The Vietnam War was escalating, and the Pentagon knew it. In a stark assessment, top military brass told President Lyndon B. Johnson that the current 120,000 American troops on the ground wouldn't cut it. To turn the tide, they'd need a whopping 400,000 boots on the ground – a whopping increase of 280,000 troops. This drastic upsurge would drastically alter the war's dynamics, and the stakes were higher than ever.