American public for one reason. Vietnam. Johnson is the president identified with the vietnam war, although there is a famous quote from october 13, 1967 where he said to a journalist, this is not Lyndon Johnsons war. This is americas war. If i drop dead tomorrow, this war still be here. He was right. But the way it was fought has been ascribed to Lyndon Johnson. It is considered his tragedy, failure, the trail, depending on your position of the spectrum. There are two books both entitled Lyndon Johnsons war, and both advancing compelling if contradictory analyses of the reasons behind the series of decisions made between 1964 and 1868 that led to justification for escalating the war, the gulf incident of 1964, the first landing of u. S. Combat troops to defend the base in 1965, the stepped up escalation of forces in the country over the next two years until the total was greater than half a million men, the changeover from based security to enclave security, to finally what was called search and destroy. The shock and humiliation of the tet offensive and johnsons decision to turn down a request by William Moreland for 200,000 more troops and johnsons decision to withdraw from the 1968 president ial race. Certainly there is ample justification for referring to vietnam as Lyndon Johnsons war. He escalated more steeply than any president , troop levels peaked during his presidency. Most of the 58,000 who died, died while he was in office. There are also important senses in which it was not his. He didnt make the commitment to preserve the amount from communism or french indochina. That dates back to harry truman. Johnson didnt create the nation of South Vietnam as an independent entity allied with the united states. That happened when Dwight Eisenhower was president. And vietnam was not his more in the sense he really didnt want to fight it. There is a slew of biographers that have made clear the last thing johnson wanted was to be a war president. He had a domestic agenda, the Great Society. He was by far the most liberal president we have ever had, if we define it in the manner it has come to be defined in the last 100 years. He believed in the capacity of the federal government to affect positive change in domestic arena. You understand nothing if you dont get that. He experienced grinding poverty growing up in texas. And he had seen the capability of the federal government to alleviate the suffering of millions of americans. This was his passion and what he hoped would be his legacy, reform in domestic politics. He felt totally illequipped in the field of foreign affairs, unlike his predecessors john f. Kennedy and Dwight Eisenhower and richard nixon, all of them thought they excelled at Foreign Policy and found Domestic Affairs a chore and kind of tedious. Johnson, who grew up idolizing franklin roosevelt, wanted to carry through what he saw was the unfulfilled promise of the new deal. Nipped it in the bud. He wanted to carry it through to fruition. Vietnam, as johnson recognized from the moment he was thrust into office, was an obstacle. The war was consuming a great deal of money even in 1963. He had a domestic agenda he knew would require massive funding. The war was a potential siphon funding. Siphon but it was also a commitment. President s dont renege, especially if those are widely perceived to have been made by a recently assassinated president. As johnson put it in one of his most voted remarks which points out the distinctly gendered way in which he conceptualized problems, i knew i would be crucified whichever way i moved. If i left the Great Society, then i lose everything at home. All my hopes. If i left the war and let the communist takeover South Vietnam, i would be seen as a coward and my nation and appeaser and we would both find it impossible impossible to republish anything anywhere. Accomplish anything anywhere. As a journalist writes, Lyndon Johnson had always drained of being the greatest domestic president of this century. He had become without being able to stop it a war president and not a very good one. How did this happen . What happened to his dreams . A good place to start looking is to start with the dynamics playing into the president ial lection of 1964. Even though it was a total blowout, it was one of the most significant contest in American History. The candidate views of the future of america diverged so wildly that it is one of the few elections where you can see the electorate making a choice about which way it wants the country to move. The election doesnt have to be close to be fascinating. Look at roosevelt versus uber in 1932 or reagan and carter in 1980. Johnson inherited the vietnam commitment from kennedy. There were roughly 16,000 u. S. Advisors in South Vietnam and the situation was crumbling. The man who succeeded the South Vietnamese leader, he was utterly incompetent. He was no administrator. He lasted a few weeks in office and was succeeded by someone who was slightly more competent but also corrupt and from to passing on misleading reports to his american benefactors. That is one thing johnson has inherited. Johnson also inherited the kennedy teams. They were the best and the brightest. It is customary for a new president to choose his own cabinet but johnson believed and with some justification, that his transition into office would be easy. He believed the National Trauma might be less acute if he kept kennedys cabinet. Dean rusk remained, secretary of state. Mcgeorge bundy, and most important robert mcnamara. As we know from the testimony of many people at the time, johnson was in