Events Leading to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Think about the events starting from the attack on the USS Maddox through the passage of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, as conveyed in the documents.

Was the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution the appropriate response to the attack on the USS Maddox?

Write a paragraph including your evaluation as whether the Resolution was the appropriate response (your argument). Make sure to support your argument with evidence from the documents and your knowledge of the Vietnam War, as well as America’s involvement in Cold War events.

Consider U.S. involvement in Vietnam before the attack on the Maddox (under Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson) as well as the United States’ greater commitment to the containment of communism and fear of the Domino Theory. Keep in mind that the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution would allow President Johnson, and later Nixon, to commit U.S. resources to escalate the conflict to a full-scale war. These aspects of the Vietnam War are important to justifying whether the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was an appropriate response to the attack on the USS Maddox.