Vietnam

While taking in the news about the Ukraine War be reminded of what happened in the Vietnam War. In early August 1964, two U.S. destroyers stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin in Vietnam radioed that they had been fired upon by North Vietnamese forces. In response to these reported incidents, President Lyndon B. Johnson requested permission from the U.S. Congress to increase the U.S. military presence in Indochina. On August 7, 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, authorizing President Johnson to take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate and to promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia. This resolution became the legal basis for the Johnson and Nixon Administrations prosecution of the Vietnam War. Later it was revealed that there was no attack on August 4. U.S. Officials had distorted the truth about the Gulf of Tonkin incident for their own gains and perhaps for Johnson's own political prospects. This lie jumstarted a war that would claim 58,220 American and more than 3 million Vietnamese lives. October 24, 2022