Browsing by Author "Richard Kohn, Committee Member"

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    The Other Side of the Story: Vietnam Escalation and Global Army Readiness, 1965-1968
    (2009-04-22) Dempsey, Christopher Martin; Richard Kohn, Committee Member; Joseph Caddell, Committee Member; Nancy Mitchell, Committee Chair
    From 1965-1968, the United States Army bore the brunt of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s military escalation of the Vietnam War, while attempting to maintain its Cold War deterrent responsibilities around the globe. While scholars have exhaustively researched the varying aspects of the former, fewer have studied the implications of these decisions on the latter. This paper examines the devastating effects of escalation in Southeast Asia on the army’s ability to remain prepared and ready to fight another war should one arise anywhere else in the world. Specifically, it traces the downward trend of army readiness as a result of Johnson’s decision not to call up the reserves until 1968, paired with the rapid expansion of the army from 1 million soldiers in 1965 to 1.5 million in 1968.