Election Day - Planning for War. The LBJ Tapes

This LBJ Tape phone conversation is from November 3, 1964, election day, a contest between President Johnson and Barry Goldwater and less than a year following the assassination of John F. Kennedy. This video also contains some short audio excerpts from a 1981 interview with McGeorge Bundy’s brother William Bundy who was a high-level foreign affairs advisor to both presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.

During the 1964 presidential election, President Johnson had attempted to minimize discussion of the Vietnam War. He presented himself as a moderate seeking peace, while he portrayed his opponent, Barry Goldwater, as an extremist who might escalate the conflict. Johnson's campaign strategy downplayed the extent of U.S. involvement and promised a measured approach to the war.

So, it came as a surprise to me, frankly, the hastiness to which Johnson’s staff jumped upon Vietnam war planning and on this Election Day evening, the conversation turns to the Vietnam war. National Security Adviser McGeorge “Mac” Bundy that evening calls President Johnson at the LBJ Ranch near Austin, Texas. After campaigning late the previous night and availing himself of an early morning photo opportunity to vote, Johnson had spent much of the day resting in bed. He had woken up just before Bundy’s call and was still groggy. Nevertheless, he would soon be making major decisions about the direction of U.S. policy in Vietnam.

On this very day, President Johnson would establish an interagency working group on Vietnam to review various options for prosecuting the war. Chaired by Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs William P. “Bill” Bundy, McGeorge Bundy’s brother, this new body—labeled alternately as the National Security Council, or NSC Working Group, the NSC Working Group on SVN/SEA, or just the Executive Committee (EXCOMM)— it brought together officials at the assistant secretary level to make plans and proposals to present to the president. Over the next two weeks, the committee pored over a series of proposals that Bundy molded into a single paper that the National Security Council would review on 24 November. That paper would be redrafted during the next week and presented to President Johnson on 1 December 1964.

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