Government, and protecting the US bases. I think that the main factor which influenced Johnson to escalate US Involvement was the advice given to him by the Working group because these were his closest and most trusted advisors.

In 1965, he “ordered an increase in U.S. military forces in Vietnam, from the present 75,000 to 125,000”(History). Immediate reaction followed from this, and communist leader attacked him for this decision. This became “a major turning point, as it effectively guaranteed U.S. military leaders a blank check to pursue the war”(History). Johnson's future tactics included more men and many bombings and plans such as operation rolling thunder. These failed due to the fact that the Vietcong was not defeated stepping down from war. The more men he sent overseas just generated more chaos in America and deaths in Vietnam. In addition to this, North Vietnam had significantly less troops than we did in the South, they had about “10,000 troops...meanwhile we have an occupation force of 500,000 ground troops”, this doesn't include the naval and air command(Doc G). Lastly, the biggest shock for not only the President but the citizens lied in the fact that everyone believed it wasn't “possible for us to lose the war. We are too strong…”(Doc F). Johnson along with the generals aimed to “fight it with the least cost to ourselves and the greatest cost to our enemy”(Doc F). Unfortunately, it did the exact opposite with the failure through the President's failed military tactics and policies.

Lyndon B. Johnson became president in 1963, a time period in which the United States was engaged in two battles on both the domestic and the international fronts. At home the President was faced with growing Civil Rights issues and abroad he faced some of the greatest challenges of his political career. Internationally the United States was already undergoing a Cold war with the Soviet Union and the newly adopted policy of containment had become the answer to all of the rising Communist movements all over the world. In Vietnam a massive Civil War was underway as the Pro Communist Regime of the North invaded the Pro American Regime of the South. The North, which was led by Ho Chi Minh, was backed by the Soviet Union, China and other communist allies invaded the South backed by the United States and other anti-communist allies. Minh’s army consisted of North Vietnamese forces and the Viet Cong, a South Vietnamese communist common front aided by the North. Ngô Đình Diệm, the leader of the South, had forces that consisted of South Vietnamese Soldiers and US Soldiers. Amidst these conflicts Johnson rose and took initiatives that would define American Policy in Vietnam for the rest of his presidency. The Gulf of Tonkin incident was one of the incidents that increased United States influence and intervention in Vietnam. The USS Maddox, was in the Gulf Of Tonkin when it reported to be fired upon by a North Vietnamese motorboat. Following this

His statement was, “I do not believe that I should devote an hour or day of my time to any partisan or cause to any other duty other than the awesome duties of this office-the Presidency of your country” (President, 4). Moreover, Johnson wanted to spend as much time as he could trying to negotiate peace with vietnam, rather than campaigning for a next term as president. Additionally, Johnson halted bombings in North Vietnam and because of this, he was able to state negotiations with them. Johnson mainly stopped running for president under the fact that if Vietnam War ending backfired he did not want to be held accountable. Johnson was ultimately able to keep the Northern Vietnamese from regaining military control while Nixon became president with his use of

On the 7th of April 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave one historic press conference [1]. In that conference, he announced his so called “Domino Theory”. It was a substantial aspect of the US involvement in the Vietnam War, involvement in terms of its military support and methods used in Vietnam. Even though it was greatly enhanced by other factors, such as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, it was the trigger, and therefore the source of all US involvement in the Vietnam War. The main rationale of the theory was that if one country fell down to communism, all the surrounding countries would do the same, hence why it was called the ‘Domino’ Theory. Eisenhower thought that Vietnam’s fall to communism would lead to consequential communist uprisings in neighboring countries, such as Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. He also that that it could possibly extend as far as India, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Australia and New Zealand -[1]. This gave The US enough motivation, and more importantly, justification as to why they greatly increased military presence in Vietnam. Eisenhower said, “The possible consequences of the loss [of Indochina] are just incalculable to the free world.” [2]. Even though the theory was imprecise, and only Laos and Cambodia joined communism after the US lost the war, it was significant as the foundation of the US involvement in the conflict.

