However, the war that actually happened was the Vietnam War. North and South Vietnam fought each other assisted by the Russians and the Americans respectively because the Communist North wanted to reunite the country, but the more capitalist and democratic South opposed this unification under a Communist government. Although American help began under Kennedy it increased dramatically under Johnson with American military forces stationed in Vietnam to try to defeat the North Vietnamese army and the South Vietnamese guerrilla force known as the Viet Cong. The reason that America became involved in what should have been a civil war in Vietnam, was the so-called “Domino Theory”. This was the theory that if communist North Vietnam was able to take over in South Vietnam, the neighboring countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and possibly Burma would also become Communist in the same way that a row of dominoes can be knocked over by one domino falling. To prevent this happening, America sent more and more troops to support the South Vietnamese government. However, they were fighting in a country that they did not know, in a climate that was very difficult for them because it was wet and humid, in jungles and mountains, and against an enemy who looked like the civilian population. Johnson would not admit that America could not win the war, mainly because his generals told him that they were winning.
This was the first major war to be reported widely by the media and especially on T.V. The nightly news in America showed American troops patrolling in jungles and sometimes fighting. In order to prove that they were winning, generals insisted that there should be “body count”. This was supposed to be how many enemy had been killed that day, but it was later proved that figures were invented and dead civilians were included as being part of the enemy. Opposition to the war grew at home, especially among young people who were likely to be drafted into the military and sent to fight in Vietnam. One particular demonstration in Kent State University, Ohio lead to the killing of four peaceful demonstrators by the National Guard. In the end, this is the legacy that Johnson is remembered by.
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North Vietnam was supported by Russia with weapons, but not with troops. This may be because the Russians did not want to antagonize the Chinese who had a border with North Vietnam and who were not on friendly terms with Russia. Although both countries were Communist it may also be that the North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh did not welcome foreign troops because of his experience of fighting against the French colonial forces and the Japanese during World War 2. Nevertheless, the Russians used the Vietnam War to demonstrate their superiority over Capitalism as it became obvious that America could not defeat this small nation. This was a propaganda coup for Russia as American forces were seen to be invaders or at least helping to maintain an unpopular government in South Vietnam. Increasingly, Johnson became disillusioned and, although he was elected president in 1964, he did not run again in 1968 and retired from political life.
Following Johnson’s presidency, Richard M. Nixon was elected for two terms. He escalated the Vietnam War by bombing North Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh trail, which lead from North Vietnam through Laos and Cambodia to South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong used this trail through the jungle to transport men and equipment to fight against the South Vietnamese and the Americans. The result was the destruction of habitat and the weakening of governments in Laos and Cambodia, eventually allowing communist governments to take over. Although Johnson was not responsible for this strategy, the fact that he had escalated support for the South Vietnamese government by sending more than half a million American troops meant that Nixon had almost no alternative except to continue with the war and try to win it by force. The Americans eventually withdrew from Vietnam in 1973 and the North Vietnamese unified the country in 1975. The lesson many other nationalists learned from this war was that it was possible for a determined guerrilla force to defeat a heavily armed military that was equipped with superior weapons, but that had little or no knowledge of the country that they were fighting in. The best example of this was in Afghanistan where the Russians were forced to withdraw 10 years after they had invaded the country in 1979. They had to withdraw because they were unable to defeat the guerrilla Muhajidin, who did not act like a regular army, but melted into the local population in the same way that the Viet Cong had done in Vietnam years before. Other revolutionary forces in Central America also saw that it was possible to overthrow unpopular dictatorships without having a conventional army. Johnson was not directly responsible for these events, but his escalation of the war inevitably lead to them.
Johnson continued the policy of Kennedy in Vietnam in order to prevent a Communist takeover of that country. This was one of the main aims of the USA during the period of the Cold War, but there was also a second way in which the USA and the Soviet Union fought this Cold War. This was in the Space Race, in which both sides tried to show their superiority by outdoing each other in space. President Kennedy had promised that the USA would put a man on the moon and bring him back safely by the end of the 1960s and Johnson continued to support this goal. From his early years as Senate Leader, Johnson had supported the space program and as Vice-president, he helped by chairing a committee that liaised between NASA and the White House. After Kennedy's death, Johnson continued to support the race to land a man on the moon, but he was also aware that the US could not support the war in Vietnam, the space race, and his program of help to the poor and the sick, called the “Great Society.” He had to cut spending on something in order to continue to pay for the war in Vietnam and he did not want to cut spending on the Great Society, so the space program had to become smaller. Johnson managed to do this by proposing a treaty with the Soviet Union that would limit what might happen in space. The treaty was accepted by the Russians and was signed in 1967. This treaty stated that no country could claim ownership of the moon and that space should be free from nuclear weapons. By not having to spend so much on space, Johnson was able to use the money to continue the war in Vietnam and to prevent anyone claiming to own space. The Americans succeeded in landing a man on the moon and returning him to earth in 1969, after Johnson had stopped being President, but the space program did not continue with the same kind of vision that it had had in its early days.
Johnson became President by accident after Kennedy was shot. He continued Kennedy's policies in Vietnam and in space, although he also introduced his own program to support the poor and the sick. He was also the President when the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1966 which made it illegal to discriminate against someone because of their race. Nevertheless, he will be remembered more for his part in the continuing the Cold War through American involvement in Vietnam and in the Space Race than for his efforts to improve the lives of ordinary Americans.
Johnson became President by accident after Kennedy was shot. He continued Kennedy's policies in Vietnam and in space, although he also introduced his own program to support the poor and the sick. He was also the President when the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1966 which made it illegal to discriminate against someone because of their race. Nevertheless, he will be remembered more for his part in the continuing the Cold War through American involvement in Vietnam and in the Space Race than for his efforts to improve the lives of ordinary Americans.
Works Cited
Isaacs, Jeremy, and Taylor Downing. Cold War. London: BANTAM, 1998. Print.
Smith, Joseph. The Cold War. Second ed. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell, 1998. Print.
"Lyndon B. Johnson." The White House. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2015. <https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/presidents/lyndonbjohnson>.
"Lyndon B. Johnson - U.S Presidents." History.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2015. <http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/lyndon-b-johnson>.
Vietnam Special (1967). 2011. Youtube Video.
"LBJ: Biography." LBJ Presidential Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2015. <http://www.lbjlibrary.org/lyndon-baines-johnson/lbj-biography/>.
Isaacs, Jeremy, and Taylor Downing. Cold War. London: BANTAM, 1998. Print.
Smith, Joseph. The Cold War. Second ed. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell, 1998. Print.
"Lyndon B. Johnson." The White House. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2015. <https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/presidents/lyndonbjohnson>.
"Lyndon B. Johnson - U.S Presidents." History.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2015. <http://www.history.com/topics/us-presidents/lyndon-b-johnson>.
Vietnam Special (1967). 2011. Youtube Video.
"LBJ: Biography." LBJ Presidential Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2015. <http://www.lbjlibrary.org/lyndon-baines-johnson/lbj-biography/>.