Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Long title	A joint resolution "To promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia."
Nicknames	Southeast Asia Resolution
Enacted by	the 88th United States Congress
Effective	August 10, 1964
Citations
Public law	Pub. L. 88–408
Statutes at Large	78 Stat. 384
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.J.Res. 1145 Passed the House on August 7, 1964 (416-0) Passed the Senate on August 7, 1964 (88-2) Signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on August 10, 1964

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution or the Southeast Asia Resolution, Pub. L. 88–408, 78 Stat. 384, enacted August 10, 1964, was a joint resolution that the United States Congress passed on August 7, 1964, in response to the Gulf of Tonkin incident.

It is of historic significance because it gave U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson authorization, without a formal declaration of war by Congress, to use conventional military force in Southeast Asia. Specifically, the resolution authorized the president to do whatever necessary in order to assist "any member or protocol state of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty." This included involving armed forces.

It was opposed in the Senate only by Senators Wayne Morse (D-OR) and Ernest Gruening (D-AK). Senator Gruening objected to "sending our American boys into combat in a war in which we have no business, which is not our war, into which we have been misguidedly drawn, which is steadily being escalated." The Johnson administration subsequently relied upon the resolution to begin its rapid escalation of U.S. military involvement in South Vietnam and open warfare between North Vietnam and the United States.