![]() It set the stage for one of the most tumultuous presidential elections in modern U.S. However, the Tet offensive, launched on January 30 by America’s North Vietnamese and Viet Cong enemies and aimed at toppling the U.S.-supported Saigon regime, upset Johnson’s optimistic assumptions in dramatic fashion. Johnson’s decision to run was easy, because he sought to become a great president, like his political hero, Franklin Roosevelt. Senator Eugene McCarthy had recently announced he would challenge Johnson for their party’s nomination, but the Minnesotan’s bid struck the president, his chief political advisers, and most observers as inconsequential and even unrealistic. He had received authorization from Congress to send troops to Vietnam to fight communism and was confident the country was winning the war. He had presided over a booming economy, due to a large 1964 tax cut for businesses and taxpayers. He had pushed through his ambitious legislative agenda to create a “Great Society” at the beginning of his term. Johnson had every expectation that, notwithstanding the growing unpopularity of the Vietnam War, he would easily receive the Democratic Party’s nomination that summer to serve a second four-year term and then cruise to re-election against his Republican opponent in November. Use this decision point after discussion of the Vietnam War and its unpopularity to discuss how it affected the presidential election in 1968 and LBJ’s decision not to run in the election.Īs 1968 dawned, President Lyndon B. ![]() Explain the causes and effects of the Vietnam War.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |