Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

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 boats were damaged, and 4 North Vietnamize soldiers were said to be killed and six others wounded. This was followed On August 4, 1964 in rough seas the USS Turner Joy started picking up radar signals they believed were North Vietnamese torpedo boats.…

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 12).…

In beginning the Historical Investigation, I chose my topic of the controversy behind the Tonkin Gulf Resolution because I had an interest in what may have influenced our defeat in the Vietnam War and I wanted to research a topic that not many people may know about. To find the information for my topic, I found a book, Vietnam: A History, which provided an overall perspective of the Vietnam war as a whole, and I found a book concentrating mainly on the controversy of the decision-making system…

The sun drifted high 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…

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…

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…

In the 1960’s, the United States officially joined the Vietnam War. There were many factors that contributed to the United States involvement in the war. The United States’ urgency to stop the spread of communism along with the events that occured in the Gulf of Tonkin lead to U.S. involvement. As stated previously, the United States joined the Vietnam War to prevent communism spreading to more countries. A well known concept at the time was the domino theory, which said that if one country…

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 not live…

Richard Nixon invaded Cambodia, on behalf of Khmer Republic and South Vietnam. Although this action kept with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, regarding constitutional authorization, the bombings lacked congressional awareness; thereby stripping Congress of the opportunity to rescind their prior granted authorization. The bombings of Cambodia failed to give Congress the opportunity to rescind their previous grants explicitly given in the Gulf of Tonkin revolution, by keeping them a secret. 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…