Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem in Saigon during his tour of Asian countries. Calling Diem the "Churchill of Asia," he encouraged the South Vietnamese president to view himself as indispensable to the United States and promised additional military aid to assist his government in fighting the communists. On his return home, Johnson echoed domino theorists, saying that the loss of Vietnam would compel the United States to fight "on the beaches of Waikiki" and eventually on "our own shores." With the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963, Johnson became president and inherited a deteriorating situation in South Vietnam. Over time, he escalated the war, ultimately committing more than 500,000 U.S. troops to Vietnam.
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Lyndon B. Johnson visits South Vietnam
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This Week in History, May 12 - May 18
- May 12, 1961
- Lyndon B. Johnson visits South Vietnam
- May 12, 1971
- Heavy fighting erupts in A Shau Valley
- May 13, 1971
- Paris peace talks at standstill
- May 13, 1972
- Heavy fighting continues at Quang Tri and Kontum
- May 14, 1969
- President Nixon responds to National Liberation Front proposal
- May 14, 1970
- South Vietnamese sustain second highest casualties of war
- May 15, 1967
- U.S. positions south of the DMZ come under heavy fire
- May 15, 1970
- Air Force sergeant awarded Medal of Honor
- May 16, 1965
- Accident at Bien Hoa kills 27 U.S. servicemen
- May 16, 1968
- Navy Corpsman receives Medal of Honor for action
- May 16, 1972
- U.S. bombing destroys main fuel line
- May 17, 1970
- Operations continue in Cambodia
- May 17, 1972
- South Vietnamese reinforcements near An Loc
- May 18, 1966
- Laird charges
- May 18, 1969
- Communists attack Xuan Loc
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