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What is your evaluation of Lyndon B. Johnson policy on Vietnam?
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
My evaluation is that his policy killed over 40,000 young men for nothing, due to his personal direction of the air war, during his time in office.
His goal was to get North Vietnam to quit fighting the war, not for us to win it!
He went from Kennedy's 16,000 troops to 550,000, and yet refused to let them try to win the war.
All the same time, the enemy had no qualms about fighting it and ultimately killed over 50,000, most of those during the Johnson Years.
Former Corporal Hitler decided that he knew better than his generals, time after time, and at several critical junctures he created disaster... he might have won WW-II if he had just sat back and left it to the German Generals.
Johnson essentially did the same thing, directing everybombing mission down to the fine details, during the 3 years of Operation Rolling Thunder.
He and Robert MacNamara personally chose the targets, the planes that would be used, what and how much ordnance would be dropped, date and time of the strike, and sometimes even the direction from which it would come.
But beyond all of that, wrong targets were DELIBERATELY chosen, as a matter of their strategy, called "gradualism".
Gradualism was where threatening destruction would serve as a more influential signal of "American determination" than destruction itself. It was better to hold important targets "hostage" by bombing trivial ones.
Military air fields, Haiphong Harbor, and various communication centers were off limits to our bombers, when they should have been the prime targets.
This wasn't from ignorance, it was part of a VERY bad strategy.
Johnson would have won Vietnam if he had just told the Joint Chiefs Of Staff "Go Win It", instead of bypassing The Pentagon to do things himself, continually.
My evaluation is that Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon all ran the war in Vietnam, but Johnson's policy is what lost it.
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
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The most serious blow to Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam policy?
was going to vietnam, most of the solders were killed, and losing the war
Why did Americans lose faith in president Lyndon B Johnson's Vietnam policy?
President Johnson had not delivered the victory he had repeatedly promised.
Was Lyndon B. Johnson true to himself and the policy of containment during his administration 1964-1968 in Vietnam?
He was a fairly sincere man, he probably thought so.
Was the tet offensive of 1968 a serious blow to Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam policy?
Yes , the Tet Offensive was detrimental because it undermined the credibility of his administration and that of the military .
Which foreign policy strategy was thought to lessen tensions with the Soviet Union?
Detente is the foreign policy strategy was thought to lessen tension with the Soviet Union. The foreign policy problem that eventually forced Lyndon Johnson out of politics was the Vietnam War.
The most serious blow to Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam policy?
was going to vietnam, most of the solders were killed, and losing the war
Why did Americans lose faith in president Lyndon B Johnson's Vietnam policy?
President Johnson had not delivered the victory he had repeatedly promised.
How were President Lyndon Johonson and the Congress different in their goals?
Johnson wanted their support for his Vietnam War Policy.
Why did Hawks support Lyndon B. Johnson wars policy?
Hawks believed Vietnam was a crucial front in the Cold War
Was Lyndon B. Johnson true to himself and the policy of containment during his administration 1964-1968 in Vietnam?
He was a fairly sincere man, he probably thought so.
Was the tet offensive of 1968 a serious blow to Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam policy?
Yes , the Tet Offensive was detrimental because it undermined the credibility of his administration and that of the military .
Which foreign policy strategy was thought to lessen tensions with the Soviet Union?
Detente is the foreign policy strategy was thought to lessen tension with the Soviet Union. The foreign policy problem that eventually forced Lyndon Johnson out of politics was the Vietnam War.
What type of economic policy did Lyndon B. Johnson subscribe to?
sweg
Which president started the Great Society social policy?
Lyndon Johnson
Why was Johnson unpopular?
His Vietnam war policy.
What was Johnson's involvement in the vietnam war?
President Johnson's policy was to do what was necessary to defend South Vietnam against being conquered by North Vietnam. This involved a continually increasing number of US troops, which was described as escalation. Or as Tom Paxton put it, Lyndon Johnson told the nation Have no fear of escalation I am trying everyone to please Though it isn't really war We're sending fifty thousand more To help save Vietnam from the Vietnamese.
What was Lyndon B. Johnson's theory to get involved in the war?
Domino-Theory and containment policy.
