Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation (Tom Paxton)

Vietnam War, peace, protest, & antiwar songs

The song "Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation" (Elektra Records # EKL 298), one of the key tracks of the anti-war movement, provides an important representation of the "credibility gap"- that the US executive / president mislead the public about the growing US military commitment to the region, and the nature and impact of US intervention. On 4 August 1964, President Johnson gave a speech on the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, in which he told the American public that the US must take action against "this new...aggression". He re-assured the public that "we still seek no wider war". Yet, in 1965 Johnson began to significantly escalate the Vietnam conflict - from 59,900 in June 1965 to 184,300 by December 1965.

Thus US folk singer Tom Paxton addressed this contradiction in the chorus: "Lyndon Johnson told the nation have no fear of escalation...though it isn't really war, we're sending fifty thousand more". The chorus also mocked the purpose of the war: "to help save Vietnam from Vietnamese". This is a good example of the use of humor found in Vietnam War songs. The lyrics and notations of this song appeared in the publication Broadside # 62, 15 September 1965.

The verses started with a man receiving the draft letter. The verses then moved over to Vietnam. It noted the problem of dealing with guerrilla warfare, and support for Hồ Chí Minh, the leader of North Vietnam, from within US-backed South Vietnam. The "VC" and "Viet Cong"referred to the National Liberation Front (NFL), the political and military resistance to the US and South Vietnamese government from within South Vietnam. It mainly included guerrilla forces, but also regular units.

"I got a letter from L.B.J / It said this is your lucky day... / Though it may seem very queer / We've got no jobs to give you here / So we are sending you to Vietnam... / I know that Lyndon loves me so / Yet how sadly I remember way back yonder in November / When he said I'd never have to go / Every night the local gentry sneak out past the sleeping sentry / They go to join the old VC... / We go round in helicopters, like a bunch of big grasshoppers / Searching for the Viet Cong in vain... / They left...they had gone... / Down to Saigon, their government positions to maintain"