The United States of America is the longest lasting democracy to date, but America did not get there in holy grace as many believe it to have done. The fact is America got to where she is through failures, miscalculations, terrorism, conspiracy, and lying to its very own people through many facets of foreign policies and actions in other countries. The Vietnam War, specifically the Gulf-of-Tonkin Resolution and the Gulf-of-Tonkin Incident, are prime examples of how far American Presidential Administrations went to exclude themselves from their own Constitution to give themselves a blank check for war. The Gulf-of-Tonkin Incident was a complete fabrication that from the start was meant to provoke a military response from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
The time frame is December 1962 and the Joint Chiefs of Staff started a covert reconnaissance patrol just off the shores of a few high interest western Pacific Ocean countries, dubbed the DeSoto Patrol. (Moise 50) The claimed purpose “was to collect information about seaborne infiltration from North Vietnam to South Vietnam.” (Moise 51) Another released purpose was to determine the DRV’s coastal patrol activity and to also get a ‘better’ intelligence picture of the coast ‘in case’ we had to engage in operations. . The December 1962 and the following April Patrol in 1963 was said to be a waste of time by their crews, visibility was low and little to no intelligence was gathered; Lieutenant Gerrell Moore who was the officer in charge of the simply equipped NSA listening ‘COMVAN’ that was on board the ships and said, “We had no capability to learn anything significant in that area.” (Moise 51) What the real objective was; there was no real objective! This was also a cover story in the larger plan of the provocation of the DRV hoping to get them to fire at US forces. The equipment in the COMVAN was simple at best, nowhere near the technology they needed nor the distance capabilities they needed. A small excursion ordered by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in January 1964 was also unsuccessful once again to bad weather, but newly in Command Captain John Herrick of the USS Maddox would forever change the way history is written in late July and early August. A July 27th briefing to commanding officers of the USS Maddox left them feeling like they were embarking on a leisure cruise with no hostility expected.
Richard Russell was a steadfast individual who believed that the United States should not support, or even attempt to enter into any kind of conflict without direct provocation or dire need of American intervention. This mindset played a major role in influencing his decisions on foreign policy issues such as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, and the Vietnam War. Since there was what seemed to him a lack of antagonization on the part of the Vietnamese towards the United States, he believed that it would be a waste of money, time, and American lives to enter into a conflict that would bring no benefits to the United States. Russell being as adamant as he was, would make this point to his long time friend Lyndon Johnson on multiple occasions in an attempt to sway him from getting the United States involved. His attempt at swaying his long time friend from war would prove
In August of 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the closest thing there was to declaring war on Vietnam. A war that resulted in millions of people dying, and the loss of liberties for a large number of people. The Resolution was passed because the government (and the American people) believed that the Vietnamese had fired torpedoes at a US destroyer on routine patrol in the Tonkin Gulf on August 2, 1964. It was also reported that a second deliberate attack happened against a pair of ships two days later on August 4, 1964. Based on this information, the President in a news conference announced to the U.S. that he was ordering air strikes against North Vietnam in retaliation for the attacks on US ships. But information now leads us to believe that President Johnson had ordered bombers to strike for an attack that never happened. It has even been reported that before the air strikes even began there was reason to believe that the attack on August 4th never happened. There are transmission reports from the commander in the Tonkin Gulf, Captain John J. Herrick stating that there was an overeager sonarman who "was hearing ship's own propeller beat" and freaky weather conditions. Also, Navy pilot, James Stockdale, who was flying in the area that night, stated that "our destroyers were just shooting at phantom targets there were no boats there. There was nothing there but black water and American fire power."
In the early 1960s the U.S. began sending military advisors to South Vietnam beginning the Vietnam War, arguably the most controversial war in United States history. This incident followed Vietnam gaining its independence from the French Empire’s Indochina in 1954. The nation soon split, creating a communist North Vietnam, and a noncommunist South Vietnam. In fear of communism spreading the U.S. supported South Vietnam and sent troops. As the incident dragged on it caused a huge anti-war movement and a lot of political turmoil.The troops were withdrawn in 1973, the whole country fell to communism, and the U.S. failed. How did a superpower such as the U.S. take defeat from a small country like Vietnam? Many have wondered and continue to wonder
Secretary of Defense McNamara testified that the Maddox was at the area, Gulf of Tonkin, in August 2 because it had a mission of carrying out a routine patrol action designated as a Desoto Patrol. He claimed that it is normal because they always did this mission all over the world at all times. However, Moise stated that The Maddox approach to the coast closer than it supposed to be on July 31 and August 1. Even though, the North Vietnam took account for the incident, there are still some speculation and doubt about the incident such as the Vietnamese vessels actually attack the Maddox after they were being fired by the US destroyer. Many question of whether all of this was set up just for the US to have an excuse to attack North Vietnam. General Vo Nguyen Giap had mention that the Us sent the DeSoto patrol to the Tonkin Gulf just for provocation and hope to get an excuse for escalation of the
The Peace treaty signed by the United States and Hanoi did not mean an end to conflict in Vietnam. The Republic of Vietnam, as Nixon saw it, was still the sole legitimate government in South Vietnam. The president of South Vietnam, Nguyen Van Thieu, even reiterated his four no’s policy soon after the Paris peace agreement. This policy called for “No recognition of the enemy, no coalition government under any disguise, no procommunist of the southern region of Vietnam, and no concession of territory to the communists.” Thus the war did not end in 1973. The war from 1973 was their war, not America’s. It was a war fought between Vietnamese and not Americans, although America still had a hand in this war.
