Introduction

Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908 - January 22, 1973), commonly referred to as LBJ, was the 36th U.S. President, served from 1963 to 1969. After long service in Congress, Mr. Johnson was elected the 37th Vice President; in 1963 he assumed the presidency after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. He was an important leader of the Democratic Party (Grandin 2006, 1).

War of Vietnam

President Johnson was determined to strengthen the U.S. armed forces in Vietnam. He certainly thought that the policy requires inhibition of the United States must take a significant effort to stop the spread of communism. By the time Kennedy died, about 16,000 American army men were in Vietnam. Johnson has strengthened and prolonged the number of their roles following the Gulf of Tonkin incident (about 3 weeks after the meeting of the year of 1964 Republican nominee Barry Goldwater for president).

He added the war effort continuously from 1964 to 1968. The number of deaths of U.S. troops has increased. In two weeks in May 1968, that number is 1800 with a total of 18,000 casualties. For the Domino theory, he said that if they would allow and let Vietnam fall then this fall would be followed by fights in Hawaii and then in San Francisco.

Johnson feared that too much focus on Vietnam would make him take heed of the Great Society policies (Great Society) his. But after the offensive campaign in January 1968, his term as President was occupied by the end of the Vietnam War more than ever. Many U.S. soldiers died the declining popularity of Johnson. College students and others organized protest, burning military service card and shouted slogans like, "Hey, hey, LBJ, how many children he had been killed today?" In the last year of tenure, Johnson cannot go to any place without protest.

Then in a speech last March, he shocked the country when the statements will not re-election that he would not look for or would accept his party's nominations for the next president term, just days after the referendum showed that only 29% of Americans support the war. Also in the so-called October surprise, Johnson announced that the United States on October 31, 1968 that he had ordered to completely stop the aerial bombardment, artillery into the sea and of North Vietnam, effect from November 1 if the Hanoi government was ready to negotiate and citing progress in peace negotiations in Paris (Latham 2000, 2).

Johnson was not excluded for candidacy for second term under the terms of Amendment 22 because he served less than 24 months of Kennedy's term. If he stayed and won election in 1968, he was probably the longest-serving president since Franklin D. Roosevelt, for 12 years.

The Vietnam War was the longest military conflict that occurred after World War II. Ideological in nature, was the most controversial conflict and violent in the second half of the twentieth century. Set in Vietnam, including the determination of the communist guerrillas in South Vietnam (Viet Cong) with the ...