Lyndon Johnson as President Who was Lyndon Johnson? LBJ was a Democrat from Texas. He became president after JFK was assassinated in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963. Stories about this man abound on both the positive and negative side. Positive he was a champion of civil rights and economic equality in the country. Negative is believed to have been a man who was not very nice to his subordinates and the man who got us involved in Vietnam.
What is the dilemma that he faced? The dilemma that he faced is that he really wanted to be known as the president who had increased the quality of life for American's that were still not succeeding. His "Great Society" programs were to expand further on programs created by FDR during the Great Depression. The problem is that he will have to deal with the Vietnam Situation at the same time a situation that he whole hearted blamed Kennedy for(cannot blame a martyr though). He will end up trying to do both which will not really allow either to succeed as they both require a lot of money and US support. We will be over extended.
What was the Gulf of Tonkin Incident? August 7, 1964 See page 899, 902­903 from the Textbook
A North Vietnamese Torpedo Boat fired on two American Destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin
LBJ declared that the attacks had been unprovoked and immediately ordered American Aircraft to destroy NV ships and Naval Facilities. What he did not reveal is that he was guilty of using the ships to support spy and espionage campaigns by the SV against the NV coast. What was the result of this incident? 8­7­1964 Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution­ We will take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the US and to prevent further aggression. (by them)
The VC picked up their attacks on US and ARVN bases and as a result Johnson ordered air strikes. These air strikes actually increased Johnson's popularity according to polls that were ran.
1
February 1965 Viet Cong attack US bases­ the US responds again with AirStrikes The Airstrikes boosted his approval rating. Important people
Robert McNamara
Secretary of Defense under JFK/ LBJ­ Famous in WWII for increasing bomber accuracy(and crew loss rates). Prior to being Secretary of Defense he was President of Ford Motor company for a period of less than a year. (1st non­
Ford to head the company) Brilliant Businessman after leaving his government post in 1968 he will head the World Bank until 1981.
George W. Ball
US Under Secretary of State for Agricultural and Economic Affairs. He was a staunch opponent of the US involvement in the War in Vietnam. In March of 65 Johnson increased our involvement by starting operation Rolling Thunder and also ordered in the first Combat troops in Vietnam. History Channel Video on Rolling Thunder
Operation Rolling Thunder­ A sustained Bombing Operation against North Vietnam that will last nearly 4 years before it will end. Operation Rolling Thunder will end in 1968 but the bombing attacks on North Vietnam will still continue throughout the war. Why did we try this?
Why didn't it work?
Why did we finally stop?
Was it effective at all?
Our involvement in 1965­ 180,000, in 1966 double 2
Problems with the Enemy and solutions that we found Tactics­ Guerilla Warfare v. Search and Destroy Hit and run tactics used by the VC were taking a toll on US soldiers(same as they had done to the French) we decided to use Search and Destroy tactics­ Sent small units of US soldiers into the Jungle to locate the enemy. They would then ambush them with small arms and call in artillery or air strikes to support them. Dangerous but effective
Hiding in the Jungle v. Defoliants US Air Force Museum article on Daisy Cutter
The VC and NVA used the jungles to stage attacks on the US so we started to use defoliants to remove their cover. We used Agent Orange, Napalm, and Daisy Cutters­ 15,000lb bomb with an estimated kill radius of 100­300 meters. Used to flatten jungle and tunnel complexes. Used until 2008 and replaced by a larger bomb now.
Ho Chi Minh Trail v. Keeping the war in Vietnam only Trail to move supplies to VC and NVA units in South Vietnam. It traveled through portions of Cambodia and Laos which meant that we could not hit it effectively. Starts out initially as a path that travels through the jungle very primitive but by the end of the war people jokingly called it a highway because so much was moving down it.
Win at any costs v. Attrition The NVA and VC were planning to win at any cost therefore fighting a war of attrition is not very effective.
