Killing Lyndon Johnson
Brandon Rigney © Copyright 2017
Disclaimer
Quotations, recounts of events, observations of various activities happening in the past 50+ years, description of legislative actions and third-party comments have all been researched from what are considered reliable sources in the preparation of this book.
The author was not a first-person observer at any of the events described in this book and acknowledges that minor inaccuracies might occur in their retelling.
About the Author
Brandon Rigney is a semi-retired rocket/nuclear engineer, investment broker, salesman and management consultant, which careers have occurred during the 60+ years since he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
He studied graduate level business administration at the Katz School of Business of the University of Pittsburgh (PA).
Brandon now spends a lot of his time researching and writing non-fiction books of general interest, published as Amazon Kindle ebooks and in other media.
Other Books by this Author
My Cataracts and I
My Malignant Tumor and I
My Pig Valve and I (with co-author Priscilla Rigney)
How to Survive Financially Without a Pension
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The reader can review these books by this author here.
More books scheduled for publication in 2017:
Killing the Middle Class
Killing the American Dream
Alternate Lives: Online Fantasy Games
Killing Pensions
Table of Contents
Foreword: A Lifelong Dream Realized in a Split Second!
Preface: November 22, 1963: Painful Transition
Chapter One: Be Careful What You Wish For!
Chapter Two: The Winding Road to the Presidency
Chapter Three: A New Presidential Term (1965-1968)
Chapter Four: Historical Events
Chapter Five: Mounting Pressures
Chapter Six: Giving It Up
Appendix One: Johnson's Wise Men
Appendix Two: Vietnam War Timeline
Foreword: A Lifelong Dream Realized in a Split Second!
November 22, 1963: Vice-President Lyndon Johnson was riding with his wife, Lady Bird, in a government limousine which was only a car or two behind the open limousine carrying President John F. Kennedy and his wife, Jackie, in a parade in downtown Dallas, Texas.
Bang! Bang! Bang! According to reliable witnesses, the sound of three unevenly spaced shots echoed off the buildings surrounding Dealey Plaza on the western end of downtown. Bullets struck President Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally, riding in the same limousine as the President.
The President's limousine sped away seeking safety and medical help at the nearby Parkland Hospital Emergency Room, leaving bystanders on the street puzzled, dazed and afraid to acknowledge what they had just seen.
The car carrying VP Johnson quickly followed. It was not immediately known, but Lyndon Johnson was going to be the President of the US within hours, the realization of a lifelong political dream!
Preface: November 22, 1963: Painful Transition
Who knows what went through the mind of "President Johnson" as Air Force One was winging its way back to Washington? He had just been sworn in as POTUS by Federal Judge Sarah Hughes in Dallas, moments before the plane, carrying both the corpse of the assassinated ex-president and his widow Jackie Kennedy, who was still wearing blood-stained clothing from the day's tragic events.
He was now POTUS, the culmination of his most ambitious political ambitions, via a scenario worthy of a Greek tragedy play.
Did his mind wander through the joys of being POTUS at last, mingled with the diminished value of how he got there, or was he quickly overwhelmed with the task of picking up the duties of leadership which he felt he might never experience?
There were three major issues boiling at the same time on the national political scene, all of which he had been watching as Vice President, but in which he had minor involvement and influence up until now.
* The War in Vietnam
* The Civil Rights Movement
* The Space Race
Now these issues were on his desk, and he must rise to deal with them.
Chapter One: Be Careful What You Wish For!
Lyndon Johnson arrived in Washington, D.C. the first time as an elected member of the US House of Representatives from Texas in 1937. He had been in Washington since 1930 as the legislative aide to Congressman Kleberg from Texas, and in the ensuing years met other aides to President Franklin Roosevelt, Vice-President John Garner, and Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn, also from Texas. The political bug apparently bit him, and he ran for Congress in 1937 and was elected.
After serving in the Navy in World War-II, Johnson returned to the Congress and ran for the Senate in 1948. He won a highly contested Democratic primary, and was assisted by an able attorney named Abe Fortas, who was appointed to the Supreme Court later.
Johnson rose through the political ranks to become Minority Leader, then Majority Leader when the Democrats regained control of the Senate. He worked tirelessly on important committees and legislative bills, and moved upward by making friends with powerful and influential fellow politicians.
By 1960 he was ready for the ultimate prize, the Presidency of the US. Unfortunately he lost the Democratic Party nomination to a young and aspiring Senator from Massachusetts, John Kennedy.
According to some accounts, Kennedy and other powerful politicians coerced Johnson into accepting the nomination for Vice President under Kennedy. This was undoubtedly a bitter pill to swallow, as Kennedy had not "paid his political dues", as had Johnson, by working for decades in the Washington political morass.
The Kennedy-Johnson ticket won in the 1960 Presidential election, and Johnson had to walk in the shadow of John Kennedy for the next three years. Then fate struck in November, 1963, and Johnson gained the prize he had yearned for so long: he became President as John Kennedy lay dead in Dallas from an assassin's bullet.
Being President of the United States (POTUS) is not an easy job, even in the best of circumstances and world conditions. Lyndon Johnson was faced with adversity in governing on many fronts and issues. He served as president from the time of John Kennedy's death in November, 1963 until the end of his own elected term in January, 1969, a little over five years. By January, 1973, after four years of retirement, he was dead at the age of 64 years.
