Lyndon Johnson’s War. By Michael H. Hunt. Hill and Wang, 146 pages, $18.00.

Vietnam was not just our war,” says Michael H. Hunt, Everett H. Emerson professor of history. “A lot more Vietnamese were killed, a lot more Vietnamese were maimed, and a lot more Vietnamese were wounded.”

An estimated 1.4 million Vietnamese died during the U.S. combat phase of the war from 1965 to 1972. By 1972, South Vietnam, with a population just under 18 million, had a total of over 10 million refugees. About 300,000 Vietnamese are still missing in action.

In comparison, the U.S. lost 58,000 soldiers, and 1,600 Americans are still missing in action. But the psychological impact on American society has been profound. “We’ve got this ghost that haunts us,” Hunt says.

So how did the US become embroiled in this conflict which cost both sides so many lives, and which many now regard as unwinnable?

In Lyndon Johnson’s War, Hunt contends that President Johnson bears primary responsibility for America’s deep involvement in Vietnam.

Hunt argues that Johnson’s role in Vietnam began long before Kennedy’s assassination on November 22, 1963. The natural starting point, Hunt says, is Johnson’s birth - August 27, 1908 - on a farm deep in the Texas Hill Country.

Hunt says Johnson came from “the Texas backwater without money or connections of the Northeast type.” Moving swiftly into state and national office, Johnson worked persistently and decisively to make up for his humble beginnings.

This experience translated into a hands-on style aimed at producing concrete results. “No problem put before him escaped solution,” Hunt says.

Faced with a seemingly intractable situation in Vietnam, Johnson took decisive action - first initiating a bombing campaign in North Vietnam, then sending in U.S. ground forces, and eventually committing large forces of U.S. troops.

But Johnson did not make these decisions in isolation. He not only had initial public support, he also had support from the media and Congress.

Most Americans believed in the Cold War consensus that said the West had to stop the spread of Communism abroad. “First Eastern Europe, then China - American leaders had an image of the globe gradually turning red,” Hunt explains.

The U.S. had made a global commitment to defend freedom everywhere. “Johnson believed in the Cold War consensus,” Hunt says, “and he understood that you had to pay a price to preserve containment.”