s taying the c ourse 247change of course. Rather than continued escalation, Cliff ord advised
taking measures, particularly a bombing halt over most of North
Vietnam, which he believed more likely to bring about negotiations
with the communists.
Following intensive debate within the administration, the president
agreed to an unconditional bombing halt above the 20th parallel and a
very modest increase in the American troop ceiling in Vietnam that
signaled a defi nitive rejection of the JCS mobilization alternative.
Never again would all-out war be an option for the United States.
Johnson explained his policy decision in a nationally televised address
on March 31, 1968, and concluded with the surprise announcement that
he was withdrawing from the presidential race. Th e war that he had
been so determined to keep within bounds so as to preserve his legacy
had instead consumed it.
Diplomacy and the Elusive Quest for Peace
In framing American political objectives as securing the independence
of South Vietnam from North Vietnamese aggression, the president
established two diplomatic relationships as central to the outcome of
the war. At some point the United States would have to negotiate a
political solution with the DRV. Th e president vainly sought to bring
Hanoi to the negotiating table for nearly three years after he American-
ized the war. It proved no easier to secure the cooperation of his South
Vietnamese allies, who stubbornly pursued their own agenda and feared
any negotiations with the communists would doom them. Th e partial
bombing halt that Johnson announced in his March 31, 1968, address
fi nally broke the ice with Hanoi; signifi cant progress on the shape of a
settlement seemed in the offi ng seven months later, when he declared a
complete end to the air attacks. With the prospect of a more friendly
Nixon administration in Washington, however, the Saigon government
balked at joining the talks.
Johnson hoped to induce the North Vietnamese leaders to negotiate
via a carrot-and-stick approach. Th rough a sustained American military
commitment, he would beat back the communist attempt to over-
whelm South Vietnam. At the same time, he hoped to encourage the
communists to adopt a more reasonable stance by offering them a