Global Presidents: Lyndon Johnson Goes to Vietnam
The Vietnam War became President Lyndon Johnson's downfall. By the end of the Johnson presidency in 1968, the United States had 548,000 troops in Vietnam and had already lost 30,000 American soldiers. Johnson's approval ratings had dropped from 70 percent in mid-1965 to below 40 percent by 1967. He also lost his influence in Congress, and ultimately he realized that he could not win his bid for re-election in 1968 and dropped out of the race.
The Vietnam War was a conflict between North and South Vietnam, but to those who subscribed to the Domino Theory, it had global ramifications. The North was led by a Communist regime that had fought against French colonial rule in the late 1940s. In 1954, seeing the futility of further combat in the jungles, the French agreed to a partition in the Geneva Accords. The South was led by a non-Communist regime. In 1956, Ngo Dinh Diem became its president. Diem was a Catholic, ruling a predominantly Buddhist population. He controlled his people with the support of a military supplied and trained by the United States and with substantial U.S. economic assistance. By the late 1950s, a Communist guerrilla force in the South, the Viet Cong, was fighting to overthrow the Diem regime and by the early 1960s, it was receiving substantial military and logistical assistance from the Communists in the North.
American Presidents from Truman to Nixon were unwilling to see South Vietnam conquered by Communist forces. Truman and Eisenhower began American involvement in Vietnam by sending in military advisers. Kennedy began assigning Special Forces military personnel to Vietnam, ostensibly in an advisory capacity as well. On May 12, 1961, Kennedy's Vice-President, Lyndon Johnson, visited Vietnam to assess the situation for his president. Vice President Johnson met with South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem in Saigon, as part of a tour of other Asian countries. Johnson called Diem the “Churchill of Asia,” and told the South Vietnamese president that he was indispensable to the United States. He promised additional military aid to assist Diem's government in fighting the communists. On his return home, Johnson towed the party line for domino theorists. He said that the loss of Vietnam would mean that the United States would have to fight “on the beaches of Waikiki” and eventually on “our own shores.”
With the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963, Johnson became president and inherited a deteriorating situation in South Vietnam. There were about 20,000 American military personnel there when Kennedy was assassinated. Over time, he escalated the war, ultimately committing more than 500,000 U.S. troops to Vietnam.
As President, Johnson decided to continue the Vietnam commitment made by his predecessors. He believed that it was important to maintain an independent South Vietnam. He believed that if Vietnam fell to Communists, other Southeast Asian nations would do the same. Johnson was deeply sensitive about the judgment of history, and he did not want to be remembered as a President who lost Southeast Asia to Communism. On November 26, 1963, he approved NSAM 273, a national security agency memorandum, which directed the U.S. government "to assist the people and Government of South Vietnam to win their contest against the externally directed and supported Communist conspiracy."
When counterinsurgency failed, Johnson began to escalate U.S. commitments. Johnson approved OPLAN 34A-64 on January 16, 1964. It called for increased infiltration and covert operations against the North to be transferred from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to the military. He approved NSAM 288 in late March 1964, calling for more U.S. involvement in South Vietnamese affairs and a greater use of U.S. force, including planning for air strikes against North Vietnam. In August 1964, after reports that U.S. naval vessels had been attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin, Johnson asked Congress for a resolution of support. By a vote of 98 to 2 in the Senate and a unanimous vote in the House, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, authorizing the President to take all measures necessary to protect the armed forces. Johnson would use this what he termed a "functional equivalent" to a declaration of war.
During the summer and fall of 1964, Johnson campaigned for election to the presidency in his own right, on a platform of peace. He said that he had no intention of escalating the war if it were not absolutely necessary, while suggesting that his opponent, Barry Goldwater, was "eager to enlarge the conflict." Johnson told crowds: "They call upon the U.S. to supply American boys to do the job that Asian boys should do. We are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves. We don't want to get tied down to a land war in Asia." Johnson won the electing in a landslide
On February 13, 1965, Johnson authorized Operation Rolling Thunder, which called for the sustained bombing of North Vietnam. On March 8, 1965, two Marine battalions (3,500 troops) went ashore near Da Nang to protect the airfields, with orders to shoot only if shot at. This was the first time U.S. combat forces had been sent to mainland Asia since the Korean War. On April 3, Johnson authorized two additional Marine battalions, one Marine air squadron, and an increase in logistical support units of 20,000 men. He also authorized troops to go on "search and destroy" missions. By mid-April, Marines had moved to full-scale offensive operations and by November 1965, there were 175,000 US troops in Vietnam. By 1966, an additional 100,000 were sent. That number would grow to 535,000 by the end of Johnson's presidency.
