Changes

That same month, some divisions within the US high command began to show. While Ambassador Taylor wanted more air strikes, he was wary of a greater amount of offensive operations. General Westmoreland, however, believed the US needed to become more aggressive. In a meeting that the ambassador did not attend, Westmoreland recommended two army brigades be brought into South Vietnam to secure more airfields but to also prepare an area near Saigon, the South Vietnamese capital, for entire US Army division. On April 20, 1965 the US presence had grown to 33,000 troops, with 20,000 more expected. The increase of resources for the Vietnam War wasn’t restricted to military personnel numbers. President Johnson requested an additional $700 million for the war effort. Congress approved this request in only two days, demonstrating that overall, US commitment to South Vietnam and the war was still quite strong.

Prior to Johnson’s Johns Hopkins speech the United States forces increased bombing of North Vietnamese targets, code named Operation Rolling Thunder. The campaign had been in the planning stages before the Gulf of Tonkin incident, but Johnson delayed such aggressive action. The 1964 presidential election was still being decided and Johnson did not want commit too much to a distant war. Widening the conflict was a gamble on many fronts and it was not a chance that Johnson was willing to take. In addition to the effects escalating the war would have on the election, Johnson was also concerned with how China and the Soviet Union would react to more US involvement.