Vietnam, JFK, LBJ

1. The U.S. Government Ups the Ante
• Brief Recap
• Truman Doctrine (containment)
• Eisenhower (domino theory)
• 1960 U.S. Presidential Elections

2. John Fitzgerald Kennedy
the Democrats take control of the White House

3. JFK: A New Path?
• his appearance was symbolic
• view towards Diem
• boots on the ground (increase to 16,000
“advisors”)
• Diem and the power of the press
• McNamara’s (DoD) belief about the future
of Vietnam

4. Change of Plans
• Fall Assassinations
• JFK’s plans for next term?

5. Kennedy Quotes About Vietnam
• “But I can’t do it until 1965--after I’m reelected...or
there would be a wild conservative outcry against [his
reelection]”
• “If I tried to pull out completely now from Vietnam, we
would have another Joe McCarthy red scare on our
hands...”
• “We don’t have a prayer of staying in Vietnam. Those
people hate us.”

6. Lyndon Baines Johnson
• relationship with JFK
• LBJ maintains the status quo--the U.S. had “to win
[the] contest against the externally directed and
supported Communist conspiracy.”
• Gulf of Tonkin resolution (July 1964)
• Election in 1964

7. Escalation Part II
54,791 sorties in 1965 (Frankum 34)
• Operation Rolling Thunder
• “search and destroy” raids
• implementation of the draft (1965)
• Operation Phoenix (1967)
Ronald B. Frankum Jr. Like Rolling Thunder. Lanham, MD: Rowan &
Littlefield Publishers, INC., 2005.

8. Effects of Escalation
• increased protests in the U.S.
• Tet Offensive (1968)
• LBJ decides not to run for reelection