How Did President Johnson Escalate the War? (AQA GCSE History): Revision Note

Summary

The USA never officially declared war on North Vietnam, but an attack on a US Navy ship in the Gulf of Tonkin led to it becoming directly involved in the conflict. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution gave President Johnson permission to use all aspects of the USA’s huge military to protect South Vietnam.

The US military adopted search and destroy tactics to find and kill the Vietcong and poisoned enormous areas of the jungle to remove their hiding places. It also launched an enormous aerial bombing campaign called Operation Rolling Thunder.

None of the new tactics were effective enough to lead to victory for the USA. Instead, they often increased support for the Vietcong, which remained in control of large areas of the countryside. 

Gulf of Tonkin incident

• The Gulf of Tonkin Incident was the key event that led to US troops fighting in Vietnam

• It occurred in August 1964, when the US president was Lyndon Baines Johnson

• Like Eisenhower and Kennedy before him, Johnson believed in the Domino Theory 

• Johnson also seemed reluctant to send American troops to Vietnam

  • All that changed after the Gulf of Tonkin incident

  • A US warship, USS Maddox, was torpedoed while supporting attacks on North Vietnam

  • The warship was hit but no major damage was done

  • The event was enough to persuade Congress of aggression from North Korea

Awaiting Image

• The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution meant that President Johnson was free to use the US military to defend South Vietnam — and attack North Vietnam — in whichever way he chose

US response to Vietcong tactics

• Like the French troops and Diem’s ARVN before them, the US soldiers struggled against the Vietcong’s guerrilla tactics

  • By operating in small groups and by not wearing uniforms, it was almost impossible for the Americans to tell who was a Vietcong fighter and who was a farmer

  • By patrolling through the jungle to find the Vietcong, US troops exposed themselves to booby traps and ambushes

  • US troops were being killed, but the Vietcong were not being found, let alone killed

• In response, the US adopted search and destroy tactics

  • It built fortified bases all across South Vietnam from where it could launch search and destroy missions 

  • Travelling by helicopter, troops would suddenly descend on villages and search for evidence of the Vietcong

  • If they found Vietcong fighters, they would call for backup and order airstrikes

  • If they found weapons or foodstores, they would burn down the villages

• Search and destroy tactics were not successful

  • US troops were still killed by booby traps and ambushes when they left their helicopters

  • It led to an increase in support for the Vietcong as villagers resented having their homes destroyed

  • The Vietcong continued to escape the searches and would disappear into the jungle or across borders to foreign countries such as Laos and Cambodia

  • The Vietcong usually moved back and took control of an area once the US helicopters had left

• To prevent the Vietcong from hiding in the dense jungle, the US launched Operation Ranch Hand from 1962 until 1971

  • This involved spraying millions of litres of herbicide or defoliant to kill the plants

  • This was intended to expose Vietcong trails and bases and destroy their food

  • Exposure to these chemicals led to birth defects for many years after the war had ended

Operation Rolling Thunder

• To cut off the Vietcong’s supplies, the US military targeted the supply routes and North Vietnam’s cities and factories with a sustained aerial bombing campaign called Operation Rolling Thunder

• It began in March 1965 and continued until November 1968

  • During that time, nearly 900,000 tons of bombs were dropped on Vietnam

  • It is estimated that around 90,000 people were killed

• Despite the enormous scale of the bombing, Operation Rolling Thunder was not as successful as the US hoped

  • The Ho Chi Minh Trail was often just a dirt track and was easily repaired

  • The Vietcong built extensive underground bases and tunnel complexes that protected them from the bombing

  • It failed to break the resolve of the Vietcong or the North Vietnamese

  • Fear of bringing China directly into the conflict stopped the US from bombing North Vietnam’s ports

  • This meant that supplies, including jet fighters and air defence systems, continued to arrive in North Vietnam

  • Over 3,000 American war planes were shot down during the Vietnam War