Right. Johnson KNEW he was going to get into Vietnam before the election in 64. He kept those plans secret to protect his “Great Society” domestic agenda.He broke his campaign promises with the Gulf of Tonkin fiasco.
And that might have been OK if LBJ had had any plan or goal to win the war. He never did and when his generals brought him a victory plan, he tore it up and ordered that they “never bring me anything like that again.”
Old post-election joke, ca. 1965:
“They told me if Ivoted for Goldwater we’d get in a war. They wree right. I voted for him and we’re in one.”
Old post-election joke, ca. 1965:
“They told me if Ivoted for Goldwater we’d get in a war. They were right. I voted for him and we’re in one.”