Vietnam: Escalation and Johnson Administration
Profiles
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Opposition to the War
After Johnson's inauguration in January 1965, he attempted to develop his own legacy as president, particularly with his agenda to pursue goals of the Civil Rights Movement and his "War on Poverty" to assist the poor with education, job training, housing and other assistance. But the budget demands of Vietnam and his domestic policies brought new questions over the ability of the government to pursue concurrently its costly foreign and domestic objectives. Despite his public support of the War, subsequent disclosures have revealed Johnson's own doubts over the prospect of victory. As early as February 1965, in a conversation with Secretary of Defense McNamara after the commencement of the air attacks on North Vietnam code named "Rolling Thunder," Johnson said, “Now we’re off to bombing these people. We’re over that hurdle. I don’t think anything is going to be as bad as losing and I don’t see any way of winning....” Lady Bird Johnson's tape-recorded diary on March 7, 1965 notes, “In talking about Vietnam, Lyndon summed it up quite simply—I can’t get out and I can’t finish it with what I got. And I don’t know what the hell to do.” In another recording she made on July 8, the First Lady reported: "He said 'Vietnam is getting worse every day. I have the choice to go in with great casualty lists or to get out with disgrace. It's like being in an airplane and I have to choose between crashing the plane or jumping out. I do not have a parachute.'" See Lady Bird Johnson, A White House Diary; see also Michael Beschloss, 'I Don't See Any Way Of Winning,' November 11, 2001, Newsweek Beginning in June 1965, Senator Mike Mansfield sent a series of memoranda to the President criticizing the commitment of U.S. combat troops; the escalation of the war through the bombing of North Vietnam; and suggesting expanded diplomatic efforts to settle the conflict. Johnson circulated Mansfield's memos to his key advisers, who generally dismissed the concerns. See June 5, 1965 memorandum from Mansfield to Johnson, American Presidency Project, University of California, Santa Barbara Later, more opposition surfaced from within his own party from Senators William Fulbright, Wayne Morse, George McGovern and Eugene McCarthy. Robert F. Kennedy, who resigned as Attorney General from Johnson's Cabinet to run successfully in 1964 for the Senate from New York, initially supported the administration's Vietnam policy; indeed, fear over Kennedy's criticism of any pullout may have influenced Johnson to maintain the aggressive expansion of the war in 1965. Subsequently, however, Kennedy shifted his position on the War, ultimately breaking with the President for the first time in February 1966 when he proposed participation by all parties in the conflict joining in a coalition government, including the Vietcong's political arm, the National Liberation Front. The following year, Senator Kennedy called on the President to cease the bombing of North Vietnam and reduce the war effort. |
On November 30, 1967, Senator McCarthy announced that he would become a candidate for the 1968 Democratic Presidential nomination to represent the views of those seeking greater efforts for a negotiated settlement to the war. On the day before McCarthy's announcement, Secretary of Defense McNamara announced his resignation, evidently over his angering the President by privately expressing his own doubts over the administration's war strategy.
The growing divisions within the administration, the Democratic Party, and the nation at large set the stage for the momentous presidential election of 1968. |