/Johnson__Americanization

Johnson:

The Americanization Of The War, Lies, Politics, and Incompetence Johnson’s Wars: The Vietnam War The War On Poverty The Great Society

JFK’s Assassination Leads To LBJ’s Presidency

LBJ is sworn in as President on Air Force One as the grief stricken First Lady stands by.

The Tonkin Incident.

The Gulf of Tonkin Incident ď Ž

On August 2, 1964, North Vietnamese patrol boats attack the Maddox, an American destroyer in the Tonkin Gulf. A doubtful incident is reported two days later.

The destroyer Maddox.

The Tonkin Resolution ď Ž

ď Ž

On August 7, 1964, Congress passes the Tonkin Resolution, granting LBJ almost unlimited power to act in Southeast Asia.

To make matters more complicated, in October of 1964 Communist China becomes a nuclear power, exploding its first atomic bomb.

LBJ Is Re-Elected ď Ž

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Running against Barry Goldwater, LBJ is reelected for a term of his own.

He ran on a peace platform as well as his vaunted Civil Rights and War on Poverty platforms.

LBJ campaigning, promising peace.

A triumphant LBJ at the Democratic Party’s Convention

Why did LBJ “Americanize The War In Vietnam?  

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The South Vietnamese Government was inept.

The Diem Regime, (1954-1963) which ended with Diem’s murder in 1963, was at best unpopular and incapable of generating support from the South Vietnamese people.

The Generals: 

The Generals, who in one successive coup after another, who took Diem’s place were incompetent as government officials and often corrupt.

The Need For Americanization 

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Unless something dramatic was done to prop up the South Vietnamese Government and military, the Vietcong would gain control of South Vietnam in a short period of time.

LBJ, for political domestic political reasons, could not allow this to happen.

LBJ knew that if he was viewed as being soft on communism, his opponents would block his Great Society in Congress.

Why? 

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LBJ knew that to be re-elected he had to defeat Barry Goldwater, a hard-line anti-communist.

Real national security reasons: There was a real fear that the fall of Vietnam would lead to the spread of communism throughout all of Southeast Asia - the domino theory.  The Cold War - Johnson could not be seen as weak to the rest of the world as the U.S. waged the Cold War. 

Did the U.S. Military presence make a difference? ď Ž ď Ž

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In 1965, yes.

The Marines had secured the area around Da Nang and had made the first American military campaign of the war, destroying an NVA regiment in the process.

Silver Bayonet demonstrated the effectiveness of helicopters in deploying large forces and the use of B-52s as tactical weapons.

What was Johnson’s real motivation?   

Johnson was not interested in foreign affairs.

He had his own agenda and goals.

LBJ wanted to be remembered as a great liberal icon like his idol, FDR. LBJ planned to force social and economic changes on American society on the scale of FDR’s New Deal and LBJ planned to impose these changes without the backdrop of the Great Depression.

Domestic Politics & The War 

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Johnson knew his social agenda would face tremendous opposition from different factions in Congress and for different reasons.

While his civil rights goals were legitimate and much needed reforms, there would be considerable opposition from factions within his own party to these changes.

LBJ’s economic reforms would be resisted by the Republicans because of the confiscatory nature of LBJ’s proposed economic policies as well as the questionable effectiveness of the welfare state LBJ proposed creating.

Domestic Politics & The War ď Ž

ď Ž

Johnson also feared that if South Vietnam fell to communism he would face a Red Scare like Truman had, providing his enemies with ample ammunition to stop his agenda.

Johnson decided the solution to his problems was a nice little war.

The Nice Little War 

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By Americanizing the war in Vietnam, LBJ could look like he was a good Cold Warrior who was tough on communism. This would buy him political capital with the Cold Warriors in Congress.

The Democrats known as the Dixiecrats would side with him out of patriotism – Southerners culturally tend to support the military more than any other region of the United States – buying him at least silent opposition if not neutrality towards his social programs.

More Domestic Reasons 

The Hawks who feared communism and wanted more money to be spent on the military would also support Johnson’s war effort – again buying him political capital he could call in for his domestic agenda.

