The Gulf of Tonkin Incident

1. The Gulf of Tonkin Incident 2nd – 4th August 1964

2. The Gulf of Tonkin

3. What happened in the gulf of tonkin? Using the booklet of primary sources, you must piece together the puzzle of the Gulf of Tonkin. • What supposedly happened? • What do you really think happened? • Who, if anyone, was in the wrong? Why? Draw a conclusion based on evidence you have collected. You will be discussing and justifying your position at the end of the lesson!

4. The Official Line • 2nd August, 1964 – Three Vietnamese gunboats approach the USS Maddox and they fire torpedoes unprovoked. • 4th August, 1964 – Another attack is reported, numbers unknown, but two ships reported sunk by the USS Maddox. • 7th August 1964 – In response to the Gulf of Tonkin incident, the US issues the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, enabling the escalation of US involvement in Vietnam to include sending troops into the South without a formal declaration of war against the North.

5. What really happened? • The first attack may not have been unprovoked. Robert J. Hanyok writes: The Vietnamese boats inexorably closed the gap… at 1500G, Captain Herrick ordered Ogier’s gun crews to open fire if the boats approached within ten thousand yards. At about 1505G, the Maddox fired three rounds to warn off the communist boats. This initial action was never reported to the Johnson administration, which insisted that the Vietnamese fired first.

6. What Really Happened? • The second attack was reported by the Maddox, but evidence of it happening are sketchy at best. Even its sister ship, the USS Turner Joy, could not confirm the attack, through visual or electronic means. "On the first attack, the evidence would be pretty good. On the second one the amount of evidence we have today is less than we had yesterday. This resulted primarily from correlating bits and pieces of information eliminating double counting and mistaken signals. This much seemed certain: There was an attack. How many PT boats were involved, how many torpedoes were fired, etc. - all this was still somewhat uncertain. This matter may be of some importance since Hanoi has denied making the second attack." – National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy, at the White House staff meeting at 8 a.m. on August 5, 1964, discussing the Gulf of Tonkin incident.

7. What really happened? • Even LBJ was reported to have said offhand to State Department official George Ball: Hell, those dumb, stupid sailors were just shooting at flying fish! And later even publicly remarked: They could have been shooting at whales out there for all I know.

8. What Really Happened? • The Gulf of Tonkin Incident is a crucially important event in history for us to understand and analyse. • It is a potent example of what happens when war breaks out: Among the calamities of war may be jointly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages. - Samuel Johnson, The Idler (1758) The first casualty when war comes is truth. - Hiram W Johnson (1917)

9. What Really Happened? "I believe that within the next century, future generations will look with dismay and great disappointment upon a Congress which is now about to make such a historic mistake." – Senator Wayne Morse, during the Senate debate of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, August 6-7, 1964