One major factor that influenced the policies of LBJ and JFK was that of US involvement in Vietnam in the 1950’s. Truman was the first to get involved in Vietnam. He gave aid to the French to fight Ho chi Minhs forces. Eisenhower then increased this aid. Eventually the US was paying 80% of the total expenditure by the French on Vietnam. Already the US were involved in Vietnam albeit via another country. In 1954 the French pulled out of North Vietnam with the signing of the Geneva accords. However the USA and South Vietnam did not sign the accords. The US start to deal direct with Diem the leader of the South Vietnam and bypass the French. Therefore rather than giving aid to the French they gave it direct to the South Vietnamese The USA to further its commitment to the South Vietnamese decided to set up SEATO. A defensive alliance of countries in South East Asia. South Vietnam was included, which is a direct violation of the Geneva accords but the USA and South Vietnam did not sign the accords, allowing them to violate them. Another factor of the 1950’s policy towards Vietnam was that of advisors. Eisenhower decided to send in advisors to South Vietnam, officially to help train their army and air force. However it was not unknown for the advisors to be involved in confrontations with the VC. By sending advisors Eisenhower had escalated the war in Vietnam and the US’s commitment. However this was merely a natural progression of the policy of containment being followed by the US government as the time. By the end of the 1950’s the USA was already heavily involved in Vietnam. With Eisenhower calling Diem “… The miracle man of Asia.”
JFK took office in 1961 with the issue of Vietnam entering public consciousness more and more. Therefore Vietnam was a hot political topic. Kennedy believed he had to act, if he wanted to get re-elected in four years. He had only narrowly won the election against Nixon, with some believing under hand tactics had been used to make sure Kennedy won. He was also a democrat and therefore could not be seen as being weak on the communists. If he was seen as weak the democrats would not only lose the Presidency in 4 years but probably the mid term elections for congress. He was also young and many saw him as inexperienced. Kennedy wanted to shake off this image. Therefore as soon as he took office it was vital that he appear strong against the communist ‘threat’ in Vietnam. With the Bay of Pigs fiasco he became even more resolute in this policy. Kennedy increased aid to the South Vietnamese and sent over more ‘advisors’. Increasing the number of advisors to almost 16000. He escalated the war even further. However it was necessary, as Kennedy like his predecessor he was following the policy of containment. The policy was never reviewed under Kennedy and remained unchanged. Whilst he was following this policy, handed down from the 1950’s, Kennedy had no choice but to increase his aid and support to Vietnam. To combat the ever-increasing threat posed by the VC. As with Eisenhower, Kennedy’s further escalation of the conflict in Vietnam was just a natural progression of the policy of containment.
With Kennedy’s death in 1963 Johnson as Vice President took office. Kennedy had proven himself on the international stage and shaken off his young, inexperienced image. Proving himself with the Cuban missile crisis was the main cause of this. Due to this it was very hard for Johnson to change any of Kennedy’s policy’s especially foreign. So when Johnson won re-election in 1964 he was following the same policy towards Vietnam as Kennedy. Johnson had not proven himself on the International stage and saw Vietnam as the place to do it. Johnson continued the policy of containment and further escalated the conflict. In 1965 the VC controlled 65% of the countryside, most of the so called strategic hamlets were under VC control, and to top it all off the ARVN were not doing well at all. Also US airbases were now being attacked by the VC The South Vietnamese were losing and Johnson either had to increase aid and advisors, pull out or send a military task force. Sending over more aid and advisors was the obvious first choice, but it had not be working in recent years despite drastic increases in both the amount of aid and number of advisors. Pulling out was not option whilst following the policy of containment. If the US pulled out of Vietnam then it would almost certainly fall to communism. So the only option was to escalate the war by sending in troops. However this required an resolution to be passed by congress. This resolution was the gulf of Tonkin resolution. This allowed Johnson to put as many troops as he deemed necessary to put into Vietnam. He waited until after he was re-elected to use this power. When the resolution was passed it had a greater deal of public support. With Johnson polling at a 42% job approval before the resolution, to a 72% job approval after the resolution was passed. At this time containment was very popular policy that Johnson was not about to review.
In conclusion it was the policies of the 1950’s that were highly influential in the decision of JFK and LBJ to get involved militarily in Vietnam. Containment and the domino theory had dominated public consciousness during the 1950’s cumulating with the red scare. This idea of facing the ‘evil’ communists wherever they maybe was still firmly rooted in the public psyche of the 1960’s. The memories of how the advance of communism had been stopped in Korea was still fresh, and the American people saw them selves as the guardians over freedom. They expected there government to share this value and to ensure that the ‘freedom hating’ communist were not allowed to spread. Changing the policy of containment would have been a tricky one as it was a popular one. JFK may have been able to do it as head proven himself on the world stage. But for LBJ it was political suicide to do it. Not only would if have lost any attempted re-election, but the democrats would have also lost the mid terms and would be branded as weak against communists. The US Government still believed that all communism was controlled by Moscow, and that it was intent on spreading around the world. Whilst this may have appeared to be true in the late 40’s and 50’s, the evidence for it in the 1960’s was not so concrete. However no one in either of the democratic administrations bothered to review the policy. The world had become a relatively more stable place in the 1960’s. However LBJ and JFK did not take this into consideration when looking at their foreign policy. There policies were all based on that of the same policies followed in the 1950’s. They did alter the policies to Vietnam by escalating the situation, however this was all in keeping with idea of containment. In the short term JFK and LBJ did increase military involvement in Vietnam following there own polices. However these policies all came from the 1950’s. So the overall long term reason for them getting further involved in Vietnam was that of the policies of the 1950’s.
