Vietnamese and the second was to increase the number of ground troops in the South. Two Marine units were deployed to Vietnam to Danang. The first battle between US troops and the Vietcong proved that the North could suffer heavy casualties and still maneuver around the US ground and air attack. Johnson soon deployed 40,000 troops to secure additional bases in Vietnam. Realizing the difficulty ahead of him General Westmoreland requested 150,000 more troops. President Johnson decided to give in to the request, he felt that if he did not send the troops he would be giving into the communist. Westmoreland knew that in order to win the war he would need more troops than that and Johnson was willing to give them to him. Johnson paid close attention to what he was bombing and where because he did not want to bring the Soviet Union and China into the war. Johnson decided that at this time that he would intensify the bombing in the North and would send more troops to support the South. Johnson was not about to raise taxes or call in the reserves during the war. Johnson and his policymakers felt that the only way to win the war was to inflict serious pain on the North Vietnamese and to make the South able to stand on it's own without the United States. Robert McNamara in 1967 was starting to feel that the United States could not win the war. McNamara explained to Johnson that neither the ground troops nor the bombing had any serious affect on the North. Johnson was trying to deal with domestic policies at the same time with Vietnam and McNamara was trying to explain to Johnson that his program of bread and butter could not be sustained because the economy was going straight down the drain. McNamara tried to get the President to halt the bombing of the North and to initiate peace with the North. President Johnson would have nothing to do with this. Johnson refused to lose this war and was ready to do whatever to win. Johnson app...
