Summary: The Failure Of The Johnson Administration

The Failure of the Johnson Administration * When Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin asked the President of the United States, Lyndon Johnson, why he supported Israel when there were 80 million Arabs and only three million Israelis, the President replied simply: “Because it is right.” The United States and Israel have for decades been joined by a de facto alliance. But the relationship between the two countries has not always been strong. For the majority of Israel’s first two decades of independence, the United States was not a close ally. It took several decades and presidential administrations for the relationship to become fruitful. Indeed, now the United States and Israel are close allies and the U.S. provides Israel with significant amounts…show more content…
Yet many of his decisions were based on his need for support from the American Jewish community. Furthermore, he was involved in wars that were somewhere else, halfway around the world. President Johnson did not differentiate in his foreign policy between his two regions of involvement, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Instead, many of his actions encompassed both the Vietnam War and the Middle East Crisis without distinguishing between the two. * The unfortunate effects of Johnson’s approach are still visible today. Israel is still at war in the Middle East, with no resolution in sight. The United States, as the leader of the free world, must put in place goal-oriented foreign policy that declares the purpose of the mission right from the onset. The recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are examples of foreign wars with many challenges, but where American policy has at least been clear enough to ensure that enough Americans support the war and understand that sacrifices will be required.…show more content…
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