In a 1965 speech at Johns Hopkins University, President Lyndon Johnson said, "Over this war—and all Asia—is another reality: the deepening shadow of Communist China. . . . This is a regime which has destroyed freedom in Tibet, which has attacked India, and has been condemned by the United Nations for aggression in Korea. It is helping the forces of violence in almost every continent. The contest in Viet-Nam is part of a wider pattern of aggressive purposes." With this statement, Johnson was aiming to justify American intervention in Vietnam using
the theory of containment.
→ Johnson's 1965 justification for U. S. intervention in Vietnam, articulated here, was a classic argument for containment. He was suggesting that Communist China had an aggressive agenda that, if left unchecked, would lead to communism throughout Asia.