Events
August1964
U.S. destroyers in Gulf of Tonkin report North Vietnamese
attacks
U.S. Congress passes Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
November1964
Johnson wins presidential election
February1965
Pleiku Raid kills eight U.S. soldiers
U.S. forces begin Operation Rolling Thunder bombing
campaign
June1965
United States reaches 75,000 troops
in Vietnam
July1965
Johnson authorizes an additional 100,000 troops,
allocates 100,000 more
for 1966
November 1965
Battle of Ia Drang
Key People
-
Lyndon B. Johnson
36th U.S. president; escalated
U.S. troop levels in Vietnam drastically after Gulf of Tonkin incident
-
Barry M. Goldwater
Hawkish senator from Arizona who ran unsuccessfully
against Johnson in 1964 election
-
William C. Westmoreland
U.S. general who advocated aggressive strategies
against Viet Cong and NVA using large numbers of U.S. forces
-
Ho Chi Minh
North
Vietnamese Communist leader; used guerrilla tactics to prolong the
war and frustrate U.S. forces
The Johnson Administration
New president Lyndon B. Johnson inherited
a difficult situation in Vietnam, as the South Vietnamese government
was in shambles and the Viet Cong was making large gains in rural
areas of the South. Although Johnson billed himself as a tough anti-Communist,
he pledged to honor Kennedy’s limited troop commitments in Vietnam.
Indeed, Johnson handled the Vietnam situation moderately during
the early part of his term, striving to continue Kennedy’s programs
without dramatically escalating the war.
New Strategies
Johnson did make several changes in U.S. military leadership. Although Robert
S. McNamara remained as secretary of defense, General Earle
G. Wheeler became the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff. General William C. Westmoreland was instated
as commander of the MACV, replacing previous commander General Paul
Harkins, by then referred to as “General Blimp” for his tendency
to inflate the ARVN’s successes.
Westmoreland, disgusted with the corruption and incompetence of
the ARVN, pushed for 200,000 American
ground troops. Meanwhile, National Security Advisor McGeorge
Bundy argued for increased bombing of targets in North Vietnam,
especially factories. McNamara, a student of game theory, advocated
a “tit-for-tat” policy against North Vietnam, in which U.S. forces
would strike Hanoi every time the Viet Cong went on the offensive
in South Vietnam.
The Gulf of Tonkin Incident
Despite these suggestions, Johnson maintained a moderate
policy until August 1964,
when the situation changed dramatically. Early that month, two U.S.
Navy destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin (off the coast
of North Vietnam) reported that North Vietnamese gunboats attacked
them unprovoked. The American public was incensed, and Johnson requested
from Congress the authority to take “all necessary steps” to protect
U.S. interests in Vietnam. Congress complied and passed the Gulf
of Tonkin Resolution in August 1964.
Out of the 535 total
members of Congress, only two voted against this resolution, which
policy makers considered a declaration of war in everything but
name. Indeed, Johnson ordered bombing runs on North Vietnam not
long after the incident.
Soon after the resolution was passed, a debate emerged
over the nature of the attacks on the U.S. ships in the Gulf of
Tonkin. Many have argued that the second attack did not occur at
all. Others have argued that the attacks were not entirely unprovoked,
as the U.S. ships were likely involved in covert missions against
North Vietnam that were unknown to the American public at the time.
Nonetheless, the U.S. government embraced the public’s anger about
the attacks and ultimately used it as a justification to escalate
the war.
Johnson’s Reelection
Although Johnson deferred openly escalating the war until
after the election of 1964,
the furor over the Gulf of Tonkin incident only helped Johnson in
his campaign. His hawkish Republican opponent, Barry M. Goldwater,
argued that much more needed to be done in Vietnam to contain Communism.
Johnson countered by touting his “Great Society” program for domestic
reform and by airing the famous “Daisy Girl” political commercial,
which played on the American public’s fears that Goldwater’s aggressiveness
might start a nuclear war. Johnson also promised that his government
would not “supply American boys to do the job that Asian boys should do.”
On Election Day, Johnson won by a landslide.
