Source B is a quotation from LBJ’s tapes while he was in office. Basically, he feels that people will only focus on his faults and none of the commendable actions that he is taking. It shows that LBJ is surcoming to the huge public pressure that is placed upon at the current time. This strain is obvious as LBJ uses such crude phrases as “Right up my ass”. LBJ problem is that he has allowed Vietnam to become too personal to him. He feels that his reputation will be in shatters if America lose the Vietnam War. This is certainly a very ignoble thing to do as he is putting his reputation before his country and being highly selfish in the meantime.
Source C is very much like Source B. Again LBJ talks about how his reputation is under-fire with Vietnam. Yet again he uses coarse language to make this is more blatant. He uses such phrases as “screw you”. He talks about his own situation again and the fact that he feels that he will lose his job, except this time he is too late. He cannot withdraw from Vietnam and this builds up even more pressure than that which was apparent in Source B. This again is an ignoble quotation from LBJ.
Source D is an extract from the Pentagon Papers. It describes the current situation in Vietnam, which is in a complete and utter shambles. The majority of any efforts to fix the situation will fail and LBJ knows this. The South Vietnamese government was not secure. There was no stable government. Diem had been using his own family connections to fill in the available places in the government. This caused a revolt and Diem and his family were eventually killed in a church. Diem, who used to be extremely popular, was now dead, and Vietnam now had no true leader. This shows America’s actions as being noble, as they wanted to help Vietnam, who was definitely, they thought, in need to help and because America actually helped, this makes them noble.
Source E is figures from the attack on the American Bien Hoa airfield by the Vietcong. This was one of many attacks by the Vietcong on American airbases. One of the first aspects of the attack that is evident is that the Vietcong is becoming stronger, much stronger. America’s only reply is to retaliate. The outcome of the retaliation could make or break LBJ. If it goes well LBJ’s popularity could go sky high, otherwise it could plummet. This attack could be either noble or ignoble. The retaliation could be portrayed as revenge, which is ignoble, but it could be viewed as noble as they are attacking against their enemy.
Source F focuses on The Gulf of Tonkin Incident. It shows that America is taking herself out of the blame, she is working for the protection of South Vietnam. There is a lot of suspicion surrounding the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. There are many conspiracy theories about this incident as its repercussions started America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. The boat, which was supposedly hit by the North Vietnamese only, had one bullet wound on it. Accompanying planes did not even see any attackers but, still, this incident caused a treaty to be created which gave LBJ the excuse he needed to go to war. The treaty meant that the decisions were out of LBJ’s hands. I think that this source is another mixture of nobility and dishonourable content. Its nobility comes from the fact that America is now fighting for the freedom of the South Vietnamese. The shamefulness comes from that fact that the whole Gulf of Tonkin incident is under a cloud of uncertainties.
All the sources depict a different reason for the escalation of the war being noble or ignoble. But, the majority of the sources do portray a view of nobility over the escalation of the war.
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