Chapter Two: The Winding Road to the Presidency
Vice Presidency (1961–63)
Johnson's success in the Senate, especially in his position as Majority Leader, gave him the political visibility to be a potential Democratic presidential candidate. He came to national attention during the Democratic Party national convention in 1956. The party leaders urged him to get an early start and declare his candidacy for President in 1959, but Johnson wanted to see what Senator John Kennedy planned for his campaign. Johnson entered the Democratic campaign in mid-1960, which was late in the political cycle for an election in the Fall of 1960. By then the rival Kennedy campaign had established an early advantage among Democrats. Johnson had underestimated Kennedy's public appeal as a sophisticated, charming and intelligent person, compared to his own reputation as a crude and "anything goes" Washington politician. Johnson had been an elected official in Washington since 1937.
Johnson made an attempt to discredit Kennedy because of his youth, poor health and relatively short political experience, but it failed. Kennedy was nominated as the presidential candidate of the 1960 Democratic National Party on the first and only ballot of the convention.
Many of the Kennedy advisors, especially his brother Robert (Bobby), dislike Johnson, partly because of Johnson's attacks on the Kennedy family during the campaign leading up the convention. Some advisors acknowledged they needed Johnson on the ticket in order to carry the South, especially Texas, in the election. Johnson was widely viewed as being anti-Labor (union), which was also an important group of voters. After much back and forth arguments, John Kennedy decided to offer Johnson the vice-presidential, which caused much furor within his own group, for many diverse reasons. Kennedy's father, Joe, himself a seasoned politician, later praised the choice as the smartest thing they had done.
Bobby Kennedy spent a lot of time trying to undermine the choice of Johnson with other people in the Kennedy group of advisors, but John Kennedy's selection remained. It is not clear what Johnson's immediate reaction was to the offer, but it is rumored that there was a lot of arm-twisting and threats to his own political future if he did not accept.
At the same time as he was running for Vice President, Johnson was also running for a third term in the U.S. Senate, which he won. (Texas law allows this dual run). After winning the vice presidency, he resigned from the Senate when it convened on January 3, 1961.
After the election, Johnson knew traditionally that the office of the Vice President was largely ceremonial and ineffective politically. His seasoned and experienced political nature was not satisfied with just being in the President's shadow, and he began to look for ways to assume authority not normally associated with the VP. As a past Senate Majority Leader, he initially sought to maintain that authority along with the vice presidency, since being VP made him president of the Senate. His old Senate Democratic Party supporters opposed that move, and it died quickly.
Then Johnson sought to increase his influence of his new job within the Executive Branch. In quick succession he sought an executive order from Kennedy granting Johnson the supervision of all matters of national security. Kennedy's response was to assign Johnson to "review" national security policies instead. Kennedy also turned down Johnson's request to have an office adjacent to the (President's) Oval Office, and to have a full-time VP staff at the White House.
Many members of the Kennedy White House disliked Johnson, especially the president's brother Bobby, who had been included in the President's cabinet as Attorney General. The Massachusetts contingent considered Johnson brusque and crude. A Massachusetts congressman, Tip O'Neill, who later became Speaker of the House, recalled that the Kennedy's had a dislike for Johnson which they did not try to hide, and took pride in snubbing him. Johnson would have reason to remember this in future years.
Kennedy, however, brought Johnson to the White House often, and kept him busy. Kennedy was aware of Johnson's long history in Washington since his first elected office in 1937, so he did not want any adverse stories being floated out by Johnson to the press. Kennedy appointed him as head of the Committee on Equal Employment , working with African Americans and other minorities. Kennedy intended this to be a nominal position, but Johnson pushed the Kennedy administration into civil rights actions faster than Kennedy had intended. The irony was that Johnson became an advocate for civil rights, even though the Kennedy family had hoped that he would appeal to conservative southern voters.
Johnson was assigned to many minor diplomatic missions, giving him insights into global issues. He attended Cabinet and National Security Council meetings, and was appointed chairman of the President's Committee for Science. Kennedy also appointed Johnson Chairman of the National Aeronautics Space Council, and gave Johnson the task of evaluating the state of the US space program. Kennedy needed a project that would allow the US to catch up to the Soviets, who had already put a man into space. Johnson recommended that the US gain the leadership role by committing to land an American on the Moon in the 1960s. Kennedy assigned priority to the space program, but he used Johnson's appointment as cover in case of a failure.
Kennedy kept Johnson busy, but only "Fate" knew that all this Executive Branch experience was going to be Johnson's "on-the-job" training for his own Presidency in the future.
Presidency (1963–64)
Succession
Johnson was quickly sworn in as President on the Air Force One plane in Dallas on November 22, 1963, within a few hours after John F. Kennedy was assassinated. He was sworn in by U.S. District Judge Sarah T. Hughes, a family friend. He was convinced of the need to make an immediate transition of power after the assassination to provide the appearance of political stability to the nation. He and the secret service were concerned that there might be a broader effort to hamper the government, so he felt compelled to return as a new President to Washington immediately.
