Lyndon Johnson was sworn in as president later that day. The event led the U.S. to believe that North Vietnam was targeting its intelligence-gathering mission, and therefore the Turner Joy was sent to reinforce the Maddox. And six decades ago, so the histories of those years have it, a small group of Norwegian seamen were entangled in a presidential deceit that led to an earlyand bloodyturning point in the Vietnam war. Weather conditions were clear, and seas were calm. Tensions heightened in the Tonkin Gulf. Several years later, as the American public became increasingly disillusioned with the Vietnam War, many congressmen came to see the resolution as giving the president a blanket power to wage war, and the resolution was repealed in 1970. Answer the question that you wish had been asked of you. 4. Another reporter pressed the issue, "Do these [patrol boats] go north, into North Vietnamese waters?" However, it is important to put what we do know into context. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The featured story comes from the Counter Currents website and was titled: Covert Operations In Continue reading Operations carried during peace-time by civilian organisation, as well as covert government agencies, may by extension be called false flag operations if they seek to hide the real organisation behind an operation. See Summary Notes of the 538th meeting of the National Security Council. Naval Forces Southern Command in Mayport Florida. CINCPACFLT 140203ZJuly64. Although the U.S. destroyers were operating more than 100 miles from the North Vietnamese coastline, the approaching vessels seemed to come at the ships from multiple directions, some from the northeast, others from the southwest. They were there as part of an effort to support South Vietnamese military raids on what was then the North Vietnamese coast. Explanation: President Lyndon Johnson utilized the Gulf of Tonkin occurrence to enlarge the war. 5051. Almost immediately upon taking the helm in Vietnam, Westmoreland called for greater troop strength throughout South Vietnam. 27. You've read 1 out of 5 free articles of Naval History this month. The resolution was introduced in response to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, during which two US naval ships were allegedly attacked by North . But the reports were false and the president knew it. All of the enemy boats were heading northwest at about 40 knots, two in front of the third by about a mile. The Truth About Tonkin. 2. Initial successes, however, were limited; numerous South Vietnamese raiders were captured, and OPLAN 34A units suffered heavy casualties. . Examine the Tonkin Gulf Resolution which granted president Lyndon Johnson power to make war, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/event/Gulf-of-Tonkin-Resolution, The History Learning Site - Gulf of Tonkin 1964, Ohio History Central - Gulf of Tonkin Incident. Reports Cast Doubt on Alleged Second Attack Another problem: the second attack almost certainly never occurred. The following night, August 3 three more MACV-SOG vessels attacked targets on the mainland of North Vietnam. On further examination, it was found to be referring to the 2 August attacks against the Maddox but had been routinely transmitted in a follow-up report during the second "attack." After observing North Vietnamese patrol torpedo boats pursuing the vessels that had attacked Hon Me, the Maddox withdrew from the area. August 4, 2015. But no declassified information had suggested that McNamara, Johnson, or anyone else in the decision-making process had intentionally misinterpreted the intelligence concerning the 4 August incident. Feb 26, 2013. Lawrence, Mark Atwood. Hanyok, "Skunks, Bogies, Silent Hounds," p. 25. CIA Director John McCone answered matter-of-factly, "No, the North Vietnamese are reacting defensively to our attacks on their offshore islands . Opposed Vietnamese independence and supported French attempts to retain its colonial control. Richmond socialites. President Johnson acted before all the facts became known, and caused the US to be more involved with Vietnam. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. OPEC's embargo of oil exports to the United States in retaliation for American intervention in the Middle East. . 22. At 2336, President Johnson appeared on national television and announced his intent to retaliate against North Vietnamese targets: "Repeated acts of violence against the armed forces of the United States must be met not only with alert defense, but with positive reply. Although the raid was successful (the oil depot was completely destroyed and 33 of 35 vessels were hit), two American aircraft were shot down; one pilot was killed and the second captured.20, On 7 August, Congress, with near unanimity, approved the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which President Johnson signed into law three days later. Critique does not simply mean At 1723 in Washington, Air Force Lieutenant General David Burchinal, the director of the Joint Staff, was watching the events unfold from the National Military Command Center when he received a phone call from Sharp. He is currently assigned as the Andean Ridge and Southern Cone Desk officer at U.S. 23. Reply. In these shorter essays, you are expected to make a strong argument about a specific week's readings, and to support this argument with theoretical and empirical evidence. That report had been misinterpreted, however. New York, Columbia University Press, 2011. Alvarez was finally released in 1973. Historians have long suspected that the second attack in the Gulf of Tonkin never occurred and that the resolution was based on faulty evidence. Overhead, meanwhile, four F8 Crusaders that the Maddox had called in earlier from the USS Ticonderoga (CVA-14) were rapidly approaching. On Friday night, as you probably know, we had four TP [sic] boats