Comparison of Weapons used by the US and Vietnamese US/ ARVN M­16 B­52 & others Heavy artillery/ Helicopters (Bell UH­1 Huey, Chinooks/ Cobra) NVA/ VC AK­47 No Bombers Mortars/ Tunneling/ Booby Traps/ Soviet anti­air 3
LBJ­ Will continue to escalate the war and he will face rising protests at home. General Westmoreland­ Commander of US forces in Vietnam, he will declare as early as 1967 that the war will be over soon. The evidence that he gives is the effectiveness of our bombing campaigns, the estimated NVA and VC casualties
(they always removed their dead and wounded from battle if possible) and the fact that their attacks had started to taper off.
January 30, 1968­ The Tet Offensive. Tet is the Vietnamese New Year and on this day, the VC and NVA attacked nearly every US base and major city in South Vietnam simultaneously. This was shortly after Westmoreland and Johnson had been stating that the war was nearly over.
In terms of lives and land lost, the usual markers of war, it was a complete US Victory Politically it crippled us, we had been saying that they enemy was on the run and weak and they were able to mass this major offensive American News media and the Democratic party now openly opposed the President and the War.
As a result what did LBJ declare? That he would not seek nor accept his parties nomination for president. It would have been very difficult for him to win by this point anyway, but it only increased the feelings that the war was not winnable. If the President is quitting over it, it must be that he does not think he can win it anymore.
Who was the Democrat Front Runner and what happened to him?
Bobby Kennedy, was assassinated by Sirhan Sirhan.
Who won the Election and why? Nixon, he said that he would get us out of the war and bring us together.
4
How was the war looked at on the home­front? ­
At first the war was looked upon favorably but as it dragged on and our presence there increased our support for it lowered ­
Eventually it came down to the people in our country being sharply divided between the people who supported the war and those who did not. What were people who supported the war known as, why? ­
Hawks, it’s a symbol of war What were people who were against the war become known as, why? ­ Doves, it’s a symbol of peace People even made up creative jingles for the war when they were protesting it, here are just a few…. ­
Hey, hey, LBJ how many kids did you kill today ­
Work hard, study hard, get ahead, kill 5
When Nixon was elected president he inherited many problems and only one of them was the Vietnam war. He also received a very unbalanced budget and rampant inflation. Nixon’s first year as president, 1969 a very tumultuous year, major incidences…. ­ April 30, 1970­ Announcement of the invasion of Cambodia ­ May 4, 1970­ the Kent state shooting­ four dead, 9 wounded by national guard
­ May 14­15, 1970­ Jackson State shooting, two dead­ 12 injured by police
­ July 20, 1969­ First men on the moon, Appolo 11, happened that year ­ November 1969, 250,000 people protest the war and the invasion of Cambodia in D.C. The war is extremely unpopular and Nixon is now President, what did he do next? ­ He instituted a policy known as Vietnamization What was this? ­ This was Nixon’s policy for turning over the war to the South Vietnamese, this is when we were easing our way out of the war. ­ This did not increase Nixon’s support b/c most people either felt that this was not enough of an effort to get out of the war or they felt that we should not be getting out at all Nixon also tried to negotiate a peace treaty and he did this by traveling to both China and the Soviet Union. Who won the election of 1972? ­ Nixon and part of the reason is that people knew that he was pulling us out of the war When did we finally leave Vietnam? ­ January 23, 1973 the last of our soldiers and citizens were evacuated from Saigon ­ The war continued until Saigon fell to North Vietnam on April 30, 1975 This war was not over for many of the men who served in it though, because of all the bad press most people preferred to pretend that it never happened and this meant that they ignored the 6
Veterans from the war and their problems. Many of our soldiers which came back suffered from post traumatic stress syndrome. They were also upset because they were ignored or looked down upon their return to “the world” the US. People would ask them how many babies they killed and spit at them and so on. Other issues­ Drugs, Racism, poverty, 25% v 75% experience, POW/ MIA etc...
The wrongs that were done to these men were not even partially righted until the construction of the Vietnam war memorial in Washington D.C. this is a black granite wall which contains the names of all the American servicemen who were killed in action or declared as MIA. 7
8