In the days following the assassination, the new President Johnson took advantage of the wave of national grief following the assassination, which gave greater credibility to Johnson's promise to carry out Kennedy's plans and legislative agenda.
As part of the effort to tie his new administration to the Kennedy legacy, Johnson retained senior Kennedy appointees, some for the full term of his presidency, including Robert Kennedy as Attorney General. His difficult relationship with Robert Kennedy continued, and Kennedy remained in the office for only a few months until leaving in 1964 to run for the Senate.
Rapid legislative initiatives
Johnson as the new president made himself popular by quickly pursuing one of Kennedy's primary legislative goals—a tax cut. Johnson worked closely with the Congress to negotiate a reduced budget for Senate approval of the tax reduction in the Revenue Act of 1964. Congressional approval quickly followed, which facilitated efforts to pass his civil rights legislation. In late 1963 Johnson also launched several programs under the broad label of his War on Poverty, including his Economic Opportunity Act, which created the Job Corps and VISTA, Volunteers in Service to America, a domestic counterpart to the Peace Corps.
Civil rights
President Kennedy had submitted a civil-rights bill to Congress in June 1963, which was met with strong opposition. Johnson asked Bobby Kennedy to lead the effort on Capitol Hill to revive the bill and work for its passage. This provided political credit for Johnson should the effort work, and blame for Bobby Kennedy if it failed.
LBJ wrapped white America in a moral straight jacket. How could individuals who identified themselves as good Christians with moral characteristics of generosity and fair dealing continue to suppress other Christians from education, an opportunity for societal advancement, and an equal voice in their future, regardless of being black-skinned?
Johnson was able to convince the Senate to support the bill by swinging the necessary Republican votes to pass it in the senate. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 into law, and remarked to an aide, "We have lost the South for a generation", anticipating a coming backlash from Southern whites against Johnson's Democratic Party.
This was only the beginning of Johnson's stress as President.
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
In August 1964, the U.S. Navy reported that two US destroyers had been attacked by some North Vietnamese torpedo boats in international waters 40 miles from the Vietnamese coast in an area called the Gulf of Tonkin. Although Johnson wanted to keep discussions about Vietnam out of the 1964 election campaign, he felt forced to respond. He obtained from Congress the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which gave him power to proceed with military actions without congressional endorsement. This gave Johnson a strengthened image in the presidential election race coming up in the Fall of 1964 against hawkish Barry Goldwater. It also got him in deeper with the war, in the face of public sentiment largely against it.
Having this presidential unilateral power to wage the Vietnam War as he saw fit, without any Congressional oversight or power to disapprove, would cause Johnson much distress later in the war, as war decisions fell squarely on his shoulders alone.
Chapter Three: A New Presidential Term (1965-1968)
Johnson was re-elected President in the 1964 Presidential election, signaling in some small part the public approval of his activities, although he had been President only one year since the assassination of John Kennedy in November, 1963.
Early in 1964, Johnson was not optimistic about his chances of being elected president in his own right. An important change happened when he became personally involved with the negotiations between the railroad workers union and the railroad industry over the issue of featherbedding, which is the practice of having more union workers on each train than is necessary for its proper operation. Johnson emphasized to both the union and the railroad companies, that a strike would have a devastating effect on the nation's economy, which would not be good for Johnson's public popularity. After considerable negotiations, especially with the railroad companies, Johnson got an agreement. The railroads were promised by the president greater freedom in setting worker rights and more liberal depreciation allowances from the IRS. Avoiding a strike substantially boosted Johnson's self-confidence as well as his public image.
That same year, Robert F. Kennedy was widely considered the perfect choice to run as Johnson's vice presidential running mate, playing upon the public sentiment of President John Kennedy's recent assassination. However, Johnson and Bobby Kennedy had never liked one another. He was also concerned that Bobby Kennedy on the political ticket would be credited too much with his election as president. He disliked the idea and opposed it at every turn. Kennedy himself was undecided about taking the role, but knowing that the idea bothered Johnson, refused to eliminate himself from consideration. Ultimately, the poor polling numbers of the Republican candidate, Barry Goldwater, helped Johnson decide that he did not need Kennedy as his running mate.
Hubert Humphrey's selection by Johnson as his vice-presidential running mate then became a certainty, as Johnson needed the support Humphrey brought to the ticket in the Midwest and industrial Northeast. Johnson, however, knowing from his own experience the frustration of being the vice president, grilled Humphrey soundly via several interviews to guarantee his absolute loyalty.
Early in the 1964 presidential campaign, the Republican candidate Barry Goldwater appeared to be a strong opponent, especially in the South, where Johnson's passage of the Civil Rights Act had made him unpopular. However, Goldwater lost momentum as his campaign progressed, as the Johnson campaign cast Goldwater as a "war monger" and hinted that he might start a nuclear conflict if elected.
Johnson won the election by a wide margin, and strengthened the Democratic hold on both houses of Congress, thus ensuring better support there for his future legislative programs.
Voting Rights Act
Johnson began his elected presidential term with the same plans as he had after John Kennedy's death: "…carry forward the plans and programs of John Fitzgerald Kennedy, not because of our sorrow or sympathy, but because they are right." He was reticent to push southern congressmen too hard for cooperation since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Nevertheless, the large and vocal gatherings of black people for public marches in Alabama led by Martin Luther King caused Johnson to initiate debate on voting rights.
