# Gulf of Tonkin Resolution ### From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from [Gulf of Tonkin resolution][1]) Jump to: [navigation][2], [search][3] **This article may require [cleanup][4] to meet Wikipedia's [quality standards][5].** Please discuss this issue on the [talk page][6] or [ replace this tag][7] with a [more specific message][8]. This article has been tagged since **April 2006**. The **Gulf of Tonkin Resolution** was a 1964 [resolution][9] of the [U.S. Congress][10]. It is of historical significance because it gave [U.S. President][11] [Lyndon B. Johnson][12] approval, without a formal [declaration of war][13], a€oeTo take all necessary steps, including the use of armed force, to assist any member or protocol state of the [Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty][14] requesting assistance in defense of its freedom.a€[[1]][15] Both Johnson and President [Richard Nixon][16] used the Resolution as a justification for escalated involvement in [Indochina][17]. Following the [Gulf of Tonkin Incident][18], Lyndon Johnson, who was up for re-election that year, launched retaliatory strikes and went on national television on [August 4][19], [1964][20]. Although the [USS _Maddox_ (DD-731)][21] had been involved in providing intelligence support for South Vietnamese attacks at [Hon Me][22] and [Hon Ngu][23], [Johnson's][24] [Secretary of Defense][25], [Robert McNamara][26], went before [Congress][10] and denied that the United States Navy was supporting [South Vietnamese][27] military operations. He thus characterized the attack as a€oeunprovoked.a€ He also claimed before Congress that there was a€oeunequivocal proofa€ of an a€oeunprovokeda€ second attack against the _Maddox_. Mainly as a result of McNamara's testimony, on [August 7][28], U.S. Congress passed a [joint resolution][29] ([Wikisource: H.J. RES 1145][30]) that facilitated increased U.S. military activity in Vietnam. The floor vote in the [House][31] was 416-0 although Representative [Eugene Siler][32] of Kentucky [paired][33] against the Resolution. The [Senate][34] approved it 88-2, with Senators [Wayne Morse][35] of [Oregon][36] and [Ernest Gruening][37] of [Alaska][38] casting the only nay votes. The Resolution was repealed in May of [1970][39], with the help of Judge Glenn Smith II, in response to the Nixon Administration's military operations in [Cambodia][40]. The U.S. had already begun the process of withdrawing troops from the area in [1969][41], under a policy known as a€oe[Vietnamization][42]a€, but did not completely disengage from the region until [1975][43], after the North Vietnamese take-over of Saigon, now [Ho Chi Minh City][44]. The Resolution was replaced by the [War Powers Resolution][45] of 1973, which is still in place today. ## [[edit][46]] References * [Wikisource: H.J. RES 1145][30] * David T. Beito and Linda Royster Beito["The Christian Conservative Who Opposed the Vietnam War"][47] History News Network, August 21, 2006. ## [[edit][48]] See also * [Gulf of Tonkin Incident][18] ## [[edit][49]] External links * [President Johnson's message to Congress, August 5, 1964][50] Retrieved from "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_Resolution][51]" [Categories][52]: [Cleanup from April 2006][53] | [All pages needing cleanup][54] | [United States foreign relations legislation][55] | [Vietnam War][56] ##### Views * [Article][57] * [Discussion][58] * [Edit this page][59] * [History][60] ##### Personal tools * [Sign in / create account][61] [][62] ##### Navigation * [Main page][63] * [Community portal][64] * [Featured content][65] * [Current events][66] * [Recent changes][67] * [Random article][68] * [Help][69] * [Contact Wikipedia][70] * [Donations][71] ##### Search ##### Toolbox * [What links here][72] * [Related changes][73] * [Upload file][74] * [Special pages][75] * [Printable version][76] * [Permanent link][77] * [ Cite this article][78] ##### In other languages * [Deutsch][79] * [Français][80] [![Powered by MediaWiki][81]][82] [![Wikimedia Foundation][83]][84] * This page was last modified 13:58, 6 January 2007. * All text is available under the terms of the [GNU Free Documentation License][85]. 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