Lyndon Johnson, the Tonkin Gulf Resolution

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Discussion

There were two separate incidents that involved the naval army of North Vietnam and the United States of America in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964. In the first attack, North Vietnam’s torpedo boats engaged the U.S Maddox (DD-731) in response to alleged U.S equipment of the South Vietnams commando raids on the coast. A few days later, a second engagement with North Vietnam’s vessels claim was communicated to the headquarters. The allegation of which was later concluded to be incorrect. This prompted Johnson to ask Congress to pass ‘The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which resulted in escalated U.S involvement in the Vietnam War.

The Gulf of Tonkin incident pushed the United States of America to direct involvement in the Vietnam War. The U.S’s initial intention for deploying its vessels in The Gulf of Tonkin was to monitor North Vietnam’s forces and aiding the South Vietnamese naval raids into the North Vietnams territory. This led North Vietnam to engage the U.S warship using small tornado boats in retaliation in August 1964. It was reported that the U.S vessel was not hit but the vessel crew managed to destroy one boat and damaged two. A few days later, the crew of the warship misread their radar and believed that they were once again under attack. Under the circumstances, they fired randomly and communicated the engagement to authorities in Washington. In their assessment, the vessel commander and the senior naval officer concluded and reported that the Maddox was not attacked. Still, the U.S government insisted on proof of the second engagement. President Lyndon Johnson went ahead and authorized retaliatory attacks against North Vietnam despite there being no proof of the attack. As a result of the raids, Lieutenant E. Alvaret was held as a prisoner as the first U.S prisoner of war by North Vietnam. President Johnson took advantage of this incident to seek congressional authority to allow him to act.

In President Johnson’s address to convince congress, he reported that North Vietnam had made a second deliberate attack on the U.S vessel and that he ordered air action against the aggressors. Two U.S aircraft were destroyed and substantial North Vietnamese facilities were damaged. He asked Congress for a resolution to enable the U.S to safeguard freedom and peace in Southeast Asia. He reminded Congress of the U.S commitment in the area made by President Eisenhower in 1954 and later defined in the Southeast Asia Collective defense treaty in 1955. The treaty allows the U.S and allies permission to act against any communist aggression of the parties. He informed Congress that the aim was to safeguard the future of Southeast Asia and assist them to resist aggression. He described the North Vietnamese subversive campaign in the area which violated the Geneva accord for Vietnam. With respect to this, he asked congress to pass a resolution.

The U.S congress accepted President Johnson’s request bypassing ‘The Tonkin Resolution” prescribed three important aspects; enhance international peace and security in Southeast Asia, safeguard the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty in defense of freedoms in Southeast Asia, and lastly to give the President authority to determine the peace of the area. This resolution came to be better known as The Tonkin Resolution.

Conventionally, the resolution acted as legislative authority for enhanced deployments in the area, which was heightened when Johnson authorized the bombing of North Vietnam in 1965. The war became protracted and what President Johnson intended to be a limited war became widespread. In response to U.S attacks, North Vietnam launched a major offensive in the central highlands by sending more units into the south. Despite the U.S registering victories in ensuing battles, the military engagement of North Vietnam was not waning (Osborne p.150). Ultimately, this resolution escalated U.S involvement in the Vietnam War in 1965.

Cited Works

Osborne E. Destroyer: An Illustrated History of Their Impact. California: ABC-CLIO. 2005.

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Lyndon Johnson, the Tonkin Gulf Resolution

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