How did LBJ escalate U.S. military involvement in
Vietnam?
• Lyndon B. Johnson made the decision to escalate the war and send more U.S. troops to Vietnam.
600,000
500,000
400,000
300,000
U.S. Troops
200,000
100,000
1961 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968
0

How did Robert McNamara and Dean Rusk escalate U.S. military involvement in
Vietnam?
• Robert McNamara :
LBJ’s Secretary of
Defense, advised
Johnson on escalation
• Dean Rusk , LBJ’s
Secretary of State, advised Johnson on escalation

How did William Westmoreland escalate
U.S. military involvement in Vietnam?
• William
Westmoreland ,
Commander of U.S.
Troops, requested more troops
• General
Westmoreland introduced the concept of the body count (reporting the number of Vietcong deaths as a way to mentally psyche-out the enemy and get them to surrender)

• The U.S congress approved of
Johnson’s policies
Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara, in a post-midnight press briefing at the Pentagon points out action in the Gulf of Tonkin, Aug. 4
1964. By August 7 th Congress will pass the
Tonkin Gulf Resolution, authorizing the Vietnam
War

How did American public opinion escalate
U.S. military involvement in Vietnam?
• The American public initially supported the war
• Americans believed in the need for containment of communism.

U.S. military advantages over the Vietcong
• Superior weaponry
U.S. HueyCobra
Helicopter
What military advantages did the Vietcong have over the Americans?
• Knowledge of jungle terrain and the ability to blend in with civilians
• Willingness to pay any price for victory
 Vietcong soldier in a tunnel

• Sustained bombings
• Search and destroy missions
• A war of attrition = wearing down your enemy
• Using napalm (a gasoline based bomb that set fire to the jungle) to expose Vietcong tunnels and hideouts
• Using Agent Orange (a leaf-killing chemical) to destroy the rain-forest and expose the enemy
• Attempt to stop the Vietcong from gaining support of the South Vietnam’s rural population
= try to win the hearts and minds of the peasants

• Hit and run ambushes
• Booby traps
• Land mines
• Surprise attacks
• Guerilla warfare

What role did the U.S. Economy play in changing public support for the war
• The cost of the war led to an increase in inflation and taxes
• There was a reduction of funding for Great
Society programs
This 1968 political cartoon captures the struggle of Lyndon B. Johnson's time as
President. While Johnson dreamed of a
"Great Society," his presidency was haunted by the specter of Vietnam. Much of the funding he hoped to spend on social reforms went towards war in
Vietnam.

What role did television play in changing public support for the war
• Brought the war into U.S. living rooms = ( 1 st “living room” war)
• The nightly news reports contradicted
Johnson’s optimistic war scenario and led to a growing
“credibility gap”

What role did the Fulbright hearings play in changing public support for the war
• Senator William Fulbright, Chairman of the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, conducted a series of televised hearings in which he called forth members of the
Johnson administration to defend their
Vietnam policies
• The hearings contributed to the average
American’s growing ambivalence about the war