Tonkin Gulf Resolution (1964)
Congressional resolution passed in 1964 that let American forces into Southeast Asia. On Aug. 4, 1964, North Vietnamese torpedo was allegedly shot at an American submarine, therefore giving the United States of America a reason to go into war just as president Johnson wanted to. On Aug. 7, Congress passed a resolution drafted by the administration giving the U.S military power to do whatever they needed to do to repel attacks against U.S. forces and all steps necessary for the defense of U.S. allies in Southeast Asia. There was disagreement in Congress over the exact meaning of the Tonkin Gulf resolution. In a 1995 meeting with former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, categorically denied that the North Vietnamese had attacked the U.S. destroyers on Aug. 4, 1964, and in 2001 it was revealed that President Johnson, in a taped conversation with McNamara several weeks after passage of the resolution, had expressed doubt that the attack ever occurred.
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