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•1965 Johnson sends large numbers of troops to fight alongside the South Vietnamese

• Contain Communism• BUT….“…not about to send

American boys 9 to 10,000 miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves”

BUT HE DID IT!!!!!

• Some see Johnson’s decision contradictory to his position on the war in his presidential campaign

• 1965 Poll shows 61% of Americans supporting U.S. Policy in Vietnam

•Secretary of Defense – Robert McNamara

•Secretary of State – Dean Rusk

• By End of 1965 more than 180,000 American Troops in Vietnam

• By 1967 we have 500,000 troops in Vietnam

•General•Requests more troops

•West Point Graduate

• Army of Republic of Vietnam

• South Vietnamese Army

• Knowledge of Jungle to Vietcong Advantage–Hit-and-Run–Ambush–Elaborate tunnels–Surprise attacks

• General Westmoreland’s strategy–Destroy Vietcong

Morale–Concept of body

count–Wear down enemy

by harassment

• Becoming costly to fund war = inflation increasing

• LBJ wants tax increase to pay for war

• to get support for tax increase LBJ must employ a 6 billion reduction in funding the GREAT SOCIETY

• Critics say that there was difference between what LBJ was saying and what was actually happening in Vietnam