How the Gulf of Tonkin incident escalated the Vietnam conflict?
How the Gulf of Tonkin incident escalated the Vietnam conflict?
The Gulf of Tonkin Incident, also known as the USS Maddox incident, was an international confrontation that led to the United States entry into the Vietnam War.
In the Gulf of Tonkin, North Vietnamese torpedo boats allegedly attacked two U.S. naval destroyers stationed off the coast of Vietnam, the USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy of the US Seventh Fleet, which occurred on August 2 and August 4, 1964, respectively.
Following news of the second attack, Lyndon B. Johnson demanded authorization from the U.S. Congress to protect US forces in Southeast Asia.
The incident in the Gulf of Tonkin and the subsequent Gulf of Tonkin resolution offered grounds for further US escalation of the Vietnam conflict.
The Tonkin Gulf Resolution committed significant American forces to the Vietnam War. The resolution effectively kicked off America’s full-scale involvement in the Vietnam War.
On August 7, 1964, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed by the US Congress, authorizing President Lyndon B. Johnson to retaliate and take all appropriate measures to repel any armed assault against US forces and to avoid further aggression by North Vietnam’s communist government.
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution also granted US President Lyndon B. Johnson the authority to assist any Southeast Asian country whose government was threatened by communist aggression and to foster international peace and stability in Southeast Asia.
The United States was committed to halting the spread of communism; in 1949, China became a communist country, and communists ruled North Vietnam. The United States feared communism would spread to South Vietnam and then to the rest of Asia.
President Lyndon B. Johnson’s concerns about the United States’ credibility, as well as North Vietnam’s failure to withdraw troops from South Vietnam and stop supporting the National Liberation Front, prompted him to increase the US military presence in Vietnam.