Transcript The Gulf of Tonkin Incident

THE GULF OF TONKIN
INCIDENT
2 nd – 4 th
August 1964
THE GULF OF TONKIN
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!
THE OFFICIAL LINE
 2 nd August, 1964 – Three Vietnamese gunboats
approach the USS Maddox and they fire torpedoes
unprovoked.
 4 th August, 1964 – Another attack is reported,
numbers unknown, but two ships reported sunk by
the USS Maddox.
 7 th 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.
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.
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 cer tain: There was an
attack. How many PT boats were involved, how many torpedoes
were fired, etc. - all this was still somewhat uncer tain. This
matter may be of some impor tance since Hanoi has denied
making the second attack." – National Security Advisor
McGeorge Bundy, at the White House staf f meeting at 8 a.m. on
August 5, 1964, discussing the Gulf of Tonkin incident .
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED?
 Even LBJ was reported to have said of fhand to State
Department of ficial 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.
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)
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