Lyndon B. Johnson Quotes
My answer is Yes, but my judgment is No.
The Pentagon had requested 2 more battalions of Marines to protect the Danang Air Base in Vietnam. The President was persuaded that since the South Vietnamese could not be motivated to fight, that we would not likely defeat the Vietcong and that we should negotiate a an American exit. However, his security and military advisors told Johnson that unless the manpower request was granted, our major airbase in Vietnam could fall to the enemy with large American Casualties. And there was no assurance that the North Vietnamese would even be willing to negotiate. Johnson realized at that point in time that the Vietnam War was unwinnable unless we resorted to nuclear weapons. With American lives that needed “protection” the President was caught in the dilemma that brought down his administration. He again escalated the war when he wanted to do the opposite but felt that he could not.
Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1908-1973, 36th President of the United States (Democrat, TX), Telephone answer to the formal request of Defense Secretary Robert McNamara for an increase in the troops to Vietnam, March 1965
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Lyndon Baines Johnson, often referred to by his initials LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, in office from 1963 to 1969. He served as the 37th vice president from 1961 to 1963 and assumed the presidency following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. A Democrat from Texas, Johnson was also a United States representative and later majority leader in the United States Senate. Johnson is one of only four people to have served, at various times, in all four federal elected positions.
