Essay On Johnson's Loss To The Vietnam War

Johnson’s Loss to the War Lyndon Johnson, as he was admitted to office, had a very strong idea about what he wanted his presidency to be like. He had to come after one of the nation’s most recognized presidents, and tried to retain that image in his own as a ploy in his political campaign. Plans to reshape the economy and revitalize it, make the domestic front more stable, and bring an end to most unemployment. The unfortunate case with his presidency though was that the Vietnam War had prevented any of his measures to improve America, and his decisions in it broke his future campaigns for office. The Great Society was one key plan that Johnson had created. It was a concept of enacting multiple bills enforced to improve the infrastructure of the nation. It’s influences were focused with a few major acts: The Higher Education Act of 1965 that gave federal funds to colleges and universities, the Housing and Urban Development Act that provided funds to health and recreation centers, the Medicare bill that provided health insurance and aid to the elderly specifically, the Economic Opportunity Act that was a wide-swept

McNamara was originally the Secretary of Defense, but was replaced by Clark on March 1st of 1967 once his attitude on the war changed. Johnson wanted someone to support all his decisions in the war even as he didn’t want it himself, and with McNamara having a sudden policy shift, that support was falling flat quickly. Clark had previous ties with the president before being chosen as he opposed people who wanted to halt Operation Rolling Thunder in Vietnam. What the public saw from this was the president casting out a very logical official and replacing him with someone who followed the rest of the crowd and had no passion until others held one. This undermined the people’s vision of him then, and approval ratings fell even lower at the supposedly dishonest