Johnson took over, he wanted to go into the vietnam war. Later as he saw and made the decision to send voluter men to go and help, because there was a lot of need. He also made the decision of bombing north Vietnam to South Vietnam could gain force and recover. Then later on in March he started sending more troops known as the “hot zones” they would go bomb specific places. So the escalation of forces was the United States sending troops to go give help to South vietnam in the time of

LBJ’s decision to Americanize the war was not wise and well-informed, an accurate answer for U.S. defeat in Vietnam was the decision to Americanize the war. Influencing the belief that Johnson’ decision to escalate appeared to have been predetermined; Johnson consistently appeared to be in favor of increasing military in South Vietnam, and he only needed something to happen in order to validate his reasoning for the increase of U.S. involvement. This something was the Tonkin Gulf incident and this event became Johnson’s basis “to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States…” (Young, 119); that this was a declaration of war (Hunt, 67). However, this incident, as Nicholas Katzenbach said, “was

Lyndon B. Johnson made the Vietnam War his own by escalation and the involvement of the United States growing. While being president of the United States Johnson had the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution signed by the senators. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was signed because of the earlier attack of an American ship by the Vietnamese. This resolution gave the president the power to do what is necessary to prevent another attack. Even though it was proven that no Vietnamese attack actually happened. This was the first time that America had declared a war against another country. He sent American troops to Vietnam by aircrafts and by ground troops. This action contradicted what he said in his election. In his reelection campaign he specifically said

President Lyndon B. Johnson inherited a difficult situation in Vietnam when he assumed the presidency after President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. The problems in Vietnam were ongoing as Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy failed to adequately address the conflict, eventually becoming part of the American Cold War strategy to contain the spread of communism. The situation in Vietnam escalated further in the summer of 1964 when it was reported that North Vietnamese twice attacked the USS Maddox in

In 1960s, the US was faced with another crisis of communist expansion in the war between North and South Vietnam. The Kennedy Administration decided to further pursue their containment strategy out of fear being seen by the international community as weak towards communism. During the Johnson Administration, an attack against American vessels that happened in the Gulf of Tonkin led to President Johnson being granted the ability to conduct broad military operations without congressional approval. The American public began to largely oppose American intervention in Vietnam because the optimistic statements made by the government ran contradictory to the reports of the violent fighting by American news outlets. During the Nixon administration, the US switched to a policy, later known as Vietnamization, where the main goal was to strengthen the South Vietnamese forces and provide them with better armaments so they can better defend themselves. Vietnamization proved to be ineffective as the South Vietnamese forces were unable to hold their own against the North without US air support as proven during Operation Lam Son 719 and the Easter Offensive. The signing of the Paris Peace Accords officially ended US involvement in the Vietnam War. The US followed containment policies during beginning of the war due to the underlying fear of the spread of communism and since the policies were inherited from previous

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.

Johnson decided to escalate war in Vietnam because of the ‘Gulf of Tonkin’ Incident.A USS Maddox was on patrol in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of Vietnam.The captain reported that the ship exchanged fire with North Vietnamese Torpedo boats.Two days later,The ships captain reported he was under attack,although it is widely accepted that this was due to faulty radio.Johnson persuaded congress to pass the ‘Gulf of Tonkin’ resolution empowering him to protect American lives in Vietnam.Johnson refused to send ground forces although he did send more military advisors to

January 1969, Richard Nixon entered the executive office picking up the pieces Lyndon Johnson who had left while the Vietnam War was still in effect. Many Americans had the expectation that Nixon would be the “peaceful president”, visualizing he would put an end to this war in Southeast Asian and bring back home our troops. A policy Nixon redefined was the American role in the world by suggesting to limit the U.S resources and commitments. Therefore, Nixon’s set his efforts to end the war since the withdrawal from Vietnam was not an immediate option. Also, Nixon had his radar on Moscow and China because according to George C. Herring, they felt that they must release the United States from the war in a way that would uphold United States credibility with their friends and foes alike. During Nixon’s term in office, he tries a number of different strategies in his effort to end the war, but to this day, one can see that Nixon only prolonged the war when it could have ended earlier.