The Vietnam WarLBJs WAR
On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as the 36th U.S. President. He is the fourth President coping with the Vietnam War. President Johnson declares he will not "lose Vietnam" during a meeting in Washington.Johnson came to office convinced that the United States had to honor its commitments to South Vietnam and resist the revolution, but originally he was certain that success depended chiefly on the South Vietnamese. In his view, their government had to carry out the program of social and economic reform and development needed to gain the support of the people, and their army had to do the fighting. He felt that the United States could only encourage and assist the development of the political and military programs. In a Department of State Bulletin, August 24, 1964 Johnson said:" I summarized it on June 2 in four simple propositions: America keeps her word. Here as elsewhere, we must and shall honor our commitments. The issue is the future of Southeast Asia as a whole. A threat to any nation in that region is a threat to all, and a threat to us. Our purpose is peace. We have no military, political, or territorial ambitions
all of us felt the same concerns and anxieties that Ball had expressed, but most of these men in the Cabinet Room were more worried about the results, in our country and throughout the world, of our puling out and coming home. Johnson then approved to send the 1st combat troops, two marine battalions, in 1965. " (McMahon 210)The Tonkin Gulf Resolution granted enormous power to President Johnson to wage an undeclared war in Vietnam from the White House. LBJ also had support from the media and Congress. He seemed sincerely troubled about what to do. Under Secretary of State George Ball, one of Johnson's advisors, had warned against escalation stating : "The South Vietnamese are losing the war to the Viet Cong. He had initial public support, most Americans believed in the Cold War consensus that said the West had to stop the spread of Communism abroad. With all our military power, how could we lose? Johnson, along with most other government officials, just didn't realize what we were up against. I have spoken to you today of the divisions and the forces and the battalions and the units, but I know them all, every one.
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