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...ely on good terms. In September of 1965, Johnson announced the two countries had agreed to renegotiate the 1903 treaty that initially established the Canal Zone. This was not the only crisis that occurred in the Caribbean during the Johnson administration. In April of 1965, supporters of exiled president Juan Bosch made an attempt to take over the government in the Dominican Republic. Johnson was convinced that the rebellion was inspired by communism and was going to make sure there would not be another figure such as Fidel Castro, so therefore he sent U.S. marine troops to the Dominican Republic. A truce was soon worked out in May, but many people felt that Johnson had over reacted and the use of troops would only damage the relations with Latin America. Both Gerald Ford and Lyndon Johnson had their struggles with foreign affairs. They both seemed to make vital mistakes that gave their critics reason to criticize and gave their supporters reason to think twice about their leader. However these men both did a number of things to give people a reason to believe in them as well. Since the people voted neither of them in as president, it was more difficult for them to expand on the trust of the people because they were under such pressure to achieve. They were in the spotlight and under the microscope more than any president that had been in office prior to them. Their critics would linger around, searching for a motive to move in and attack them in the press. And in short time, Lyndon Johnson would give his critics more than enough reason to question his abilities as president of the United States. President Johnson had been under intense pressure to increase American involvement in Vietnam from his initial days in office. In 1963, South Vietnam began to slide into political disorder. Its army was significantly ineffective against the Vietcong. Johnson was pressed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to bomb North Vietnam. But Johnson turned that idea down in an attempt to keep our involvement limited. What he did do was approve covert operations against the communists and send more advisors to South Vietnam to join the sixteen thousand Americans that were already there. In August of 1964, North Vietnamese gunboats attacked an American destroyer ship that was on an intelligence mission off the North Vietnamese coast. The United States did not respond to this initial attack, however two days later the North Vietnamese gunboats again attacked that same destroyer and a second one that had come to its aid. In retaliation, Johnson ordered air strikes against North Vietnam and asked congress for a joint resolution granting him extensive ability to conduct military operations in Vietnam. This was known as the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. But this was as far as Johnson would escalate. He would veto military requests for a bombing campaign against the north and refused to authorize any buildup of American forces there. Johnson would eventually stop the bombing to increase peace talks, but North Vietnam rejected all negotiations and Johnson ordered the bombings to resume as the United States troop strength continued to enlarge in South Vietnam. In March, United States General William Westmoreland asked for more men in a prolonged mission to carry out offensive search and destroy missions against the Vietcong. As feared, the situation in South Vietnam continued to deteriorate. In early June, the president received a report that it was going to be necessary to commit United States ground forces into action. Johnson was still looking for a way to avoid a major war in Vietnam and was desperately searching for alternatives. A couple of days later, General Westmoreland asked for a drastic increase of American forces in South Vietnam. The General wanted up to 150,000 troops immediately with a possibility of needing more for a lengthened combat mission. The Joint Chiefs of Staff stood behind the Generals recommendation. Johnson felt compelled to honor Westmoreland’s request to send American troops for search and destroy operations. This would ultimately remove all restraints in their combat responsibility. So therefore by this time, Johnson was given three options: 1. Pull out of Vietnam. 2. Continue with the 75,000 men that were already there and hope that the United States would catch some breaks along the way. Or 3, Give General Westmoreland exactly what he asked for, declare a national emergency, call up the reserves, increase the bombing of North and South Vietnam, destroy highway bridges from China to North Vietnam, and accumulate tactful incentives to negotiate a settlement. He was encouraged by Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara to escalate the war. McNamara felt that this was our best chance of a successful outcome within a reasonable time period in Vietnam. All but one of his Security advisors supported McNamara’s program, however Johnson was persistent in trying to explore alternatives to McNamara’s suggestion. He was cautious about sending an additional 100,000 – 125,000 men to Vietnam and declaring a national emergency. This would also require calling up 235,000 reserves and national guardsmen. He was urged by his aid Clark Clifford to underplay the war in Vietnam until the next January. Clifford explained, “if we send 100,000 more, the North Vietnamese will meet us; if the North Vietnamese run out of men, the Chinese will send volunteers. Russia and China don’t intend for us to win the war. If we don’t win, it is a catastrophe, if we lose 50,000 plus, it will ruin us…I can’t see anything but catastrophe for my country.” Johnson would soon decide that he was going to send troops to Vietnam, but it was yet to be decided in what fashion he would do so. He was also considering attempting to seek a UN resolution calling for unconditional negotiations to end the Vietnam War. But Johnson seemed to still be perplexed as to what to do, he wanted to make the right decision so that the United States did not end up on the down side of this war. After many meetings with his consultants and the Joint Chiefs, Johnson had made a decision. He was going to provide General Westmoreland with everything he had asked for. Johnson made sure that his decision was kept secret, asking his colleagues not to speak of his decision because the press would be all over the story. He asked his colleagues to, “...Show your patriotism by not talking to the press.” He went on to say, “I’m going to do everything I can with honor to keep Russia and China out.” He did not want to allow North Vietnam the opportunity to get huge relief in their efforts to fight against the United States. By the end of the year, the number of troops in Vietnam was up to 200,000. Johnson continued with his military buildup in Vietnam, but in December of 1965, he made another attempt to end the war. In an effort to achieve a peaceful settlement, Johnson halted the bombings in North Vietnam, but again negotiations failed and the raids continued on. As death tolls continued to rise, the United States continued their bombing of North Vietnam. In June of 1966, U.S. planes began bombing near Hanoi, the capitol of North Vietnam, which had previously been spared. Soon After, representatives from the United States, New Zealand, Thailand, Australia, South Korea and the Philippines, all who had troops in the Vietnam war, met in Manila and agreed to withdraw within six months if North Vietnam would abandon the war in the South. The North declined this offer and the war continued on. In November 1967, U.S. casualties in Vietnam had reached 15,058 deceased, and 109,527 wounded since the beginning of 1961. Apart from loss of life, Johnson estimated the cost of the war to be at $25 billion per year. Throughout the United States, a peace movement developed and marches were organized against the war. Johnson’s reliance on the aerial bombings of North Vietnam caused substantial damage to Vietnam, but also drew a storm of criticism from all around the globe. After the Tet offensive in early 1968, Johnson initiated peace negotiations in Paris. But the talks rapidly broke down after several key disagreements. Losses of life during the Tet offensive were high, and General Westmoreland believed that his strategy of aiming for a high enemy body count was working, and urged Johnson to commit over 200,000 more troops. Johnson simply did not have enough public support to go through with this action. The United States was now caught up in a stalemate, and president Johnson said, “There was no stopping the tide against the war.” Due to the lack of support, and the prolonging of the war, Johnson and his advisors agreed it would be in our best interest to start the disengagement out of Vietnam. This was not what General Westmoreland wanted, and his policies were rejected in favor of disengagement. Westmoreland was soon replaced by General Creighton Abrams as commander. Despite his efforts to end the aggression of the communists and find a settlement, fighting in Vietnam continued but rapidly slowed down, as did the controversy over the war simply because society knew that the war was not winnable. One thing that kept growing was the people’s opposition toward Johnson personally. Johnson startled the world by withdrawing as a candidate for the election. Johnson lost the trust and respect of many Americans who were opposed to the War...