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Johnson Presidency

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Help me to understand the U.S. diplomatic efforts during President Johnson's time in office.

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The solution provides assistance and explanation of the U.S. diplomatic efforts during President Johnson's time in office.

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Finding concrete elements of diplomacy during the Johnson administration is like finding needles in a haystack. This is not because of the striking similarities between the needles and the individual stalks of hay. It is because the haystack obscures the needles, and the haystack represents the most disastrous diplomatic blunder in American history: the Vietnam War. Diplomacy in the 1960s was redefined around the globe as it became evident that nuclear solutions to conflicts would leave very few diplomats on the planet. American diplomacy, during the Johnson administration, was redefined, renamed, and dominated by the events of the Cold War.

GUNBOAT diplomacy

In the spring of 1965, Johnson showed the world how he could continue imperialist "gunboat diplomacy" by sending US Marines to the Dominican Republic. The motivation was to keep Communists out of another Caribbean republic. Although the confusing coup kept constitutionalists in power without the US troops, the invasion continued and fierce fighting continued. A new Johnsonian tactic was added, that of boldly lying to the American public, as an Embassy attack was invented, and mass decapitations that were reported had never taken place. In a strange pre-cursor to the events in Vietnam, these tactics were soon exposed by Senator William Fulbright.

DOLLAR diplomacy

In relations with geographic neighbor Mexico and cultural neighbor Britain, Johnson again continued the successful policies of the past. His "dollar diplomacy" kept alive American investments in Mexico and maintained British defense of American interests in the Middle East. Of course, dollar diplomacy could not stand alone, it was justified again as stemming the ...

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