Yep, LBJ was heavily invested in Texas oil and defense services company Brown & Root, later known as Kellog, Brown & Root, better known to military folks as “KBR”, and one time a subsidiary of Halliburton. That company’s big goal in Vietnam (apart from building all the bases and roads, fuel depots, etc.) was dredging the Mekong Delta, ostensibly to generate hydroelectric power ala the Tennessee Valley Authority, but the ulterior motive most believed was oil. LBJ gave B&R favorable contracts and set them up well for any potential expansion of the war in Vietnam, and in return they had backed his campaigns heavily with funds ever since his congressional days. Both sides stood to make tons of $$$ from profiteering off of Vietnam War escalation—and JFK stood in the way of that.

As for “Lady Bird” Johnson, she also wasn’t guiltless in the war-profiteering: she owned substantial stock in a little company known as Bell Helicopter—manufacturer of the ubiquitous helicopter that would ferry thousands of American troops to and from their deaths in the jungles, and rain death on thousands more Vietnamese.

Yep, LBJ was heavily invested in Texas oil and defense services company Brown & Root, later known as Kellog, Brown & Root, better known to military folks as “KBR”, and one time a subsidiary of Halliburton. That company’s big goal in Vietnam (apart from building all the bases and roads, fuel depots, etc.) was dredging the Mekong Delta, ostensibly to generate hydroelectric power ala the Tennessee Valley Authority, but the ulterior motive most believed was oil. LBJ gave B&R favorable contracts and set them up well for any potential expansion of the war in Vietnam, and in return they had backed his campaigns heavily with funds ever since his congressional days. Both sides stood to make tons of $$$ from profiteering off of Vietnam War escalation—and JFK stood in the way of that.

As for “Lady Bird” Johnson, she also wasn’t guiltless in the war-profiteering: she owned substantial stock in a little company known as Bell Helicopter—manufacturer of the chopper that would ferry thousands of American troops to and from their deaths in the jungles, and rain death on thousands more Vietnamese.