Tonkin Gulf Resolution

Resolution that authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson to use whatever force he deemed necessary in Vietnam. This Tonkin Gulf Resolution passed the U.S. Senate on August 10, 1964, with only two dissenting votes.

The Tonkin Gulf Resolution stated that communist Vietnamese naval units had violated the UN Charter and international law by attacking U.S. naval vessels lawfully present in international waters on August 1, 1964. North Vietnamese torpedo boats had attacked the Maddox, a U.S. destroyer, in the Gulf of Tonkin on that date. The Maddox and another ship reported that they were under attack again three days later. This second attack was incorrect, however, for the sailors misread sonar and radar equipment malfunctioning in heavy seas.

Notwithstanding any possible errors or misjudgments, President Johnson presented the attack to the U.S. Congress as impetus for passing the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. Two days of debate followed, with ultimate passage of the resolution. The Tonkin Gulf Resolution was ultimately repealed by Congress on January 2, 1971.

The purpose of the joint resolution was to promote the maintenance of international peace and security in Southeast Asia. The Tonkin Gulf Resolution depicted the attacks in the Tonkin Gulf as a deliberate and systematic campaign of aggression that the communist regime in North Vietnam was waging against its neighbors. It emphasized that the United States did not contain any territorial, military, or political ambitions in Southeast Asia, but that it desired only that the Vietnamese people should be left in peace to work out their own destinies.

The Tonkin Gulf Resolution granted President Johnson, as commander in chief, the power to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against U.S. forces and to prevent further aggression.