Gulf of Tonkin incident

The Gulf of Tonkin incident consisted of two reported confrontations between United States Navy ships and North Vietnamese forces in the waters off North Vietnam. In the first, the destroyer USS Maddox exchanged fire with North Vietnamese torpedo boats during an intelligence-gathering patrol. Two days later, the Maddox and the Turner Joy reported a second attack, but later evidence, including declassified documents, showed that it probably never took place. President Lyndon Johnson used the reports to ask Congress for authority to respond. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, passed almost unanimously, gave him broad powers to use military force in Southeast Asia and became the legal basis for the escalation of the Vietnam War.

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