When Johnson authorized the deployment of combat troops to Vietnam, he and his advisers decided to impose certain conditions on the war. The war would be a "limited" war. According to General Earle G. Wheeler, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, America's goal in Vietnam was not the total defeat of the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong, but "to get the nations in that part of the world to leave their neighbors alone, free to find their own destiny without outside pressure." In addition, Johnson decreed that the war would be fought within the boundaries of Vietnam. American troops would not be permitted to fight in the neighboring countries of Laos or Cambodia. He also would not authorize the invasion or "liberation" of North Vietnam by U.S. troops. Johnson feared that any of these actions would antagonize...