7th August 1964: The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed by the United States Congress

The Resolution was a response to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident that had taken place just a few days earlier, in which the North Vietnamese Navy was blamed for attacking US ships on two separate occasions. While it is accepted that USS Maddox did exchange fire with three enemy torpedo boats on 2 August, the claim that the ship was attacked again on 4 August is now known to be false.

Even at the time it was acknowledged that the second attack may not have actually happened. Captain John J. Herrick, the commander of Maddox, had spent four hours firing at enemy ships picked up on radar. However, he sent a message just a few hours later saying that no enemy boats had actually been sighted and so the radar may have malfunctioned.

President Lyndon B. Johnson was not informed of Herrick’s message suggesting malfunctioning radar before he went on national television to announce that US ships had been attacked. His desire to retaliate led to the Resolution, which led in turn to the USA escalating its involvement in the Vietnam War.

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution granted powers to President Johnson to use American military force to assist countries in Southeast Asia that were facing so-called ‘communist aggression’. Many critics of the war condemned Congress for granting Johnson a ‘blank cheque’ to escalate American military involvement in the Vietnamese conflict. At the time it passed unanimously through the House of Representatives and only two Senators opposed the resolution.