from [South] Vietnam, manned by [South] Vietnamese or other nationals, attack two islands, and we expended, oh, 1,000 rounds of ammunition of one kind or another against them. "16 Amid all the other confusion and growing doubt about the attack, this battle report was a compelling piece of evidence. U.S. Grant Sharp and David Burchinal telephone call, 04 August 1964 at 5:23 PM, from the DOD National Military Command Center (NMCC), recording provided by the Lyndon B. Johnson Library and Museum. President Johnson signed it on August 10, giving the executive far greater power to conduct military operations, without a declaration of war, than had ever been granted before. The Maddox, however, was not. This site is using cookies under cookie policy . D. food and medical care It was probably his kid, so history has been mad at the wrong person all along. The simple answer is that the Norwegian Navy has a long and murky history of cooperation with American intelligence. This, in effect, gave Johnson carte blanche to escalate US involvement in Vietnam without the restrictions of declaring war. 31. Until then, the United States supported South Vietnam by every means at its disposal, short of fully engaging its military. C. supplies and shoes . Destroyers carried out these so-called Desoto patrols. And then, two days later, on August 4, the Johnson administration claimed that it had been attacked again. Maddox and the U.S.S. But, interestingly, on Sept. 18, a similar incident occurred in the Gulf of Tonkin. What Were The Truth'S About Tion About The Gulf Of Tonkin Incident? Updates? The third was left dead in the water and burning.7. Probably the best one LBJ ever came up with and certainly his most everlastingly devastating was, "We were attacked [in the Gulf of Tonkin]." In August of 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson needed a pretext to commit the American people to the expanding covert war in south East Asia. All of the following are true about the Gulf of Tonkin incident and the ensuing resolution EXCEPT, Served as justification for the assassination of Ngo Diem, U.S. troops massacred hundreds of civilians, In the 1968 election, Lyndon Johnson decided. As far as Vietnam was concerned, Johnson tried, and largely succeeded, balancing support for the US allies in the south but not committing too many resources, especially soldiers, to the fight in Asia. War is an enemy of all the humanity and human civilization. of the Biden Administrations decision to destroy the Nord Stream pipelines, why did much of the secret planning and training for the operation take place in Norway? C. Turner Joy, on two separate occasions in the Gulf of Tonkin, a body of . Did the North Vietnamese actually attack US ships in the Gulf of Tonkin? They used a questionable report of a North Vietnamese attack on American naval vessels to justify the president's policy to the electorate and to defuse Republican senator and presidential candidate Barry Goldwater's charges that Lyndon Johnson was irresolute and "soft" in the foreign policy arena.30, For his part, McNamara never admitted his mistakes. 132 (01 Dec 2005). What really happened to the USS Maddox on that dark night in the Gulf of Tonkin? New York: Oxford Press, 2008. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident, https://dailyhistory.org/index.php?title=Was_the_Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident_staged&oldid=23951. But what happened in the Gulf during the late hours of 4 Augustand the consequential actions taken by U.S. officials in Washingtonhas been seemingly cloaked in confusion and mystery ever since that night. 1 See answer Advertisement mahak08 Corrections? Can the omission of evidence by McNamara be forgiven? When asked by a reporter if he knew of any confrontations between the South and North Vietnamese navies, he responded: "No, none that I know of. The resolution served as the principal constitutional authorization for the subsequent vast escalation of the United States military involvement in the Vietnam War. B. At the same time, the Vietnamese navy was undertaking a mission under the oversight of the U.S. Department of Defense to attack radar stations, bridges, and other such targets along North Vietnams coasts. Paragraph 14, 15 Richard Nixon, quoted in Walter Isaacson, Kissinger: A Biography (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2005 . It was the beginning of the United States air assault against North Vietnam that lasted until the end of the war. See all videos for this article Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, also called Tonkin Gulf Resolution, resolution put before the U.S. Congress by Pres. In August 1964, the USS Maddox destroyer was stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam. One pilot was killed, Richard Sather, and another was captured, Everett Alvarez, who was held in Hoa Lo Prison, better known as the Hanoi Hilton, for eight years. 278. Omissions? In the early hours of the next day, Maddox communication technicians intercepted SIGINT reports of North Vietnamese vessels getting under way, possibly intent on attacking the destroyer. Paula March 1, 2023 at 16:24 . Earlier in 1963, the US-backed president of South Vietnam, Diem, and his brother were assassinated as well. 3 What power did the Gulf of Tonkin give the President? The Tonkin Gulf Resolution portrayed U.S. motives as maintaining peace and security in Asia, . Titled "Skunks, Bogies, Silent Hounds, and the Flying Fish: The Gulf of Tonkin Mystery, 2-4 August 1964," it had been published in the classified Cryptological Quarterly in early 2001. He arrived overhead at 2135. On 28 July, the Maddox sortied from Taiwan en route to her Desoto patrol station. 