Lyndon B. Johnson

====1965====
[[File:Robert S. McNamara and General Westmoreland in Vietnam 1965.png|thumb|Secretary of Defense [[Robert McNamara]] and [[William Westmoreland|General Westmoreland]] in [[Da Nang]] in August 1965 as Johnson was preparing to commence a systematic bombing campaign, known as [[Operation Rolling Thunder]], in the [[Vietnam War]]]]
Johnson decided on a systematic bombing campaign in February after a ground report from Bundy recommending immediate U.S. action to avoid defeat; also, the [[Viet Cong]] had just killed eight U.S. advisers and wounded dozens in an attack at [[Pleiku Air Base]]. The eight-week bombing campaign became known as [[Operation Rolling Thunder]]. Johnson's instructions for public consumption were clear: there was to be no comment that the war effort had been expanded.<ref>{{harvnb|Dallek|1998|p=249}}</ref> Long-term estimates of the bombing campaign ranged from an expectation that Hanoi would rein in the Viet Cong to one of provoking Hanoi and the Viet Cong into an intensification of the war. But the short-term expectations were consistent that the morale and stability of the South Vietnamese government would be bolstered. By limiting the information given out to the public, and even to Congress, Johnson maximized his flexibility to change course.<ref>{{harvnb|Dallek|1998|pp=250–252}}</ref>

In March, Bundy began to urge the use of ground forces—air operations alone, he counseled, would not stop Hanoi's aggression against the South. Johnson approved an increase in logistical troops of 18,000 to 20,000 and the deployment of two additional Marine battalions and a Marine air squadron, in addition to planning for the deployment of two more divisions. More significantly, he authorized a change in mission from defensive to offensive operations; he nevertheless insisted that this was not to be publicly represented as a policy change.<ref>{{harvnb|Dallek|1998|p=255}}</ref>

By mid-June, the total U.S. ground forces in Vietnam had increased to 82,000 or by 150 percent.<ref>{{harvnb|Dallek|1998|p=268}}</ref> That same month, Ambassador Taylor reported that the bombing offensive against [[North Vietnam]] had been ineffective and that the [[Army of the Republic of Vietnam|South Vietnamese army]] was outclassed and in danger of collapse.<ref>{{harvnb|Dallek|1998|p=270}}</ref> Westmoreland recommended that Johnson increase ground troops even further, to 175,000. After consulting with his principals, Johnson announced in a press conference that he had decided to increase U.S. troops to 125,000, which was slightly less aggressively than Westmoreland recommended, with additional forces to be sent later upon request. Johnson described himself at the time as boxed in by unpalatable choices: sending Americans to die in Vietnam and being attacked as an interventionist, or giving in to the communists and risking being impeached. He continued to insist that his decision "did not imply any change in policy whatsoever". Johnson jested privately, "If you have a mother-in-law with only one eye, and she has it in the center of her forehead, you don't keep her in the living room."<ref>{{harvnb|Dallek|1998|pp=272–277}}</ref> By October 1965, over 200,000 troops were deployed in Vietnam.<ref>{{harvnb|Dallek|1998|p=284}}</ref>

On November 8, 1965, Johnson underwent surgery at [[Bethesda Naval Hospital]] to remove his [[gallbladder]] and a [[kidney stone]]. After the procedure, Johnson's doctors reported that the president had come through the surgery "beautifully as expected."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gilbert |first=Robert E. |title=Presidential Disability and the Twenty-Fifth Amendment: The Difficulties Posed By Psychological Illness |journal=Fordham Law Review |volume=79 |issue=3 |year=2010 |url=https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol79/iss3/5 |pages=843–879}}</ref> He was able to resume his duties the following day, and he met with reporters a couple of days later to reassure the nation that he was recovering well. Although Johnson was incapacitated during surgery, there was no transfer of presidential power to Vice President Humphrey, since no constitutional procedure then existed to do so. The [[Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Twenty-fifth Amendment]], which Congress sent to the states for [[ratification]] four months earlier, included such provisions, but was not ratified until 1967.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Politics and the president's gallbladder |last=Pappas |first=Theodore N. |date=July 1, 2017 |journal=Bulletin of the American College of Surgeons |volume=102 |issue=7 |pages=71–72 |pmid=28885794 |url=http://bulletin.facs.org/2017/07/politics-and-the-presidents-gallbladder/ |access-date=October 5, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | title=The Political Effects of Presidential Illness: The Case of Lyndon B. Johnson |last=Gilbert |first=Robert E. |journal=Political Psychology |volume=16 |issue=4 |date=December 1995 |pages=761–776 |publisher=International Society of Political Psychology |jstor=3791892 |doi=10.2307/3791892}}</ref>