Brief Summary
The Set-Up
"The Vietnamese have fired on our ships? That's it, we're going to war."
Not a direct quote, but that was the feeling in Congress after the Gulf of Tonkin Incident where there were reports of Vietnam attacking multiple U.S. ships. Congress whips up the Tonkin Gulf Resolution in a speedy nine hours, and—boom—America is off to war.
The Text
Short and sweet, the Tonkin Gulf Resolution is only a single page. (Gotta hand it to Congress, as some of their legislation can have page numbers in the thousands.) But that's kind of the point here—this document is pretty close to a declaration of war, and it was meant to be put into action right away.
The text does three main things:
- It blames North Vietnam for attacking American ships at sea.
- It points a finger at North Vietnam for threatening to spread communism to other Southeast Asia nations.
- It says that the President of the United States may take "all necessary measures" (5) to stop North Vietnam's aggression.
Patriotic, forceful, and no nonsense. U-S-A! U-S-A!
TL;DR
If you mess with our ships, prepare to face the full force of America's military might.