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In March 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered the first U.S. combat troops to Vietnam. Three years later, there were more than a half million Americans fighting in Southeast Asia. This presentation will examine how and why LBJ escalated the war and the difficulties U.S. forces encountered. It will also examine how reporters covered America’s first television war—the first time that TV coverage had a critical effect on public understanding of a military conflict and on a president’s ability to build popular support for a war. The Johnson administration’s effort to “sell” progress in Vietnam collapsed in early 1968 with the Tet Offensive, leading to the president’s stunning announcement that he would not seek reelection. This presentation will explain how Johnson’s presidency became a casualty of the Vietnam War.Instructor: Dr. Chester Pach is a Professor of History at Ohio University. He has an A.B. from Brown University and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Northwestern University. He specializes in the history of U.S. involvement in world affairs and recent American political history. He has a particular interest in television coverage of international issues and the intersections between politics, popular culture, and international history. His books include Arming the Free World: The Origins of the United States Military Assistance Program, 1945-1950 (University of North Carolina Press); The Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower (University Press of Kansas); The Johnson Years: Presidential Profiles (Facts on File); and A Companion to Dwight D. Eisenhower, ed., (Wiley Blackwell). He is completing The Presidency of Ronald Reagan for the University Press of Kansas. His articles and essays on U.S .news media coverage of the Vietnam War have appeared in The Cambridge History of the Vietnam War and the New York Times.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
People's University at the Ohio County Public Library, 52 16th Street,Wheeling, West Virginia, United States