There is a small problem… 

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The leftists and most of the liberals in LBJ’s party will oppose him for ideological reasons if he Americanizes the war.

Thus, LBJ instructs his advisors that his initial re-election takes priority over the war. No major decisions are to be made until after the election.

Keep It Quiet 

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LBJ orders that the American people are to be kept in the dark about anything to do with the Vietnam War. McNamara is ordered to ensure that the Joint Chiefs of Staff play ball with LBJ’s war plans.

Great pains are taken to insure that the American people and Congress are kept in the dark about the situation in Vietnam.

Graduated Response 

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Under the leadership of McNamara, the “Whiz Kids” develop the concept of “graduated response.”

This theory states that the objective is not to win the conflict, but to use a carefully orchestrated response that is gradually increased carefully as required in order to “communicate” resolve to the enemy.

LBJ likes this plan as it allows him to keep the war small and inexpensive.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff 

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The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) did not want to get involved in the Vietnam War. If the U.S. has to go, the JCS wanted to hammer the enemy.

The JCS wanted a large force on the ground and massive, destructive air raids that cause considerable “pain” for North Vietnam.

LBJ, via McNamara, said NO!

Failure of the JCS 

The JCS was to blame for the Vietnam fiasco in two key ways: Inter-service rivalry prevented them from presenting a clear and unified plan in opposition to the President’s plan.  The JCS went along with LBJ’s disastrous plans in hopes that later he would allow them to “increase the pressure” on the communists. 

LBJ and his cabinet seen discussing the conflict in Vietnam

Did the U.S. Military Presence Make A Difference?  

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Ia Drang Valley – 300 American soldiers died, but over 2,000 NVA were killed.

This convinced Westmoreland that his searchand-destroy concept would work – this kind of kill ratio would win a war of attrition.

It did not take into account that the American people would not accept this plan.

Johnson’s Mismanagement of the War  

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Determined to be viewed as a great “War President,” LBJ micromanaged the Vietnam War. Convinced by a Harvard sociology professor that the war could be won by an attrition strategy called the “Crossover Point,” LBJ ignored the advice of the military and adopted General Westmoreland’s controversial body count strategy which led to the use of “Search & Destroy” tactics in Vietnam.

Johnson, Westmoreland and the sociologist never took into account that the communists had no regard for human life and would suffer any number of casualties in order to win the war.

The “crossover point,” the point at which the enemy has lost so many soldiers they can no longer be replaced, was recalculated 7 times during the war.

Rolling Thunder  

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On February 24, Operation Rolling Thunder begins, the bombing of North Vietnam.

Johnson’s idea behind Rolling Thunder was to “convince the communists that they could not win the war.” It was not to destroy the capability of the communists to wage war.

Johnson became personally involved in the selection of targets, ignoring his military advisors.

Peace Offer 

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On April 7, 1965, LBJ extends an offer of peace to Ho Chi Minh.

On April 8, 1965, the communists reject the offer.

18 American combat battalions are now in Vietnam.

On July 28, 1965, LBJ approves Westmoreland’s request for 44 additional combat battalions.

Why Fight This Way? 

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Johnson initially was not interested in winning the war in Vietnam, only in showing the communists they could not win.

Why use this approach?

Money.

To wage a war with the intent of winning it would have been very expensive, not allowing Johnson to confiscate, through taxation, vast sums of American taxpayer money to redistribute through his vision of a Welfare State.

Simply put, Johnson could not pay for both.

Money, Politics and the War  

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LBJ intended to have his cake and eat it too.

He was going to have his war AND his domestic agenda.

By limiting the scope of the war, he avoided direct conflict with communist China, a legitimate concern, and retained the ability, or so he thought, of paying for his welfare state.

Influencing LBJ’s Decision 

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LBJ inherited much of his administration from Kennedy.

These individuals were East Coast liberal academics educated in Ivy League schools.

Few of them understood the military or even held the American military and its personnel in high regard.

