And people act like Vietnam was all Nixon, as if LBJ never existed.
Sorry for the late response. Born in 53, my recollection was of LBJ and Nixon. Yes, the war was a very bid deal for both Presidents.
One can go back to Kennedy and before that to Eisenhower. I think a graph of either dollars or people would show the upswing under Kennedy and full-blown involvement under LBJ and Nixon. The main person who simply inherited the mess was Nixon, in my opinion. As President, Nixon got the job done. It reminds me somewhat of Grant getting the job done after his predecessors failed to make sufficient progress.