Although President Kennedy did increase US commitment towards South Vietnam during his presidency, he was reluctant to do so. It was his ‘hawk’ advisors like McGeorge Bundy who pressured Kennedy into believing a massive increase in aid and US personnel was needed in South Vietnam. Kennedy issued a lot of fact finding missions before he eventually agreed to step up intervention in South Vietnam but he did not want to include ground combat troops, although the number of trainers did increase dramatically and air support, flown by US personnel, was provided. On this account, the Vietnam War was not Kennedy’s war as he personally wasn’t totally agreed to it and the war didn’t affect him personally as much as it did with President Johnson. If it was anyone’s war at this time it would have been Kennedy’s advisors who were hungry for war.
It is argued that Kennedy intended to withdraw the US from South Vietnam before he was assassinated in November 1963. If this would have happened then the war would have been Kennedy’s war as it would have been over before Johnson even made president. However, despite this debate it is unclear whether Kennedy would have really withdrawn from Vietnam as on many occasions he publically stated of his commitment to keeping South Vietnam out of communist control. In one of his last press conferences he even stated: ‘In my opinion, for us to withdraw from that effort, would mean a collapse not only of South Vietnam but South East Asia, so we are going to stay there.’ Even though Kennedy had a commitment to South Vietnam, it cannot be called his war as he was nowhere near as involved in the war as Johnson was.
President Johnson, who was Kennedy’s successor, inherited a very difficult situation in South Vietnam. The South Vietnamese government was tottering despite the help given by the US. After all the increased involvement and expenditure, withdrawal from South Vietnam and the acceptance of a communist victory would be more difficult than it would have been under Eisenhower or Kennedy. Also, with Kennedy’s approval of the coup against Diem, where he was assassinated, US commitment was further increased to an independent South Vietnam as they no longer had a scapegoat to refer to on matters involving South Vietnam.
Johnson was the president that got America really into the Vietnam War. No other president before had the will or even really considered sending in American soldiers into Vietnam. Eisenhower had sent advice, money and gave support and Kennedy continued this with a few extra advisors, but neither had shown as much commitment to South Vietnam as Johnson did. Johnson, in a secret memorandum of 1963 stated that: “the president expects that all senior officers of government will move energetically to ensure the full unity and support for… US policy in Vietnam” this shows that Johnson wanted the whole of the US, and especially Congress to agree with him being involved in the Vietnam War. Especially after the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the Tonkin Gulf Resolution of 1964 it showed that the US were so ready to attack but were just waiting for a reason to attack. This shows Vietnam was Johnson’s war if he was prepared to take a minor event and use it as the reason why the US should get even more deeply involved then they already war. He used it to introduce things such as Operation Rolling Thunder.
However, even if the war was Johnson’s war, that’s not to say it wasn’t his war by choice. As Johnson did inherit his presidency from Kennedy and wasn’t elected because of public mandate, Johnson had to keep following Kennedy’s policies even if he didn’t agree with them, he had little other choice. These policies included the policies about the Vietnam War and the US commitment to South Vietnam and mainly about the containment of communism. With the situation in South Vietnam becoming increasingly vulnerable with more North Vietnamese soldiers becoming stationed on the borders of Cambodia and Laos and near the demilitarised zone, unless increased US involvement took place, it seemed South Vietnam would fall. This wouldn’t be acceptable for Johnson as he wouldn’t want to be the first president to lose a war, especially for a president who wasn’t elected. This would also mean if South Vietnam were to fall it would just be another domino in communisms takeover of the East. This can be seen as why Vietnam was Johnson’s war. Johnson had no choice but to get involved, and for Johnson getting involved meant serious commitment. He made increases in troop numbers in South Vietnam to over half a million by 1968 and it also meant micro-managing all the events of the war, including being obsessed with statistics on body counts etc. This was the start of him becoming obsessed and a victim to the Vietnam War.
Johnson faced the same obstacles that Kennedy did through his presidency; after all, they were still in a cold war context so both presidents had to be careful not to irritate bigger powers, like the USSR and China, too much by making a wrong move in Vietnam. However, Secretary of state Dean Rusk believed withdrawal from Vietnam could cause loss of faith in America, which in the cold war context wouldn’t be good for the US. This shows Johnson could not leave Vietnam, as he would have been seen as weak. Also, considering at that point in time, war might have seemed like the better option, as a quick victory (as was promised by McNamara) would have meant that, in the long term, the cost of fighting the war would be considerably less. This point further elaborates that Johnson had little choice but to further US involvement in Vietnam. This is further supported by the pressure he felt from public opinion to be involved in Vietnam, in 1965, Whitehouse polls showed that 70% of the nation was behind Johnson’s policies, and 80% favoured sending in American ground troops to Vietnam. In May, 1965, congress voted for a further $700 million dollars for the war in Vietnam. All these statistics show Johnson would have felt pressurised if not obligated to go to war in Vietnam. This further supports the argument that Vietnam was Johnson’s war as he hugely increased US involvement in the war and he also turned Vietnam from a limited ‘police action’ into a full out war, even an undeclared one.
In conclusion, I believe that Vietnam was Johnson’s war instead of Kennedy’s. With the huge increase in US involvement in South Vietnam and the war during Johnson’s presidency, it is clear to see how the Vietnam War became such a huge issue for the USA and Johnson personally. The Vietnam War eventually overwhelmed Johnson in not just his policies but in his personal life as well. It affected him so badly that he decided not to run for another term as president tin h 1968 elections. This was a huge feat considering Johnson had inherited the Vietnam War from Kennedy and had not chosen to be involved in it himself. Any retreat, especially in the height of cold war tensions, would have been seen as cowardly and, without hindsight, could have put America at risk. Vietnam didn’t affect Kennedy anywhere near this much. It is also clear in the way that the US troop numbers stationed in Vietnam increased from 16,000 to 500,000 during Johnson’s presidency that he was a lot more involved in the war then Kennedy was. It was during Johnson’s time as president the Vietnam War turned from a limited police action into a war, and although an undeclared one, this is the fact that makes Vietnam Johnson’s war.