Britain and 'LBJ's War', 1964-68

Abstract

This article focuses on the policy of the British government towards the Vietnam War in the years when US involvement was escalated by the administration of Lyndon B. Johnson. Following a brief review of the existing literature and the historical background, and drawing on both newly released documentary evidence and recent academic research, it provides a survey of British reasons for supporting US policy despite doubts about the direction Johnson took, of the ways in which London helped Washington while rejecting direct involvement on the ground, of British efforts to arbitrate an end to the war and of the impact of the war on domestic politics in the United Kingdom.