LBJ and Vietnam (in a Summary)

President Lyndon Baines Johnson became President after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Many of LBJ’s policies came from the Kennedy administration from civil rights legislation to anti-poverty measures. Also, LBJ signed laws more progressive than JFK on domestic issues and he executed a foreign policy which was obviously much more reactionary than John F. Kennedy. Lyndon Johnson had a dual legacy which encompasses both the good things that he did in terms of civil rights and the environment along with the bad policies that he made in terms of escalating the Vietnam War, etc. By November 27, 1963, LBJ addressed a joint session of Congress to call for the fulfillment of John F. Kennedy’s legacy by passing civil rights and tax legislation. The Clean Air Act was signed on December 17, 1963. By January of 1964, LBJ talked about the Soviets. January 2, 1964 was when President Johnson held a budget conference with United States Postmaster General John Gronouski. Gronouski said after the meeting that the plan designed to save money for the upcoming fiscal year of 1965 will not cut back on the utilities of the mailing service. The US received a note from the Soviet Union calling for the denunciation of force in disputes of territory ownership. President Johnson released a statement on labor-management relations. The next day, President Johnson released a statement on the attempted assassination of President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana. Nkrumah fought against colonialism and saw his nation achieve independence after much struggle. Lyndon Baines Johnson also signed the Executive Order 11136, which formed the President’s Committee on Consumer Interests and it formed the Consumer Advisory Council. He released the Task Force on Manpower Conservation report on January 5. United States Secretary of Labor W. Willard Wirtz announced that the federal government will step in to mediate the railroad work rules disputes. On January 8, 1964, President Lyndon Baines Johnson gave a historic speech.

It was the 1964 State of the Union Address to a joint session of Congress. He gave his speech to focus on the War on Poverty. He wanted government investments on all levels of government to eradicate poverty in America. The War on Poverty cut poverty in America in half from 1960 to 1970 and we still have a long way to go today in ending income inequality too. In January 1964, LBJ also met with business leaders on tax reduction and he focused on solving political issues with Panama. January 17, 1964 was when President Johnson released a statement to comment on a report by the Immigration and Naturalization Service which advocated legislation to abolish the discriminatory national origins system. The Twenty Fourth Amendment to the Constitution was passed in early 1964 which abolished the poll tax. LBJ also attended the 12th Annual Presidential Prayer Breakfast at the Mayflower Hotel at Washington. He constantly supported the tax bill during February of 1964. He also signed Proclamation 3573 calling the week National Poison Prevention Week starting on March 15, 1964. He also promoted Medicare for elderly Americans. On February 11, 1964, President Johnson signed a bill amending the Library Services Act in the Cabinet Room. President Johnson said that the legislation "expands a program which helps make library services available to 38 million Americans in rural areas" and "authorizes efforts to strengthen inadequate urban libraries. This act authorizes for the first time grants for the construction and renovation of library buildings." On March of 1964, LBJ sent condolences to Alaskans in the aftermath of the earthquake harming their state and he sent help to Governor Egan. By July 2, 1964, Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964. It extended rights to African Americans, women, and other Americans in opposition to racism and discrimination.


