DOCUMENT PROJECT 26

Debating the Vietnam War

After John F. Kennedy’s assassination in November 1963, President Lyndon Johnson was faced with a number of simmering domestic and international crises. One of these was the conflict in Vietnam. The United States had been involved in Vietnam since 1946, when President Truman decided to support the French in their attempt to regain their colony after World War II. American involvement deepened ten years later, after the French withdrew and the United States, first under President Eisenhower and then President Kennedy, became the sole sponsor of an anti-Communist South Vietnam.

Upon assuming the presidency, Johnson inherited a decades-long commitment to defeating communism in Vietnam, but one that was not yet an American war. He and his advisers feared abandoning American obligations but knew they supported a corrupt and unpopular regime. Throughout the spring and summer of 1964, the president weighed his options. By the end of that summer Congress had granted Johnson the authority to fight North Vietnam as he saw fit. It would take another year before Johnson ordered significant ground forces to the south, turning the conflict into a full-scale war. The Vietnam War would be the undoing of Johnson’s presidency and the cause of deep fissures in American society over its moral and military leadership in the Cold War.

The following documents show the escalation of the conflict and opposition from different voices in American society. As you analyze these documents, think about how domestic and international political concerns shaped Johnson’s actions in Vietnam and how his waging of the war shaped Americans’ views of their government.