is election, that no Americans would have to fight in Vietnam. During this time that the war is in progress Johnson is still forking out billions to try and improve education, create jobs, and public housing for his 'Great Society' but this is yet another dream of LBJ;s that will soon become a nightmare. The biggest mistake that Johnson ever made was quite possibly the underestimation of the tenacity of the Vietnamese. Johnson simply didn't understand the roots of their culture. The North Vietnamese wanted one nation under one government while the US wanted a North and a South, and the South Vietnamese seemed to be caught in the middle - all they wanted was a democracy in which they owned their own land. The demands for troops grew greater and greater and soon money that should of been invested in America's economy was spent keeping the war in progress and order in South Vietnam. Martin Luther King in one speech, dictated that America spent about $332,000 to kill a Viet Cong while a poor person in the US only costed about $53. With the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. and the consistant bombing by the US on the Vietnamese eventually resulted in a mass build up of turmoil in America. Johnson, who was at one point looked at as a hero and acknowledged for his ignition in the women's fight for equality as well as The Voting Rights Act (1965), which permitted the black community to vote, now was possibly the most hated man in America. "He was riding a tiger he couldn't get off." (George Ball) Johnson had begun to lie to the public, saying that the war was under control and exaggerating the number of Viet Cong that were killed but Johnson had overestimated teh patience of the US people. They wanted to put an end to the war and as a result riots broke out due to a lack of respect for authority and the law. The most notorious of these riots were the ones in Watts, California where 27 people were killed, 600 were injured, 1700 were arrest...
