Summary Of The Tonkin Gulf Resolution

On August 4, 1964, President Lyndon Johnson notified the citizens of America that U.S. navy ships had been attacked by North Vietnamese gunboats in the Gulf of Tonkin. (110) Johnson reported that this attack had been “unprovoked”, when in fact the U.S. destroyer had fired first. (110) After this supposed attack President Johnson asked Congress to pass the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. President Johnson used this resolution to wage war in Vietnam. (110) The tangle of government deceptions and lies began to unravel as public confidence in both President Johnson and the American military effort in Vietnam began to weaken. The Tonkin Gulf Resolution and the song “I Feel Like I’m Fixin’-To Die Rag” display two different views of the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. The Tonkin Resolution represents the Americans’ support for the Vietnam War while the song “I Feel Like I’m Fixin’-To Die Rag” represents the anti-war movement. The Tonkin Gulf Resolution portrayed U.S. motives as maintaining peace and security in Asia, while the song “I Feel Like I’m Fixin’-To Die Rag” depicts that the American

It also gave Johnson the right to “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression” (111). The U.S. congress passed the resolution by a unanimous vote; the vote in the Senate was 88 to 2. (111). This shows that President Johnson had support to wage war on Communism in North Vietnam. The resolution marked the beginning of an expanded military role for the United States in the Cold War battlefields of Vietnam. It also marked the beginning of the United States taking on the role of the peacekeeper. The U.S. has a history of not minding its own business when it comes to foreign affairs. The Tonkin Gulf Resolution marks the beginning of the U.S. as a military