QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION (WEEK 7)

Memorandum from Robert McNamara to Lyndon Johnson on December 21, 1963 [Young, et al., The Vietnam War, 67-69]: How did McNamara feel the war was going for the United States? Why? What were his concerns about the Saigon government and military, as well as the American leadership in Vietnam?

Memorandum from McGeorge Bundy to Lyndon B. Johnson on January 6, 1964 [Young, et al., The Vietnam War, 69-70]: What was meant by neutralization? Why, according to McGeorge Bundy, was this a perilous choice?

Conversation between Lyndon Johnson and Richard Russell on June 11, 1964 [Young, et al., The Vietnam War, 70-72]: Why does Johnson feel that he cannot withdraw American forces from Vietnam? How did he feel that American public opinion would respond to a withdrawal?

In what ways did the U.S. intervention escalate in the early 1960s? What happened in the Gulf of Tonkin in August 1964? What was the American public led to believe happened in the Tonkin Gulf? What was the result of the Tonkin Gulf incident? [See Young, et al., The Vietnam War, 73-77]

Comments by Barry Goldwater [Young, et al., The Vietnam War, 77]: On what grounds did Goldwater criticize Lyndon Johnson? What did Goldwater feel that the United States should do in Vietnam?

What concerned Gaylord Nelson about the Tonkin Gulf resolution? On what grounds did Congress justify the resolution? How should we interpret its assurances about its lack of ambitions in Southeast Asia? [See Young, et al., The Vietnam War, 77-78]

What was implied by the American decision to pursue a policy of “sustained reprisal” against the north for revolutionary actions in the south? Why was this an attractive option to the United States? What were the risks associated with it? [Young, et al., The Vietnam War, 78-80]

Memo from George Ball on June 29, 1965 [Young, et al., The Vietnam War, 80-82]: What was the predicament faced by the United States? How did Ball interpret the nature of the southern insurgency? Why did Ball refer to “white, foreign (U.S.) troops”? What were the short-term and long-term alternatives facing the United States, according to Ball?

Paper prepared by John McNaughton on March 10, 1965 [Young, et al., The Vietnam War, 81]: Why, according to McNaughton, was the United States engaged in Vietnam? What does he mean by America’s “reputation as a guarantor” in the context of the Cold War? How should we understand his reference to “territory from Chinese hands”?

Memo from Robert McNamara to Lyndon B. Johnson [Young, et al., The Vietnam War, 82-84]: Why were McNamara and other policymakers so concerned with the potential for U.S. “humiliat[ion]”? What course of action did he suggest that Washington pursue?

Lyndon Johnson’s speech of July 28, 1965 [Young, et al., The Vietnam War, 84-85]: Why, according to Johnson, was the United States in Vietnam? Does his explanation conflict with John McNaughton’s March 10, 1065, paper? How?