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Gulf of Tonkin incident (view source)
Revision as of 22:01, January 16, 2009
, 22:01, January 16, 2009response to the actual attack of 2 August and the suspected attack of 4 August
The '''Gulf of Tonkin incident''' was a confrontation in fall 1964 between the [[communist]] [[North Vietnam]] and the [[United States]]. President [[Lyndon Johnson]] exaggerated a conflict between the American destroyer USS ''Maddox'' and three North Vietnamese P-4 torpedo boats. There were two incidents, and historians feel that a false report of an attack on the ''Maddox'' by the North Vietnamese (the second incident) was publicized. Johnson presented this false information to Congress in order to obtain passage of the [[Gulf of Tonkin Resolution]], which granted Johnson the power to assist [[South Vietnam]] against communist aggression. This was not a declaration of war, but Johnson used it to support injecting the United States into the [[Vietnam War]] and to win reelection in 1964 in a landslide.
The '''Gulf of Tonkin incident''' was a confrontation in fall 1964 between the [[communist]] [[North Vietnam]] and the [[United States]]. President [[Lyndon Johnson]] exaggerated a conflict between the American destroyer USS ''Maddox'' and three North Vietnamese P-4 torpedo boats. There were two incidents, and historians feel that a false report of an attack on the ''Maddox'' by the North Vietnamese (the second incident) was publicized. Johnson presented this false information to Congress in order to obtain passage of the [[Gulf of Tonkin Resolution]], which granted Johnson the power to assist [[South Vietnam]] against communist aggression. This was not a declaration of war, but Johnson used it to support injecting the United States into the [[Vietnam War]] and to win reelection in 1964 in a landslide.
A US Navy historian wrote:
*In response to the actual attack of 2 August and the suspected attack of 4 August, the President ordered Seventh Fleet carrier forces to launch retaliatory strikes against North Vietnam. On 5 August, aircraft from carriers Ticonderoga and USS Constellation (CVA 64) destroyed an oil storage facility at Vinh and damaged or sank about 30 enemy naval vessels in port or along the coast. Of greater significance, on 7 August the U.S. Congress overwhelmingly passed the so-called Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which enabled Johnson to employ military force as he saw fit against the Vietnamese Communists. In the first months of 1965, the President ordered the deployment to South Vietnam of major U.S. ground, air, and naval forces. [http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq120-1.htm]
==See also==
==See also==