What Different Tactics Did Both Sides use in an Attempt to Win the Conflict in Vietnam Between 1956 and1968? Both sides used different tactics and had to adapt strategies in response to the conditions they had to meet. Vietnam has some of the harshest conditions possible in which to fight. From the swamps, paddy fields and the Mekong delta in the south, to the mountainous jungles in the north; it was all alien to the Americans. The geography in Vietnam was so different to what the American soldiers had been trained in, that they found it difficult to exploit the landscape and make good use of it.
On August 2, 1964 an incident happened between the USS Maddox and a North Vietnamese torpedo ships. While the Maddox was doing a casual sweep through of the Tonkin Gulf, the North Vietnamese ships began to follow. Captain Herrick ordered his men to shoot while he radioed an aircraft carrier for assistance. After feeling threated, the North Vietnamese ships each fired one torpedo. Two missed and the third failed to launch. The Maddox was barely touched, as for the Vietnamese ships, two were in bad shape and the other had sunk. Meanwhile, over in Washington D.C., President Lyndon B. Johnson was frantic about the situation he had been informed of. At first, President Johnson had no desire to hold any reprisal against North Vietnam. He proceeded to tell Russia that he had no interest in extending the conflict. However, he did warn that there would be consequences for their action. This conflict had our stationed soldiers on high al...
In fact, the Tet Offensive broke out on the Tet's Eve - in the early
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary Democracy is a form of government by the people; especially: rule of the majority(Webster). This is what the United States is represented as, and this is based on the United States Constitution from which the United states draws all legal powers. In Robert Dahls book How democratic Is the American Constitution? He challenges this idea by trying to appeal to his readers in a way that they may view the United States Constitution in a different light. Dahl does this by pointing out flaws that the Constitution has and, draws on facts based on the other democracies around the world that the United States is compared too. He points out how many democratic ideas and innovations have a occurred since the conception of the American Constitution yet it has only adopted some of those idea.
Vietnam is a time in American history that most of us would like to forget, but really, we must learn from it. Vietnam is a time where we didn't look at the whole picture, it was 'perceived through the lens of Cold War politics.' (MP:420) With the new ?domino theory,? Americans feared for their safety and the safety of the 'free world.' If they didn't step in, they would inevitably lose the world to communism.
For example, the majority of wars that America has personally fought could and should have been avoided with a democratic decision. The Iraq war is a perfect example; there should have been more time and energy put into the idea of war with Iraq and going into the Middle East. Instead, the American government went in guns blazing and to the surprised of the American people; what seemed like what was going to be a nice small war turn into a 10-year investment. Men and women in power have seen loved ones, friends, and innocent lives lost; the call for war would be a just causes not a reckless ones.
Navy, author of “The Truth About Tonkin”, intercepted information conveying North Vietnamese, offensive plans in the Gulf of Tonkin, the same international water being traveled in by the Maddox the few days prior and again on the 4th when the destroyer returned accompanied by another: USS Turner Joy. Contrasting the few days before, thunderstorms raged the sea with six feet high waves causing both the U.S. destroyer’ radars to be haywire and inconclusive. “The Maddox nevertheless reported at 2040 that she was tracking unidentified vessels… approaching vessels seemed to come at the ships from multiple directions...Targets would disappear… new targets would appear...next three hours, the two ships… reported automatic-weapons fire, more than 20 torpedo attacks… they had fired 249 5-inch shells, 123 3-inch shells”
A common mistake among the general public is to talk about the Vietnam War. Technically, it never was declared a war; President Johnson never asked for a declaration of war. It was called the Vietnamese Conflict. He instead only asked for a resolution that would give him the authority to take "all necessary measures to repel any armed attack" against U.S. forces and "to prevent further aggression" (Dougherty). So, with this kind of all-powerful resolution, was there even a necessity for declaring war? Some believe there was a necessity, and that there should have been a declaration of war; others would disagree and say there was no need for a declaration of war. But who really knows the right answer? That question can only be answered on an individual basis. And before anyone can make a decision on these issues, the context must be understood.
Anchor: Welcome back, before the break we talked about raising the stakes which included Lyndon B. Johnson who was the president at the time as well as the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. The Gulf of Tonkin was a resolution that allowed the president to have power over Vietnam without congressional approval but with the War Powers act, it turned the Gulf of Tonkin around. Today we will be talking about protests. One of the most famous protests was the Kent State University one because the National guard was called in and then one of the guards shot four people and killed them and injured five more. We also be talking about the Pentagon Papers which when the papers were released, the president tried to block them but that damaged the reputation
“Article I, section 8 of our Constitution does not permit the president to make war at his discretion” (Wayne Morse on the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution). Even though Wayne Morse was accused of being sidetracked by the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and not concentrating on greater issues, Wayne Morse demonstrated political courage when he, along with one other senator-Ernest Gruening, formally opposed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution when no one else would.