The Gulf of Tonkin: The Night With No Attack That Expanded a War

On the night of August 4, 1964, the U.S. destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy moved through the Gulf of Tonkin off North Vietnam. Darkness, rain, rough water, radar returns, sonar reports, and radio traffic created confusion. Sailors reported unknown boats, possible torpedoes, and gunfire. Washington received the message that American ships were under attack for the second time in three days. President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered air strikes, and Congress soon passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. That document gave the president broad authority to use military force in Southeast Asia without a formal declaration of war.

The first attack, on August 2, was real. Maddox exchanged fire with North Vietnamese torpedo boats and was hit by one round. The second event was different. No enemy boat was sunk. No torpedo fragments were recovered. Pilots flying cover did not identify clear targets. Field messages shifted from certainty to doubt. Maddox commander John Herrick asked that the reports be reviewed because many signals might have been false radar readings, false sonar readings, or reactions to rough seas.