American involvement in the Vietnam War has existed long before 1960. Communist activist Ho Chi Minh was once not a Communist and he wanted Woodrow Wilson to support his independence movement after the end of World War One. Wilson refused to do. So, Ho Chi Minh continued in his activism. By the time of World War II, Japanese forces occupied Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh was a part of the pro-Allied forces who wanted to end Japanese occupation. During World War II, Minh formed the Viet Minh group or the Vietnam Independence league. The American OSS or the Office of Strategic Services allied with Ho Chi Minh and his Viet Minh guerrillas to fight the Japanese plus help downed American pilots. By 1945, the French colonial government was ousted by the Japanese and the puppet leader Bao Dai was its puppet ruler. Ho Chi Minh spread his movement in the midst of famine and starvation in Hanoi by the summer of 1945. The Allied Potsdam conference wanted non-Vietnamese people to control the Indochina peninsula. Japan surrendered on August of 1945. Ho Chi Minh occupied Hanoi and proclaimed a provisional government. He quoted the Declaration of Independence and wanted America to support him. Truman ignored his calls and British troops arrived at Saigon on September 13, 1945. In North Vietnam, 150,000 Chinese Nationalist soldiers looted Hanoi and other Vietnamese villages. In South Vietnam, the British forces allowed 1400 French soldiers to go on a rampage against the Viet Minh on September 22, 1945. The French mob killed innocent children too which was supported by many French civilians who joined in the rampage. Viet Minh used a strike and fought back. The Binh Xuyen killed people too and they were a Vietnamese criminal organization. An American OSS officer was killed. His name was Dewey and he was mistaken for a French soldier. He wanted America to leave Southeast Asia. The French, led by World War II General Jacques Philippe Leclerc, seized South Vietnam. The Viet Minh was expelled from Saigon. Ho Chi Minh wanted total independent of Vietnam from the French. Yet, the French refused to do so. So, in 1946, the French continued to occupy Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh had no choice, but to fight back. By December 19, 1946, Viet Minh started their large scale attack against French occupation. This was the First Indochina War. "The resistance will be long and arduous, but our cause is just and we will surely triumph," declares Viet Minh military commander Vo Nguyen Giap. "If these [people] want a fight, they'll get it," French military commander Gen. Etrienne Valluy states.

The French used Operation Lea in order for them to fight Viet Minh guerrilla positions in North Vietnam. The Viet Minh fought back. The puppet leader Bao Dai ruled South Vietnam during the early 1950's and he is recognized by the U.S. and the British. China recognized Ho Chi Minh’s Democratic Republic of Vietnam. General Giap of Vietnam organized fortifications to fight back against the French. During his term, Eisenhower will greatly increase U.S. military aid to the French in Vietnam to prevent a Communist victory. U.S. military advisors would continue to accompany American supplies sent to Vietnam. To justify America's financial commitment, Eisenhower will cite a 'Domino Theory' in which a Communist victory in Vietnam would result in surrounding countries falling one after another like a "falling row of dominoes." The Domino Theory will be used by a succession of Presidents and their advisors to justify ever-deepening U.S. involvement in Vietnam. We know that the domino theory is false. The French were finally defeated by the forces of Ho Chi Minh after the  siege at Dien Bein Phu when almost 10,000 French soldiers were trapped by 45,000 Viet Minh troops. Some including some French leaders wanted Eisenhower to send nuclear weapons or a ground force to protect the French, but Eisenhower refused to do so. The French surrendered by May 7, 1954. After 8 years, the French enacted withdrawal from Vietnam. On May 8, 1954, The Geneva Conference on Indochina begins, attended by the U.S., Britain, China, the Soviet Union, France, Vietnam (Viet Minh and representatives of Bao Dai), Cambodia and Laos, all meeting to negotiate a solution for Southeast Asia. By July 21, 1954, the Geneva Accords divide Vietnam in half at the 17th parallel, with Ho Chi Minh's Communists ceded the North, while Bao Dai's regime is granted the South. The accords also provide for elections to be held in all of Vietnam within two years to reunify the country.

