12 - The Vietnam War, 1961–1969

Summary

Lyndon Johnson (LBJ) escalated American involvement in the Vietnam War. He used the Tonkin Gulf incident to secure the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which gave him the leeway to intervene as he saw fit. The administration sought to coerce the North into a settlement guaranteeing South Vietnam’s independence. It launched first the ROLLONG THUNDER bombing campaign, which failed to achieve its aims. Meanwhile, the US increased its ground forces under William Westmoreland. He pursued a strategy built upon attrition of North Vietnamese forces, pacification of areas threatened by the Viet Cong insurgents, and training of the ARVN, the Army of the Republic of South Vietnam. The North enjoyed sanctuary in Cambodia and Laos and benefitted from the Ho Chi Minh trail running through Laos to move men and material into South Vietnam. Westmoreland launched “search and destroy” operations and relied on an inaccurate “body count” of enemy dead to measure the effectiveness of his strategy, which was shown to have failed when the North launched its 1968 Tet Offensive. Johnson refused to run for reelection, and Westmoreland was replaced.