President Lyndon Johnson And The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War, lasting for approximately 20 years, was the longest and one of the most controversial wars in American history. Not only did the war take a heavy toll on the American troops fighting abroad, but it also led to riots and tension amongst Americans on the homefront. Two presidents devoted to winning the war against the spread of Communism in Vietnam as quickly and effectively as possible were Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Although Johnson was a Democrat and Nixon was a Republican, their foreign policies in Vietnam were similar because they both kept secrets about the war from Congress and because both of their foreign policies were disliked by the American public. However, they differed because Johnson escalated the United

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

Every president has had to start somewhere in politics. Every single one of them has had some sort of political experience before they ran for president except the exceptional rule breaker, Donald Trump. Lyndon B. Johnson was no different. As a fourteen year old boy, he made up his mind that he was not going to play into the system but he was going to overcome it and get out of Johnson City. However, this long and difficult path that he decided to take would eventually sculpt him into the decent president he became later on in his life.

In this journal, Mitchell Lerner offers his assessment on the commonly accepted view among historians and people generally that Lyndon B. Johnson’s popularity declined due to the way he handled U.S involvement in the Vietnam War, by keeping the growing involvement a secret and not being truly honest about the odds how a victory in this war. . However, Lerner argues that this evaluation of Johnson fails to take into account several aspects pertaining to Johnson himself and the political atmosphere of the late 20th century. Lerner first claims that Johnson did attempt to make his intentions with Vietnam explicit, but either his words were ignored or misinterpreted by many Americans. Additionally, Lerner asserts that Johnson actions in Vietnam, like increasing the amount of U.S ground troops in Vietnam, should have also made Johnson commitment to Vietnam evident. Again though, Johnson actions were ignored by the American people. Lerner reasons that the American people generally ignored Johnson’s affairs in Vietnam because they were more concerned with domestic issues plaguing the United

New president Lyndon B. Johnson acquired a troublesome circumstance in Vietnam, as the South Vietnamese government was in shambles and the Viet Cong was making substantial additions in provincial ranges of the South. Despite the fact that Johnson charged himself as an intense hostile to Communist, he vowed to respect Kennedy 's constrained troop duties in Vietnam. In reality, Johnson took care of the Vietnam circumstance respectably amid the early piece of his term, endeavoring to proceed with Kennedy 's projects without drastically heightening the war.

Many people think that all Nixon did in his presidency was the watergate scandal, but in reality he helped stop Americans fighting in the Vietnam War. When Richard Nixon started in Office he was faced with the difficult task of trying to pull all US troops out of Vietnam. He decided to use a tactic he created called Vietnamization. The simple plan was to strengthen South Vietnam so they could fight the war by themselves. The plan involved many small steps which helped finally end our involvement in January 1973.

This Offensive also vastly affected President Johnson as well. The president’s popularity was being lost as Americans began to question his presidency. His loss of popularity made him drop out of the next presidential elections, knowing that many American blamed him for what

Richard Nixon was the 37th president of the United States, and served from January 20, 1969 to midsummer 1973. He had four brothers. Harold was older than him, and the other three, Donald, Arthur, and Edward, were younger than him. Nixon and his wife, Thelma Catherine Nixon or “Pat”, had two girls. One was very introverted, while the other was very extroverted. He met his wife when he decided he wanted to try theatre and drama which was one of the many things Nixon tried as a hobby or a second possible career choice before just sticking with law. Richard Nixon did many thing throughout his life, and he always tried to do everything to the best of his

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was on August 7, 1964 and it gave Congress permission to expand the Vietnam War. In the spring of 1964, military personal developed a mission to attack North Vietnam, but Lyndon B. Johnson worried that the people would not support the growing war. Later that same year, powerful forces had gotten control over almost half of South Vietnam. As of that time Johnson was being criticized by the Senator Barry Goldwater, for not handling the war more aggressively. On August 2, there was a raid on the North Vietnamese coast by South Vietnamese warships, and the destroyer Maddox was attacked by North Vietnamese boats. Just a few days later Maddox was reportedly under attack again. After that last attack on the Maddox, Johnson

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

John F. Kennedy sending advisors to aid South Vietnam resulted in the United States being hooked in the War. These advisors in some cases would serve as trainers for the South Vietnamese armies. These advisors were also involved in a lot of intelligence work and battles. There are differences between a solider and an advisory, however, in some cases the advisors became the fighters because the army they were there to advise ran the opposite direction. JFK had many reasons for us getting involved in the war, however, the sending of advisors resulted in America play a big part of the war in Vietnam and the assassination of the Vietnamese’s President.

It seems as if the united states are always fighting a battle whether it is overseas or within its own borders. The citizens were not ready for what the 1970’s was going to bring, socially, economically, and religiously. Jim Jones was going to bring peace and relief to these people in the most tragic way possible. With brain washing, manipulation, and isolation Jones convinced hundreds of people to commit suicide. The Peoples’ Temple religious movement was one of the many going on during the 1970’s.

In the Gulf of Tonkin, the United States’s ship, Maddox, was being attacked by the North Vietnamese. In response to this, Congress and the House of Representatives passed the Gulf of Tonkin’s Resolution. It allowed the President to combat communism in any way he felt would be appropriate for the situation. (2) In the Vietnam War’s case, it was to help South Vietnam by sending in many American soldiers and helping them financially.

I will say this about the New Deal. The "deal" part of the New Deal was an agreement with major businesses to stop enforcing antitrust laws (which WERE enforced vigorously during the 1920s; something we don't ordinarily associate with the laissez-faire of the time) in return for tolerating labour organising and collective bargaining. That was how the US wound up with the "Big Three" steel producers and "Big Four" automakers, which had "sweetheart contracts" with appropriate labour unions by 1940. And on the state level, things like Public Utilities Commissions requiring a "certificate of neccesity and convenience" for say, new trucking companies that would compete with existing truckers and which existing truckers had a handle for fighting. And later on, the FAA setting airline routes --and rates. The airlines did not compete on price until the 1970s. This in return for a unionised workforce with raises in real wages guaranteed by good work and seniority and a union grievance system that made it difficult to fire an employee, except in the office, which was considered management and illegal to organise.

There was not much serious thought in escalating the Vietnam War until the Tonkin Gulf incident occurred. In the Gulf of Tonkin it was reported “that two American destroyers had been attacked by North Vietnamese PT boats on August 4, 1964,” (Friedman 293). Shortly after these incidents, “Johnson immediately escalated the war by ordering airstrikes on North Vietnam” (Friedman 293). These events made it so Johnson could raise United States involvement in Vietnam without congressional backing on his decisions. Increasing involvement in the war was appealing though because after the Tonkin Gulf incident support of military involvement in North Vietnam raised from thirty one percent approvals to fifty percent approval (Moise 226). Although approval of the amount in favor immediately after the Gulf of Tonkin incident rose, it was a “mistake on Johnson’s part… assuming that the