All part of the same struggle: Berlin's role in German-US relations during the Lyndon Johnson presidency. Issue 3 (3rd July 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Givens, Seth A.
• Is Part Of: Cold War history. Volume 22:Issue 3(2022)
• Page Start: 287
• Page End: 304
• Publication Date: 2022-07-03
• Subjects: Détente -- Johnson & 'LBJ' -- Ostpolitik -- West Germany -- Vietnam War; Cold War -- Periodicals; World politics -- 1945- -- Periodicals; 940.55
• DOI: 10.1080/14682745.2022.2036719
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1468-2745

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article analyses Berlin's place in German-US relations during the Lyndon Johnson presidency. It examines how Johnson linked the defence of the Cold War's frontier city to the US military effort in South Vietnam in order to extract burden-sharing concessions from the Federal Republic of Germany. By the end of Johnson's presidency, the West Germans used his rhetoric against him, driving a wedge between Bonn and Washington on the Cold War's Gordian Knot and leading, in part, to Willy Brandt's Ostpolitik.