Today’s post comes from Darlene McClurkin, National Archives Exhibits staff member.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. The original resolution is on display in the East Rotunda Gallery of the National Archives Building from July 15 to August 7, 2014.
Fifty years ago, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution marked a major turning point in the Cold War struggle for Southeast Asia. Passage of the resolution gave President Lyndon B. Johnson authority to expand the scope of U.S. involvement in Vietnam without a declaration of war.
By 1964, Vietnam had been torn by international and civil war for decades. U.S. military support for South Vietnam had grown to some 15,000 military advisers, while the North received military and financial aid from China and the Soviet Union.
In a late-night televised address on August 4, 1964, President Johnson announced that he had ordered retaliatory air strikes on the North Vietnamese in response to reports of their attacks earlier on U.S. Navy ships in the Gulf of Tonkin.
He then asked Congress to pass a resolution stressing that “our Government is united in its determination to take all necessary measures in support of freedom and in defense of peace in southeast Asia.”
The resolution stated that “Congress approves and supports the determination of the President, as Commander in Chief, to take all necessary measures to repeal any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression” in Southeast Asia, thereby providing a legal foundation for President Johnson’s escalation of the war.
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed Congress quickly on August 7, with only two dissenting votes in the Senate. President Johnson signed the resolution on August 10, 1964.
After political controversy and a growing public resistance to the war, Congress repealed the resolution in January 1971.
who is the current head of the United States Conference of Mayors, and how do I get in touch with him/her? Thank you. Roger Pearson