absolute awe of these men. He felt insecure in foreign affairs, as much a master in Domestic Affairs, he was a tenderfoot when it came to Foreign Policy. He felt he needed the services of these brilliant and worldly advisors. Kennedy is killed in november 1963. Johnson became president almost exactly a year before the next election which meant he had to start running for Office Almost immediately. The area in which he knew he was weakest, in which a republican opponent would be able to score the most points was in Foreign Policy, his lack of experience. One event everybody seems to forget which was terribly important at the time was the communist chinese explosion of a nuclear bomb in action 64. This increased the perceived threat of china to the west. There is a racist dimension to this. In the minds of most american policymakers, the soviets, although evil, were at least perceived as intellectually sophisticated enough you could negotiate with them. They would accept the rational proposition that no gains could be worth a nuclear confrontation. American policymakers in the mid century a different view of asians. Iran into a document in the National Archives in college park, maryland in which eisenhower used that, you never can tell about these fanatical easterners. They seem to be willing to sacrifice millions of lives to attend their objectives attain their objectives. There was a fear about possible nuclear war especially with the communist chinese as 19 secure or drew closer. Johnson had a dilemma. He had to appear tough on communism. No one could get elected in 1954 if he was and appeaser. He also had to assure the americans he would not take measures that would lead to a nuclear holocaust. It is a allison act. And the republicans made matters easy by nominating arizona senator marigold water, a hawkish cold warrior whose freemarket small government philosophy could not have been more at august with the Great Society at odds with the Great Society. Barry goldwater was without question the most conservative candidate of a major party since the 1920s, since calvin coolidge. Many historians consider goldwater a pioneer of the reagan revolution. Goldwater made a remark during the campaign that we are told many people lack skills and cant find jobs, because they didnt have education. It is like saying people have big feet because they have big shoes. The fact is people that have no skills or education for the sum same reason, low intelligence or low ambition. In Foreign Policy management, johnson and goldwater differed the most. Goldwater made a number of remarks that caused some pundits to dub him the mad bomber. He said i would like to live a nuclear bomb into the mens room at the kremlin. He actually said that. Why the mens room, i am not sure but it made people nervous. And then there was full of waters famous address at the Republican National convention when he accepted the nomination. He said, extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue, which when you think of it is a 1960 thing to say. Malcolm x. If you put them together in the same category, malcolm xs definition was different but the principle is the same. Johnson made great Political Capital out of goldwaters mad bomber image. Goldwaters slogan was in your heart, you know he is right. Johnson lampooned that with in your heart, you know you might. And this reached the most famous Political Television commercial in American History. Some of you may have seen this. It has been shown hundreds of times in documentaries. Let me show it to you now. Seven, six, 6, 8, 9, 9. 10, 9, eight, seven, six, five, four, 3, 2, 1, zero. These are the stakes, to make a world in which all of gods children can live or to go into the dark. We must either love each other, or we must die. Vote for president johnson on november 3. The stakes are too high for you to stay home. Not exactly subtle. It was a tremendously effective ad. Goldwater did score points on Foreign Policy, the alleged timidity in the face of communist provocation. Goldwater taunted johnson for not responding forcefully to the viet cong and North Vietnamese brutality. Why are you doing more to defend the ally . Johnson just killed goldwater in the greatest electoral triumph to that point. It seems ludicrous johnson doubted whether he would win. There were at least two pressing issues that caused him to feel he might lose. Barry goldwater might be elected president. There was a colossal scandal involving the chief aide Walter Jenkins in the in october 1964. He was caught in the mens room of a ymca with another man in a sexual encounter. This was long before gay liberation. There is no glee or broke back mountain. The American Psychiatric association didnt remove the diagnosis of homosexuality from its manuals list of mental until 1973. That is obscene but it is true. If you look at the press, not only do commentators revile him for his perversion, but they go on and on about how he is a Security Risk and susceptible to blackmail. Every story on this affair asked to what extent has American Security been compromised . What other risks does johnson have . All the way with lbj got a new connotation. Goldwater said lbj for moral decay. This is a month before the election. The other one is difficult to sum up. Goldwaters crowds when he came to speak, were hysterically adoring. He was treated like a rockstar star. They might have been only a small minority but they were as interpreted by a lot of pundits and quite a few members of johnsons own staff is representative of a golf larger groundswell for very goldwater. The fact