What gave President Johnson the power to commit troops to Vietnam without asking Congress for a declaration of war?

1 Answer
Sim W.
Feb 26, 2017

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution of 1964.

Explanation:

In August 1964, the USS Maddox was reported to have been shot by North Vietnamese forces in the Gulf of Tonkin. Congress thus granted President Johnson with an unlimited power to wage war in Vietnam without a declaration.

It woudl later prove to be a pretext and a fabrication after the release of the Pentagon Papers by Daniel Ellsberg in 1971.

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