By claiming that Vietnam had attacked us in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964, did LBJ assure his own election?

Question

It was early August of 1964 and the presidential election was less than 3 months away.

Barry Goldwater was depicting LBJ as being "soft on Communism" and there was no way of knowing how persuasive this argument would be to the voters that November.

By "ginning up" a little military conflict and show-of-force, did LBJ assure his own election to the presidency in November of 1964?

Did Karl Rove and Dick Cheney follow this same scenario to assure a margin of victory in the presidential election of 2004?

The television add depicting a little girl plucking a flower with a mushroom cloud going up in the air behind her, was an add that aired only ONCE.

Just like Paris Hilton and so many others, Saddam found religion AFTER he found himself in jail. He and his sons had absolutely NOTHING to do with Osama!

The talking points by Condolleeza Rice, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush and others mentioned "mushroom cloud" over and over again!

They all hit the political talk shows that same Sunday to utter the well-known phrase, " We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud."

They proceeded to repeat that same phrase of vivid alarm over and over again as they had rehearsed a systematic campaign of conjuring this fearful image in the minds of millions of Americans leading up to our attack of Iraq.

LBJ and George W. Bush grossly underestimated the abilities of the enemy and ended up galvanizing the enemy's resolve to resist us.
George W. is an unwitting recruiter for al Qaeda.

When it comes to History, 43 years is but a nanosecond!

Funny thing that you should mention this obscure and mysterious "Italian letter"

Here is some CURRENT information for you Steve:

An entire book has just been published on this particular topic!

"THE ITALIAN LETTER: HOW THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION USED A FAKE LETTER TO BUILD THE CASE FOR WAR IN IRAQ" by Peter Eisner and Knut Royce

"This book is a much-needed and thorough investigation of this important subject by two well-known and well-thought-of journalists." -- W. Patrick Lang, retired army colonel and former Defense intelligence officer; former senior adviser to Dick Cheney

"The Italian Letter focuses principally on President Bush's infamous 16 words in his January 2003 State of the Union address and how those words, clearly fallacious, were derived and then managed to stay in the speech. But the book conveys much more - the duplicity, subterfuge, propaganda, and outright lies that helped sell many Americans on the need to invade Iraq.

Read the book and weep for our democracy." -- Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, 2002-05

I wouldn't want to twist your arm to go buy this book Steve, but if you happen to find yourself at Barnes&Noble, you just might sneak a quick peek at this comprehensive volume if you dare!

Dick Cheney became frustrated with the kind of intelligence he was getting from the CIA so he and Rumsfeld decided to start their own little intelligence-gathering operation out of the Pentagon.

You know how the Fish&Game Department will stock a lake with fish?

Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld decided to stock their little intelligence gathering operation with little gems that they could later say they just happened upon or were found through their "special" channels of intelligence gathering and --- voila!

Indisputable intelligence!

Indisputable evidence!

Indisputable proof!

This "Italian letter" was just as phony as the fake memo that sunk the carreer of Dan Rather!

Ironically, Dan Rather shelved the original expose CBS had spent months preparing about this bogus yellow cake in Niger story in order to go with what turned out to be the story surrounding the bogus Air National Guard document mysteriously made available on the internet! What a strange coincidence!

Answer 1

Goldwater was a hawk plane and simple. People didn't trust him about using nukes again. He kinda sealed Johnson's presidency himself. As for Mr. Saddam and Bin Laden new each other, that's a different story. Cheney is the master spinner. Kerry was his own worst enemy. Who can really know what the American people think. They get tired of things so quickly, and change their minds. I'm for the war, I'm against the war.

Answer 2

Oswald insured the dems a victory in 1964, plain and simple. The nation's sympathy for the "fallen" President was cast into hopes that Johnson would carry on the JFK "legacy." No Republican could have won against that. The same would have been true if the roles were reversed.

As for the statement about Saddam not having anything to do with Osama - there was a little newspaper story in January of 1999 from an Italian news service about Saddam and Osama meeting through intermediaries to discuss foregoing religious differences to fight the Americans and the west. Funny the media hasn't dared to run that story again.

The Italian "letter" has nothing to do with the yellow cake /16 words from Pres. Bush. It has everything to do with an article written while Pres. Clinton was in office.

How can anyone disregard the statements Clinton, Kennedy, et al in the Dem Party had to say in regards to Saddam and Osama during the 90s. Bush merely echoed those statements and provided the proof to the UN.

Answer 3

I think the answer is "yes". The reports of our vessel being attacked by the North Vietnamese were exaggerated, and LBJ wanted to believe the worse.

So in effect, he cemented the 64 election.

Goldwater was a better choice for 64. Had he gone into office, I think we would've seen a different outcome.

It would be four more years till Nixon got in and did some serious damage to the NVA, Hanoi, and Cambodia.

Anyway, to answer your final question, Rove and Cheney did not follow the same scenario. The US was attacked in 2001 by terrorists who took down the WTC and nailed the Pentagon. Luckily the fourth plane did not reach the Whitehouse.

The point is, circumstances picked Bush for re-election, not the other way around.

Answer 4

That may have been a factor, but the most memorable tactic used by LBJ was the ad showing a little girl picking flowers followed by a picture of a mushroom cloud; the implication being that Goldwater would start a nuclear war and get us all killed.

Answer 5

LBJ? Yes.
Karl Rove and Tricky Dick Cheney? No.

Answer 6

1964 was , what... 43 yrs ago. Water under the bridge. As for as 2004, no they did not follow any scenario , nor did they assume anything.