"Doves" in Congress, and the State Department, as well as Vice President Hubert Humphrey, wanted Johnson to negotiate a peace with Hanoi. Johnson's plan was to use U.S. ground forces and extensive bombing to convince the regime in Hanoi that it could not win the war. But what Johnson hadn't counted on was that Hanoi was willing to accept the costs of continuing the war indefinitely and of absorbing the punishing bombing.
In October of 1966, Johnson visited southeast Asia, making his first trip to Vietnam as President. He began his visit in Zealand on October 19, before moving on to Canberra, Australia. From October 20–23, 1966 he attended a summit conference, held in Manila, in the Philippines, with the Heads of State and Government of Australia, Korea, New Zealand, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Then on October 26, 1966 Johnson went to Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam, where he visited with U.S. military personnel.
At home, antiwar activists began to demonstrate publicly against their country's involvement in the conflict. Another Democrat, Eugene McCarthy, announced his intentions to try to wrest the nomination from an incumbent wartime President in the 1968 election. Johnson made another Visit to Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam on December 23, 1967, to visit U.S. military personnel once again and try to boost morale. But by this time many leading Americans, including iconic newscaster Walter Cronkite, believed the war to be unwinnable. Six weeks into 1968, the North Vietnamese staged dozens of devastating attacks all over the South, known as the Tet Offensive. American opposition to the war grew. Television screens brought images of endless and seemingly meaningless battles to living rooms across the nation. Public confidence in the President and Johnson's popularity continued their sharp declines.
A month after the Tet Offensive, New Hampshire held the first presidential primary. McCarthy won 41 percent of the vote. Robert F. Kennedy then entered the race. A few weeks later, Johnson stunned the nation by announcing that he would not seek another term as President.
The Vietnam War cut short the promise of the Great Society. It was the undoing of Lyndon Johnson's presidency and his legacy.
The Vietnam War was a conflict between North and South Vietnam, but to those who subscribed to the Domino Theory, it had global ramifications. The North was led by a Communist regime that had fought against French colonial rule in the late 1940s. In 1954, seeing the futility of further combat in the jungles, the French agreed to a partition in the Geneva Accords. The South was led by a non-Communist regime. In 1956, Ngo Dinh Diem became its president. Diem was a Catholic, ruling a predominantly Buddhist population. He controlled his people with the support of a military supplied and trained by the United States and with substantial U.S. economic assistance. By the late 1950s, a Communist guerrilla force in the South, the Viet Cong, was fighting to overthrow the Diem regime and by the early 1960s, it was receiving substantial military and logistical assistance from the Communists in the North.
American Presidents from Truman to Nixon were unwilling to see South Vietnam conquered by Communist forces. Truman and Eisenhower began American involvement in Vietnam by sending in military advisers. Kennedy began assigning Special Forces military personnel to Vietnam, ostensibly in an advisory capacity as well. On May 12, 1961, Kennedy's Vice-President, Lyndon Johnson, visited Vietnam to assess the situation for his president. Vice President Johnson met with South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem in Saigon, as part of a tour of other Asian countries. Johnson called Diem the “Churchill of Asia,” and told the South Vietnamese president that he was indispensable to the United States. He promised additional military aid to assist Diem's government in fighting the communists. On his return home, Johnson towed the party line for domino theorists. He said that the loss of Vietnam would mean that the United States would have to fight “on the beaches of Waikiki” and eventually on “our own shores.”
With the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963, Johnson became president and inherited a deteriorating situation in South Vietnam. There were about 20,000 American military personnel there when Kennedy was assassinated. Over time, he escalated the war, ultimately committing more than 500,000 U.S. troops to Vietnam.
