Existing comment:
Vietnam:
President Lyndon Baines Johnson believed in the "domino theory," the idea that when one country becomes communist then surrounding countries will also fall under communist influence. After he was elected president of the United States, Johnson sent the first American combat troops to Vietnam in February 1965. Although his domestic policies received high approval ratings from the American public, his popularity declined because of his administration's hawkish approach to the Vietnam Crisis. Some cartoonists disparaged President Johnson's decision to escalate the war, while others portrayed him as an ineffectual international leader. In 1968, in failing health and dealing with a Democratic Party divided over Vietnam, Johnson refused to run for reelection. |