Gulf+of+Tonkin+Resolution+-+12-13



__**Description of the event**__ On August 4, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson announced that two days earlier, US. ships in the Gulf of Tonkin had (supposedly) been attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. He asked Congress to pass a resolution to allow the dispatch of U.S. planes against the North Vietnamese, and this resolution passed, giving Johnson the authority to increase U.S. involvement in the wear. This resolution became the legal basis for later military policies in Vietnam. As public opinion turned towards the worse regarding the Vietnam War, Congress appealed the resolution in 1971. Today, many question whether there even was an attack by Vietnamese ships because retired Vietnamese general Vo Nguyen Giap directly denied an attack, and it was discovered that President Johnson himself had been doubtful that the incident had even occurred.

__**"Major players" involved**__ //**North Vietnam**// was accused of attacking U.S. ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. //**President Lyndon Johnson**// called for air attacks on North Vietnam and for a joint resolution giving him the authority to take military action in Southeast Asia. //**President Nixon**// later used the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution as a justification for later military action in Vietnam. Apart from two Senators, //**Congress**// saw the passage of the resolution favorably, and passed it on August 7, 1964. Congress later repealed the resolution in January 1971.

__**Dates**__ //August 2, 1964:// The Northern Vietnamese supposedly attacks U.S. ships. //August 4, 1964:// President Lyndon Johnson asks for a resolution to support military actions in Vietnam. //August 7, 1964:// Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. //January 1971:// The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution is repealed by Congress.

__**The outcome of this event**__ As a result of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Presidents Johnson and Nixon basically had an open-ended agreement to send troops to Vietnam without a clear withdrawal date or a set number of troops. It was a "blank check" that gave the two presidents the authority to enter Vietnam. Most Americans greatly supported the resolution in the beginning due to patriotic feelings, but as the war went on, the majority didn't want troops going to Vietnam to fight, and demanded a quick end to the war. In the end, the resolution was repealed by Congress, but by then, it was already too late.



__**How this event influenced the Cold War as a whole**__ This led to a downward spiral of public faith and trust in the government because of U.S. action in Vietnam (like bombings) and the suspicions regarding the actuality of the torpedo attack. The resolution also prolonged the Vietnam War and allowed for U.S. involvement because the U.S. sent troops to fight the North Vietnamese. When the U.S. withdrew from Vietnam, they had thousands of casualties as well as major financial costs. The Vietnam War was the longest military engagement in American history until that point, and by the end of it, the U.S. had lost face in foreign affairs and confidence in their military prowess. The event influenced the Cold War as a whole because it showed the extent to which the U.S. government was willing to go to contain communism and get rid of it in North Vietnam by aiding the South Vietnamese. The United States went beyond merely offering financial aid by actually deploying army troops to go fight in the war.

__**Bibliography**__ "The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and Escalation of the Vietnam War | EDSITEment." EDSITEment | The Best of the Humanities on the Web. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2013. . "Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (United States [1964]) -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia." Britannica Online Encyclopedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2013. . "Our Documents - Tonkin Gulf Resolution (1964)." Welcome to OurDocuments.gov. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2013. . "Tonkin Gulf resolution | Infoplease.com."Infoplease.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2013. .