Your The Man In '68, A New Poll

[KG_Jag]

Anyone who believes that a "political" answer about Vietnam is off point was either not around at the time or smoking more than his comic books for the entire 60's.

Vietnam was in all things political. It is the most political war we ever fought. It started out with the US providing military advisers to South Vietnam. The political objective and the military strategy was to stop the spread of the Communism of the North to the South. It was viewed by many as a replay of Korea albeit by somewhat different method of attack and conquest. By the time frame posed in the initial question, Johnson had been personally picking bombing and mining targets in the North. He had directed strategy and placed limitations on what our troops/air power could and could not do. He additionally determined when and where they could operate (at least officially). No one under Johnson had any significant power about any of these things in 1968. On that basis alone, I have a major problem with the premise of the question as originally posed.

Further, if you as are decision maker and determine that your basic premise for being in the "conflict"--in this case to stop the spread of Communism, is wrong--then you should initiate an orderly withdrawal of you forces or resign. That is especially true in 1968, when the country was so polarized over Viet Nam. Remember (or if you were not yet born or were too young to be aware--have you read about) the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention and all the political events of that time? In 1968 Johnson announced that he would not seek the nomination of his party or seek reelection as President. This was because of Viet Nam and the splintering of his own party over it. By 1968 no major escalation of that war was politically possible (especially for someone in that Democratic administration), and no long term continuation of the war at or near the then current ground force levels or higher was an option. Massive bombing of the North was probably off the table too. The basis of the discussion by 1968 was how we would lower of our troop levels, and over what period of time. It was the "Vietnamization" phase of the war.