http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2014/08/03/50-Year-Anniversary-of-the-Gulf-of-Tonkin-Incident
At 11:00 p.m. Vietnam time, Commander John J. Herrick on the destroyer USS Maddox reported that his ship was under torpedo attack by North Vietnamese PT boats in what was deemed to be the first attack on a U.S. warship since WWII. Two days earlier, the Maddox had engaged three North Vietnamese PT boats making aggressive moves. The incident gave the Johnson administration the “justification” to convince all but two members of Congress to pass a joint resolution of support for military escalation on August 7, 1964.
The House and the Senate on August 7th jointly passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution stating “Congress approves and supports the determination of the President, as Commander in Chief, to take all necessary measures to repeal any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent any further aggression.” The only two members of Congress who dissented were Senators Wayne Morse and Ernest Gruening.
One of the Navy pilots flying overhead on the night of the Gulf of Tonkin Incident was A-6 squadron commander James Stockdale, who would later gain fame as the highest-ranking POW in the Hanoi Hilton and as Ross Perot's vice presidential candidate. “I had the best seat in the house to watch that event,” recalled Stockdale a few years ago, “and our destroyers were just shooting at phantom targets – there were no PT boats there.... There was nothing there but black water and American fire power.”
President Lyndon Johnson in 1965 commented about the Gulf of Tonkin Incident: “For all I know, our Navy was shooting at whales out there
Another case of rushing to war. IMO there was no attack by North Vietnamese PT boats
At 11:00 p.m. Vietnam time, Commander John J. Herrick on the destroyer USS Maddox reported that his ship was under torpedo attack by North Vietnamese PT boats in what was deemed to be the first attack on a U.S. warship since WWII. Two days earlier, the Maddox had engaged three North Vietnamese PT boats making aggressive moves. The incident gave the Johnson administration the “justification” to convince all but two members of Congress to pass a joint resolution of support for military escalation on August 7, 1964.
The House and the Senate on August 7th jointly passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution stating “Congress approves and supports the determination of the President, as Commander in Chief, to take all necessary measures to repeal any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent any further aggression.” The only two members of Congress who dissented were Senators Wayne Morse and Ernest Gruening.
One of the Navy pilots flying overhead on the night of the Gulf of Tonkin Incident was A-6 squadron commander James Stockdale, who would later gain fame as the highest-ranking POW in the Hanoi Hilton and as Ross Perot's vice presidential candidate. “I had the best seat in the house to watch that event,” recalled Stockdale a few years ago, “and our destroyers were just shooting at phantom targets – there were no PT boats there.... There was nothing there but black water and American fire power.”
President Lyndon Johnson in 1965 commented about the Gulf of Tonkin Incident: “For all I know, our Navy was shooting at whales out there
Another case of rushing to war. IMO there was no attack by North Vietnamese PT boats
