Congress approves war against North Vietnam

Historical Context Note

Lucas Paul Richert (University of Saskatchewan)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

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Date of occurrence 1964-08-07

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United States (Location)
Vietnam (Involved)

On 7 August 1964, the U.S. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, a piece of enabling legislation that allowed President Johnson to undertake military action in Vietnam under the constitution. In 1964, communist forces in Vietnam appeared to be on the cusp of military victory against the government of South Vietnam. American forces had participated in the conflict between communists and anti-communists since the Truman administration and the American government stepped up its support of the South Vietnamese after the French withdrew in the mid-1950s. On 5 August 1964, an (allegedly) unprovoked attack on U.S. warships (Maddox and C. Turner Joy) in the Gulf of Tonkin gave President Johnson the pretext to expand the conflict. The U…

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228 words

Citation: Richert, Lucas Paul. "Congress approves war against North Vietnam". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 October 2008 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=3436, accessed 26 November 2024.]

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Congress approves war against North Vietnam

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