President Lyndon B. Johnson's Impact On The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War, which began in 1955 and ended twenty years later in 1975, had an unforeseen impact on American society, which caused a decline in support for the United States’ involvement in Southeast Asia. This paper will examine the causes that led to a shift in support for the Vietnam War from the American public. Factors such as the cost of the war, both in monetary terms and solider causality rates, the lack of progress being made in Vietnam, and the protests and resistance that came from the younger generations, contributed to a decline in support for the war throughout the United States. This paper will also examine how this shift in support has had a lasting impact on United States foreign relations due to a change in American societal values and the understanding that the Vietnam War was not successful. By examining primary sources, such as President Lyndon B Johnson’s speech to Congress about the Tonkin Gulf Incident, which essential started the United States involvement in Vietnam and monographs and journal articles about the impact the Vietnam War had on society during the time of the conflict and the implications it caused to American politics this paper will be able to show why the shift occurred.
In order to understand how and why societal views shifted …show more content…
With the conclusion of both the First and Second World War came the end to capitalism in Russia and China. Because of this the United States experienced a period of red scares where Americans felt that capitalism was on the brink of destruction. Johnson was able to use this fear to implement the intervention in Vietnam, as explained previously in his message to Congress. This fear of communism from American citizens helped to lead to a change in opinion from the next