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Tonkin Gulf Resolution

The Tonkin Gulf Resolution was put into effect in response of the Tonkin Gulf incident. Allegedly two unprovoked Vietnamese torpedo attacks on the destroyer Maddox and C. Turner Joy of the United States. Many historians question whether this ever happened because they detected the torpedoes on sonar and it was a stormy day. This event took place in the shallow waters of the Tonkin Gulf. President Johnson went before congress with a plan about the war Congress voted on a plan to go to war and they went to war with congress winning 88 votes to 2 and 416 to 0 in the House of Representatives. The two veto votes were by senators Wayne Morse and Ernest Grueling. Congress won overwhelmingly and put in a new law. This gave the president power to take an immediate response to an attack on American property without having to wait for congressional support because it could take to long to respond to. President Lyndon Johnson did not want to wage war without congressional support. This was used to escalate the U.S. military involvement in the war. As disaffection with the role of the U.S. in Vietnam grew, many members of Congress questioned the wisdom of the measure, and in 1967 the Senate Foreign Relations Committee conducted a investigation into the matter. Congress repealed the resolution on December 31, 1970. This was followed by the Pentagon Papers. The Pentagon Papers stated that the attacks were questionable whether they ever happened since there was no damage done to the ships.

Bibliography:

Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia Galloway, John, The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1970;repr. 1975). Moise, Edwin E., Tonkin Gulf and the Escalation of the Vietnam War (1996) Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: Volume 2 Tucker, Spencer C, Santa Barbara, Spencer C. Tucker, 1998