USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -In early August 1964, two U.S. destroyers stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin in Vietnam radioed that they had been fired upon by North Vietnamese forces. In response to these reported incidents, President Lyndon B. Johnson requested permission from the U.S. Congress to increase the U.S. military presence in Indochina.

Detailed explanation-2: -United States military aid to Vietnam increased during 1964. By 1965, President Johnson authorized US troops to begin military offensives and started the systematic bombing of North Vietnam. By 1968, the number of US forces surpassed 500, 000.

Detailed explanation-3: -when the U.S. could have withdrawn from Vietnam.” Instead, Johnson escalated because he did not have a better alternative. By February 1965 the situation had morphed into perilous anarchy. Between the Diem coup and Johnson’s escalation Saigon fell to seven different governmental factions.

Detailed explanation-4: -Privately, Johnson agonized over the consequences of the U.S. escalation in Vietnam and raged at the incompetence of the succession of military juntas that tried to govern that country and carry on a war against Viet Cong guerrillas and North Vietnamese regulars. Publicly, he was determined not to lose the war.