As President, Johnson decided to continue the Vietnam commitment made by his predecessors. He believed that it was important to maintain an independent South Vietnam. He believed that if Vietnam fell to Communists, other Southeast Asian nations would do the same. Johnson was deeply sensitive about the judgment of history, and he did not want to be remembered as a President who lost Southeast Asia to Communism. On November 26, 1963, he approved NSAM 273, a national security agency memorandum, which directed the U.S. government "to assist the people and Government of South Vietnam to win their contest against the externally directed and supported Communist conspiracy."
When counterinsurgency failed, Johnson began to escalate U.S. commitments. Johnson approved OPLAN 34A-64 on January 16, 1964. It called for increased infiltration and covert operations against the North to be transferred from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to the military. He approved NSAM 288 in late March 1964, calling for more U.S. involvement in South Vietnamese affairs and a greater use of U.S. force, including planning for air strikes against North Vietnam. In August 1964, after reports that U.S. naval vessels had been attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin, Johnson asked Congress for a resolution of support. By a vote of 98 to 2 in the Senate and a unanimous vote in the House, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, authorizing the President to take all measures necessary to protect the armed forces. Johnson would use this what he termed a "functional equivalent" to a declaration of war.
During the summer and fall of 1964, Johnson campaigned for election to the presidency in his own right, on a platform of peace. He said that he had no intention of escalating the war if it were not absolutely necessary, while suggesting that his opponent, Barry Goldwater, was "eager to enlarge the conflict." Johnson told crowds: "They call upon the U.S. to supply American boys to do the job that Asian boys should do. We are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves. We don't want to get tied down to a land war in Asia." Johnson won the electing in a landslide
On February 13, 1965, Johnson authorized Operation Rolling Thunder, which called for the sustained bombing of North Vietnam. On March 8, 1965, two Marine battalions (3,500 troops) went ashore near Da Nang to protect the airfields, with orders to shoot only if shot at. This was the first time U.S. combat forces had been sent to mainland Asia since the Korean War. On April 3, Johnson authorized two additional Marine battalions, one Marine air squadron, and an increase in logistical support units of 20,000 men. He also authorized troops to go on "search and destroy" missions. By mid-April, Marines had moved to full-scale offensive operations and by November 1965, there were 175,000 US troops in Vietnam. By 1966, an additional 100,000 were sent. That number would grow to 535,000 by the end of Johnson's presidency.
"Doves" in Congress, and the State Department, as well as Vice President Hubert Humphrey, wanted Johnson to negotiate a peace with Hanoi. Johnson's plan was to use U.S. ground forces and extensive bombing to convince the regime in Hanoi that it could not win the war. But what Johnson hadn't counted on was that Hanoi was willing to accept the costs of continuing the war indefinitely and of absorbing the punishing bombing.
In October of 1966, Johnson visited southeast Asia, making his first trip to Vietnam as President. He began his visit in Zealand on October 19, before moving on to Canberra, Australia. From October 20–23, 1966 he attended a summit conference, held in Manila, in the Philippines, with the Heads of State and Government of Australia, Korea, New Zealand, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam. Then on October 26, 1966 Johnson went to Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam, where he visited with U.S. military personnel.
At home, antiwar activists began to demonstrate publicly against their country's involvement in the conflict. Another Democrat, Eugene McCarthy, announced his intentions to try to wrest the nomination from an incumbent wartime President in the 1968 election. Johnson made another Visit to Cam Ranh Bay in Vietnam on December 23, 1967, to visit U.S. military personnel once again and try to boost morale. But by this time many leading Americans, including iconic newscaster Walter Cronkite, believed the war to be unwinnable. Six weeks into 1968, the North Vietnamese staged dozens of devastating attacks all over the South, known as the Tet Offensive. American opposition to the war grew. Television screens brought images of endless and seemingly meaningless battles to living rooms across the nation. Public confidence in the President and Johnson's popularity continued their sharp declines.
A month after the Tet Offensive, New Hampshire held the first presidential primary. McCarthy won 41 percent of the vote. Robert F. Kennedy then entered the race. A few weeks later, Johnson stunned the nation by announcing that he would not seek another term as President.
The Vietnam War cut short the promise of the Great Society. It was the undoing of Lyndon Johnson's presidency and his legacy.