LANDSLIDE LYNDON
January 31st, 1968. President Johnson is told about the Tet Offensive, a coordinated surprise attack in which the North Vietnamese attack over 100 targets, including the American embassy in Saigon. While the Americans eventually beat back most of the attacks in what could be considered a military victory, the political embarrassment for Johnson and the United States is unprecedented. The unrelenting drive of the Viet Kong during the offensive leads Walter Cronkite to announce on the evening news that the US cannot not win the war. And even Robert McNamara is starting to doubt the war’s chances of success, much to Johnson’s consternation. For LBJ, this is the beginning of the end for him, a turning point where he too sees there is no way to win this thing. He awakes one night to find the West Wing strewn with bodies – casualties of his pointless war – a dream from which he fears he will never wake up.
To make matters worse, on March 16th, his chief rival, Robert F Kennedy Jr, announces his bid presidency, a challenge that Johnson knows will be difficult to overcome, as the popularity of the war, and his own presidency, loses ground each day.
LYRICS​
LBJ: The date is January ‘68
The war in Nam is looking great
We’ve sent our men up to Khe Sanh
Nguyen Giap, their general’s on the run.
McNamara:
Today is Tet
Our men will get
some needed rest at last I bet
The lunar new year
One of the few clear
Days when the bullets disappear
LBJ:
And all the endless fighting stops
And for one day
The death count drops
(Westmoreland enters)
LBJ: Westmoreland, come in, what’s the news?
W: Sir, Khai San was just a ruse
To get our soldiers distracted
While theirs came to the South and attacked it
LBJ: On Tet? Today?
McNamara: Seems they’ve thrown the rule book away.
All: It’s an offensive on Tet
The offensive of Tet
It’s our worst day in Vietnam
So far
And We should have never let
Our guard
down
The offensive of Tet
LBJ: Well god damnit tell me which city?
W: A hundred
LBJ: I’m sorry which one did he-
W: A hundred cities, towns and bases
All at once, a hundred places
​
McNamara: we’ll have to escalate the war!
W: We can, but wait there’s something more
The embassy...
LBJ: The EMBASSY?
W: ...has been attacked...
They blew through the wall
But we’re pushing back
​
LBJ: Jesus-
​
W: And the south Vietnamese
In apparent retribution
Have taken captured officers for public execution
​
LBJ shaking his head
​
McNamara: (goes to memo machine)
Lyndon, a cable came in today-
Mass graves found in the town of Hue.
​
LBJ: Well how many?
Don’t hold back - please!
​
McNamara:
Sir, 3,000 South Vietnamese
Spoken:
LBJ: My god
This offensive of Tet
I never thought it would get
So bad
W: What now sir?
LBJ: We’ll hit em with everything we’ve got
I don’t care how, but keep it up
Don’t stop
W: yes sir!
McNamara: I guess, Sir.
LBJ: What do you mean you god damn guess?
McNamara: Sir, I just think...it’s a mess.
Maybe we should listen to Ho Chi Minh
And finally admit we just can’t win.
LBJ:
You?
What happened to everything Goldwater would say?
You think Nixon won’t say them today?
McNamara: Well....
LBJ: And always you were sure they’d yield
If we just had 10,000 more soldiers in the field
McNamara: Well sir, maybe if -
LBJ: Just get out.
LBJ (turns to audience)
We can’t win this thing.
It’s a sure bet..
Happy god damn Tet.