Johnson's Foreign Policy

Involvement in Vietnam

• Johnson is the most associated with American Involvement in Vietnam
• He first sent US troops into the country
• Inherited a situation which trapped him and led him to increase US involvement

Situation that faced Johnson in Vietnam

• December 1963 Hanoi sent increasing number of North Vietnamese army South - strengthening the VietCong
• Government now run by General Duong Van Minh
• Was believed they did not increase US help in their fight against the VietCong
• Minh wanted the policy of neutralisation for Vietnam - US said this would lead to a quick victory for communists
• January 1964 Minh replaced Khanh with support of US army
• Khanh had many problems to establish control over South Vietnam
• Strategic Hamlet Policy was a clear failure - VietCong able to counter US air force superiority - increased supplies of weaponry and Chinese and Soviets
• Communist now controlled 40% of South Vietnam
• Khan wanted to work closely with US
• March 1964 - NSAM 28 reviewed US policy -
• -Need to protect independence of non-communist South Vietnam
• -Call for national mobilisation programme to put South Vietnam on a war footing and increasing size of ARVN
• -General Westmoreland to replace Harkins as leader of US Military Assistance Command Vietnam
• -Number of Advisors increased to 23,300 and a further economic aid of $50 billion
• Johnson needed to balance all this - 1964 presidential was election was coming round and he could afford to look weak against Communism

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution - Aug 1964

• CIA secretly sending South Vietnamese teams on sabotage missions in North
• Barry Goldwater (Republican candidate) accused Johnson of being to easy on Communism
• Johnson wanted to show that he was being firm
• He claimed that two North Vietnamese ships launched an attack on US ship in Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin
• 4th August - Support from Congress was asked for avenging the attacks
• They agreed and passed the Resolution as they believed US sailors were at risk
• Johnson was no is position to power war in Vietnam
• Congress gave permission to escalate the war - was it there fault though? Johnson wasn't exactly truth in telling Congress what was really going on.

Start of Military Campaign 1965

• Johnson maintained moderate stance
• He didn't want to send his own army in to Vietnam when the Asian army could do the job
• Johnson didn't want to escalate the war further
• North was becoming increasingly violent - this increased Chinese and Soviet aid - sion-soviet split
• VietCong were attacking US targets in Vietnam
• 1964 - a bomb was planted in a bar in Saigon which was used by US troops
• February 1965 8 US troops were killed
• McGeorge Bundy (Johnsons National Security Advisor) was in Vietnam assessing whether Military action was needed in Vietnam
• When he returned home, he told Johnson a sustained bombing campaign was the only thing to get the North to negotiate
• 'Rolling Thunder' - Bombing of targets throughout Vietnam - this began on 2nd March 1965
• Johnson however wanted to tay moderate
• The campaign had restrictions which would slowly increases the intensity
• The start of this campaign started the next escalatory step
• US ground forces deployed
• General Westmoreland wanted US marines to protect Danang
• Johnson sent 3500 marines on 8th March 1965
• Congress also sent £700 million for military operations

Major Events of Vietnam War

• April 1965 - Johnson summed up reasons for US escalation - US needed to fight if it wanted to live securely in a free world
• -North Vietnam aggressively attacked South Vietnam - should be opposed
• -North Vietnam was a puppet of expansionist communist powers
• -Eisenhower and Kennedy helped to build and defeat South Vietnam - abandoning it was be dishonourable
• Johnson did have support from American people
• -70% supported Johnson
• -80% believed in Domino theory
• -80% agreed with sending US troops
• -47% wanted to send even more troops

The Tet Offensive 1968

• End of 1967 - America sent over half a million US troops to Vietnam
• They failed to defeat the communist forces
• Events of 1968 can be seen as a major tuning point
• Communists launched an attack on the night of 30-31st January
• Both sides had agreed a 48hr truce to celebrate Vietnamese new year - NVA wanted to catch America by surprise
• VC achieved success
• In propaganda terms the most striking was the attack on the US embassy - forced the ambassador to flee by helicopter
• They were successful in attacking the ancient imperial capital of Hue - America been trying to capture it
• Another Propaganda victory for the communists as the world watched
• 2 more periods of communist aggression in May and August (May attacks called mini-tet)
• May Attacks - Worst week and month for US casualties - 562 killed between 4th May and 11th - over 2000 killed in a month
• 1968 was the worse year for US - half of all casualties occurring

Americans Unable to Defeat Vietcong-why?

• 1968-Americans deployed over 500,000 troops to Vietnam - most powerful military nation in the world
• They were however, unable to force a victory against the Vietcong
• Number of reasons -
• -Ineffectiveness of bombing campaign
• -Failure to win the 'hearts and minds' of the Vietnamese
• -Problems facing Americans on the battlefield
• -Problems facing the Americans away from the battlefield
• -Skill and determination of the VC

Ineffectiveness of coming campaign

• VC not easy to target -Americans had to drop $9.60 of bombs to make $1 of damage
• bombing the Ho Chi Minh trail ineffective

Failed to win 'heart&minds' of vietnamese

• Americans could not understand what was attractive about communism to Vietnam
• Way that farming was organised leant itself to communist thinking - many villagers adapted quickly to communist principles - they were just trying to survive but America saw them ideological opponents
• South Vietnamese Government was a corrupt and brutal regime - Americans found it difficult to convince people that it was what they should be supporting
• Behaviour of US troops alienated the Vietnamese -
• -'Zippo raid' involving a peasants home and a lighter
• -Posing with dead Vietnamese
• -Attacking whole villages of suspected VC sympathies restringing houses, crops and animals
• -My Lai Massacre - 16th March 1968 - US soldiers killed 347 unarmed men, women and children

Problems facing Americans on battlefield

• Soldiers were young and inexperienced and couldn't cope with the horrors of war
• Always in danger - never knew when the VC were going to attack - 20% of wounds came from booby traps
• Climate made it physically difficult
• There was disunity between the US ranks - Marines didn't take orders from Army. Green Berets independent to everyone. No American trusted the South Vietnamese ally -ARVN
• American soldiers completed 365 days on duty then would return home -experienced solider sent home
• Black Americans saw it as a 'whit mens' war

Other problems facing the Americans

• They tried to make soldiers life comfortable - this backfired
• Fighting in Vietnam could be surreal
• Cigarettes, iced beer and hot meals were delivered mid-size
• Quarter of US soldiers caught sexually transmitted diseases
• Drug use was common - 1970 estimated 58% of US soldiers smoked Marijuana and 22% shooting up heroin

Skill and determination of VC

• Inspired by communism and nationalism - VC fought heroically
• They were unable to afford new uniform - virtually all of the VC had malaria
• America used ineffective tactics and they used guerrilla warfare
• Use of tunnel systems aided military effectiveness