American presidents who were war criminals

[floridafan]

That was the war of indpendence from France. No overt military action by the U.S. before the Gulf of Tonkin incident.
Johnson started the u.s. War of Aggression against Vietnam.

The question was when the war started, and it began long before Johnson.

[SmarterthanYou]

That was the war of indpendence from France. No overt military action by the U.S. before the Gulf of Tonkin incident.
Johnson started the u.s. War of Aggression against Vietnam.

Kennedy started it, not johnson.

[anonymoose]

Kennedy started it, not johnson.

While U.S. President John F. Kennedy had originally supported the policy of sending military advisers to Diem, he had begun to alter his thinking by September 1963,[17] because of what he perceived to be the ineptitude of the Saigon government and its inability and unwillingness to make needed reforms (which led to a U.S.-supported coup which resulted in the death of Diem). Shortly before Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, he had begun a limited withdrawal of 1,000 U.S. forces before the end of 1963.[18]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident

[anonymoose]

The question was when the war started, and it began long before Johnson.

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed on false pretenses.
Not much different than Bush's Iraq resolution.
Hence, they're both in my list of war criminals.

[Eagle_Eye]

The Vietnam War started eight years before Johnson took office...

https://www.britannica.com/event/Vietnam-War

While you are absolutely correct, prior to the Gulf of Tokin incident there were about 19,000 US troops in Vietnam. Their job was to train and advise the South Vietnamese army on how to fight the North Vietnam army. LBJ used the Gulf of Tonkin as an excuse to broaden the war. That was the beginning of major US combat operations and technically the start of the war.

[anonymoose]

Ho Chi Minh actually asked FDR, another war criminal, for assistance in liberating Vietnam from France. He was rebuffed.
Ho was fluent in French and English and did not rely on interpreters..
After FDR ignored his pleas for help he moved to Russia, became fluent in the language, and studied communism.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...api_tkin_p1_i0

[Rune]

My rankings in order of number of civilians murdered

1. Abraham Lincoln
Allowed and approved of Sherman's March to the Sea.

2. Lyndon Johnson
Starting the Vietnam war under false pretenses... the Gulf of Tonkin "incident".

3. FDR
(see post 4)

4. Harry Truman
Could have forewarned Hirohito of what the atomic bomb was capable of by demonstrating it before
using it on innocent civilians and given H. a chance to surrender.

5.George W. Bush
Starting the Iraq operation under false pretenses

6. Barack Obama
Allowed his Sect. of State with zero foreign policy experience to convince him to politically destroy a
sovereign nation which is FUBARed to this day.

Dishonorable mention:

Dick Nixon
For pardoning reducing Lt. William Calley's sentence

Note: I rank Lincoln ahead of Johnson because we don't know accurately the number of vietnamese civilians Americans murdered

Facepalm.
Johnson didn't start the war.

[anonymoose]

Facepalm.
Johnson didn't start the war.

The resolution served as Johnson's legal justification for deploying U.S. conventional forces to South Vietnam and the commencement of open warfare against North Vietnam.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident

[archives]

Of such a list was warranted, from the rationale I’ve seen above, what President wouldn’t make the list?

[floridafan]

My rankings in order of number of civilians murdered

1. Abraham Lincoln
Allowed and approved of Sherman's March to the Sea.

2. Lyndon Johnson
Starting the Vietnam war under false pretenses... the Gulf of Tonkin "incident".

3. FDR
(see post 4)

4. Harry Truman
Could have forewarned Hirohito of what the atomic bomb was capable of by demonstrating it before
using it on innocent civilians and given H. a chance to surrender.

5.George W. Bush
Starting the Iraq operation under false pretenses

6. Barack Obama
Allowed his Sect. of State with zero foreign policy experience to convince him to politically destroy a
sovereign nation which is FUBARed to this day.

Dishonorable mention:

Dick Nixon
For pardoning reducing Lt. William Calley's sentence

Note: I rank Lincoln ahead of Johnson because we don't know accurately the number of vietnamese civilians Americans murdered

Richard Nixon gets no "credit" for a massive escalation in the Viet Nam war?

[anonymoose]

Richard Nixon gets no "credit" for a massive escalation in the Viet Nam war?

Already gave him Honorable mention. Had Johnson not gotten America directly involved to begin with, he never would’ve had the chance.

[anonymoose]

Of such a list was warranted, from the rationale I’ve seen above, what President wouldn’t make the list?

You are free to add to the list. Remember, it’s a ranked list.

[floridafan]

Already gave him Honorable mention. Had Johnson not gotten America directly involved to begin with, he never would’ve had the chance.

The war began before Johnson, and even before Kennedy.

[anonymoose]

The war began before Johnson, and even before Kennedy.

It wasn’t ours. First it was against the French colonizers, then a civil war.

The resolution served as Johnson's legal justification for deploying U.S. conventional forces to South Vietnam and the commencement of open warfare against North Vietnam.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was based on a lie which Johnson was well aware of.
Nixon tried to win a war we were already engaged in. The targets were military. No war crime in that.
Commuting Calley’s sentence is what gives Nixon an honorable mention. Calley should have been executed before a firing squad.

[floridafan]

It wasn’t ours. First it was against the French colonizers, then a civil war.

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was based on a lie which Johnson was well aware of.
Nixon tried to win a war we were already engaged in. The targets were military. No war crime in that.
Commuting Calley’s sentence is what gives Nixon an honorable mention. Calley should have been executed before a firing squad.

The war began Nov 1, 1955.