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The Dilemmas Of President Lyndon B. Johnson's War In Vietnam

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The dilemmas faced by President Johnson in escalating the war in Vietnam
The Vietnam War was a big conflict between North and South Vietnam, it had alot of world wide consequences. The North was led by a Communist and nationalist system that had fought against the Japanese in World War II and also the French colonial rule in the late 1940s. In 1954, it took control of North Vietnam when the French agreed to a subdivision in the Geneva Accords. The South was led by a non-Communist system and after 1956, it was a part of the Ngo Dinh Diem. Diem was unable to join forces with his rule with a mainly Buddhist population. He governed with the support of a military trained by the United States. In the late 1950s, Communist guerrilla forces in the …show more content…

Johnson, who had authority of the White House following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The circumstances of Johnson’s dominance to the Oval Office left him little to no choices, except to implement several unrealized Kennedy ingenuity’s, particularly in the fields of economic policy. But Johnson was just as committed to winning the fight against the Communist party in Vietnam.
For Johnson, the choice to stay with the Vietnam commitment followed the path of his forerunners. He was determined to hold an independent South Vietnam and to have success in Southeast Asia. As senator, he had taken up the "containment theory," which said that if Vietnam fell under communist rule, other nations would do the same. Johnson was kinda sensitive about the judgment of history, and he did not want to be known as the President who lost Southeast Asia to …show more content…

He approved NSAM, on Nov. 26, 1963, which looked to the U.S. government "to assist the Government of South Vietnam to win against the “seemingly supported Communist conspiracy." When the counterattack failed, Johnson began to boost U.S. commitments. Johnson approved OPLAN, calling for stepped up spreading and secret operations against the North to be transferred from the CIA to the military. After they didn't clear Communist from areas around Saigon, Johnson approved NSAM in March of 1964, calling for much more U.S. involvement in South Vietnamese affairs and a bigger use of U.S. force, which involved planning for air strikes for North Vietnam. After several reports that U.S. naval vessels had been reported attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin, Johnson asked Congress for support. By a unanimous vote in the House, Congress decided to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving the President the authority to take any measures necessary to protect armed forces. Johnson would use this as a declaration of war. Even though a lot of people said that he should have been sent to Congress for a final declaration. During the summer of 1964, Johnson campaigned on a peace treaty and had no further intention of escalating the war unless it were absolutely necessary. "Some others are eager to enlarge the conflict," Johnson quotes. The President was full of reassurance, even so the sustained bombing of North Vietnam,

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