Lyndon Johnson

Lyndon Johnsons opposition to any American involvement in Indochina was said to be all part of his master plan. While the United States backed down, North Vietnam gained control over the South. It is said that Johnson did this so that he can assure North Vietnam that it would be able to take control with little or no resistance from the south. Once the North infiltrated the South, it was time for the United States to step in and try to salvage the South. Once this happened, Johnson stated that "Force be with with force" and ordered the United States troops back in. At first we were successful. The North was beaten back and had to pull out and retreat their badly beaten divisions. This policy forced Moscow, who was once in our support against us. Undersecretary of State George Ball stated "I don't know, Mr. President, what the right answer is But I do know that continuing last year's policy is the wrong thing to do. It cannot work and must end in disaster. For it violates basic principles of decision making" I believe what he meant was that Lyndon allowed the North Vietnam to gain power thus making it difficult to regain control by the United States. I agree that there are principles to decision making and that lack thereof can result in disaster. I feel that if the president would have made better choices, we would have never been in the position that we were and many lives and dollars would have been spared.