Johnson declared to the country, "The issue of equal rights for American Negroes is such an issue. And should we defeat every enemy, should we double our wealth and conquer the stars, and still be unequal to this issue, then we will have failed as a people and as a nation."
In 1965, Johnson achieved the unbelievable passage of a second civil rights bill called the Voting Rights Act, which outlawed discrimination in voting. Millions of southern blacks were now able to register to vote. The State of Texas, Johnson's home state, held the majority of the African American population at the time, and the passage of this bill did not make his fellow Texans like him. Between the years of 1968 and 1980, the number of southern black elected state and federal officeholders nearly doubled. Nationally—in 1965, a few hundred black office-holders expanded to 6,000 in 1989. The attitude of the white Southern voters caused a great deal of concern in the Democratic Party, and was particularly a stress point for Johnson.
Immigration
With the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the country's immigration system was dramatically changed, and all national origins quotas dating from the 1920s were removed. The annual rate of inflow doubled between 1965 and 1970, and doubled again by 1990, with large increases from Asia and Mexico. Even then, the Democratic Party recognized that it needed to increase its registered voter base among non-whites, to offset the white voters it would lose in the South because of the changes in voter eligibility laws.
Federal funding for education
Johnson's personal experience with a public education in Texas caused him to believe it lifted him from poverty. He further believed that only education was a cure for ignorance and poverty, and was an essential component of the American dream of prospering. His experience was that minorities endured poor facilities and meager educational budgets from local taxes. He made education the top priority of the Great Society agenda, with an emphasis on helping poor children. After the 1964 mid-term election brought in many new liberal Congressmen, Johnson launched a legislative effort to double federal spending on education from $4 billion to $8 billion.
For the first time, large amounts of federal money went to public schools. In theory the money was intended to help all public school districts, with more money going to districts that had large proportions of students from poor families. For the first time private schools (most of them Catholic schools in the inner cities) received services, such as library funding, which brought up the subject of the separation of "Church and State" discussion. Conservatives decried the use of public funds for "religious" education. The prior election of John Kennedy, a Catholic, as President, blunted the discussion.
Though federal funds were involved, they were administered by local officials, and by 1977 it was reported that less than half of the funds were actually applied toward the education of children under the poverty line. Most of these wasted funds occurred long after Johnson was gone from office, but it nevertheless came to his attention while still in office, causing some frustration and stress that his good intentions failed.
Johnson established several programs including the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts, to provide financial support for artists and educators, but the money did little to garner support from college professors and students, who were growing increasingly agitated about the war in Vietnam.
Johnson was undoubtedly stressed that the more money he "threw" at social problems, the less favorable were the results of his efforts. Free and easy "giveaway" programs worked less and less to quiet critics.
War on Poverty
In 1964, at Johnson's request, Congress passed several acts intended to improve the financial situation of the poor and low income people, as part of his "War on Poverty". These included the Revenue Act of 1964, the Economic Opportunity Act, and programs such as Head Start, food stamps and Work Study. During Johnson's years in office, national poverty declined significantly, with the percentage of Americans living below the poverty line dropping from 23 percent to 12 percent, although the definition of "poverty line" is always subject to interpretation. No doubt these actions helped Johnson's conscience about people in poverty.
Healthcare Reform
Johnson's initial effort to improve healthcare was the creation of The Commission on Heart Disease, Cancer and Strokes (HDCS).
As a back-up position, in 1965 Johnson turned his focus to hospital insurance for the aged under Social Security and called it "Medicare", which is well-known by retirees today. Medicare was fashioned with three layers—hospital insurance under Social Security, a voluntary insurance program for doctor visits and an expanded medical welfare program for the poor, known as Medicaid.
Medicare now covers healthcare for tens of millions of Americans, who participate financially by paying premiums each month, usually from their Social Security benefit check.
Gun Control
In 1968, Lyndon Johnson signed the Gun Control Act of 1968, one of the largest federal gun control laws in American history. Much of the motivation for this large expansion of federal gun regulations came as a response to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr.
When Johnson became President as a result of President Kennedy's assassination, it made him especially sensitive about gun control. The subsequent two assassinations caused him some additional stress on the subject, as two of the assassinations were performed with "long" guns, or rifles, which are not as controlled as "hand" guns, which was used to assassinate Bobby Kennedy.
The Space Race to the Moon
During Johnson's administration, NASA continued the Gemini manned space program, started under President Kennedy, and made preparations for the first manned Apollo program flights. On January 27, 1967, the nation was stunned when the entire crew of Apollo 1 was killed in a launch pad accident. The space program opponents pointed to this event as evidence that the program was being pushed too hard and too fast, in an attempt to reach the moon during the decade, which was one of President Kennedy's top priorities to best the Russians.
Johnson maintained his staunch support of the Apollo program and it continued. The first two manned missions, Apollo 7 and the first manned flight to the Moon, Apollo 8, were completed by the end of Johnson's term.
On July 16, 1969, after he had left office, Johnson attended the launch of the first Moon landing mission Apollo 11, becoming the first former or incumbent US president to witness a rocket launch.
