Vietnam: A Television History LBJ Goes to War: 1964-1965 (Season 1, Episode 4)
TV Episode | Documentary, History, War

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Vietnam: A Television History

LBJ Goes to War: 1964-1965 (Season 1, Episode 4)

TV Episode | Documentary, History, War

When LBJ became President there were some 16,000 advisers in South Vietnam and some of those were involved in combat. The President's main concern at the time was the war on poverty and the building of what he called the Great Society. The...See moreWhen LBJ became President there were some 16,000 advisers in South Vietnam and some of those were involved in combat. The President's main concern at the time was the war on poverty and the building of what he called the Great Society. The strategic hamlets that were built by the South Vietnamese government were being destroyed, often with the help of those lived there. Hanoi decided to escalate the war and Johnson found himself in an election against a conservative candidate. He was under pressure not to relent in the fight against Communism. On August 4, 1965, the USS Maddox was attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin (though some now question the veracity of the reports around that incident). The US Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution that essentially authorized the President to make war. Johnson ordered the bombing of the North, in an operation called Rolling Thunder. A series of attacks in Saigon - the explosion at the Brinks hotel; four days later, a major attack on the South Vietnamese army; and then an attack on Pleiku - led to the first request for additional US troops to protect the three jet-capable US airfields. On March 8, 1965 3500 Marines landed at Da Nang and by the end of the year, there would be 2000,000 American troops in Vietnam. Written by garykmcd See less

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Cast	+ Add Cast
26 cast members

Name	Known for
George Ball Self Self See fewer	Pandora's Box (1992)
Tin Bui Self Self See fewer	7th Heaven (1996)
McGeorge Bundy Self Self See fewer	Jack: The Last Kennedy Film (1993)
William Bundy Self Self See fewer	Vietnam: A Television History (1983)
Ray Cline Self Self See fewer	Wolfman (1979)
J. William Fulbright Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	This Week (1956)
Barry Goldwater Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Laugh-In (1977)
Wallace M. Greene Jr. Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	The John Glenn Story (1962)
Lady Bird Johnson Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	The Magical World of Disney (1954)
Lyndon B. Johnson Self (archive footage) (as Lyndon Johnson) Self (archive footage) (as Lyndon Johnson) See fewer	Spartamerika
Jacqueline Kennedy Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	A Tour of the White House (1962)
John F. Kennedy Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Profiles in Courage (1964)
Will Lyman Narrator Narrator See fewer	Mystic River (2003)
Robert McNamara Self Self See fewer	The Fog of War (2003)
Ho Chí Minh Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	79 primaveras (1969)
Wayne Morse Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	World Wide '60 (1960)
Bill Moyers Self Self See fewer	Bill Moyers' Journal (1972)
Cao Ky Nguyen Self Self See fewer	The Big Picture (1950)
Khanh Nguyen Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer
Thanh Xuan Nguyen Self Self See fewer	Vietnam: A Television History (1983)
The Tai Phung Self Self See fewer	Vietnam: A Television History (1983)
Dean Rusk Self Self See fewer	Santo Domingo: War Among Friends (1965)
Maxwell Taylor Self Self See fewer	Issues and Answers (1960)
James Thomson Self Self See fewer	Vietnam: A Television History (1983)
Jack Valenti Self Self See fewer	This Week (1956)
William C. Westmoreland Self Self See fewer	From Hollywood to Hanoi (1992)