President Johnson Orders the Marine Corps to Land at Da Nang

President Johnson’s decision to use American airpower to bomb North Vietnam leads him to further conclude that the United States requires more ground forces in South Vietnam, whose responsibility it will be to protect growing U.S. air bases and other facilities from retaliation by Communist troops. Johnson approves General William Westmoreland’s request for two Marine Corps battalions to fill this role, and the Marines begin preparations for a landing at Da Nang, in northern South Vietnam.1