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The Gulf of TonkinThe Gulf of Tonkin was the supportive place where two American ships were "fired on" by Vietnamese submarines on 7 August 1964. This gave Lyndon B. Johnson the perfect excuse to request more forces and material in case we did have to go to war against Vietnam. Johnson basically asked Congress for a blank check instead of a war declaration to do whatever he wanted to prevent the spread of communism. Later, when he was officially elected in 1963, he decided the best way to protect ourselves was to send troops to Vietnam, but not declare war. With this, his cabinet came up with OUCH Warfare (as seen below) to quickly end the war that we never declared. Johnson was very hesitant about this but the decision was made for him when the Viet. Comp attacked an American army base in Vietnam.
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OUCH Warfare |
OUCH Warfare included the constant bombing of politically or strategically important places to Vietnam. Their main targets would be military advantages Vietnam might have, any risk to our aircraft, anything that would draw another country like China into the war, but not heavy populated area for citizens. It was approved by Johnson when the Viet. Comp attacked America's base on 7 February, 1965 in Pleiku, Vietnam. It went on to be the longest bombing campaign in our history where it lasted form 1965 until 1968. In the end, it proved little to no strategic gain for America and resulted in a loss of money instead. The main downfall of the mission is that the planes were told to demoralize the signs instead of destroy them which gave the Viet. Comp ample time to recover from the attacks and infiltrate the South.
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Excuses |
No one ever really wanted to go into war after evading the potential threat of WWIII with Kennedy so it was going to be a difficult job to get the public to take to the idea of going into the Vietnam. However, Johnson felt it was important enough that he had to find an excuse to get into the war (i.e. the Gulf of Tonkin). Some people have theorized that it didn't actually happen but instead it was a PR stunt to get people to feat Vietnam. Whether it was or not, it worked to get the public involved.
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The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution |
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was not a resolution at all but a less serious delegation of war without actually going to war. Essentially, congress wrote Johnson a blank check and told him to do whatever he thought was necessary to win the war and stop the spread of communism from the Viet Comp.
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What really happened at the Bay of Tonkin
About 20 years later, some documents were released from the government that had been declassified that suggested that the Bay of Tonkin never happened. Some people believe that it was a PR by the government to get the public to agree that we need to go to war. However, it remains a theory. There has been no clear evidence to indicate either way. We may never know what happened that one day in Tonkin.