Tonkin resolution 1964
Evidence
:
in U.S. history, Congressional resolution passed in 1964 that authorized military action in Southeast Asia. On Aug. 4, 1964, North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin were alleged to have attacked without provocation U.S. destroyers that were reporting intelligence information to South Vietnam. President Lyndon B. Johnson and his advisers decided upon immediate air attacks on North Vietnam in retaliation; he also asked Congress for a mandate for future military action. On Aug. 7, Congress passed a resolution drafted by the administration authorizing all necessary measures to repel attacks against U.S. forces and all steps necessary for the defense of U.S. allies in Southeast Asia. Although there was disagreement in Congress over the precise meaning of the Tonkin Gulf resolution, Presidents Johnson and Richard M. Nixon used it to justify later military action in Southeast Asia. The measure was repealed by Congress in 1970. Retired Vietnamese general Vo Nguyen Giap, in a 1995 meeting with former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, categorically denied that the North Vietnamese had attacked the U.S. destroyers on Aug. 4, 1964, and in 2001 it was revealed that President Johnson, in a taped conversation with McNamara several weeks after passage of the resolution, had expressed doubt that the attack ever occurred.
Analysis:
The Tonkin Resolution is by far one of the most important political actions taken during the 1960's. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was signed after the Gulf of Tonkin incident several days earlier when several NV torpedo vessels fired upon a US vessel. The Resolution asked congress to give the US President power over military actions in Indochina to "support and defend free nations in threat". The Resolution was passed with swift speed and little opposition. The Resolution is extremely important because it marked the beginning of major troop movement, the war, and showed congresses full support in the President which diminshes over time. The Tonkin Resolution was a document signed after the Military and Economic Treaty of 1961 which furthered the treaties goals of alliance between the countries. By 1965 the US started deploying US soldiers into Vietnam and started an immense bombing campaign over North Vietnam and NLF positions in the South (Operation Rolling Thunder). The Tonkin Resolution was revoked in 1971 but did its impact on the Vietnam War by sending over 500,000 soldiers in 1969.
in U.S. history, Congressional resolution passed in 1964 that authorized military action in Southeast Asia. On Aug. 4, 1964, North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin were alleged to have attacked without provocation U.S. destroyers that were reporting intelligence information to South Vietnam. President Lyndon B. Johnson and his advisers decided upon immediate air attacks on North Vietnam in retaliation; he also asked Congress for a mandate for future military action. On Aug. 7, Congress passed a resolution drafted by the administration authorizing all necessary measures to repel attacks against U.S. forces and all steps necessary for the defense of U.S. allies in Southeast Asia. Although there was disagreement in Congress over the precise meaning of the Tonkin Gulf resolution, Presidents Johnson and Richard M. Nixon used it to justify later military action in Southeast Asia. The measure was repealed by Congress in 1970. Retired Vietnamese general Vo Nguyen Giap, in a 1995 meeting with former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, categorically denied that the North Vietnamese had attacked the U.S. destroyers on Aug. 4, 1964, and in 2001 it was revealed that President Johnson, in a taped conversation with McNamara several weeks after passage of the resolution, had expressed doubt that the attack ever occurred.
Analysis:
The Tonkin Resolution is by far one of the most important political actions taken during the 1960's. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was signed after the Gulf of Tonkin incident several days earlier when several NV torpedo vessels fired upon a US vessel. The Resolution asked congress to give the US President power over military actions in Indochina to "support and defend free nations in threat". The Resolution was passed with swift speed and little opposition. The Resolution is extremely important because it marked the beginning of major troop movement, the war, and showed congresses full support in the President which diminshes over time. The Tonkin Resolution was a document signed after the Military and Economic Treaty of 1961 which furthered the treaties goals of alliance between the countries. By 1965 the US started deploying US soldiers into Vietnam and started an immense bombing campaign over North Vietnam and NLF positions in the South (Operation Rolling Thunder). The Tonkin Resolution was revoked in 1971 but did its impact on the Vietnam War by sending over 500,000 soldiers in 1969.