Discuss How the Vietnam War Intensified Militarily Under the Presidency of Johnson up Until 1967

America’s Vietnam War militarily heavily intensified under the presidency of Lyndon Johnson, 1963-1969. There are a multitude of reason why this was the case. Firstly, President Johnson had inherited the war in Vietnam from Presidents Truman, Eisenhower and Kennedy. The United States had already lost a huge amount of money and lives in aiding South Vietnam. To give up at this point, from a presidential standpoint, would have huge political ramifications. Opposing Republicans saw Johnson as too soft, they wanted more troops to be sent to South Vietnam and bombing raids to be conducted against the North. The incompetence and corruption of the South Vietnamese government adds to the escalation and increased United States involvement. The ‘ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) was dispirited and the government ineffective, while the Viet Cong grew bolder and more powerful.’ (Davidson, 1988, p.314). This lead to United States government wanting to take a more active role in the conflict as they did not believe the South Vietnamese were capable of defeating the National Liberation Front guerrillas.

The major reason for the increased intensity of the war, under Johnson, was the disputed Gulf of Tonkin incident, 2nd and 4th August 1964. President Johnson alleged that without provocation, North Vietnamese gunboats launched torpedoes at the USS Maddox and the USS Turner Joy (Appy, 2003). The incident rallied support for the Vietnam War among the United States public. The outcome of the incident was The Gulf of Tonkin resolution, 5 August 1964, which gave congressional approval to the President “to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States.” (Johnson, 1964, cited in, Appy, 2003, p.112) The resolution was the closest the United States got to a declaration of war against North Vietnam. The resolution was used ‘to initiate massive increases in America’s military commitment to Vietnam’ (Appy, 2003, p.112). The final argument for military escalation was the National Liberation Front attack on a large United States air base near Pleiku on 7th February 1965. Johnson immediately ordered retaliatory bombing attacks inside North Vietnam, named Operation Flaming Dart. This then later lead to Operation Rolling Thunder.

Operation Rolling Thunder was given government approval on 24 February 1965 but it was not until 2 March 1965 that the first attack took place. It was a sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam with the aim of demoralising the population and stopping the government of North Vietnam from being able to function. Another motive for the bombing was that the operation was intended to cause such large numbers of North Vietnamese deaths that they would subsequently force their government to negotiate peace (Neale, 2001). These actions could certainly be considered terrorism. By 1967, 391 schools, 95 health institutions and over 110 religious

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