It is to a great extent that this criticism is inaccurate, as there is not enough evidence to substantiate the claim that Lyndon Johnson single-handedly brought the Vietnamese conflict to the American people. The fact that North Vietnam was controlled by a communist regime threatening the security of the entire western civilization only served as the catalyst for the inevitability of a US led attack on Soviet interests; it can not solely be blamed on Johnson simply because he was the President to take the initiative and counter the Soviet threat that had been very ominous ever since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1960-61. The years leading up to the Vietnam War have clearly indicated Johnson’s thoughts on the Vietnam situation, and hence the lack of ‘political motives’ of which his critics have argued for years as the basis for his strategy; the fact that there have been several reliable sources that have proved Johnson’s reluctance to go into any conflict despite mounting pressure from the ‘Hawks’ (pro-military strikes) justify that claim. Although there has been claims of Johnson’s incompetence, and

question marks raised on his ‘rash’ decisions made during the Vietnam War not only in increasing the number of US ground troops deployed but also in the several bombing campaigns and incursions made by the military forces, there has not been any hard evidence to support the view that Johnson had been committed to a war in the first place, nor was he the culprit for ‘sending Americans to their deaths’ as the western media made him.

The criticism that Johnson was responsible for the outbreak of the Vietnam War cannot be accurate as the evidence shows that there were several factors that contributed to his decision to send troops into Vietnam; it has been clear that there were factors both home and abroad that influenced his decision making in his stressful time as the President of the Untied States. As Michael Lind, and leading orthodox historian mentions, “…the United States has always been [committed] to preventing the Soviet Union from forming a social and military hegemony…” and as such, it is reasonable to suggest that had Johnson not been in power, the inevitability of war would still have been existent given the threat that communism poses to capital and economic interests not only in the United States but also in the western powers.

Some topics in this essay:
North Vietnam, Vietnam War, World War, Johnson’s Vietnam, Missile Crisis, South Vietnamese, La Ferber, East Asia, Empire Cuba, Lyndon Johnson, north vietnam, vietnam war, ‘johnson’s war’, cuban missile crisis, missile crisis, attack north, north vietnamese, communist regime, southeast asia, cuban missile, western civilization, ‘johnson’s war’ inaccurate,