History AOK -1964 LBJ and Vietnam- HBO Path to War (2002) - How President Johnson escalated the war in Vietnam

A weary President Johnson listens to two advisers offer completely opposite courses of action in 1965. The first speaker is Clark Clifford who argues that Johnson should withdraw as Vietnam is not a strategic issue for the USA and escalation of the war will lead to disaster. The alternate view is offered by Secretary of Defence, Robert McNamara. He warns the President that if the USA does not support South Vietnam against the communist forces of Ho Chi Mihh and North Vietnam (armed by China and Russia) then America will lose credibility and communism will spread throughout Asia, country after country will fall (the 'domino theory'). It is one of the ironies of history that McNamara had opposed the Joint Chiefs during the Cuban Missile Crisis but that he became more 'hawkish' during the Vietnam war. Another irony is that Clark Clifford succeeded McNamara as Secretary for Defence in January 1968, Johnson's last year as President. Clifford essentially continued the official policy, by that time America was bogged down in Vietnam, more and more young men being sent there in the vain hope of a victory over the Vietnamese. That victory had eluded the French colonists in the 1950s and eluded the USA until its undignified retreat in the 1970s.


This video shows the scene at the American Embassy in Saigon as thousands of South Vietnamese desperately try to secure exit visas to go to American. America had propped up the government of South Vietnam but now the tanks of the communist forces approach the city. Panic ensued. Some observers argue that the arming of militants in Afghanistan fighting the USSR in the 1980s was 'payback' for America's humiliation in Vietnam. There was little gratitude in Afghanistan or Pakistan for American help fighting the Russians in the 1980s and the Taliban and other militants then turned their hatred against America, which led to many attacks including September 11. (Watch "Charlie Wilson's War' if you want more information on the Afghan - Russian war financed by America, which then backfired with attacks on America itself.)