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dixiegrrrrl

(60,161 posts)

23. Johnson was very very very concerned about his legacy.

Wed Jun 25, 2014, 07:16 PM

Jun 2014

Robert Caro's multi volume biography of LBJ provides copious foot notes to that issue.
LBJ was also capable of good things for the right reasons
and not good things for what he thought were the right reasons at the time.

He got behind the war early on, when he took over as President.
And he listened to Bundy and McNamara, and he did indeed create the Gulf of Tonkin incident.

but then, as the country became very evidently against the war, he realized he had over stepped.
Johnson hated to lose. It was a HUGE deal for him to lose.
He knew there was a good chance he would not be re-elected because of the war,which is why he chose not to run.

And thus gave us Nixon.

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LBJ was bullied into VietNam war same way they are bullying Obama now... [View all] randys1 Jun 2014 OP

Eh, there's always someone. Benton D Struckcheon Jun 2014 #1

Yes. But... Smarmie Doofus Jun 2014 #2

I dont know about that but I will say this, it drives me nuts randys1 Jun 2014 #3

no way. Watch the movie "The Fog of War". No one "bullied" Johnson. he lied about the gulf of lostincalifornia Jun 2014 #4

You are saying exactly what Thom was saying, that LBJ was hearing this randys1 Jun 2014 #6

Read the Pentagon Papers, Daniel Ellsberg, and I think you may change your mind lostincalifornia Jun 2014 #14

I have always wanted to take the time to read those...LBJ aside, I wish randys1 Jun 2014 #26

I think he is essentially telling them that lostincalifornia Jun 2014 #27

I don' believe anybody bullied... Bigmack Jun 2014 #5

Right, that HE would look weak randys1 Jun 2014 #8

I understand, but LBJ was not a person who allowed himself to be pressured. He passed the civil lostincalifornia Jun 2014 #13

I touched his leg,. Bobby, as he was standing on the back of a convertible randys1 Jun 2014 #30

Wow. I really think things would have been different if Bobby had a chance. Actually the country lostincalifornia Jun 2014 #34

So much trauma. LBJ was sworn into office with Jackie Kennedy in her bloody dress by his side: freshwest Jun 2014 #36

Sadly that is a good chronology lostincalifornia Jun 2014 #37

And we see a steady chorus about PBO being weak because he refuses to take on Bush's job. freshwest Jun 2014 #28

Well said randys1 Jun 2014 #31

I was lucky, I got called up for my physical but was able to get out because of high blood pressure lostincalifornia Jun 2014 #9

Yes, I remember Dan Rather with the body counts and a lot of coverage on Vietnam. freshwest Jun 2014 #32

I agree with your assessment. It still is being done in our name though lostincalifornia Jun 2014 #33

"Bullied"? I think it's called "assassinating his immediate predecessor." LBJ got the message. WinkyDink Jun 2014 #7

+1... freebrew Jun 2014 #11

Seems counter to his character Boom Sound 416 Jun 2014 #10

I think pressured is a better way to characterize it, not bullied randys1 Jun 2014 #12

This seems like a little bit of a history rewrite. Boom Sound 416 Jun 2014 #15

YOu can listen to the tapes, nothing rewriting about that, he was making a randys1 Jun 2014 #16

Ok, I'll bite Boom Sound 416 Jun 2014 #17

I heard what Thom played, Thom preceeded it with him randys1 Jun 2014 #18

Fair enough Boom Sound 416 Jun 2014 #19

Johnson was very very very concerned about his legacy. dixiegrrrrl Jun 2014 #23

No one bullied Johnson. roamer65 Jun 2014 #20

Partly true, but far H2O Man Jun 2014 #21

PS: H2O Man Jun 2014 #22

John M. Newman, in ''JFK and Vietnam,'' sourced all that. Octafish Jun 2014 #39

Thank you. H2O Man Jun 2014 #41

If there's a hell, McNamara is there, and Kissinger is headed there the second he dies. nomorenomore08 Jun 2014 #24

Westmoreland too. lpbk2713 Jun 2014 #29

Obama is not being bullied. bigwillq Jun 2014 #25

72 hours after JFK's Death LBJ's Ichingcarpenter Jun 2014 #35

Sort of like JFK's admin was an interruption in service to the Dogs of War Inc. Octafish Jun 2014 #40

President Kennedy H2O Man Jun 2014 #42

You see this guy in the New York Times? Octafish Jun 2014 #43

I had not H2O Man Jun 2014 #44

The bricks at the back of the theater are showing. Octafish Jun 2014 #45

A strange man, H2O Man Jun 2014 #47

Wisdom. Octafish Jun 2014 #48

John Michael Dunn...the guy made general and left an oral history of his time in Saigon... Octafish Jun 2014 #49

Obama is smarter than Johnson Alex P Notkeaton Jun 2014 #38

"Hey, Hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?" He wanted the anti-commie PR. Tierra_y_Libertad Jun 2014 #46

maybe we should elect a president who won't be bullied. after all, he didn't let Doctor_J Jun 2014 #50

Good one...very good one...I am a fan of Obama but because I am a realist randys1 Jun 2014 #51

But you're saying Obama can be bullied into the corporate-friendly war, but not out of the Doctor_J Jun 2014 #52

The rightwing obstruction based solely on him being Black is unprecedented randys1 Jun 2014 #53

Then he should let someone else do the job Doctor_J Jun 2014 #54