Chapters 19-20 Summary and Analysis

In the opening days of the Johnson administration, the new President was busy greeting ambassadors and heads of state, a task he did not feel comfortable with. The position on Vietnam was to keep it quiet for the 1964 campaign. In June, General William C. Westmoreland was named commander of American forces in Vietnam.

In July there was an incident in the Gulf of Tonkin that led to a series of covert actions known by the code name of 34A with General Harkins in command and McGeorge Bundy overseeing the operations in Washington. These operations were not made public and were intensified in the summer of 1964.

Two South Vietnamese patrol boats raided two North Vietnamese bases on July 30 as part of 34A. At the same time, the U.S. destroyer Maddox was in North Vietnamese territory to pinpoint radar installations...