Us Commitment To Vietnam War Essay

22.2- U.S Involvement and Escalation
• United States Commit to Vietnam War o Johnson obsessed with fulfilling the aspect of containment within Vietnam, sending in more troops as the years went on. o This was very contradictory as he advocated that he opposed the idea of not sending ground men to fight the Vietcong.
 In 1965, Johnson worked closely with Robert McNamara and Dean Rusk, in which over 10,000 soldiers were sent overseas. o This marked the start of Johnson’s downfall as people did not like how he was going against what he preached during his campaign, with only his commitment to fight communism keeping him on some people’s good side.
 Even though many knew this war was going to fail, Congress and Johnson’s cabinet urged the
• Johnson’s Downfall o Johnson supported this war believing that it would end quickly and the United States men could come home early.
 However, this was not the case, as Johnson’s vision of the Great Society began to do downhill.
 The war not only grew costly for the government, but the rate of inflation was tripling by the year 1969. o Johnson even had to start asking Congress to pass taxes that could help pay to keep the Vietnam War going strong but required many Great Society programs to end.
 The Vietnam War was one of the first wars to ever be televised nationally, allowing the American people to witness the reality of war for the first time. o This resulted in a credibility gap, in which the reports coming from the Johnson Administration was not accurate with what was televised live in Vietnam.
 Johnson was even charged with lack of candor, and his cabinet was put on the spot to defend why they believed the Vietnam War should have kept going.
 The American public had never been so split over whether they should support or oppose the war effort in United States