How Military Escalation Overshadowed an Entire Presidency

On November 1, 1955, North Vietnam and the United States of America engaged in what would be a 20-year war. The Vietnam War was a complex conflict which involved multiple different actors and motivations. The United States of America became involved primarily due to its Cold War strategy of containing communism, fearing the spread of communist throughout Southeast Asia. U.S. involvement escalated significantly during the middle of the 1960s, with a gradual deployment of troops and increased aerial bombardment of North Vietnam. The war was marked by significant casualties on both sides, mounting public opposition in the United States, and ultimately led to U.S. withdrawal and the reunification of Vietnam under communist rule. John F. Kennedy had been President for about two-and-a-half years during the Vietnam War, until his assasination on November 22, 1963. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was immediately sworn in and assumed the presidency. Johnson decided to send military forces to stop the spread of communism in Southeast Asia. However, as the war continued to drag on, the people began to protest, which reflected negatively on President Johnson. Johnson increased the country’s involvement in the Vietnam War due to his fear of communist expansion, which ultimately overshadowed many of his positive presidential achievements – the expansion of accessible healthcare, social welfare, and education – resulting in a tainted presidential legacy.

Johnson escalated the United States’ military presence quite early in his presidency in an attempt to contain communism due to his fear of its spread throughout Southeast Asia and, ultimately, to other democracies. This apprehension was largely based on the “Domino Theory,” where if one country “falls” to communism, then other countries will soon follow and start a chain reaction of adhering to communism. Johnson’s fear was that the U.S. would be taken over by communist ideals and lose its democracy. One of the earliest debated causes for the U.S. military escalation was the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. In August of 1964, editors for History.com detailed how “DRV torpedo boats attacked two U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin,” after Johnson ordered the retaliatory bombing of military targets in North Vietnam.” The U.S. used this event to justify increasing its military involvement as well as gaining congressional support through the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. This Resolution gave Johnson “war-making powers, and U.S. planes began regular bombing raids” the following year. The U.S. Office of the Historian said “Congress supported the resolution with the assumption that the president would return and seek their support before engaging in additional escalations of the war.” Debates still persist on whether the Gulf of Tonkin was exaggerated to attain Congress’s near-unanimous approval to give Johnson free reign on military matters in Vietnam.

Alongside Johnson’s military escalation were the bombing attempts on North Vietnam, one of the most notable being “Operation Rolling Thunder,” which “commenced on February 13, 1965 and continued through the spring of 1967.” This two-year prolonged bombing campaign aimed to weaken North Vietnam’s ability to fight by bombing its supply routes and infrastructure, an attempt to apply military pressure and force North Vietnam into negotiations. However, it failed to lessen Vietnam’s ability to fight back and actually led to the hardening of North Vietnam’s resolve to resist the U.S instead. At the same time, Johnson started making more progress through his Great Society program: expanding healthcare access through Medicare and Medicaid, creating better and more accessible education, and fighting against poverty. Regarding his stance on the war, however, Johnson only lessened the U.S. military escalation due to internal opposition, financial stress and lack of progress. He also feared that escalating too quickly might provoke China or the Soviet Union into an even larger conflict. However, in his attempt to prevent an international crisis, Johnson caused an internal one. This small decision gave North Vietnam time to adapt and plan accordingly for future offensives. This slow increase in military pressure unfortunately led to a longer, more drawn out war and came to define Johnson’s Presidency, overshadowing progressive achievements he had made, as outlined by the Miller Center, State.gov, PBS Timeline.

Meanwhile, back in the United States, public protests and movements against the Vietnam War raged in the streets and college campuses. As the war dragged on, the early optimism of Americans slowly turned to skepticism and widespread distrust of the U.S government and President Johnson. Young men were coming home in body bags every day, as the cost was increasing, and it seemed there was no point to the war. Thus, citizens began to join the growing anti-war protests putting more pressure on Johnson to de-escalate the war.