Understanding the Situation ď Ž

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LBJ was surrounded by academics and businessmen who wanted to be able to measure everything quantitatively and analyze the war in Vietnam like it was a business problem or a research project in sociology.

Both LBJ, McNamara and most of the advisors gave little credence to things like morale, nationalism, motivation, etc. These were hard to measure.

The Result of Misunderstanding 

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LBJ was a very difficult person to work for. He never liked ideas that opposed his and he liked getting bad news even less. So his advisors learned to simply go along with what he wanted and restate bad news to lessen its impact.

Because of how Johnson chose to wage the war, the American military did not have a clear idea of how to measure victory, having been forced to rely on “body counts” as a measure of progress.

Indecision 

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To make matters worse, LBJ’s constant indecision and refusal to address the war on a long term basis led to his continual incremental increase of the American presence in the war.

His refusal to make any decision except an immediate one that was small in scope prevented the American military from being able to develop a strategy that would achieve victory.

In the process it cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, both American and Vietnamese.

The Immorality of It All 

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Johnson’s decision to wage the war with Search and Destroy tactics led to questionable use of American firepower.

Commanders in the field who were sick of not being able to find the VC or NVA to fight.

They were frustrated by watching their men dying as a result of sniper attacks and booby traps as they patrolled the same ground over and over.

The Immorality of It All ď Ž

ď Ž

So when a sniper did open fire, the ground commanders simply began telling their men to take cover.

They would then call in an air strike or an artillery barrage and not only kill the sniper, but destroy anything in the general area. If this meant wiping out an entire village, so be it, the villagers should not have harbored a VC.

More Politics ď Ž

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Johnson feared the American people’s reaction to the war and based many other military decisions on controlling American public opinion rather than on what was best for the military.

The first units sent to Vietnam were all volunteers, highly motivated and well trained.

More Politics 

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As the war progressed and the size of the American ground forces had to continue to be increased, Johnson had placed the American in a difficult situation.

More and more forces had to be withdrawn from bases around the world to feed the meat grinder that was Vietnam. In doing so, LBJ was severely weakening the U.S. Military’s ability to meet its Cold War responsibilities.

Domestic Politics Again  

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Johnson had to resort to filling the army through large scale conscription, the draft.

Fearing the loss of support of the middle class, Johnson made several poor decisions. Johnson knew the poor did not have the political clout to oppose him.

They included:  

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College draft deferments – this allowed the wealthy and middle class students to avoid the draft.

It would place an unfair burden on Blue Collar and poor families whose children did not or could not afford to go to college, making these segment of the American population have to field too large a representative portion of the Army.

The quality of the soldiers drafted from this segment of the American society, on average, was very poor due to lack of education, motivation and other problems.

The Rotation and Destruction of the Unit ď Ž

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Johnson, who did not understand the military, also did not want to face pressure from families who sons had been at war for years.

So he ordered that the troops be rotated as individuals, not entire units. When a soldier finished his tour in Vietnam he went home.

This destroyed unit cohesion. The troops had no loyalty to the unit and were all just counting days to go home.

Individualism and Defeat ď Ž

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Soldiers had no motivation to win the war.

When a soldier cannot go home until his unit goes home, he is highly motivated to get the job done and go home.

When the unit stays no matter what happens and the individual soldier goes home when his tour is up, the soldier is not motivated to take risks for the unit, but is highly motivated to look out for himself, survive and get out of Vietnam.

The Unit Suffers ď Ž

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Because units did not have a clear identity, many units in Vietnam did not fight well in the later years of the war.

Normally units train together, deploy together, fight together and go home together. This creates highly experienced, motivated, tough combat units.

Johnson destroyed this for the sake of domestic politics.

The Unit Suffers 

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Another terrible problem with this approach was that most combat casualties come about due to inexperience.

A soldier was much more likely to die at the start of his combat tour than the end, due to a lack of experience.

The experienced hands who knew how to survive had little motivation to help the new soldiers.

The Unit Suffers 

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Veterans always look at replacements with distrust.

The replacement is there because a buddy is dead or wounded.

Replacements require effort to keep them alive and teach them the “ropes.”

