Johnson’s immediate advocacy of the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, acting as head of state, influenced Congress to unintentionally give him a blank check in conducting the Vietnam War. Johnson’s accusation of unjustified attacks on American ships by the North Vietnamese in the Gulf of Tonkin led to the resolution’s nearly unanimous passage in Congress three days later. Although with the passage of time the certainty of these attacks has come into question, President Johnson through his presidential powers was able to get the Tonkin Gulf Resolution passed, which gave him near free reign in conducting the Vietnam War.The events leading up to the Tonkin Gulf Resolution must be understood with knowledge of the Johnson administration’s motivations during that time period. As early as May 1964, Vietnam experts in Washington were creating a resolution that would give Johnson the ability to use unlimited force in North Vietnam. However, Johnson thought that the timing was not right to call attention to this escalating war in Southeast Asia. Considering the benefits of a resolution, his Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara believed that attaining the capability to perform air strikes would raise South Vietnamese morale. Even though Johnson and his staff were forced to fight a defensive war, they knew very well that a resolution passes by Congress would very well change that. (1)A generally accepted modern-day account of the Gulf of Tonkin incidents that occurred in early August of 1964 should precede evaluation of how the Johnson administration handled the situation. The USS Maddox began a reconnaissance patrol along the coast of North Vietnam on July 31, 1964, with the objective of gathering information about the coastal defense forces. North Vietnamese defense forces were expected to be quite active because covert operations were being carried out by boats out of Danang, South Vietnam under Operations Plan 34A (OP...
