What happened as a result of the Gulf of Tonkin incident in which U.S. and North Vietnamese navy ships fired at each other?
1 Answer
Jun 7, 2016
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed by Congress.
Explanation:
This Resolution was a seminal point of American involvement in Vietnam. It allowed Johnson to bypass the need for Senate approval to declare war.
Instead he was given the power to take any necessary measures. As a consequence American involvement quickly escalated to over 500,000 troops.
The subsequent failure to secure victory, the enormous cost of the war, and the schisms it caused had a huge impact on American society.
It also cost several million Cambodians and Vietnamese their lives. Much of this scale and intensity of warfare can be traced back to what was alleged to have taken place in the Gulf of Tonkin.
