Turning points and tipping points in 1963-1964 history

Tonkin Resolution

Turning Point: The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution of 1964

The Vietnam War was one of the saddest conflicts in United States history. Just before the developments that led to this conflict, the Korean War had been unsuccessfully concluded, at least in the minds many, because the two major players in the battle were not willing to engage the other (China and the U.S.). Vietnam was another "line on the sand" for the government of the United States which wished to stop the spread of communism beyond the borders of the U.S.S.R. And China. Unfortunately, this was not working to any great degree because communist forces from both countries made inroads into peaceful neighboring countries under the pretext of ethnic repatriation. In the case of Vietnam, communist forces from the North were trying to envelop the entire country (which would eventually happen), and leaders from the North resented the fact that the United States would send naval vessels into what they considered territorial waters. This paper examines the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution from the perspectives of how the issue started, what it said and what the result was, and whether this resolution can be considered a turning point for the United States.

This main reason that this event can be called a turning point in U.S. history is because it was resolution from the U.S. government that led to the escalation of the Vietnam War (NEH, 2011). The United States had sent warships to patrol just off the coast of Vietnam since there were already green beret in country who were acting as military advisors, and helping to train the South Vietnamese regulars. The communist forces from the North, supplied by the Chinese government, had aggressively been trying to take territory from the democratic government in the South (NEH, 2011). This led the U.S. To send troops and a small naval force to the region. The ships were fired upon by North Vietnamese ships, and then the U.S. ships purposely went into the same waters where the North Vietnamese had warned them not to go trying to induce the North Vietnamese to fire again (History, 1991). The North Vietnamese did fire again which gave the U.S. government the onus for the resolution which gave "broad powers or the expansion of the Vietnam War" (History, 1991).

The U.S. had a broad doctrine which promoted peace and democracy to the rest of the world. The belief was that the communist form of government rather than being for the people as it was meant to be, was being usurped by dictators and autocratic committees of men who wished to have the world under their thumb. The U.S. rejected this and was therefore in Vietnam to help quell the spread of communist forces supplied by China.