Johnson and Vietnam

Was it Johnson’s War?

“If you let a bully into your front yard, the next day he will be in your porch, and the day after he will rape your wife in your own bed”

Lyndon Johnson – A man of his Time

• Very patriotic and proud of US military power

• Anti - Communist• Defeat by ‘ that raggedy-

ass little fourth rate Vietnam was inconceivable’

• Believed US were fighting for world freedom as well as US security

• Did not believe in appeasement – ‘If you let a bully into your front yard, the next day he will be in your porch, and the day after he will rape your wife in your own bed”

• Believed in Domino theory

• Felt it was a question of national honour for US to stay committed to South Vietnam

• Did not understand foreigners or foreign affairs

Impact of Kennedy’s Assassinantion• Johnson resented the younger and less

experienced man being president• Guilt feelings contributed to a determination

to stand by everything Kennedy had done• ‘I swore to myself that I would carry on.’• 2 days after Kennedy’s death, Johnson told

Ambassador Lodge that he was not going ‘to lose Vietnam’

• Thus Johnson reaffirmed Kennedy’s policies• Kennedy’s Vietnam would become Johnson’s• As vice-president Johnson had opposed US

support for the coup against Diem• Johnson continued Kennedy’s policy and kept

on his officials• The retention of Kennedy’s advisors ensured

continued involvement in Vietnam

Johnson and his Advisors• Johnson made it clear he

was the boss – ‘kiss-my-ass-at-high-noon-in-Macy’s-window and tell me it smells like roses loyalty’

• Some argue Johnson had a closed mind, some say he was poorly advised

• Retention of McNamara and Rusk meant no fresh ideas emerged on the Vietnam problem

• Rusk was obsessed with continuing the struggle

• McNamara was so important that some called Vietnam ‘McNamara’s war’

Johnson and his Advisors

• 1963 Mike Mansfield suggested a united and neutralised Vietnam

• Johnson rejected this and he said that there would be no need for US involvement so long as the South Vietnamese government adopted political, social and economic reforms

• Mansfield kept the debate going questioning support of Saigon and asking searching question about Vietnam

• Johnson not interested in debate• Kennedy men in White House wanted to save face so

would not admit to past errors• Johnson felt duty bound to listen to Generals

(Vietnam was only war they had, they wanted to escalate it in order to win)

• Johnson’s personal ambitions re-inforced what the generals were advising

• Johnson did not want to be the first president to lose a war – especially to the Communists

Mike Mansfield: One of the first advisors to LBJ who criticised the escalation of the Vietnam conflict

Debates, Doubts and Decisions

• From Dec 1963 Vietcong increased infiltration of South

• Response from South was unimpressive

• Strategic hamlets not working – estimated that Communists controlled half of South Vietnam

• Some favoured bombing – Lemay ~ ‘we are swatting flies

when we should be going after the manure pile’

Curtis “Bombs Away” LeMay:

“We’ll bomb them back to the stone age”

The Escalation of War• Johnson felt the war needed to be won quickly

before Congress ordered a withdrawal• Johnson’s administration did not discuss

whether US should withdrawal but how US could continue war

• By July 1964 200 Americans had died in Vietnam

• Most of Johnson’s advisors urged escalation • But Johnson would need support of US

Congress and US public

Gulf of Tonkin Incident

August 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution• US gunboats on covert operations off

coast of north Vietnam• US claimed unprovoked attack on

gunboats ‘Maddox’ and ‘Turner Joy’• As a result Congress passed a

resolution giving Johnson the power to wage war in Vietnam

• Senate passed the resolution 88 to 2

1964 Presidential Election• Tonkin Resolution came at perfect time for

Johnson• He quickly started the bombing of the north

and his public approval rating went from 42% to 72% helping him win the election

• During the election campaign Johnson was clever to appease both sides.

• He told Left wingers he was not going to do anything rash – ‘we are not going to send American boys away from home to do what Asian boys should be doing for themselves’.

• He reassured the right by saying America keeps her word

• The Republican candidate Barry Goldwater tended to use verbal gaffes and was seen as a trigger happy hawk

Why did Johnson escalate?• Personality of Johnson suggests escalation was

inevitable• He was aggressive, arrogant and over confident• When finally elected president he said “I’ve been

kissing asses all my life and I don’t have to kiss them any more. Tell those press bastards of yours that I’ll see them when I want to see them and not before”

Sanders:-• Generalisations about Johnson’s character are

unhelpful• Sometimes there was fear and uncertainty behind

the confident bluster• Privately Johnson admitted that he did not know

what to do with Vietnam• More often than not he responded to advice and

pressure of events

Other factors for escalation

1. The incompetence of the Saigon Government

2. The Working Group Recommendations

3. Defending American Bomber Bases with Rolling Thunder

4. Defending American Bomber Bases with American Troops

1. The Incompetence of the Saigon Government

• Saigon regime not winning the war• Generals tended to squabble• American Ambassador – General Maxwell

Taylor said US should take over• Taylor treated Saigon Generals like academy

cadets• Dean Rusk – “Somehow we must change the

pace at which these people move.”• November 1964 100 Vietcong disguised as

peasants attacked and greatly damaged US air base near Saigon

• Saigon regime seemed powerless to halt VC attacks

2. The Working Group Recommendations

• Group made up of Defence dept, State dept, CIA and JCS

• Reiterated Domino theory• ‘American national prestige, credibility and

honour at stake’• Escalation necessary due to weak Saigon

govt• Favoured heavier bombing of north• Although Johnson is blamed for escalation

his military and civilian experts were urging escalation in the interests of national security

3. Defending American Bomber Bases with Rolling

Thunder• X-mas eve 1964 VC

plant bomb in bar frequented by US officers

• Feb 1965 VC attacked huge American camp near Pleiku (8 killed, 100 injured)

• Johnson then began the large scale bombing in Vietnam

• Such was the intensity that by march they were known as ‘Rolling Thunder’

• Johnson refused to declare war, he was seducing rather than raping the north..’I’m going up her leg an inch at a time.’

Johnson on Bombing

4. Defending American Bomber Bases with American Troops

• Spring 1965 General Westmoreland

requested US troops• Mar 1965 3,500 US troops landed at

Danang beach• April Johnson approved an increase of

18,000 US support forces• Congress supportively granted $700

million in may• House of Representatives voted 408-7,

Senate voted 88-3 in favour• Press supported action as well