Lyndon B Johnson's Foreign Policy During The Cold War

I came into this class with some knowledge of the Cold War, but there was a lot I still wanted to learn as I find the Soviet Union fascinating. The Soviet Union was, at least in my experience, portrayed as an evil empire. By no means was the Soviet Union an example of a perfect government, but they were not necessarily the evil empire they are portrayed as. They were fighting a war of self-preservation against the United States who they viewed as their enemy. Just how we were taught that the Soviets were trying to invade us and destroy us, is how the Soviet people felt about us. We were the first to detonate a nuclear bomb against our enemy and how did they know we would not use a nuclear bomb against them. Furthermore, we did not share information regarding the …show more content…
Truman had to make a tough choice during WWII and at the beginning of the Korean War. Lyndon B. Johnson had a difficult decision to make regarding Vietnam and what course of action we should take. Johnson had the difficult decision of deciding whether the United States would send ground troops to Vietnam in order to protect South Vietnam, which was an ally. Johnson believed that if he did send troops it would turn into another Korea. If he did not send troops it was only a matter of time before the North Vietnamese would take over South Vietnam. I believe that no matter what he decided he would face some backlash. If he did not intervene, conservatives in the US government would call him weak for not stopping the spread of communism. If he did, he would face criticism for supporting a dictator that was killing his own people while most people supported Ho Chi Minh. Even today, the United States is polarized to where when a president does something the other half of the country is against him. It sheds light on how though it is to make decisions that the whole country will be