Reply #40: 4 days after the assassination, Nov. 26, 1963,

[Unknown Known]

Johnson signed NSAM NO. 273 which committed the U.S. to the Vietnam War.

Paragraphs 5 and 6 totally contradict paragraph 2.

5. We should concentrate our own efforts, and insofar as possible we should persuade the Government of South Vietnam to concentrate its efforts, on the critical situation in the Mekong Delta. This concentration should include not only military but political, economic, social, educational and informational effort. We should seek to turn the tide not only of battle but of belief, and we should seek to increase not only our control of land but the productivity of this area wherever the proceeds can be held for the advantage of anti-Communist forces.

(Action: The whole country team under the direct supervision of the Ambassador.)

6. Programs of military and economic assistance should be maintained at such levels that their magnitude and effectiveness in the eyes of the Vietnamese Government do not fall below the levels sustained by the United States in the time of the Diem Government. This does not exclude arrangements for economy on the MAP account with respect to accounting for ammunition, or any other readjustments which are possible as between MAP and other U. S. defense resources. Special attention should be given to the expansion of the import distribution and effective use of fertilizer for the Delta.

http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/nsam-lbj/nsam-273.htm

Less than 9 months later, Johnson signed The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.