IMHO, they were pretty much in sync. McNamara from a tactical/strategic standpoint told the the boss exactly what the boss wanted the hear. LBJ was a micro-manager on thing other than the war as well. Their policies, especially to on again-off again bombing campaigns and avoiding any target if they knew there were Russian 'advisers' there were beyond insane.
They were a bad team.
I never understood the fear of hitting Russian or Chinese “advisors”. It’s war. What were they going to do about it? Certainly isn’t worth a nuclear exchange over if it should happen. It telegraph’s strategic weakness.
Frankly we should have closed Haiphong harbor much earlier than they did. If a Russian freighter hits a mine, that would have been too bad. You were warned.
You can still loose a war even if you are tactically superior — just ask the Germans.
I agree. I will say most of Nixon’s cease fires were as a direct result of Congress giving him so much heat, he basically had no choice. LBJ, not the same thing at all.
Those stupid cease-fires. Good grief.
We should have given North Vietnam five days to stop all hostilities or we would level Hanoi within 48 hours, then move on to the next biggest city.
We pussy footed around.