The Space Race Beyond the Moon (to Mars)
When President Kennedy made the commitment to go to the moon by the end of the decade, others in the space program urged him to "go big" and to start a program to beyond the moon to Mars. A joint effort between NASA and the AEC (Atomic Energy Commission) was formed; it was named SNPO (Space Nuclear Propulsion Office). A contract was quickly given to two major contractors in the nuclear reactor industry (Westinghouse) and the rocket industry (Aerojet General) to build a nuclear-powered rocket to send a manned "fly-by" mission to Mars and return. The rocket was deemed NERVA (Nuclear Energy for Rocket Vehicle Acceleration), and was an extension of a similar design done by the LASL (Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory), called "Rover".
The NERVA program was started by President Kennedy and taken up by Johnson when he became president. The Mars mission, involving the fabrication and ground testing of NERVA rockets at Area 25 of the Nevada Test Site, siphoned off dollars from the Lunar missions which were underway at the time.
The costs of the Vietnam War, escalating under Johnson's presidency, and the Lunar space program, eventually became too much of a luxury to pursue the NERVA program, and it was defunded in the late 1960's and died in the early 1970's.
Going to the moon was John Kennedy's idea. Johnson was probably looking at the Mars mission as being his landmark accomplishment, if it could be done.
Johnson was unable to keep all the programs funded, and this undoubtedly contributed to some of the stress which caused him not to continue his presidential aspirations going into the 1968 presidential election cycle.
Urban Riots
Despite Johnson's ongoing efforts toward establishing better "civil rights" for the blacks with legislation aimed at rectifying long years of segregation and prejudice, major riots erupted in black neighborhoods in major cities throughout the country. People in Harlem rioted in the summer of 1964, in Los Angeles (Watts district) in 1965, Newark and Detroit in 1967, and in a hundred cities in 1968 after the assassination of the popular black activist Martin Luther King.
Many people were killed, stores were looted and buildings were burned, causing state governors and even Johnson to send in armed military troops to restore order. Johnson promised even more money to the cities for better low income housing, etc. but there was a white backlash and Johnson's popularity among the voting public plummeted.
The nation lost control of the streets, and Johnson lost control of his political party, in a societal divide that must have caused Johnson many sleepless nights and much stress over his failed policies.
Backlash against Johnson: 1966–67
In 1966 TV news reporting and the print press began to realize and report there was some significant difference in what Johnson was saying in press conferences and what was actually happening on the ground in Vietnam. This was labeled at the time a "credibility gap". There was a lot of public frustration over the US involvement in Vietnam, too much spending on Johnson's Great Society programs (which were essentially subsidies for the black community which Johnson felt had been left out of opportunity for too long), too much spending on the space programs, increased taxation, etc.
Johnson countered that wages were the highest in history, unemployment was at a 13-year low, and corporate profits and farm incomes were greater than ever. However a 4.5% jump in consumer prices was worrisome, as were rising interest rates. Johnson asked for a temporary 6% surcharge in income taxes to cover the mounting deficit caused by increased spending, and his public approval ratings dropped below 50%. Johnson also blamed the press, saying they showed "complete irresponsibility and lie and misstate facts and have no one to be answerable to."
Blaming the press, the preachers, liberals and college professors for his disapproval ratings was essentially saying that if the facts were not discussed publicly, the public would still love him. Johnson's stress rose to even higher levels.
Anti-War Marches on Washington
Thousands of young people marched on Washington in protest against the war in Vietnam and the military draft that was causing more and more young people to be sent there and be subject to the death and dismemberment that wars cause.
Johnson was appalled and wondered who these disheveled and unkempt young people were. He was accustomed to well-dressed, well-educated, well-mannered young people whom he saw at all levels of government employment, and probably felt disconnected from these "citizen" protesters. Indeed, he was disconnected from the feelings of mainstream America on the subject of the Vietnam War.
Young men of draft age in the US were taking drastic actions not to be drafted, trained in the military and then be sent to Vietnam. One of the popular moves was to flee to refuge in Canada, a country that was not totally sympathetic to the US involvement in Vietnam. US citizens were allowed to stay there without fear of extradition back to the US, where they were exposed to the dangers of war. Those who fled to Canada were derided by many as traitors and cowards to avoid their patriotic duty to their country. Those who fled considered this disapproval as being the tradeoff for not being killed in the war. Many stayed in Canada, but those who attempted to return to the US after the war faced various forms of punishment by the government.
Waging the War
Johnson was under continuous pressure from the public, his advisors, the military leaders and Congress to find a coherent and successful conclusion to the war. The advice ranged from simply leaving South Vietnam to its own defense, to a strategy of bombing North Vietnam until all its people were killed or unable to continue the conflict militarily.
Johnson met with his generals constantly, and met with escalating demands for more air power, more bombs, more ground troops and more aggressive waging of the war.
Chapter Four: Historical Events
In April 1968, Martin Luther King, the acknowledged leader of the black community's activism movement for civil rights (meaning equal rights for blacks), was assassinated during one of his marches in Memphis, Tennessee.
Response of the black community nationwide was to stage major outbreaks of racial violence, causing 40 deaths and extensive property damage in more than 100 cities throughout the US. The assassin was identified as James Earl Ray, an escaped fugitive, who confessed to the crime and was put back into prison for a 99-year term.
