American Troops in the Vietnam War

Lyndon B. Johnson was the 36th President of the United States, coming into the office after the death of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963. At the time of World War II, Johnson earned a Silver Star in the South Pacific serving in the Navy as a lieutenant administrator. Johnson was chosen to the Senate in 1948 after six terms in the White House. Before serving as Kennedy’s vice president, Johnson had represented Texas in the United States Senate. An immense initiative during Lyndon B.

Johnson’s presidency was the Vietnam War. Over 3 million individuals, more than 58,000 Americans, died in the Vietnam War, and over half of the dead were Vietnamese citizens. Before his term was over as president, Johnson’s endorsement appraisals had dropped from 70 percent in mid-1965 to below 40 percent by 1967. Even though he wanted to put a quick end to American involvement in Vietnam, Johnson consistently expanded the quantity of U.S. troops sent to Vietnam, wanting to guarantee a U.S. triumph before pulling back powers.

No American president had yet “lost” a war, and Johnson did not want to be the first. The Vietnam War lasted for about 15 years. It was a war between North and South Vietnam, and its ally, the United States. The North was led by a communist and patriot administration that had battled against the Japanese in World War II, and against the French in the late 1940s. In 1954, it gained control of North Vietnam. Prior to the war, the United States intensely isolated Americans, even after President Richard Nixon requested the withdrawal of U.S. powers in 1973. All through the chaos, American Presidents were unwilling to see South Vietnam vanquished by Communist powers, and since then every one of them made a similar sense of duty to prevent a Communist triumph. Presidents Truman and Eisenhower had started American association thereby sending military counselors to Nam Nh. Kennedy had started assigning Special Forces military staff to Vietnam, apparently in a warning limit also, and there were around 20,000 there when he was killed in 1963. For Johnson, the choice to proceed with the Vietnam duty took after the way of his ancestors. He was focused on keeping a sovereign South Vietnam and making progress in Southeast Asia. Johnson did not want to be recognized as a President who lost Southeast Asia to Communism. A day after Kennedy passed away, Johnson came into office, and he immediately endorsed a National Security Agency Memorandum, NSAM 273, which gave the U.S. government power, “to assist the people and Government of South Vietnam to win their contest against the externally directed and supported Communist conspiracy.”

In the Summer and Fall of 1964, Johnson battled on a peace stage and had no aim of heightening the war on the off chance that it was not necessary. “Some others are eager to enlarge the conflict,” Johnson cautioned his gatherings of people.” They call upon the U.S. to supply American boys to do the job that Asian boys should do.” But the President was full of sympathy, “We are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.” “We don’t want to get . . . tied down to a land war in Asia.” Even in this way, Johnson was getting ready for simply that possibility if the circumstance went bad” which it did. Johnson approved Rolling Thunder, a continuous bombing of North Vietnam on February 13, 1965, and on March 8, 1965, two Marine forces, 3,500 troops, went aground close Da Nang to secure the runways, with requests to shoot just if shot at”this was the first run through U.S. battle powers had been sent to territory Asia since the Korean War. On April 3, Johnson approved two extra Marine contingents, one Marine air squad, and an expansion in strategic help units of 20,000 men. He also approved troops to go on dynamic “pursuit and wreck” missions. By mid-April, Marines had moved to full-scale hostile tasks.

By November 1965, there were 175,000 troops and by 1966, an extra 100,000. The number would go up to 535,000 before the finish of Johnson’s presidency. Johnson’s choices were based on political and military contemplations. He controlled The “birds of prey” in Congress and in the military needed him to participate in the bombing of enemies, they threatened to use atomic weapons, and attack North Vietnam. This may have caused the Chinese to go into the war, as had occurred in the Korean War, or even Soviet engagement. Johnson’s “middle way” included a dedication of U.S. ground powers, intended to persuade the administration in Hanoi that it couldn’t win, which is what the U.S. wanted as a result. One of Johnson’s real issues was that Hanoi was eager to acknowledge the expenses of proceeding with the war. It would do as such until the point that the United States chose to surrender its sense of duty regarding to help the South. Comrade powers finished the war by gaining control of South Vietnam in 1975, and the nation was bound together as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam the next year.

Did you like this example?

1350

56