LBJ & the Search for Enemies

Lyndon B. Johnson 1963-69 increased the danger of confrontation in the Cold War, emphasized a military policy of escalation in Vietnam, returned to interventionism in the Dominican Republic, gave military support to factions in the Congo, increased the atomic stockpile of weapons, failed to prevent violence at home, urban riots, rise of a militant anti-war movement and groups such as the Black Panthers, assassinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy .

1963

Nov. - LBJ continued JFK's decision to aid to Israel with American military supplies after Nasser aided Yemen rebels in war to overthrow Saudi-supported royalist Yemen government (JFK sent Hawk missles in 1962, LBJ sent tanks)

Dec. - NATO joined boycott of Cuba after US stopped military aid to 5 NATO nations for violating the boycott of Cuba imposed in October

1964

Jan. 4 - Panama riots; LBJ agreed in Dec. to renegotiate the 1903 treaty; by 1967 new pacts provided for a new treaty, joint defense, rebuilding of canal but much opposition remained in Panama

May 22 - LBJ announced Great Society program in speech at Univ. of Michigan

June - LBJ ultimatum to Turkey prevented a war with Greece over Cyprus, but NATO was weakened by the conflict between 2 member nations.

July - OAS voted boycott of Cuba to prevent Cuba's export of arms into countries such as Venzuela for communist subversion

Aug. 5 - Gulf of Tonkin resolution began escalation in Vietnam

Aug. 11 - Congo intervention

Sept. 7 - Daisy Girl TV ad helped LBJ defeat Goldwater in Nov. 3 election

Oct. - Khru. ousted Oct. 15, China A-bomb oct. 16, Brit Labor Party victory over Conservatives

Nov. 13 - Kosygin met with Chou En-lai in China

1965

Mar. 23 - 1st Gemini orbit by Gus Grissom and John Young

Apr. 28 - Dominican Diversion

June - Pakistan sent tanks into Kashmir to expel Indian troops; LBJ imposed arms embargo on both sides and brought about a cease-fire by Sept.

Nov. 26 - DeGaulle launched Daimant rocket from Hammaguir in Africa to make France the third space power, having developed its own "force de frappe" nuclear capability in 1960

1966

Feb. - DeGaulle withdrew from NATO and ousted American troops

June 30 - Jesse Helms became 1st CIA agent to rise through the ranks to become Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) until 1972

July - Harold Wilson in Britain planned to withdraw troops from Germany unless the Ludwig Erhard government paid for their support, but John McCloy arranged to keep US and Brit troops in Germany "fully committed to NATO" by selling government bonds to Germany

1967

January - Treaty of Tlatelolco by nuclear powers agreed to denuclearization of Latin America

April - Outer Space Treaty approved by Senate 88-0 to demilitarize the moon and prohibit weapons of mass destruction in space

June 5 - Six Day War in mideast began with pre-emptive Israeli attack on Egypt and occupation of the Sinai, Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Jerusalem

June 9 - U.S. intelligence-gathering ship Liberty was deliberately attacked by Israeli planes off the coast of Egypt, killing 34, in order to prevent U.S. from learning of Israeli plans to seize the Golan Heights from Syria; Russia broke diplomatic relations with Israel and Kosygin called LBJ on the hot line to urge him to stop Israel

June 11 - Israel agreed to ceasefire with Syria after it took the Golan Heights June 23-25 - Glassboro Summit with Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin in New Jersey, failed to prevent Russia from building antiballistic missle system

July - LBJ asked Congress for the Sentinel ABM system like that of the Russians, but debated until 1969

1968

Jan. 5 - Czech Crisis began when Alexander Dubcek replaced Antonin Novotny as Secretary of the Czech Communist Party (a coup within the Czech party) and permitted reforms in the Prague "spring of freedom" to create " a new model of socialist democracy"; USSR military intervention began Aug. 20 according to the Brezhnev Doctrine that kept socialist countries under Russian control; caused cancellation of SALT summit planned for Sept. 30

July 1 - Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty signed by US, USSR, Britain (later by 111 nations), but not France or China

Oct. 11 - Apollo 7 began 163 orbits by Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele, Walter Cunningham in the first major success of the $25 billion Apollo-SaturnV space program to land on the moon (done by Apollo 11 July 20, 1969)

Nov. 4 - Richard Nixon defeated Democrat Hubert Humphrey in the presidential election

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revised 5/10/02 | LBJ & the Cold War in Cold War Policies