Gulf of tonkin and the tonkin resolution?

Question: Gulf of tonkin and the tonkin resolution!?

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Since the 1950s, there had been increasing tension between North and South Vietnam!. In 1954, the Geneva Agreement led to Vietnam being split into two - North (Communist) and South (Capitalist)!.

The Golf of Tonkin was the area around Vietnam that the US were patrolling due to increased tensions!. They had an interest in checking the spread of communism in this part of Asia!. In August 1964 it was reported that the North Vietnamese had attacked a US patrol boat - this became known as the Tonkin Incident!.

Lyndon Johnson, President at the time, decided to pass the Tonkin Resolution as a result of the incident!. It meant that the US Congress had given permission for America to enter fully into conflict with North Vietnam!. The Tonkin Resolution began the Vietnam War!. However the incident never happened - the US government manipulated events as an excuse to go to war!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

On August 2, 1964 in the Gulf of Tonkin the USS Maddox engaged North Vietnamese torpedo boats, two days later it was reported that the Maddox had engaged another torpedo boat but that was found to be a mistake!. Lyndon Johnson never told anyone of the mistaken engagement and was able to use the incidents as cause to get further involved in the Vietnam conflict!. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution authorizing Johnson to militarily assist countries in Southeast Asia that were seen as being threatened by communism including South Vietnam!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

The Gulf of Tonkin incidents reportedly began with an attack by three P-4 torpedo boats of the navy of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) on the Maddox, a U!.S!. destroyer, on an electronic intelligence gathering mission in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin on August 2, 1964!. Two days later, that vessel and the U!.S!. destroyer Turner Joy both reported themselves under renewed attack, although Hanoi subsequently insisted that it had not attacked — and no attack is now believed to have occurred on that night!.[2]

Within hours, Johnson ordered the launching of retaliatory air strikes (Operation Pierce Arrow) on the bases of the North Vietnamese boats and announced, in a television address to the American public that same evening, that U!.S!. naval forces had been attacked!. In a message sent to Congress the following day, the President affirmed that "the North Vietnamese regime had conducted further deliberate attacks against U!.S!. naval vessels operating in international waters!."

Johnson requested approval of a resolution "expressing the unity and determination of the United States in supporting freedom and in protecting peace in southeast Asia"!. He said that the resolution should express support "for all necessary action to protect our Armed Forces" — but repeated previous assurances that "the United States!.!.!. seeks no wider war"!. As the nation entered the final three months of political campaigning for the 1964 elections (in which Johnson was standing for election), the president contended that the resolution would help "hostile nations!.!.!. understand" that the United States was unified in its determination "to continue to protect its national interests!."[3]

On August 6, U!.S!. Secretary of Defense Robert S!. McNamara testified before a joint session of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees!. He stated that the Maddox had been "carrying out a routine mission of the type we carry out all over the world at all times" and denied that it had been in any way involved in South Vietnamese patrol boat raids on the offshore islands of Hon Me and Hon Nieu on the nights of July 30 and July 31!.[4] The administration did not, however, disclose that the island raids, although separate from the mission of the Maddox, had been part of a program of clandestine attacks on North Vietnamese installations called Operation Plan 34A!. These operations were carried out by U!.S!.-trained South Vietnamese commandos under the control of a special operations unit of the U!.S!. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam called the Studies and Operations Group!.[5]

After fewer than nine hours of committee consideration and floor debate, Congress voted, on August 10, 1964, on a joint resolution which authorized the president "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!."[6] The unanimous affirmative vote in the House of Representatives was 416-0!. (However, Republican Congressman Eugene Siler of Kentucky, who was not present but opposed the measure, was "paired" with another member who favored the resolution — i!.e!., his opposition was not counted, but the vote in favor was one less than it would have been!.) The Senate conferred its approval by a vote of 88-2!. Some members expressed misgivings about the measure, but in the end, Democratic Senators Wayne Morse of Oregon and Ernest Gruening of Alaska cast the only nay votes!.[7] At the time, Senator Morse warned that "I believe this resolution to be a historic mistake!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

It was another event that the US used to start a war!. A US general has since admitted that it was a mistake (because it was almost certainly either completely made up or exaggerated beyond all measure) and the "official" deaths of 60,000 US service personnel and 5 million Vietnamese really does suggest that to be the case!. War is profitable: and nothing else matters!. Www@QuestionHome@Com