Video: 'Vietnam: A Television History - Tet [6/11]' (Wheeler-Westmoreland proposal at 31:33)

(Wednesday, February 28, 1968, 8:35-11:15 a.m. EST; during the Tet Offensive, part of the Vietnam War, Indochina Wars and Cold War) — U.S. General Earle Wheeler, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, just back from Vietnam, told President Lyndon Johnson today at the White House that General William Westmoreland, commanding U.S. forces in Vietnam, will need an additional 206,000 soldiers “for a proposed ceiling of 731,756.”

Johnson ordered Secretary of Defense-designate Clark Clifford to forma task force to conduct a complete review of U.S. policy in Vietnam, including the new request to increase troops.

The Wheeler-Westmoreland proposal for additional troops would remain secret until the story broke in The New York Times on Mar. 10, 1968.