In the mid of the 1960s were many events that had impact on the history of United States. There were events that impact both domestic and foreign policy. One of these events was attack on the USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964. You can ask me why exactly this event? Let’s analyze it.
The Vietnam War was one of the largest and the bloodiest conflict of the second half of XX century. For the United States it is the bloodiest war after Second World War, the casualties of US Armed Forces estimated in 58,286 killed in action or non-combat deaths. And over 3.8 million Vietnamese died during 1955 to 1975. And more than 153 thousand were wounded in action. Basically it was the war between United States and South Vietnam from one side and North Vietnam and Viet Cong from the other. The Unites States Armed Forces were involved in this war for almost 8 years. However, what was the cause of Vietnam War?
First of all let’s analyze what events preceded the Gulf of Tonkin incident. In 1954, after French colonial war in Indochina, Vietnam was temporarily divided into two parts by the Geneva agreements. Since 1957, in South Vietnam Communist guerrillas waged an armed struggle against the pro-American government of Ngo Dinh Diem. In 1959, the leadership of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) decided to provide military assistance to the rebels, as peaceful ways of uniting the country at an impasse. By 1964, the United States provided increased support for the South Vietnamese government by providing weapon and military advisers, but weren’t directly involved in the war. Tension was high. On July 31, 1964 the destroyer USS Maddox began to collect intelligence data in the Gulf of Tonkin (in international waters part). On 2 August, 1964 USS Maddox was attacked by three North Vietnamese torpedo boats. After this incident there was no reaction from Washington. On 4 August the North Vietnamese ships were too close to no more than 11 miles (18 km) from the coast of North Vietnam. During an evening and morning of rough weather, the destroyers received sonar and radio signals that they believed signaled another attack by the North Vietnamese ships. After that, the ships fired on radar targets and maneuvered actively amid electronic and visual reports of enemies.
This time President Johnson decided to react on attacks. On 10 August, 1964 was enacted the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which allowed to apply US Armed Forces in Southeast Asia without declaration of war. The attack on USS Maddox is breaking point in history because this incident was actually was the pretext for war. For United States it was “casus belli”. In historical aspect it was like assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria that was pretext for World War I.
All the events that happened after the Gulf of Tonkin incident weren’t so important as this. The attack on the USS Maddox was the breaking point because all the other events– the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the election of President Lyndon b. Johnson in 1964 and the entire Vietnam War could be impossible without it incident. The influence of this incident on the Vietnam War is unquestionable. In my opinion, the impact that had the Gulf of Tonkin on presidential elections in 1964 was considerable. Maybe, if there hadn’t been such incident, the 37th President of the United States and the winner of 1964 presidential elections would have been Barry Goldwater or someone else. Who knows? President Johnson showed his voters and the nation that he and his administration can act not only in diplomatic way. But at what cost
References
Ellsberg, D. (1971). The Pentagon Papers, Gravel Edition, Vol 3. Boston: Beacon Press.
Hirschman C, P. S. (1995). Vietnamese casualties during the American war: a new estimate. Popul Dev Rev, pp. 783-812.
Jones, M. (2013, 05 10). Ladysmith Marine's name being added to Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Journal Sentinel.
