On August 2, 1964, the American destroyer Maddox, conducting espionage, was attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in international waters. A second ship joined the Maddox and both ships claimed to have been attacked. It was later discovered that the second attack had not occurred. Johnson ordered retaliatory strikes and asked Congress for support. On August 7, the Senate passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, giving Johnson almost unlimited ability to expand American involvement in any long war.
This war would wreck the Great Society, nearly tear the U.S. apart, spawn an idealistic, drug-oriented youth culture and cost the lives of 58,000 Americans.
WWII left much of the Southeast Asia dangerously unstable. In the past decade,
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