aug 2, 1964 - Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

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The Gulf of Tonkin resolution was the event that got the US directly involved in the Vietnam war and is now considered largely controversial and most believe that it did not actually happen. The story was told that on August 2, 1964, a US ship Maddox was pursued and fired at by North Vietnamese boats in the Gulf of Tonkin and because of that they shot back and damaged the boats, killing 4 men. In reality, these events never happened and there was no reason for the firing by the US Maddox. But, this was not discovered until President Lyndon Johnson was given powers that were those of wartime without actually being at war. It is commonly believed that the President understood this event to be untrue yet took the powers of wartime anyways.

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