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Q: Critics of Lyndon Johnson have called Vietnam “Johnson’s War”. To what extent is this criticism accurate? It is to a great extent that this criticism is inaccurate, as there is not enough evidence to substantiate the claim that Lyndon Johnson single-handedly brought the Vietnamese conflict to the American people. The fact that North Vietnam was controlled by a communist regime threatening the security of the entire western civilization only served as the catalyst for the inevitability of a US led attack on Soviet interests; it can not solely be blamed on Johnson simply because he was the President to take the initiative and counter the Soviet threat that had been very ominous ever since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1960-61. The years leading up to the Vietnam War have clearly indicated Johnson’s thoughts on the Vietnam situation, and hence the lack of ‘political motives’ of which his critics have argued for years as the basis for his strategy; the fact that there have been several reliable sources that have proved Johnson’s reluctance to go into any conflict despite mounting pressure from the ‘Hawks’ (pro-military strikes) justify that claim. Although there has been claims of Johnson’s incompetence, and