DID PRESIDENT JOHNSONS CHRISTMAS MESSAGE INFLUENCE VIETNAM 1967?

I want to mention that regardless of President Johnson’s words to follow, there was an underlying current in the halls of Washington that the troops on the ground in Vietnam were expendable. Henry Kissinger expressed this view when he said, “Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.” He was an advisor under Johnson and Secretary of State under Nixon.

It is important to note that under Johnson, and his Secretary of Defense, R.S. McNamara, troop levels in Vietnam rose to epic proportions, running as high as 550,000 U.S. boots on the ground during 1967, 1968, and 1969. It also represented the highest death toll of U.S. servicemen during the 11-year war. 11,363 in ’67, 16,899 in ’68, and 11,786 in ‘69.

The North Vietnamese understood they could never win the war against the combined might of the U.S. and its allies. Ho Chi Minh tried to negotiate many times, but the U.S. thought concessions were unneeded because, eventually, the communists would capitulate. They didn’t. They fought for self-determination and told President Johnson they would die to the last person if necessary.