In June 1968, Senator Robert Kennedy, who was now running for President and had just won the presidential Democratic primary election in California, was shot at his rally in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Kennedy had made a popular speech to his supporters that he was ready to lead the country back from its divisive activities in the war and civil rights issues. Upon leaving the hotel, he was shot and died the next day.
After President Johnson had decided not to seek another term of office, Bobby Kennedy appeared to be the right person to bring the country together again. Since he was the Attorney General under his brother, President John Kennedy, he was very popular with the public in general. His sympathy toward civil rights gave him much support in the minority community.
Chapter Five: Mounting Pressures
Searching for Help
Although Johnson had developed into one of the most experienced political practitioners of his and even earlier centuries, he was very pragmatic and probably recognized that he needed input and advice from countless other seasoned Washington politicos, especially in the areas where he had the least experience. These included the military and the technical aspects of the space program. He probably felt that he was in tune with the demands of the raging civil rights movement, as this was one of his personal interests. Although he had been a naval officer in World War-II, his duties were involved with production and inspection, and not with the planning or execution of military action. He had no background which would guide him in the highly technical space program that he had inherited from President Kennedy.
LBJ Advisors: The Wise Men
Johnson meets with 'The Wise Men,' March 25, 1968
On March 25, 1968, as bad news about the US military involvement in Vietnam continued to get worse President Johnson met with 14 informal advisers. In 1945, some of them had been involved in foreign policy discussions aimed at containing the Soviet Union and its Communistic government. They had also been involved in creating important institutions like NATO, the World Bank and the Marshall Plan. They were known, collectively, as “The Wise Men.”
Present at the White House meeting were Dean Acheson, George Ball, McGeorge Bundy, Clark Clifford, Arthur Dean, Douglas Dillon, Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas, Averell Harriman, Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., Robert Murphy, Cyrus Vance and Generals of the Army Omar Bradley, Matthew Ridgway and Maxwell Taylor. Who were these men, so trusted that a sitting president would call them in to counsel him? See their credentials in Appendix One.
They met with Johnson after being briefed by officials at the State Department, the Pentagon and the CIA. The meeting agenda included discussion of a request from Gen. William Westmoreland, the top U.S. commander in Vietnam, for additional troops. Westmoreland was concerned about U.S. military setbacks caused by what had become to be called the "Tet Offensive", a series of counterattacks mounted by the North Vietnamese army.
Dean Acheson summed up the recommendations from 11 of the men, “we can no longer do the job we set out to do in the time we have left, and we must begin to take steps to disengage.” Murphy, Taylor and Fortas dissented.
This was a startling and dramatic change of opinion offered by this same group a mere five months before on Nov. 1-2, 1967, during an earlier gathering of the same advisors. At that earlier meeting the Wise Men had unanimously opposed leaving Vietnam. “Public discontent with the war is now wide and deep,” Bundy had said, but he told Johnson to “stay the course.”
Johnson may have been surprised by the reversal of opinion by this group, but they could leave the meeting and return to their normal activities. Johnson was left with the burden of decision, and the prospects left him grim and agonized.
For detailed descriptions of the credentials of the "Wise Men", see Appendix One.
Chapter Six: Giving It Up
Social Activism
Where did the influences and social concerns in Johnson's life originate? Did his early life in Texas create some sort of empathy for the blacks, who were unquestionably second-rate citizens in the Southern states. Texas also had a lot of "wetbacks", as the Mexicans who had come across the Rio Grande River illegally into the US were unkindly labeled, and these people were tolerated as low-cost workers. Did Johnson develop sympathy for these groups?
Whatever the reason, Johnson moved forward in his own thinking toward creating a more equal opportunity for these groups to survive and thrive in the US culture of mostly white people, who had the decided advantages in advancing in life. It will never be completely understood what drove him to push laws into existence which provided more "equal" opportunity to live, vote and succeed. The pressure on Johnson was self-inflicted, and it probably had some bearing on his shortened political career and his life.
War Issues
No matter how much Johnson decried that he did not know who the young people of the nation were, who were demonstrating in the streets against the Vietnam war, he certainly saw and felt deeply the daily report of dead and wounded casualties he received about the American boys in the war. He had the internal quandary about being the first president to lose a land war, if he decided to pull out of the conflict, balanced against the continued financial and human expense on both sides of the war, if he continued.
Johnson could not continue being deaf to the protests in the streets, as if they did not exist.
Space Program
The death of three astronauts in the space program could not be ignored, as if there were no human risks, as well as the financial commitment necessary to carry out President Kennedy's bold, but risky, pledge to land a man on the moon, largely to upstage the Russians. The real value of the space program beyond any political value had yet to be demonstrated or realized.
Other Secrets
It wasn't revealed until many decades later that Johnson had evidence of his successor, Richard Nixon, interfering in Johnson's efforts to broker a truce between the South and North Vietnamese governments and to stop the war entirely.
Johnson had arranged high level peace talks in Paris between the two Vietnamese groups. Johnson was anxious to get this done before he left office to improve the political odds that his vice president, Hubert Humphrey, who was running for president in the 1968 election, would be elected. On the other side, Richard Nixon, the Republican candidate, felt that a continuation of the war would assist him in being elected against the Democrats, who were essentially blamed for the continuing war. Nixon publicly denounced the war, but privately and cynically knew that a continuation of the war would help his chance of election as POTUS.
