policy - The Black Vault

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in Southeast Asia that might have accompanied the establishment of a new
administration.
Johson's fear of the power of righL wing sentiment among
the American people was a strong factor in the gradual nature ot his escalation.
Johnson believed that unless cara was taken, such public sentiment
could serve as a stimulus for wildly aggressive actions in Vietnam that
might precipitate a Chinese or Soviet intervention. 26/ He believed that
it was his duty to maintain a check on those forces through moderation in
action and also through moderation in the way he presented the war to the
people lest they mistake his call for supporting the war as a summons to a
patriotic cusade against communism. 27/ He also believed that Robert
Kennedy might be reckless enough to evoke this response from the American
peoplj by accusing him of not having been sufficiently tough with the
communist Vietnamese. 28/
Ir his fear of rightist sentiment Johnson was reacting to
the political realit-es that had dominated foreign policy criticism
throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s, namely that the United States was
not being sufficiently strong in resisting communist advances. After 1965,
however, opposition to foreign policy came not from the right but from the
left, aod Johnson proved unable to adjust to the attacks that were being
made from that direction.
In pursuing what he believed to be the Kennedy foreign
policy, Johnson alienated elements of the left wing of his party; and in
successfully implementing many of the Democrats' social programs, he also
stimtlated criticism of his domestic policies from the right wing within
the party. Thus, he was unable to count on the left for continuing support
of his social programs or on the right for support of nis war Dolicies. In
the last year of his administration Johnson presided over the fragmentation
A. of the old Democratic coalition. Moreover, his commitment to the Kennedy
tax-cut economic stimulus was a decisive factor in Johnson's reluctance to
•- ~~seek appropriate financing o h ienmwr In short, the pattern
•,
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Johnson established in pursuit of the Kennedy legacy elicited unexpected
political reponses which undermined simultaneously his war policies, his
social policies, and his eccnomic policies.
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