What was tonkin gulf resolution

Maddox and the U. Turner Joy , on two separate occasions in the Gulf of Tonkin, a body of water neighboring modern-day Vietnam.

President Lyndon Baines Johnson claimed that the United States did nothing to provoke these two attacks and that North Vietnam was the aggressor. Subsequent reports show that the United States actually provoked these attacks by supporting South Vietnamese commandos operating in North Vietnam and by using U. There remains no doubt that the North Vietnamese attacked the U. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!

Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Iraqi president Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion and occupation of neighboring Kuwait in early August Alarmed by these actions, fellow Arab powers such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt called on the United States and other Western nations to intervene. Hussein defied United The Vietnam War started in the s, according to most historians, though the conflict in Southeast Asia had its roots in the French colonial period of the s.

Over the next four years, the general directed much of U. The Vietnam War was a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States.

Vietnam War protests began small among peace activists and leftist intellectuals on college campuses but gained national prominence in , after the United States began bombing North Vietnam in earnest. Anti-war marches and other protests, such as the ones organized by Vietnamization was a strategy that aimed to reduce American involvement in the Vietnam War by transferring all military responsibilities to South Vietnam. The increasingly unpopular war had created deep rifts in American society.

President Nixon believed his Vietnamization He helped found the Indochinese Communist Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. However, that ultimately proved not to be the case. The Vietnam War Starts In , following the defeat of the French colonialists at the hands of the Viet Minh at Dien Bien Phu, the last battle of the First Indochina War, the country of Vietnam was divided into northern and southern halves, ruled by separate regimes, during the Geneva Conference.

William Westmoreland By this time, U. Maddox In the early morning hours of August 2, , the crew of Maddox received an intelligence report suggesting that three North Vietnamese patrol boats had been dispatched to attack it. It was too late. The Gulf of Tonkin act became more controversial as opposition to the war mounted.

Navy support of such missions. Section 2. The United States regards as vital to its national interest and to world peace the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia. Consonant with the Constitution of the United States and the Charter of the United Nations and in accordance with its obligations under the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, the United States is, therefore, prepared, as the President determines, to take all necessary steps, including the use of armed force, to assist any member or protocol state of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty requesting assistance in defense of its freedom.

Section 3. This resolution shall expire when the President shall determine that the peace and security of the area is reasonably assured by international conditions created by action of the United Nations or otherwise, except that it may be terminated earlier by concurrent resolution of the Congress. National Archives Identifier: Bush Bill Clinton George W. Help inform the discussion Support the Miller Center.

University of Virginia Miller Center. The Tonkin Gulf. Lyndon Johnson signed the Tonkin Gulf resolution on August 10, August 3, As news of the August 2 attack by a North Vietnamese PT boat on the Maddox reached Washington, administration officials publicly characterized the incident as unprovoked aggression. USA , page LBJ's public statement. General Earle G. Wheeler, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.