is he was handsome and commanding. He was a skilled speaker with a feel for the wellchosen phrase, moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue. Lyndon johnson had to come to terms that he was just about, the least charismatic man ever to run for president. I might have to amend that. I know it is maddening to try to boil it down to personality but this was an issue with johnson and it has been for historians. If frequently affects scholarly judgment. Johnson once said to a former secretary of state in 1967, i have done more for new growth since negroes since linkedin. I have done more for poverty. Why dont people like me . She said because you are not a likable man. It is true. He just wasnt. Some of us just arent. Some of the most touching quotes you run across have to do with his enormous insecurity. His need to be liked. If you listen to the white house tapes, he has lengthy conversations with george reedy in which he talks about how poorly he comes across and describes himself as a hick and freckle belly and packer was surrounded by glittering Ivy League Kennedy people. And he wasnt wrong. He rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. He was an overbearing sweaty person. The theorist observes in a recent book, Lyndon Johnson tried his hardest by means of looking summer to the point of intestinal discomfort to convey integrity but made you think of a large quickly dishonest warner bros. Brewster, foghorn leghorn. Johnson taped all of his conversations while he was president. I would like to play you one from mr. Hagar from august 1964. This comes from a documentary about johnson and the makers of this had actors standing in for the people on the tape. The actors standing in for johnson doesnt look anything like him, but it is his actual voice around august 1964. Im saying i hope he was drunk. Go ahead, sir. Hello. You made me some real lightweight. I need about six pairs for summer wear. I want them a half inch larger in the ways than they were before except i want to or three inches of stuff left back in so i can take them out, 10 or 15 pounds a month. When you sit in the chair, the knife and your money comes out. I need another inch in the pockets. Another thing, the garage crotch is always a little too tight. Give me an inch to run out, because it cuts me. It is like writing riding a wire fence. See if you cant leave me about an inch from where the zipper ends round under the back of my bumhole so i can let it out if i need to. I would sure be grateful. [laughter] leader of the free world. Incidentally, michael, the Pulitzer Prize winning who edited the transcripts and turned into a book, he cuts off that conversation after i am riding a wire fence. He said the word bunghole is not appearing in my book. You have this unattractive insecure guy who doesnt feel comfortable with Foreign Policy and inherited the collapsing situation in South Vietnam and the kennedy name of the best and brightest advisors and believes he needs some gesture in the realm of Foreign Policy to prove he is not soft on communism. Number two, he is not a mad bomber like Barry Goldwater and number three, he can act in a mature president ial fashion when dealing with a crisis. He wants a gesture that doesnt appear as though it will siphon off a lot of money from the Great Society programs which he is constructing. They got his opportunity with what came to be known as the tonkin gulf incident of august 1964. Let me give you a background here. In november 1963, president john kennedy had approved the plan with the colorless name Operations Plan 34a. This entailed the South Vietnamese these commandos would blow up defensive positions, supply dumps, attack a coastal transmitter and usually traveled in u. S. Navy patrol boats. After meeting the targets, they would return to the base in South Vietnam. While they were supplying them, the u. S. Was providing advice. No american soldiers were involved. But the u. S. Navy was simultaneously carrying out topsecret spy missions on the coast of North Vietnam. These were codenamed de soto missions. These were conducted by large intelligence gathering destroyers that recorded radio and radar signals. The de soto missions were conducted in conjunction with the 34a raids. U. S. Navy would obtain information about facilities that would help the commandos of the raids. William bundy, the assistant secretary of state, he came up with the early draft of a resolution whereby the congress would delegate sweeping powers to the president in military emergency to take whatever action he seemed fit. Johnson wanted this because it would remove the war issue from the 1964 campaign and give him a huge Foreign Policy victory in which congress would have to rally around. All that was needed was an incident. That was provided august 2, 1964. What happened was this. On july 22, the destroyer maddox was ordered to the gulf of tonkin on a mission. On july 30, there were heavy raids against islands in the gulf. The next day the maddox arrived, and on august 1 it cruised within gun range of one of the two offshore islands that had been under attack by the South Vietnamese commandos. Then it returned to international waters. On august 2, three torpedo boats attacked the maddox. It opened fire and left one dead in the water, the other two were damaged but returned to port. On the maddox, radio intercepts of North Vietnamese traffic made clear North Vietnam considered the maddox court of the overall 34 operations taking place. It wasnt part of those. The Missions Work on related. But one can understand why the North Vietnamese