When a normal unit rotation is used, the veterans overcome their natural reluctance because the replacements are now part of the unit.

For the unit to succeed, survive and ultimately win and go home, the replacements have to be taken care of.

The Unit Suffers ď Ž

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Without the unit concept, the veterans are interested in their own personal survival and are not as motivated to overcome their natural reluctance to help the replacements.

Even worse, the rotation of the veterans home left the replacements without any old hands to teach them.

Johnson has once again demonstrated his total lack of understanding of the military.

The American People 

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Given Johnson’s reasons for waging the Vietnam War, it is understandable that he was unwilling to explain things to the American people.

Johnson’s controlling and confrontational personality also made the situation more difficult as he did not want opposition from the American people.

The Result – The Truth Suffered 

The Johnson Administration, as a result of either a direct command from LBJ or as a by-product of having to deal with LBJ’s difficult personality, often took one of three paths in communicating with the American people: They only reported good news.  They only told half the truth.  They simply lied. 

Another Peace Offering ď Ž

On December 25, 1965, LBJ halts the bombing of North Vietnam in an effort to get the communists to engage in peace negotiations.

McNamara - 1965 

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An early believer in the Vietnam War, after his visit to Saigon in late November of 1965 McNamara came back disillusioned.

He returned to state that “an immediate increase in U.S. troops would be needed just to avert disaster.”

He advised Johnson that it would be a long war and the best approach was to seek a “compromise solution” through negotiations.

Alain Enthoven 

An expert on European defense issues, with no political axe to grind, was able to provide this insight, “the real force confronting the United States in Vietnam, he wrote, was less Communism than ‘the strongest political current in the world today – nationalism.” He predicted it would inspire the North Vietnamese to “continue to endure great hardship.”

1966 By the beginning of 1966, Vietnam had become an obsession for Johnson.

He had no intention of quitting or even compromising when it came to the war in Vietnam.

Yet, Johnson sensed that the war was poisoning his administration and might even turn the nation against him if rapid progress was not made.

Pacification 

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Johnson and South Vietnamese leaders issue a joint declaration that “Pacification” must take place in South Vietnam.

Pacification was the term used to mean anticommunist efforts.

Bombing Resumes 

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LBJ orders bombing to resume on January 31, 1966.

LBJ orders American troop strength to be at 400,000 by year’s end.

The French ď Ž ď Ž

French President General Charles de Gaulle visits Cambodia in September of 1966.

Despite the fact that Vietnam is a former French colony and that the first American advisors arrived due to de Gaulle’s request to Eisenhower for military aid, de Gaulle states in a speech during his visit that the Americans military presence should withdraw immediately from Vietnam.

1967 ď Ž

ď Ž

American troop totals continue to increase, reaching 500,000 men.

Westmoreland begins construction of strategic compounds, including infamous Khesahn.

Khesahn was designed to interrupt the flow of men, weapons, and supplies on the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

Negotiations ď Ž

The North Vietnamese demand the bombing stop. They will not negotiate for peace until the bombing stops.

The War At Home 

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In 1967, the once popular war against “communism” intended to prevent the “domino effect,” is beginning to lose popularity on the home front.

War protests begin at home.

1968 ď Ž ď Ž

American forces receiver permission to pursue communist forces into Cambodia.

The Tet Offensive takes place. While ultimately a military debacle for the Viet Cong and NVA, Tet shakes the confidence of the American people, in part to how the offensive was reported by the American media. It also made American troops feel more confusion, anxiety and uncertainty.

Khe Sahn ď Ž

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At 5:30 am on January 21, 1968, the siege of Khe Shan began.

This remote military outpost manned by U.S. Marines became the site of the longest running battle in the Viet Nam War, lasting 77 days.

Marines at Khe Sahn under mortar fire. The NVA forces fired 100 mortar rounds an hour at Khe Sahn.

Trenches at Khe Sahn – Preparing for the siege.

An A-4 coming in to drop a load of Napalm at Khe Sahn

The Napalm Run is done.

Human Wave Attacks 

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The communists would launch human wave attacks in an effort to overrun the Marines.

