![]() The price of many goods in the United States began to rise. The war cost two billion dollars every month. But it criticized him and other Democrats for economic problems connected to the war. The opposition Republican Party generally supported the war efforts of Lyndon Johnson, who was a Democrat. Nineteen sixty-six was also a year for congressional elections. He also increased the number of American troops in South Vietnam. In nineteen sixty-six, President Johnson renewed the bombing in North Vietnam. The most important was an immediate ceasefire. President Johnson would not accept these terms. It would mean that all of Vietnam would become communist. Withdrawal would mean defeat for the South. He demanded an end to the bombing and a complete American withdrawal. Ho Chi Minh's conditions for peace were firm. Again, it invited the North Vietnamese government to negotiate an end to the fighting. ![]() In December of nineteen sixty-five, the United States again halted its air campaign against North Vietnam. And that, he said, would only make him continue the war. James Reston believed the demonstrations would make Ho Chi Minh think America did not support its troops. Some people thought the anti-war demonstrations were only delaying peace in Vietnam. Anti-war demonstrations took place in San Francisco and Chicago. By July, one hundred twenty-five thousand Americans were fighting in Vietnam. And the United States began to build up its forces in the South. The administration hoped this would help get the North Vietnamese government to begin negotiations. They said the United States had no right, or reason, to intervene.įor six days in May, the United States halted bombing of North Vietnam. However, the number of Americans who opposed the war began to grow. Congress supported the president's actions at that time. ![]() In March nineteen sixty-five, the first American combat troops arrived in South Vietnam. James Reston of the New York Times, for example, said President Johnson was carrying out an undeclared war in Vietnam. Some observers in the United States questioned the administration's policy. The Johnson administration immediately ordered air strikes against military targets in the North. On February sixth, nineteen sixty-five, however, the Viet Cong attacked American camps at Pleiku and Qui Nhon. They told him that North Vietnamese troops and Viet Cong forces would soon stop fighting. There were concerns about the so-called Domino Theory, that if South Vietnam fell, other Southeast Asian countries would also fall to communists.Īs Johnson began his full term, his military advisers told him the communists were losing the war. They believed that without American help, South Vietnam would become communist. President Johnson believed that the United States had to support South Vietnam. Their goal was to overthrow the government in the South. They were supported by the government of North Vietnam and later by North Vietnamese troops. In nineteen fifty-seven, communist rebels - the Viet Cong - launched a violent campaign in the South. The South had an anti-communist government led by Ngo Dinh Diem. The North had a communist government led by Ho Chi Minh. The country was divided into North and South. Vietnam had gained its independence from France in nineteen fifty-four. The troops were there to advise and train the South Vietnamese military. Much of Johnson's time and energy would be taken up by the war in Vietnam.īy early nineteen sixty-four, America had about seventeen thousand troops in Vietnam. Have an e-reader? Download this story as a PDF Then he won a full term of his own starting in January nineteen sixty-five. ![]() Johnson served the last fourteen months of the president's term. Kennedy was murdered in Dallas in November of nineteen sixty-three. Today, we continue the story of America's thirty-sixth president, Lyndon Baines Johnson. STEVE EMBER: Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. ![]()
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