It was alleged at the time and Johnson learned of it, that Nixon had sent word to the South Vietnamese representatives at the Paris peace talks not to agree to any deal to end the war. Johnson was appalled, but was advised not to publicize the events for the public good. There was just too much at stake for a possible incoming new president to be accused of "traitorous" activities, which was precisely the case of a "citizen" dealing with a foreign government on such sensitive matters, which is illegal.
Many years later, Nixon's actions were verified. The war was extended for four years under Nixon and 22,000 more American military personnel were wounded or killed as a result of the extended conflict.
Johnson was to carry this heavy secret to the grave and could do nothing but sit on his ranch in Texas, where he retired and seethe at the developments which brought his fondest dreams of being POTUS to such a sorry end. There is no way to measure how much he agonized over the death of Martin Luther King because of Civil Rights legislation that was passed.
Johnson's succession to the presidency after John Kennedy's assassination and the openly hostile attitudes between Johnson and Bobby Kennedy and all the Kennedy entourage, all may have contributed to Bobby's resigning as Attorney General and running for a position as the US Senator from Massachusetts. In this role Bobby Kennedy began a run for Democratic candidacy in the 1968 elections, and was assassinated during the campaign. What stress did this antagonism cause Johnson to feel about his role in this tragic event?
He did not live to see his nemesis, Richard Nixon, resign in disgrace with his ouster from office. Johnson might have felt some satisfaction to see his enemy fall in this manner.
Appendix One: Johnson's Wise Men
Civilian Advisors
Dean Acheson
Dean Gooderham Acheson was an American statesman and lawyer. He was the Secretary of State in the administration of President Harry S. Truman from 1949 to 1953 and he played a major role in defining US foreign policy during that period. Acheson helped design the Marshall Plan, the Truman Doctrine and creation of NATO ( North Atlantic Treaty Organization).
Acheson's most famous decision was convincing President Truman to intervene in the Korean War in June 1950. He also persuaded Truman to dispatch aid and advisors to French forces in Indochina (which includes the nations of Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia), though in 1968 he finally counseled President Lyndon B. Johnson to negotiate for peace with North Vietnam. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, President John F. Kennedy called upon Acheson for advice, bringing him into the executive committee, a strategic advisory group.
George Ball
George Wildman Ball was an American diplomat and banker. He served in the management of the State Department from 1961 to 1966 (Under Secretary of State December 4, 1961 – September 30, 1966), and is remembered most as the only major dissenter against the escalation of the Vietnam War. He refused to publicize his doubts, which were based on calculations that South Vietnam was doomed. He was the US Ambassador to the United Nations June 26, 1968 – September 25, 1968.
McGeorge Bundy
McGeorge "Mac" Bundy was an American expert in foreign and defense policy, serving as United States National Security Advisor to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 through 1966. Despite his distinguished career as a foreign-policy intellectual, educator, and philanthropist, he is best remembered as one of the chief architects of the United States' escalation of the Vietnam War during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.
In World War II Bundy served as an intelligence officer. After the war he became a professor of government at Harvard University. In 1961 he joined President John Kennedy's administration.
Clark Clifford
Clark McAdams Clifford was an American lawyer who served as an important political advisor to Democratic Presidents Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Jimmy Carter. His official government positions were White House Counsel (1946–1950), Chairman of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board (1963–1968), and Secretary of Defense (1968–1969). Clifford was also influential in his role as an unofficial, informal presidential advisor in various issues.
Arthur Dean
Arthur Hobson Dean was a New York lawyer and diplomat who was viewed as one of the leading corporate lawyers of his day, as well having served as a key advisor to numerous U.S. presidents.
He was the chief U.S. negotiator at Panmunjom, where he helped negotiate the end of the Korean War, and served as a delegate to the United Nations.
Douglas Dillon
Clarence Douglas Dillon was an American diplomat and politician, who served as U.S. Ambassador to France (1953–1957) and as Secretary of the Treasury (1961–1965). He was also an advisor to President John Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Dillon remained Treasury Secretary under President Lyndon B. Johnson until 1965.
Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas
Abraham "Abe" Fortas was a U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice from 1965 to 1969.
Fortas worked at the Department of the Interior under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and during that time President Harry S. Truman appointed him to a position that helped establish the United Nations in 1945.
In 1948 Fortas represented Lyndon Johnson in a contested Democratic Senatorial electoral dispute and made close ties with the president-to-be. As an appointee to the Supreme Court by Johnson, Fortas maintained a close working relationship with the president.
Averell Harriman
William Averell Harriman was an American Democratic politician, businessman, and diplomat. He served as Secretary of Commerce under President Harry S. Truman and later was the Governor of New York.
Harriman served under President Franklin D. Roosevelt as special envoy to Europe and served as the U.S. Ambassador to both the Soviet Union and Britain.
Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.
Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. was a Republican United States Senator from Massachusetts and a U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, South Vietnam, West Germany, and the Vatican.
Robert Murphy
Robert Daniel Murphy was an American diplomat and was an adviser to Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.