They carried ladders with them as they charged the outpost. These were to throw over the barbed wire and to use as stretchers to carry back their dead and wounded.

The Marines used Teller mines to slaughter the communists as they launched their attack.

Another Dien Bien Phu? 

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This time, General Giap was not successful.

The Americans were able to re-supply the outpost by air.

C-130’s would touch down on the airstrip with their cargo bay doors open. The cargo on board had chutes attached that would pull the cargo out of the plan. The C-130, under fire, would then accelerate and take off, never coming to a complete stop.

The Aftermath 

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With the Americans and AVRN mopping up the VC and NVA after Tet, additional American mobile forces were available.

This meant that the outpost at Khe Sahn was no longer necessary.

The outpost was quietly abandoned. Today it is overgrown with trees but the defense positions can still be seen.

A Military Defeat – A Propaganda Victory 

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The Siege of Khe Sahn was a military debacle for the communists. The Marines killed over 16,000 communist soldiers. This does not include those killed by the bomb raids that the Marines could not find the bodies to count.

But, the Siege of Khe Sahn was a great propaganda victory for the communists.

American Media ď Ž

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The Siege started just before the Tet Offensive of 1968.

Like the Siege, Tet was a military disaster for the communists. But the surprise attack stunned the American public, further eroding confidence in the American ability to win the war.

The American media covered the Siege daily. Evening news broadcasts led with the story and the networks posted the number of the day of the Siege on the screen during the report. Many Americans felt like their were being held under siege with the Marines.

The War Turns South For LBJ 

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Westmoreland requests over 200,000 additional troops after Tet. Clark Gifford replaced McNamara as Secretary of Defense.

Johnson advised against further escalation of the war.

Robert Kennedy announces he will run for President.

LBJ is defeated by Eugene McCarthy in the New Hampshire Democratic Primary.

March 31, 1968

“I will not seek, nor accept, my party’s nomination to run for another term as President.”

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LBJ resigns himself to the fact that his Presidency has been so tarnished by his administration’s conducting of the war, that it is impossible for him to be re-elected.

Four days later, Dr. Martin Luther King is assassinated.

On June 5 of that year, Robert Kennedy is assassinated after winning the California primary.

Johnson’s stubborn refusal to make choices between his social programs and the war in Vietnam, led to significant damage to his social programs. Johnson simply could not fund both adequately and garner public and political support for both.

The Ohio State Anti-war Rally

LBJ had squandered popular support for the war. While many Americans did not feel the U.S. should be in Vietnam, they supported the troops.

LBJ: Why he failed 

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LBJ may have been correct in waging the Vietnam War. But his motivations were wrong.

His poor reasons for waging the war led to the many poor decision in how the war was to be waged.

LBJ’s refusal to be truthful with the American people ultimately led to their disgust with his leadership.

LBJ – Why He Failed  

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LBJ had the support of the American people when he Americanized the war in Vietnam.

Because of his arrogance towards the American people and the American military, LBJ did not take the effort to explain the situation to the American people and convince them of what needed to be done.

LBJ’s pride and self-serving desire for a great presidential legacy led him to put his own personal goals ahead of what was best for the nations of the United States and South Vietnam.

LBJ’s refusal, or inability, to make a decision about the course of the war, for whatever reason, doomed the United States to defeat.

LBJ – Why he failed ď Ž

Johnson could have had it all. He could have won the war, been re-elected as a victorious war president, had the political capital he needed to pass his domestic agenda and left office with a great legacy as a war president, a Cold Warrior AND a domestic president.

LBJ Goes Out With A Whimper 

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Hubert Humphrey wins the Democratic Party’s nomination to run for President. This takes place with war protests and riots outside the Democratic Party’s National Convention.

Johnson stops the bombing in North Vietnam.

Tricky Dick Moves In  

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Richard “Tricky Dick” Nixon wins the election.

Nixon has grand visions of international diplomacy and getting the upper hand in the Cold War with the Chinese and Soviet communists. The Vietnam war stands in his way.

Henry Kissinger is appointed National Security Advisor.