Gulf of Tonkin Incident

The gulf of Tonkin incident helped cause greater involvement in the Vietnam War for the United States. In the Gulf of Tonkin incident, North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked the USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin, off of Vietnam coast, in a couple of attacks on August 2 and 4, of 1964. The USS Turner Joy also reported being attacked on August 4, 1964. The Tonkin incident was the source for the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which committed major American forces to the war in Vietnam. After time had passed and troops were already in Vietnam, many believed the attacks never happened and only was used as propaganda for the United States to justify sending more Americans to fight the war. The first attack was proven but the second attack was never proven that it actually happened. Shortly after taking office following the death of President John F. Kennedy, President Lyndon B. Johnson became concerned about South Vietnam’s ability to hold off communism. President Johnson wanted more involvement since he was not confident the South Vietnamese could defend itself against the communist North Vietnamese. He felt the North Vietnam army was stronger than the South Vietnam army. He believed South Vietnam would easily be turned into a communist state. He felt the United States was a World Power that no…

Historical information on the situations that occurred prior to the passing of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. On August 2, 1964, the destroyer USS Maddox, while performing a signals intelligence patrol as part of DESOTO operations, was pursued by three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats. The Maddox, in response, fired 3 warning shots and the North Vietnamese boats then attacked with torpedoes and machine gun fire. In the exchange, 1 U.S. aircraft was damaged, three north Vietnamize torpedo…

Because Johnson worried that South Vietnam would have difficulty in defending against the Viet Cong, he brought in more military aid (Hickman). By increasing military aid to patrol the shores of North Vietnam, he hoped that the newer technology that were being sent in would boast the power of Western technology and stop further Communist advancement. Prior to sending in military aid, South Vietnam’s patrol boats were sent to collect data in an attempt to gather information to be used against the…

above the USS Maddox as the destroyer surged into enemy waters of the Gulf of Tonkin. Despite the waters being under international authority, the threat level of enemy attack was fairly high. The mission was to relay any intelligence gathered about North Vietnam to South Vietnam. The destroyer was highly equipped in relays and espionage equipment as well as defenses. Not long into entering the Gulf of Tonkin the USS Maddox was under heavy attack by multiple enemy torpedo patrol boats. This…

There was much controversy over going to war with Vietnam, however, what was the real question of post-war conflicts was did the US intend to go to Vietnam before the Gulf of Tonkin incident. The first reason for why the US always intended to go to Vietnam is because they were already making plans to go to war prior to the gulf of tonkin incident. In document B, it demonstrates how the US prior to the events on Aug. 2, 1964 (the gulf of Tonkin), on May 25, 1964 in a memorandum from a foreign…

Vietnam under his administration. Although he increased troop presence, he didn’t want to fully commit to a ground war even against the advice from his administrators. “Despite a united front among his advisers, Kennedy responded to the call for troops in Vietnam with an emphatic ‘no.’ “The war in Vietnam could be won only so long as it was their war,” he told an aide privately. “If it were ever converted into a white man’s war, we would lose.” (Santow, 2013). Unfortunately, Kennedy would…

Southern Vietnam, made an accusation that Northern Vietnam had attacked them two times in the Gulf of Tonkin (Treanor 59). The United States was fearing the supremacy of North Vietnam over South Vietnam. South Vietnam had teamed up with the United States in the early months of 1964 for missions along the coast of Northern Vietnam. While these operations were executed by the Vietnamese Navy, they we orchestrated by the CIA and Department of Defense (Treanor 59). These missions were successful at…

Speaking of the biggest US failures in US History, one must talk about the Vietnam War. With the mindset that Vietnam will fall under the evil shadows of communism like China, Lyndon B. Johnson escalated the Vietnam War by aiding South Vietnam militarily as well as financially against the communist North. The US fully intervened in Vietnam after the US Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which allowed Johnson to take whatever action he thought was appropriate after the Gulf of Tonkin…

around 16,000 military “advisers” to Southern Vietnam. Their job was to aid the South in their efforts to drive the VC out of their country. This, however, was rarely the case as there was a thin line between providing military assistance and taking total control. The incident that occurred in the Gulf of Tonkin is a perfect example of how the United States took matters into their own hands and escalated problems in Vietnam. This opened the door for U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War (Versache…

needed an actual reason to get involved and the Gulf of Tonkin incident was a big part of formally declaring war against North Vietnam. The United States sent economic aid and weapons to help the South Vietnamese and French to fight off the communist rebels, they also sent over more military advisors to help set up self-defense. What some of these operations that the military advisors were teaching included training South Vietnamese sailors to attack radar stations, bridges, and other targets…