President Lyndon B. Johnson Giving His Midnight Address on Second Gulf of Tonkin Incident
8/4/1964
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This photograph shows President Lyndon B. Johnson, speaking from behind a podium in the Fish Room of the White House, reporting to the American people following renewed aggression in the Gulf of Tonkin.
President Johnson interrupted television broadcasts just before midnight on August 4 to announce American ships had been attacked twice in international waters in the Gulf of Tonkin near North Vietnam. He gave no hint of some doubts he had expressed in a recorded conversation earlier that day. The following morning, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was introduced in the Senate.
In his address, the President assured the country, “we still seek no wider war.” By the end of the following year, 180,000 American troops were in Vietnam.
President Johnson interrupted television broadcasts just before midnight on August 4 to announce American ships had been attacked twice in international waters in the Gulf of Tonkin near North Vietnam. He gave no hint of some doubts he had expressed in a recorded conversation earlier that day. The following morning, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was introduced in the Senate.
In his address, the President assured the country, “we still seek no wider war.” By the end of the following year, 180,000 American troops were in Vietnam.
This primary source comes from the Collection LBJ-WHPO: White House Photo Office Collection.
National Archives Identifier: 192482
Full Citation: Photograph 311-1-WH64; Photograph of President Lyndon B. Johnson's Midnight Address on Second Gulf of Tonkin Incident; 8/4/1964; Johnson White House Photographs, 11/22/1963 - 1/20/1969; Collection LBJ-WHPO: White House Photo Office Collection; Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, Austin, TX. [Online Version, https://docsteach.org/documents/document/lbj-midnight-address, April 27, 2025]Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.
