U.S. Presidents and Guam
On March 21, 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson hosted a major conference on Guam to discuss Vietnam War policy with key US and South Vietnamese military and government officials. This was the first time that a sitting US president had visited the island. In a cable of welcome to President Johnson, Governor Manual Guerrero, who had been appointed by President John F. Kennedy in 1963, claimed to speak on behalf of the entire island when he declared that Guam’s “citizens are proud of Guam’s role as an important military bastion aiding in the battle for freedom in Vietnam,” and that they “are honored you have chosen the island as the site of your conference with the leaders of that struggle.” In a speech at Naval Air Station Agana, President Johnson highlighted Guam’s geographical proximity to Vietnam and its history of Japanese occupation during World War II to explain Guam’s significance as the site for this important conference: “America, which lost Guam [during World War II] and then freed it again with blood that now stains this ground, has not forgotten that lesson. And so American boys in Vietnam are once again carrying the American commitment to resist aggression, and to make possible the sacred work of peace among men.”
This “Guam Conference” highlights Guam’s historical entanglement with Vietnam.
This “Guam Conference” highlights Guam’s historical entanglement with Vietnam.
Image from the collection of the Richard F. Taitano Micronesian Area Research Center.
On July 25, 1969, two years after the Guam Conference, President Nixon arrived in Guam en route to Asia as part his global goodwill tour. At the Top O’ the Mar Officers’ Club in Asan, President Nixon presented the Guam Doctrine, precursor to the Nixon Doctrine, which outlined his infamous policy of “Vietnamization.” Under Vietnamization, President Nixon would slowly withdraw US troops from Vietnam while significantly escalating US bombing campaigns in Southeast Asia. This would lead to a sharp increase in fatalities in Vietnam and throughout Southeast Asia. Although Nixon had visited Guam in 1956 as Vice President, this was his first visit as President, and thus only Guam’s second visit from a sitting president of the United States.
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Photos from the collection of the Richard F. Taitano Micronesian Area Research Center.
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