Path to War

The 2002 HBO biographical television film "Path to War" is a powerful drama that takes a provocative insider's look at the way the USA goes to war, as seen from inside the LBJ White House leading up to and during the Vietnam War. President Lyndon Johnson (Michael Gambon) is focused on his "Great Society" of new laws and programs addressing social issues in the United States, but is pressured by General Earle Wheeler into sending combat troops into South Vietnam. As the war escalates, President Johnson's advisors, including Clark Clifford (Donald Sutherland), Robert McNamara (Alec Baldwin), and George Ball (Bruce McGill), struggle with the moral implications of the conflict, while the North Vietnamese continue to escalate their attacks. The film ends with the announcement by President Johnson that he will not run for re-election in 1968.