The United States Congress overwhelming approves the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving President Lyndon B. Johnson nearly unlimited powers to oppose “communist aggression” in Southeast Asia. The resolution marked the beginning of an expanded military role for the United States in the Cold War battlefields of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
By 1964, America’s ally, South Vietnam, was in serious danger of falling to a communist insurgency. The insurgents, aided by communist North Vietnam, controlled large areas of South Vietnam, and no amount of U.S. military aid and training seemed able to save the southern regime. During the presidencies of Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy, hundreds—and then thousands—of U.S. military advisers had been sent to South Vietnam to train that nation’s military forces. In addition, hundreds of millions of dollars in military and economic assistance had been given to South Vietnam.
The administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson made the decision that only direct U.S. military intervention in the conflict could turn the tide. However, Johnson was campaigning in the presidential election of 1964 as the “responsible” candidate who would not send American troops to fight and die in Asia. In early August, a series of events occurred that allowed Johnson to appear statesmanlike while simultaneously expanding the U.S. role in Vietnam.
On August 2, North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked an American destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin. Johnson responded by sending in another destroyer. On August 4, the two destroyers reported that they were under attack. This time, Johnson authorized retaliatory air attacks against North Vietnam. He also asked Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. This resolution declared, “The United States regards as vital to its national interest and to world peace the maintenance of international peace and security in Southeast Asia.”
It also gave Johnson the right to “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.” The House passed the resolution by a unanimous vote; the vote in the Senate was 88 to 2. Johnson’s popularity soared in response to his “restrained” handling of the crisis.
The Johnson administration went on to use the resolution as a pretext to begin heavy bombing of North Vietnam in early 1965 and to introduce U.S. combat troops in March 1965. Thus began a nearly eight-year war in which over 58,000 U.S. troops died. In a wider sense, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution can be considered America’s Cold War policy toward all of Southeast Asia at the time. The resolution was also another example of the American government’s less than candid discussion of “national security” matters during the Cold War.
Unspoken during the Congressional debate over the resolution was the fact that the commanders of the U.S. destroyers could not state with absolute accuracy that their ships had actually been attacked on the night of August 4, nor was any mention made of the fact that the U.S. destroyers had been assisting South Vietnamese commandos in their attacks on North Vietnamese military installations. By the late 1960s, the tangle of government deceptions and lies began to unravel as public confidence in both Johnson and the American military effort in Vietnam began to erode.
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The Gulf of Tonkin incident that never actually happened.
That answer is correct:
From
Oops, it’s up to 58 (admitted – there are thousands more, no doubt, such as J6 and Sandy Hook, etc.) since last I read this article at the now-archived George Washington’s Blog:
Anti-war DJT widely leading in every poll for 2024?
“We gone need anotha wah ta bury that pacifist! Commence False Flag 59!!!”
Jim Morrison’s dad was in charge at Tonkin. Nearly every rock band from the 60s had some connection to the Deep State, etc.
Surely the ones in the canyon who were children of military intelligence could be suspected.
I’m guessing the only rock bands that really mattered to intelligence were the ones allowed on the radio.
Same gatekeepers, different gate.
Or perhaps you meant “nearly every rock band on the radio”?
I believe you may be correct on Jim Morrison’s dad’s connection to the Tonkin lies.
David Crosby (CSN&Y) was basically Mayflower-level founding family bloodline. Some others may have been, too, per that Dave McGowan book about Laurel Canyon you referenced.
History dot com and the hedge paragraph at the end:
“This event might not have happened the way we dogmatically said it did.”
I wonder if the Vietnam War would have still happened if JFK had not been assassinated. I believe JFK had more common sense than LBJ.
Not just more common sense … better moral judgment …
The deep state is looking for the next Gulf of Tonkin…the Uke Nazi’s are failing and the MIC must be fed.
And thus began the enormous opium trade via the CIA/mossad/meyer lansky crime syndicate …
Congress has been in the deep states pockets for a long, long, time.