Discuss How the Vietnam War Intensified Militarily Under the Presidency of Johnson up Until 1967

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buildings in North Vietnam had been bombed (Neale, 2001). During Operation Rolling Thunder 643,000 tons of bombs were dropped; almost 900 United States aircrafts were lost and it was estimated to have cost the United States $900 million whereas it was estimated that only $300 million worth of damage was inflicted on North Vietnam. Operation Rolling Thunder was a failure as it did not stop the government of North Vietnam from functioning; did not demoralise the North Vietnamese to the extent of urging for negotiation and cost more financially to the United States than North Vietnam.

As a result of The Gulf of Tonkin resolution, 1964, there was a draft and increases in troops. There had been a draft in place since 1940 although it tremendously increased in 1965. Between February and October 1965 3,000 people per month were drafted. From October onwards 33,000 people per month were being drafted. This is largely due to the fact the United States was gigantically increasing the number of troops in Vietnam. President Johnson was also the first to call the soldiers in Vietnam ground troops rather than advisors. In mid-1965 there were 50,000 United States troops in Vietnam however by the end of 1966 this figure increased to 385,000 (Sanders, 2007). In 1967 troops numbers had reached 485,600. As a result between 1964 and 1967 the numbers of United States deaths in the conflict went from 216 to 11,363 (www.archives.gov, 2016).

The draft, troop increases and rising United States deaths all contributed to the United States public beginning to turn against the war in Vietnam. The anti-war movement gained huge momentum under President Johnson. In 1964 only 25,000 people demonstrated against the war in Washington DC. Later, in 1967, 300,000 people demonstrated against the war in New York City. This shows President Johnson’s policies with regard to Vietnam had a largely negative impact on the United States public.

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