A Critical Look at the Gulf Of Tonkin Incident

A Brief Introduction of the Gulf Of Tonkin Incident

The Gulf of Tonkin

During the Cold War, United States foreign policy efforts centered around stemming the spread of communism around the world. The United States was deeply concerned about the spread of communism in South East Asia. During the 1950’s and 1960’s, the Democratic Republic of South Vietnam was at war with the Communist North Vietnam regime. To prevent the fall of the South Vietnam, the United States Government initially contributed resources and a limited number of military advisors to South Vietnam to stem the tide of Communism, but did not contribute substantial military forces to defend South Vietnam.

In August 1964, North Vietnamese gunboats allegedly fired on two United States Naval Destroyers. As a result, President Lyndon Johnson addressed the United States Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution immediately accelerated United States entry into the Viet Nam War. In December of 1965, nearly 90,000 US troops were deployed to Vietnam. By 1969, over 500,000 combat troops fought in Vietnam (supported by the implementation of a national military draft). To put this in historical context, there are 150,000 troops in Iraq as of January 2004.

Many historians strongly criticize the exact details of the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. They suggest the Johnson Administration used the Incident to escalate the War in Vietnam. Some feel that Lyndon Johnson used the Incident to circumvent the US Congress’s Constitutional right to declare war.

You will be responsible for documenting the Gulf of Tonkin incident, its implications on US Policy towards Vietnam as well. You will also be responsible for taking a critical look at the “Incident”.

A picture of the Attack of the US Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin, August 2, 1964

The Assignment

Each Student will be responsible for creating a PowerPoint Presentation (3 to 5 bullet statements per entry) describing the main points of

a) The Official Description of The Gulf of Tonkin Incident

b) Alternate Historical Descriptions of the Gulf of Tonkin Incident

c) President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s Gulf Of Tonkin Speech To Congress

d) The Implications of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution enacted by Congress

e) Senator Wayne Morse’s (D-Oregon) opposition to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

In addition, the student must create a summary slide describing their individual reactions and reflections regarding the Gulf of Tonkin incident and its historical implications. The student will not only read the previous documents and analysis, but will quickly refer to the US Constitution which grants Congress the sole right to declare war.

Research Strategy and Internet Resources

You will use several Internet Resources to perform your research and create your presentation including:

a) A Web Site providing information regarding the Gulf of Tonkin Incident using the following link

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_Resolution

b) A word-for-word transcript of President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s speech to Congress regarding the incident. The Transcript can be located at http://www.luminet.net/~tgort/johnson.htm

A portrait of President Lyndon Baines Johnson

c) A transcript of Congress’s Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (H.J. RES 1145). Transcript is available at http://www.luminet.net/~tgort/tonkin.htm

d) Criticisms of the Gulf of Tonkin Incident and Resolution. Several web links take a rather critical (and negative) look at the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. These links include

Two modern criticisms of the incident http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0805-09.htm and http://www.fair.org/media-beat/940727.html

A comprehensive military criticism of the incident from the US Naval Institute : located at http://www.usni.org/navalhistory/Articles99/NHandrade.htm

A summary of Senator Wayne Morse’s arguments for opposing the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution located at http://www.fair.org/media-beat/990916.html.

Senator Wayne Morse

Optionally, you may wish to listen to a Real Audio stream including an interview with Senator Morse at the “Radioproject”. This interview is located at http://www.radioproject.org/archive/1999/9941.html. You only need to listen to the first 13 minutes of the interview which includes commentary of modern historians along with archival sound interviews of Senator Morse.

e) The United States Constitution's right to declare war (Article 1, Section 8). Follow this link to see the specific Constitutional article regarding congresses prerogative to declare war: http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.articlei.html#section8

Grading Criteria

Rubric for Assignment 1 – Understanding the Gulf of Tonkin Incident

Teacher Name: Mr. Fishman

Student Name: ________________________________________

CATEGORY	Excellent	Good	Satisfactory	Unsatisfactory
1. Spelling and Grammar	Presentation has no misspellings or grammatical errors.	Presentation has 1-2 misspellings, but no grammatical errors.	Presentation has some grammatical errors but no misspellings.	Presentation has more than 2 grammatical and/or spelling errors.
2. Content - Accuracy	All content throughout the presentation is accurate. There are no factual errors. Content accurately references source documents and web sites referring to the Gulf of Tonkin.	Most of the content is accurate but there is one piece of information that might be inaccurate. In most case, the content accurately reflects the source documents and web sites referring to the Gulf of Tonkin.	The content is generally accurate, but one piece of information is clearly flawed or inaccurate. In some case, the content inaccurately reflects the source documents and web sites referring to the Gulf of Tonkin.	Content is typically confusing or contains more than one factual error. Student makes no effort to reflect the source documents and web sites related to the Gulf of Tonkin in their presentation.
3. Originality and Presentation	Presentation shows considerable originality and inventiveness. The content and ideas are presented in a unique and interesting way.	Presentation shows some originality and inventiveness. The content and ideas are presented in an interesting way.	Presentation shows an attempt at originality and inventiveness on 1-2 cards.	The project shows minimal effort in terms of presentation originality.
4. Sequencing of Information	Information is organized in a clear, logical way. It is easy to anticipate the type of material that might be on the next card.	Most information is organized in a clear, logical way. One card or item of information seems out of place.	Some information is logically sequenced. An occasional card or item of information seems out of place.	There is no clear plan for the organization of information.
5. Effectiveness	Presentation comprehensively describes the Gulf of Tonkin Incident and Resolution as well as critical views of the incident.	Presentation describes most of the elements related to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident and Resolution as well as critical views of the incident.	Presentation provides a limited summary of statements related to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident and Resolution as well as critical views of the incident.	Presentation does not include any substance related to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Presentation doesn't summarize critical view of the Vietnam Incident
6. Summary Slide – Personal Reflections and Reactions	The Summary Slide identifies and thoughtfully explains and critiques many ideas from the research links related to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. Student brings up a cogent analysis contrasting the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution versus the Constitutional right for Congress to be the sole body to declare war.	The Summary Slide and explains several ideas from the research links and discussions in relation to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. Student describes the contrast between the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution versus the Constitutional right for Congress to be the sole body to declare war.	The Summary Slide identifies ideas from the research links but does not include any student reactions in relation to the Gulf of Tonkin question. Student brings up the Constitutional right for Congress to be the sole body to declare war but does not clearly contrast it to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution .	The Summary Slide includes no ideas from the research links and does not include any student reactions in relation to the Gulf of Tonkin question. Student provides no historical contrast between the Gulf of Tonkin resolution and the Constitutional right of Congress to declare war.

Conclusion

The Constitution grants Congress the right to declare war (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11-15). Think about the implications of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution where Congress gave that authority to declare war to the Executive Branch (The Johnson Administration). In your summary slide, think of the implications of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Do you feel the the Johnson Administration embellished the incident. Or did the Administration act responsibly in trying to prevent the spread of communism? Did the Johnson Administration usurp the constitutional rights given to Congress to declare war in order to escalate the Vietnam War?. Or did the administration have no other course of action in order to stem the "communist tide" in Southeast Asia?