Gage Fogle
English 1110.01 at 11, T-Th
9/26/18
The Tonkin Gulf Incident and the Domino Theory
On August 2, 1964, a U.S. Navy ship called the U.S.S. Maddox was station in the Gulf of Tonkin. Its mission was to gather intelligence and support the southern Vietnamese military raids on the North Vietnamese coast. That morning the Maddox was pursued and attacked by three North Vietnamese patrol boats. The Maddox was able to defend itself from the attack and the surviving North Vietnamese retreated.
The following day President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered another U.S. ship, the U.S.S. Turner Joy, to be sent to the gulf to support the Maddox. Then on the night of August 4, both U.S. ships reported unidentified vessels in the area. What happened next is the more controversial part of the Tonkin Gulf incident. The U.S. ships allegedly came under fire and proceeded to try to evade and retaliate against the unidentified vessels. Because of this incident, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on August 7,1964. This resolution gave President Johnson the power to begin and escalate U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. In other words, the Golf of Tonkin resolution began the Vietnam War in regards to the United States. Later, in 2005 and 2006, released classified documents showed that the incident in the Tonkin Gulf may have been faked and made up. However, there was no definitive evidence that President Johnson or the Secretary of Defense purposefully mislead congress or American citizens.
The Domino Theory was the belief that if a country were to fall to communism, then the surrounding countries will become communist as well. Before and during the Vietnam war the U.S. government was afraid of this spreading of communism, and felt as if they needed to intervene in foreign lands in order to stop it. President Eisenhower was the first to discuss the Domino Theory, and President Johnson would later use the theory as a reason for involvement in Vietnam.
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| Illustration of the Domino Theory |
Do you agree with the theory? I kind of do logically it makes since. But I feel like its not all that true. I guess we will never know. One more question do you think that the story was made up to get involved in the war?
ReplyDeleteIt is very interesting how the government potentially made up that situation. I really want to find out wether or not it actually happened.
ReplyDeleteI find it very interesting that we evaded the unidentified vessels, it seems that this incident was the base to everything that happened after this. Even the investigations in the U.S. Although very controversial, i believe it was a smart war tactic. We seem to not be sure of exactly what happened, which could've been anything. So this was almost like our excuse to send in more military power to defend. A question I've always had is, how would the war have turned out if The Gulf of Tonkin incident wouldn't have happened, and if the Domino theory wouldn't have come into effect.
ReplyDeleteI think its crazy that the Gulf of Tonkin incident is still very controversial today and we will never really know the truth. I also think the Domino Theory makes sense, but I personally don't think we should've went to war because of this theory.
ReplyDeleteGage, you mentioned that the re-release of the classified documents in '05,'06 indicated the event may have been made-up. What was the evidence that suggests it? Any details, specifics?
ReplyDelete