What congressional action gave President Johnson the authority to escalate the Vietnam War?

Question

answers:
1) the Pentagon Papers
2) the Geneva Conference decision
3) the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
4) a Joint Chiefs of Staff finding

Answer 1

3) the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

I almost fell on the floor laughing at number 1! The Pentagon Papers??? Your teacher has a good sense of humor.

Answer 2

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.

It's a crock. The United States had a ship (the U.S.S. Mattox) in the Gulf of Tonkin - a body of water off the coast of Vietnam. It was supposedly shot at on August 2nd, 1964 by North Vietnamese forces. on August 3rd, the president authorized another ship to go to the Gulf of Tonkin - the U.S.S. Turner Joy.

These ships thought they were being fired at because their radars picked up signals of approaching torpedos. It later turned out that the radar was malfunctioning partially due to bad weather, partially due to the maneuvers the boat was taking. They were not actually being shot at.

The President and defense secretary MacNamara knew this. They still publically announced that we were under attack in the Gulf of Tonkin and used the incident to gain executive authority to start fighting the North Vietnamese. It was sort of a replacement for a war declaration - we never declared war during the Vietnam WAR. odd, huh?

It came out later that it was a load of B.S, partially thanks to the Pentagon papers - a top secret study of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, leaked to the New York times. What happened in the Gulf of Tonkin is a fact, not a theory. It doesn't revolve around any partison differences.

What is disputed is whether or not MacNamara and Johnson were justified in distorting the truth to go to Vietnam. Many agree, many do not. What I think is irrelevant, but as the guy below me said, you should indeed do more research in to the topic and decide what you agree with.

the Geneva conference was what divided Vietnam into two countries along the 17th paralell.

I think he just made up the "joint chiefs of staff finding."

Answer 3

This isn't Homework Help.

It was the Gulf of Tonkin incident so research that.

Decide for yourself if you believe the attack was genuine or just a US provocation as the conspiracy theorist's would like you believe.