1 What was true about the Gulf of Tonkin incident? However, the retaliatory attack of 5 August marked the United States' first overt military action against the North Vietnamese and the most serious escalation up to that date. Fifty years ago, in what came to be known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, North Vietnamese patrol boats attacked the U.S.S. The Maddox called in air support from a nearby carrier, the Ticonderoga. 6. More and more saw poverty from the failure of individuals to take full advantage of the American system. So the Gulf of Tonkin incident was staged claiming that . Crazy. Prior to the two incidents the U.S. had provided substantial aid to South Vietnam and also had a number of military advisers in South Vietnam. . On the night of 30-31 July, the destroyer was on station in the Gulf of Tonkin when a 34A raid was launched against Hon Me Island. Drea, "Tonkin Gulf Reappraisal," p. 5. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. . Combined with recently declassified tapes of phone calls from White House officials involved with the events and previously uncovered facts about Tonkin, these documents provide compelling evidence about the subsequent decisions that led to the full commitment of U.S. armed forces to the Vietnam War. In his speech, he outlined his intent to retaliate and would formally request from Congress the power to take such action. On hearing of the authorization's passage by both houses of Congress, the delighted President remarked that the resolution "was like Grandma's nightshirt. 1 The Gulf of Tonkin Incident, escalator of the Vietnam War, never happened Conspiracy theory: The Gulf of Tonkin incident, a major escalator of US involvement in the Vietnam War, never actually occurred. What was the primary political issue that Carter used in his presidential campaign? Some historians do not let the Johnson administration off so easily. In addition, even though the losses from bombing could and usually were significant, the North Vietnamese often gained a morale boost when they would shoot an American bomber out of the sky. Roe v. Wade, the court case that legalized abortion hinged on what legal idea? At all. Early in the morning, during the Desoto patrols, the USS Maddox received. C'estr difficile pour nous de changr nos modes de vie. But the US bombing of North Vietnam on August 4, 1964, in retaliation for an alleged naval attack that never happened, was not a move by LBJ to pave the way for war in Vietnam. Over the next three hours, the two ships repeatedly maneuvered at high speeds to evade perceived enemy boat attacks. How did American liberals change their views of poverty during the 1960s? The Maddox and Turner Joy moved out to sea, but both reported that they were tracking multiple unidentified vessels approaching their positions. "29, During comments to reporters on 6 August, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara lied when he denied knowledge of the nature of the provocative OPLAN 34A raids, which were organized and overseen by his department. On the afternoon of August 2, 1964, three North Vietnamese torpedo boats clashed with the American destroyer Maddox (DD-731) patrolling the coast. Jim and Sybil Stockdale, In Love and War (New York: Harper and Row, 1984), p. 23. 29. What was true about the Gulf of Tonkin incident? It's a very good rule."31. Subscribe to Seymour Hersh to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives. Finally, as part of his strategy to aid South Vietnam without sending in high numbers of troops, Johnson approved more covert operations against North Vietnam. And what about the North Vietnamese battle report that seemed to provide irrefutable confirmation of the attack? According to John Prados of the independent National Security Archive, Hanyok asserted that faulty signals intelligence became "vital evidence of a second attack and [Johnson and McNamara] used this claim to support retaliatory air strikes and to buttress the administration's request for a Congressional resolution that would give the White House freedom of action in Vietnam. 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. NSAPAC REP VIETNAM 200100ZAUG64. "28, Johnson himself apparently had his own doubts about what happened in the Gulf on 4 August. Hanyok, "Skunks, Bogies, Silent Hounds," p. 47. 4, Summer 2004, p. 75. John Prados, "Tonkin Gulf Intelligence 'Skewed' According to Official History and Intercepts," National Security Agency Electronic Briefing Book, no. What was later discovered were "Tonkin ghosts" (false radar images) and no evidence of the [] In the meantime, as a demonstration of presence and power, The Maddox was joined by the USS Turner Joy. However, the initial incidents have stirred up great controversy given the varying accounts of the However the human race LOVEs . Answer. 26. President Jonson took these claims to Congress which subsequently passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. How did the United States respond to the independence movement in Vietnam? Hanyok, "Skunks, Bogies, Silent Hounds," p. 16; Edward J. Drea, "Tonkin Gulf Reappraisal: 40 Years Later," MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History, Vol. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution effectively launched Americas full-scale involvement in the Vietnam War. Episode 2450 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story more about how the Norwegian Navy participated in the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. No actual sightings by "Maddox". On the night of August 4, both the Maddox and Turner Joy reported they were under attack. The Pentagon Papers, published in the 1970's subsequently proved that the claims, along with the rest of the information published by the American government justifying US involvement in Vietnam were falsehoods. Suggest complete evaluation before any further action taken."13. Edwin E. Mose, Tonkin Gulf and the Escalation of the Vietnam War (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1996), pp.