A key turning point in the shaping of public opinion was the Tet Offensive. In January 1968 the North Vietnamese forces produced a series of surprise attacks on U.S. bases and South Vietnamese cities during what was actually supposed to be a holiday ceasefire. Even though the attacks were a military setback for the Viet Cong (North Vietnamese), they had a significant psychological impact on the American public. The strikes were so shocking to the average citizen, who had been led to believe that the U.S. was making steady progress in the war: television broadcasts and newspapers which brought highly graphic images of violence demonstrated to the average citizen what was really occurring overseas. According to the National Archives and Britannica, the sharing of this specific media played a crucial role in eroding public confidence and pushing anti-war sentiment across the country. Draft resistance also began to surge, for many young men started to burn their draft cards, fled to other countries, or even faced jail time rather than fighting in the horrible conditions displayed across the media. All of the circulating media insisted on making the average American citizen question the real motives behind the conflict and questioned their support of it. Through all of this chaos and unrest, Johnson started to be seen more as a symbol of war instead of being recognized for all of his positive progressive movements.

With America starting to question the motivation behind the war, Johnson decided it would be best for him to not re-run for presidency. As the amount of pressure increased from all sides, Johnson declared on March 31, 1968, that he would not seek re-election. Johnson’s decision was significantly swayed by the absurdly large toll the war had taken on both the country and his presidency. This 20-year long war had cost the lives of over 58,000 American soldiers and left even more wounded. When new media was published or broadcasted about still more casualties, it only further decreased Johnson’s popularity. Indeed, the polls showed declining support –even among those who once fully supported him without hesitation. Such a large loss of life made it extremely hard for any Americans to justify continuing the war. People looked for someone to blame, and despite the war’s beginning during John F. Kennedy’s term, all seemed to point to one person: Lyndon B. Johnson. Though President Kennedy significantly increased U.S. involvement in Vietnam, he did not “start” the war in the sense of launching a full-scale military conflict. Previous presidents, such as Eisenhower and Truman, laid the groundwork for U.S. involvement. Kennedy’s actions, such as increasing the number of military advisors and authorizing covert operations, marked a shift towards a more active role. However, the full-scale war escalated under President Johnson. The war also created a huge financial issue within the United States economy, making it more difficult for Johnson to support domestic social reforms -one of the many things he was once praised for. Johnson was once someone who had been celebrated and known for his plans for civil rights as well as his programs to reduce poverty, but ultimately his role in the Vietnam War overshadowed all of his other achievements. In the end, Johnson’s decision to not re-run for presidency was both a personal and political understanding of how he had affected the nation as a whole. As he stepped down, his spot remained open and led to a rush towards his seat, while the country still had to grapple with the consequences of what his presidency had left behind. When Richard Nixon became president on January 20, 1969, he began withdrawing troops from Vietnam; with the fall of the capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, in 1975, the war was finally over.

Lyndon B. Johnson’s legacy remains somewhat complex, for both public praise on his progressive policies, but also criticism for his handling of the Vietnam War. As the Vietnam War escalated and mass casualties rose, Johnson’s image began to shift from a respected social reformer to a president who made the wrong decisions in an attempt to win an unwinnable war. Johnson’s decision to dramatically increase his military presence in the area as well as authorize many bombing campaigns placed him at the center of anti-war propaganda. This shift caused many Americans to no longer look at him as a reformer, but instead as a villain who had cost thousands of lives to be lost and divided the nation. Scholars from Millar Center, Vassar.edu, and Alpha History have added to the continual debate about whether people can fully appreciate Johnson’s domestic accomplishments due to his major impacts on the Vietnam War.

Lyndon B. Johnson’s increased U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War due to his fear of communist expansion, ultimately overshadowed the good he did with his expansion of accessible healthcare, social welfare, and education and ended up negatively defining both his presidency and legacy. His total commitment to the warring effort, despite all of the public disapproval, led to a sharp decline in public trust. President Johnson’s tainted legacy was a result of his overzealous position on the Vietnam War and his lack of regard for what Americans - who elected him - truly wanted, an end to the war. He was blind in his ambition and the thousands of names engraved on the Vietnam War Memorial testify to that.