gulf of tonkin resolution us history definition

gulf of tonkin resolution us history definition

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: A Pivotal Moment in U.S. History

1. Introduction to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident

This series of dramatic events has been criticized in retrospect by military and diplomatic specialists alike. To historians, the totality of what happened on the night of August 4, 1964 is something of a mystery; serious doubts exist that the engagement actually took place. Influential wire service-participating columnists and conservative newspapers generally supported, with a few qualms, the U.S. naval operations. There was hardly any editorial opposition to White House actions, and there was broad, general public approval of the reporting and the naval confrontations. The key Senate and House Armed Services Committees that approved formulation of U.S. military strategy were briefed in secret and apparently expressed no official doubts about the confrontations. If public support waned, then a similar unanimity of policy direction and unity of purpose might never again be achieved, and once again, a consensus might be reached insuring against further commitments. Not merely the actions in Tonkin, but the nature of the public and congressional reactions are important. The official exchanges between the Executive Branch and Congress over the President’s plans for Vietnam were virtually nonexistent.

On August 7, 1964, the American public received media coverage of President Lyndon Johnson’s announcement over the airwaves that, while pursuing clandestine military surveillance in two naval battles off the North Vietnamese coast, two U.S. destroyers had engaged and sunk three communist torpedo boats. This was presented as unprovoked and treacherous aggression against U.S. international shipping lanes. This action was followed on August 10, 1964, by reports that U.S. aircraft had sunk or damaged 25 North Vietnamese swift boats. The next day, on August 11, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. That single act of Congress, without a declaration of war, transferred constitutional war-making authority from the Congress to the President.

2. The Context and Events Leading to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

The Gulf of Tonkin resolution came into being at a time of high-stress international conditions and did not emerge in isolation, but as a part of the very fabric of a range of national management policies and decision-making processes. Its history was complex, its route to the achievement of the Republican intention to provide President Lyndon B. Johnson with a strong resolution both delicate and fragile. In particular, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution did not emerge in isolation. To understand its background, it is necessary to understand such political, military, intelligence and diplomatic activities as the administration’s policy, “Statement by the National Security Council on U.S. Objectives and Courses of Actions in Southeast Asia,” the Southeast Asia decisions in the context of the White House and Dept. of Defense years, developments in South Vietnam and changing U.S. troops presence in Vietnam, the Gulf of Tonkin crisis, the August 14, 1964, intelligence advisory, National Security Action Memoranda-362, and fourteen power embassies, as well as some other activities.

Although the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution is recognized as a pivotal moment in United States history, it did not emerge in isolation. It was the result of the culmination of diplomatic, military, intelligence, fiscal, and economic developments in the Far East. Within the Far East, Vietnam was simply a pawn—a victim of its geopolitical misfortune, trapped between the opposing forces of China, Russia, France, and the new United States superpower, charged with maintaining international order and peace in a world divided between the forces of freedom and democracy and the forces of communism. This result was always in doubt, given that the United States used a strategy in which it was uncertain of both its end and its means. The result was a mission that was doomed to failure, an untrue stating of the belief of the United States government and the military, ethical validity, legitimacy and sense of direction, and that instead was immoral, illegal, unethical, and illogical.

3. The Passage and Implications of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Interventions in the internal affairs of other countries are often controversial and frequently violate international law. However, the international legality of these interventions tends to stabilize or at least limit the dimensions of these activities. The Tonkin Gulf resolution was unprecedented in expanding the executive power of military intervention and in circumventing the normal limits placed by the Constitution and by important international treaties to stop this type of policy. The resolution of August 7, in effect, created an entirely new constitutional system, transforming the president into the dictator of U.S. policy with the determination, the instrument, and the means to implement it. In so doing, President Johnson usurped the inherent powers of the other branches and contradicted important limits placed on military activities by the Constitution, the War Powers Act of 1973, the UN Charter, the Nuremberg principles, and the Geneva Accords for Vietnam.

Although the first Tonkin Gulf resolution was in effect an authorization for extended reprisal bombings against North Vietnam, it did not lead to retaliatory measures by Hanoi. On August 4, President Johnson used an attack on U.S. destroyers to gain passage of a second resolution which allowed him to take “all necessary measures to prevent further aggression” or to facilitate “strategic” measures. This authorization was a de facto declaration of war, not only for the unlimited extent of the measures which it permitted but also for the wide range of individuals and areas affected. It led to many complex problems, particularly the justification for the intervention itself and the unprecedented delegation of power to the executive branch.

4. The Long-Term Impact and Legacy of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

The passage of the resolution also carried a long-term impact for the U.S. Constitution. The perceived abuse of the executive branch’s power to wage war would lead to a whirlwind of war-policymaking reform activity. The era of United States involvement in Vietnam did not result in a formal declaration of war by Congress, and in 1973, the War Powers Resolution was enacted. This measure limited the President’s ability to commit United States armed forces in combat in countries abroad. Throughout the U.S., significant changes in the political environment also occurred. The Johnson administration and the Vietnam experience are widely credited with transforming the Democratic Party. Disillusionment and widespread protests altered the fabric of American society in some fundamental ways. The anti-Vietnam War movement notably caused significant changes in the two major political parties on fiscal, social, and foreign policy issues. U.S. foreign policy and national security policymaking also underwent a major change. The Vietnam War experience resulted in the implementation of the “Vietnam syndrome” – a degree of aversion to the deployment of U.S. forces abroad. Not until 1976 did the U.S. military adopt a new mission: to fight and win two nearly simultaneous land conflicts in different theaters of operation.

The passage of the resolution initiated the beginning of an incredibly consequential period in American history characterized by deep political divisions, protests, dissent, and polarized views between those who supported the war effort and those who opposed it. During this period, 2.7 million Americans would serve in the U.S. armed forces. Over 58,000 of them would lose their lives. In addition to the tremendous strain that post-1945 financial and economic assistance efforts had placed on U.S. resources, the costs and consequences associated with military conflict in Vietnam would test the unity and patience of the U.S. people. The Vietnam War would have long-lasting social, political, and economic consequences. The U.S.’s involvement in Vietnam resulted in a loss of confidence in its government and its institutions. Mutually reinforcing disillusionment began to take shape due to the growing number of lives sacrificed, the lack of a clear strategic endgame to U.S. policy, the destructive impact of military deployments abroad, the resultant draft-induced military service, the high costs associated with war funding, and the disparities in the burdens associated with serving that war.