Cyrus Vance
Cyrus Roberts Vance was a lawyer and under President Jimmy Carter he was the US Secretary of State, Secretary of the Army and the Deputy Secretary of Defense.
As Secretary of State, Vance's approach to foreign policy favored negotiation instead of conflict. In 1980, Vance resigned in protest over a secret mission to rescue American hostages in Iran.
Military Advisors
General Omar Bradley
General of the Army Omar Nelson Bradley was a highly distinguished senior officer of the United States Army who saw distinguished service in World War II. After the war, Bradley headed the Veterans Administration and became Army Chief of Staff. In 1949, Bradley was appointed the first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the following year oversaw the policy-making for the Korean War, before retiring from active service in 1953.
General Matthew Ridgway
General Matthew Bunker Ridgway was a senior United States Army officer. He served with distinction during World War II, where he led military action in Sicily, Italy and Normandy.
He held several major commands after the war and was most famous for the war effort during the Korean War.
General Maxwell Taylor
Maxwell Davenport "Max" Taylor was a senior United States Army officer, who served as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff after having been appointed by President John F. Kennedy.
Appendix Two: Vietnam War Timeline
(Citation: C N Trueman "Timeline of the Vietnam War"
historylearningsite.co.uk. The History Learning Site, 27 Mar 2015. 16 Aug 2016.)
1862: Vietnam became part of the French Empire, which controls it for many decades
1930: Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh helped to form the Indo-Chinese Communist Party to resist French control
1941: Vietminh League (League for the Independence of Vietnam) formed to counter Japanese invasion of Vietnam
1945: After WW-II ended, Japan handed Vietnam to the Vietminh; Ho Chi Minh declared it as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam ; French troops arrived back in Vietnam to regain control
1946: War breaks out between the French and the Vietminh
1949: Communists take over China and allow the communistic Vietminh to train in China away from French attacks
1950: US President Truman refuses to recognize the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, but Communist China and USSR (Russia) do
1954: The Vietminh military leader Vo Nguyen Giap defeats the French in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, causing France to withdraw its military from Vietnam. Ceasefire was agreed at Geneva that split Vietnam into North and South at the 17th Parallel; the US promises aid worth $100 million to the anti-communist leader of South Vietnam
1955: The pro-American Ngo Dinh Diem became President of South Vietnam and the US agrees to train the South Vietnamese army
1957: The Vietminh start a campaign of guerrilla warfare in South Vietnam
1959: American military advisors are killed in Vietnam – the first US casualties
1960: The National Liberation Front (NLF) was formed in Hanoi, North Vietnam, although they operate in South Vietnam as the Vietcong (VC)
1961: The newly-elected US President John Kennedy pledges extra aid to South Vietnam; this is his first exposure to the war, as it is for VP Lyndon Johnson. The US goal in Vietnam is to contain Communism and keep it from spreading to the rest of Southeast Asia
1962: The number of US military advisors increases from 700 to 12,000, although there is supposedly no direct military action from US military personnel
1963: South Vietnam President Diem is killed in a military coup, and the number of US military advisors in South Vietnam increases to 15,000
1963: US President Kennedy is assassinated and Lyndon Johnson becomes President of the US; it is now Johnson's war
1964: North Vietnam attacks two US ships in an area called the Gulf of Tonkin. The Us Congress passes the "Gulf of Tonkin Resolution", which allows President Johnson to wage the Vietnam War without any specific Congressional approval. The US military bombs targets in North Vietnam; the VietCong attacks US airbases; and the US is now at war.
1965: US military involvement in Vietnam escalates with "Operation Rolling Thunder". The first US combat troops are sent to Vietnam in March; by the end of the year there are 200,000 US troops there. The first major military ground operations between US and North Vietnam begin
1966: US military expands to 400,000 US troops on the ground. In the US the public begins to protest the war, to the chagrin of President Johnson.
1967: US troop level expands to 490,000 in Vietnam; Nguyen Van Thieu becomes President of South Vietnam. Protests in the US expands to more cities.
1968: Public demonstrations against the war start in many major cities in the US. Peace talks began in Paris, against a backdrop of 540,000 US troops in Vietnam. Anti-Vietnam War riots occur in Chicago.
President Johnson states that he will not run for re-election, and that his public service is over when the new president is sworn in as of January, 1969.
1969: The newly-elected US President Richard Nixon orders the secret bombing of Cambodia, and announces the start of US troop withdrawals from Vietnam, which now number 480,000.
1970: Large scale anti-war demonstrations continue throughout the US. The National Guard is called out in Ohio to contain a student gathering, and four student demonstrators are shot dead at Kent State University; 280,000 US troops remain in Vietnam; secret peace talks are held in Paris
1971: The troop drawdown continues, and 140,000 US troops remain in Vietnam
1972: “Peace is at hand”, says Nixon's foreign policy advisor, Dr. Kissinger
1973: A ceasefire is signed in Paris, and the last US troops leave Vietnam; US POW’s are released . Normal diplomatic relations are attempted
1975: The communist Khmer Rouge take control of Cambodia; the Viet Cong capture the capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, and overrun the US Embassy, as the last of the Diplomatic Corps flee for their lives in a dramatic evacuation