The U.S. opposed the unifying elections, fearing a likely victory by Ho Chi Minh. Bao Dai installed Ngo Dinh Diem as his prime minister in South Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh controlled North Vietnam. Diem wanted Catholic Vietnamese people to come into the South to grow political power, so nearly 1,000,000 Vietnamese people came to the south and thousands of Communists from the south traveled to North Vietnam. The organized crime group of Binh Xuyen was cracked down by Prime Minister Diem. Ho Chi Minh recieved Soviet aid. Diem takes power completely by October 23, 1955. CIA-connected U.S. Air Force Col. Edward G. Lansdalte advised Diem. The election that caused Diem to have power has been said by historians to being rigged. Diem refused to do radical land reform. In 1957, the Soviet Union wanted a permanent division among North and South Vietnam, but the U.S. rejected this plan by not wanting to recognize North Vietnam. While Diem used persecution against his opponents with brutal force, the Viet Minh guerillas do use a campaign of terror in South Vietnam where over 400 South Vietnamese officials are killed in October 1957. By March of 1959, the call by Ho Chi Minh to unite all of Vietnam starts. This is the start of the Second Indochina War. The Ho Chi Minh trial was constructed starting on May 1959. On July 8, 1959,  two U.S. military advisors, Maj. Dale Buis and Sgt. Chester Ovnand, were killed by Viet Minh guerrillas at Bien Hoa, South Vietnam. They are the first American deaths during the Second Indochina War. Americans have called this war the Vietnam War. President Diem experienced a failed coup on November 20, 1960. He and his brother Nhu caused over 50,000 people to be arrested by the police and many civilians were tortured and executed also on November of 1960. Support for Diem continued to decline. Many fled to North Vietnam and sent back to infiltrate South Vietnam as part of the People’s Liberation Armed Forces. On December 20, 1960, the National Liberation Front was created by Hanoi and they acted as a political organization in South Vietnam. When John F. Kennedy was President, he had criticisms for Diem, but he didn’t want South Vietnam to fall to the Communists. JFK wanted a military intervention to provoke a political settlement in Vietnam just like he did with Laos.

LBJ called Diem the Winston Churchill of Asia when Kennedy was in office. By May of 1961, President Kennedy sent 400 U.S. Green Beret “advisors” to South Vietnam. They trained South Vietnamese soldiers to use counter insurgency against Vietnamese pro-North Vietnam forces. JFK expanded military advisors. Helicopter units came into Vietnam. On January 15, 1962, during a press conference, President Kennedy is asked if any Americans in Vietnam are engaged in the fighting. "No," the President responds without further comment. One of the most evil parts of the Vietnam War was Operation Sunrise. This was the Strategic Hamlet program that Vietnamese people were uprooted from their ancestral farmlands and resettled into fortified villages defended by local militias. Many Viet Cong killed or intimidated village leaders. Diem ordered bombing raids on Viet Cong controlled hamlets. Some U.S. pilots along with the South Vietnamese Air Force ware involved in the bombings. Many civilians died. The North Vietnamese victory in the Battle of Ap Bac on January 3, 1963 send shock waves worldwide. Three American helicopter members were killed. Diem (in 1963) continued to persecute the Buddhists by suppressing their religious liberty rights. On June and August of 1963, many Buddhists burn themselves to death to protest the mistreatment of Buddhists. JFK was shocked. Ambassador Lodge met with Diem. On September 2, 1963, during a TV news interview with Walter Cronkite, President Kennedy describes Diem as "out of touch with the people" and adds that South Vietnam's government might regain popular support "with changes in policy and perhaps in personnel." Also during the interview, Kennedy commented on America's commitment to Vietnam "If we withdrew from Vietnam, the Communists would control Vietnam. Pretty soon, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Malaya, would go..."

Generals from South Vietnam like Dương Văn Minh organized the coup. JFK in his diary said that his administration bear some responsibility for it. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. Debates continue on what JFK would have done as it related to Vietnam if he had lived. In 1964, more generals in South Vietnam ruled like General Minh and General Nguyen Khanh. Johnson continued the policy of militarily being involved in Vietnam. LBJ allowed the CIA to back South Vietnamese commandos to use speed boats to harass radar sites along the coastline of North Vietnam. The raids were supported by U.S. Navy warships in the Gulf of Tonkin including the destroyer U.S.S. Maddox which conducted electronic surveillance to pinpoint the radar locations.  The Gulf of Tonkin incident of August of 1964 expanded U.S. military involvement in Vietnam into another level. The first attack on August 2, 1964 was real with little damage to American ships. The second attack on August 4, 1964 was proven to be not real as said by former United States Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara in the 2003 documentary The Fog of War. This deception of the second attack was exploited by LBJ in order for him to escalate the Vietnam war with the Gulf of Tonkin resolution which was passed by Congress. LBJ used his incident to win the 1964 election against a fellow anti-Communist Barry Goldwater (Yet, Goldwater was much more reactionary than Johnson on domestic issues). The Vietnam War would never be the same again.


By Timothy