U.S. History 1877-Present 12.2: Escalation Station

better for the people of his country by expanding social programs with his Great [Johnson signs legislation]

Society legislation. Declaring war on people in another country would just stand in

the way of that. Well, LBJ also knew how unpopular a full-scale war would be. WWII [people protest war]

had been the bloodiest war in human history, and nobody was super excited to

do it again. Like a weird uncle who always says the wrong thing at [WWII pictures]

Thanksgiving, war wasn't welcome back again. So, LBJ figured the best thing to [awkward Thanksgiving conversation]

do was to send bombers over there and well, you know, nail specific targets

and be done with it. Right? He hoped to break the will of the North Vietnamese [bombers fly]

without having to put any American lives at serious risk. Well, Congress approved

this idea with the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, and it was bombs away. Well, [resolution pictured]

when LBJ ran for election in 1964, he swore up and down that he wouldn't send

any American ground forces to Vietnam. He probably really meant it, too, at the time. [LBJ bends the truth a little]

But, that's not how it went down. Just months after winning the election,

Johnson chose to follow advice from the National Security Council to deploy U.S.

combat soldiers to South Vietnam. Without an official declaration, the U.S. waged [soldiers go to Vietnam]

an ever-widening war. While LBJ had succeeded in not officially declaring

war, he had still firmly stuck the fork in the toaster. By 1968, the number of [that toaster is still tempting]

American GIs in Vietnam was over 500,000, and the U.S. had dropped more bombs in [Vietnam statistics]

Southeast Asia than all of those used in World War II. Because apparently, WWII

hadn't been bomb-y enough. Well, the military also got creative with [bomb footage]

chemicals, which unfortunately wasn't the name of a fun collegiate chemistry course. [chemistry students lose eyebrows]

U.S. fighter pilots spread chemicals like Agent Orange that destroyed forests and crops, [chemicals spread in Vietnam]

and, many believe, caused long-lasting health problems and birth

defect for the Vietnamese. Well, there was also this "fun" stuff called napalm, a thick

form of gasoline that seared the skin of all those exposed to it. So Johnson [napalm footage]

authorized the army to pursue Viet Cong guerrilla soldiers in search and destroy

operations in the jungles of South Vietnam. These operations were often [missions launched]

unorganized, chaotic missions that resulted in the death of many civilians. [war photos]

Well, despite all the horrific violence, the will of the enemy couldn't

be broken, and the United States wouldn't allow the South Vietnamese government to

fight on its own. As far as we were concerned, they still needed training [Johnson pushes South Vietnam on bike]

wheels. On 31 March 1968, President Lyndon Johnson addressed the nation. He [LBJ speaks]

announced his plan to pursue negotiations with North Vietnamese

leaders in order to bring an end to the war in Vietnam. He didn't seem all that [people negotiate]

convinced that he could pull it off, though, but then he blew everybody's

minds when he said, "I do not believe that I should devote an hour or a day of my

time to any personal partisan causes or to any duties other than the awesome [LBJ does not run for second term]

duties of this office." Johnson concluded, "Accordingly, I shall not seek another

term as your president." Gotta hand it to him... The man knew how to make an exit.