LBJ Expanding War Effort in Vietnam

Apr. 2, 1965 - The Johnson Administration decided today upon an increase in men, money, and equipment for South Vietnam to offset the growing strength of the Viet Cong insurgents and to increase pressure upon North Vietnam for a diplomatic settlement.

Among the steps agreed upon by President Johnson and his advisers were the following:

— Assignment of several thousand additional troops to South Vietnam to train the South Vietnamese forces and to protect key American installations against attacks by Communist guerrillas. There are 27,500 American servicemen in South Vietnam now, nearly twice the number there a year ago.

— Continued American air strikes against North Vietnam, probably of greater intensity and farther north than the bombing raids of the last two months.

— With American assistance, a 160,000-man increase in the size of the South Vietnamese military, militia, and police forces, which now number about 557,000 men.

— Increased economic assistance to strengthen the position of the South Vietnamese government, particularly in the rural provinces where the Viet Cong have been making heavy inroads.

These steps were agreed upon by President Johnson at a meeting of the National Security Council with Maxwell Taylor, the U.S. Ambassador to Saigon.

Taylor, who has been conferring with Administration officials for the last week, will leave for Saigon tomorrow evening. It was evident he was leaving with Administration endorsement of almost all the proposals that he brought to Washington for improving the war effort against the Communists.

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