LBJ & the Vietnam War
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Who was Lyndon B. Johnson and how did his early life shape his political style?
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Glaring into the camera lens, he tells Americans that he will request from Congress a resolution granting him sweeping new powers to defend American interests in Southeast Asia. It is a moment of resolve for the president, a demonstration that he will not, America will not, be pushed around by any nation, certainly not one led by communists. But there is a snag in this version of events, an uncomfortable truth of the attack that has already begun to unravel. Reports have been distorted. There is evidence suggesting there may have been no attack at all. For Johnson, the consequences will be all too real. He inherits a war he never wished to fight, a conflict tangled in the paranoia of the Cold War. Yet in the coming years, with one decision after another, Johnson is drawn deeper into the quagmire.
Choices he makes will consume his presidency, divide the nation, and ultimately force him from political life. This is the story of LBJ and the war that broke him. Don Wildman here. You're listening to American History Hit. Thanks for joining us. For this, our guest is Pierre Asselin. He is the Dwight E. Sanford Chair in U.S. Foreign Relations at San Diego State University, a leading authority on the Vietnam War. He is the author of A Bitter Peace, Washington, Hanoi, and the Making of the Paris Agreement, and Hanoi's Road to the Vietnam War, 1954 to 1965, among a raft of other publications. So let's discuss LBJ and the Vietnam War. Pierre, welcome back to American History Hit. It is nice to see you again.
Don, thank you very much. It's really great to be back. Before we delve in, I want to refresh our understanding of Lyndon Johnson, the man. The American story of the Vietnam War is so deeply entrenched with the history of this guy, with his personality, his psychology. I think it's important. So let me start off. Lyndon Johnson, born into an impoverished family in the hill country of Texas, enters politics in 1937, an FDR New Deal man to the bone. Talk to me about his political style.
He's a fascinating historical character. And it's interesting. A very tragic one, too. I mean, you mentioned it, right? I think people fail to recognize his background when they look at Johnson. I mean, you know, there's so much focus on his presidency in the Vietnam War that I think sometimes we discount Johnson. his formative experiences, which turned out to have a huge impact on the way he approached Vietnam and other issues. So yeah, Johnson is from Central Texas. Father was a failed politician, failed legislator, failed business person. And I think that these failures end up conditioning Johnson from the time he's very young. I mean, this is an individual who ends up growing in extreme poverty, whose family sometimes cannot even afford groceries, Johnson, for the rest of his life, will kind of be haunted by this upbringing.
I mean, while some people would be kind of proud of having risen from, I guess, the ashes of poverty, Johnson would always kind of carry that as a source of humiliation and would always be kind of sensitive to these issues. But yeah, that poverty that surrounds him ends up really kind of shaping his views as he enters politics.
It's such a class identity, which is going to be such a theme in his political life as he's surrounded by these patrician politicians, the
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who was Lyndon B. Johnson and how did his early life shape his political style?
0:00–7:28
2
What role did the Gulf of Tonkin incident play in shifting LBJ’s Vietnam policy?
7:28–15:07
3
Why did Johnson support the Kennedy administration’s Vietnam strategy despite his reservations?
15:07–23:31
4
How did the 1964 election influence Johnson’s decision to deepen U.S. involvement in Vietnam?
23:31–30:18
5
What was the impact of Operation Rolling Thunder and the gradual escalation on the war’s outcome?
30:18–36:56
6
How did the Tet Offensive change American public opinion and Johnson’s political standing?
36:56–44:00
7
Why did Johnson announce he would not seek re‑election and how did the war factor into that decision?
44:00–50:47
8
What legacy did LBJ leave – great‑society achievements versus the Vietnam quagmire?
50:47–57:58