Gulf Of Tonkin Incident

Cold War Period: 1964

  The Gulf of Tonkin Incident was the turning point in United States involvement in Vietnam. The Gulf of Tonkin Incident is two occurrences of naval forces of North Vietnam and the United States in the waters of Gulf of Tonkin. This is a significant part of the Cold War because it marked the first large-scale involvement of U.S armed forces in Southeast Asia.

             The major countries involved in the Gulf of Tonkin Incident were the United States and North Vietnam. The major leader was President Lyndon Johnson, of the United States. In August of 1964, North Vietnamese battle ships attacked U.S warships on two occasions in the Gulf of Tonkin, a body of water neighboring Vietnam. President Lyndon Johnson claimed that the United States did nothing to provoke these attacks although subsequent reports show the U.S did indeed provoke these attacks by supporting South Vietnam commandos.

                                          

Gulf Of Tonkin Resolution

              The result of the Gulf of Tonkin Incident was that U.S Congress passed the Southeast Asia Resolution, also known as, “Gulf of Tonkin Resolution”. This resolution gave President Lyndon B. Johnson the authority to aid any Southeast Asian country whose government was in danger due to communist aggression. This resolution is a very significant because it served as President Johnson’s legal justification of increasing U.S presence in Vietnam. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution permitted Johnson to increase U.S presence in Vietnam from 16,000 to more than 500,000 troops. For better or for worse, the Gulf of Tonkin was a vital part of Southeast Asian involvement during the Cold War.

 

                              

                     President Johnson Speaking on Gulf of Tonkin Incident