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To what extent was the Gulf of Tonkin the main reason why the US became involved in the Vietnam War between 1954 and 1964?

Between 1954 and 1964 US involvement in Vietnam increased significantly about the time that the Gulf of Tonkin occurred and to an extent it can be seen that the Gulf of Tonkin was the main reason that the US got involved in Vietnam because shortly after the event happened, it lead to various battles between North and South Vietnam in which two élite battalions of South Vietnam troops were defeated by Vietcong ambush tactics. However,this event has speculated other possible reasons why the US got involved in Vietnam which include: President Johnson’s desire for a blank cheque, the Domino Theory and the Policy of containment. These factors will be explored in the following paragraphs.
The Gulf of Tonkin can be argued to be the main reason the US got involved in Vietnam. After the first attack of the US Maddox boat on the 2nd August 1964, there was an alleged second attack on the boast which caused Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which gave President Johnson the power to take any military measures he thought necessary to defend South Vietnam. It could be argued that the US had every right to get involved and send troops into North Vietnam because they had attacked them first and posed a threat. An extract from the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which can be found at www.ourdocuments.com, says: ‘Naval units of the Communist regime...have repeatedly attacked Unites States Navy vessels lawfully present in international waters...have created a serious threat to international peace...’ This backs up my argument and shows that the Vietnamese people had made the first move causing the US to defend themselves from possible attacks. In addition, after the second alleged attack battles between North and South Vietnam resulted in two élite battalions of South Vietnam troops being defeated by Vietcong ambush tactics as Waugh and Wright said. This shows that Vietnam were willing to fight the Americans and use any tactics they could in order for them to win the battle and regain their freedom which was promised to them at the Geneva Agreement. An oil canvas by Commander E.J Fitzgerald in January 1965 shows clearly the fight between the US Maddox and three Vietnamese motor torpedo boats which clearly illustrates the conflict between the US and Vietnam. However on closer examination, firstly, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and the Oil canvas are American sources so their reliability has to be questioned as this would make them one sided and reduce how reliable they are. In addition, strong evidence shows that the second alleged attack on the US Maddox did not happen as is said by Waugh and Wright in their history text book. Robert Hanyok, a historian claims that the US ships were there to ‘collect intelligence’ and intercept NVA intelligence to send them to South Vietnam. Vivian Sanders also says in her text book that for a ‘decade, the CIA had been sending South Vietnamese teams on sabotage missions to the North and...American ships such as the US Maddox were sent on espionage missions in the North’s coastal waters.’ Also, George E. Jones in a report says that ‘no causalities or damage were reported by the US Maddox...’ This is strange because if the Maddox had been fired at like the US claimed then these would have been damage to the ship. Moreover Robert Hanyok and Vivian Sanders quotes both agree showing that it was the US who were in the wrong because they were spying on North Vietnam. Consequently, the North Vietnamese had every right to attack because it is clear that the US were spying on them since they were on North Vietnamese waters and had not sustained any damage to their Maddox ship. It is evident from this that the second attack on the US Maddox ship by North Vietnam did not happen and it was in fact the North Vietnam who had been attacked by ‘heavy gunfire’ from the US destroyer and had retaliated in order to protect themselves from any more attacks. As Waugh and Wright is a well published text book and Vivian Sanders and Robert Hanyok are known historians who have researched their sources and produced text books which should have the purpose of giving out factually accurate information, they can be seen present a greater reliability.
My second reason for the increase of US involvement was President’s Johnson's desire for a blank check. This was offered to Johnson by the Congress after the alleged second attack on the US Maddox which allowed him to use whatever military means possible to defeat North Vietnam- the communist part of Vietnam, and so the USA and South Vietnam were provided with all the essential supplies to ensure their victory. Source B from workers world text book supports this as it presents the evidence that Johnson ‘[forced] a resolution through Congress giving him the power and funds to wage war on Vietnam’. This implies that Johnson wanted unlimited control over the affairs in Vietnam and so required this check as a way of achieving this. In addition, the source indicates that the second attack had been a fraud and was only created as an excuse to cause Congress to provide a blank check... ‘Johnson’s own papers later revealed that it was a fraud.’ This clearly shows how the Gulf Tonkin links in with my second reason of President’s Johnson's desire for a blank check. This is because as source B has stated above President Johnson ‘forced’ a resolution through congress and his papers revealed that the Gulf of Tonkin incident was a fake. This is because President Johnson wanted blank check concerning Vietnam so he would be able to attack them when he pleased to ensure that they did not win any battles and spread communism further. Source A is an extract from Modern World History Student Book, 2009 and it describes the alleged Gulf of Tonkin incident. It says that ‘... [The Gulf of Tonkin] gave Johnson the excuse he had wanted to take direct military action.’ This clearly says that Johnson was looking for an excuse to get congress to give him a blank check so he sue the Gulf of Tonkin as his excuse which to persuaded Congress to support greater involvement. This now gave him the power to defend US forces and South Vietnam in whatever way he thought to be best.
Source E from the Bircher and May text book further backs this up as it states that ‘it became perfectly clear to me that Johnson wanted a war...’ This implies that president Johnson wanted to go to war with Vietnam and from my own knowledge I know this was because he did not want North and South Vietnam to become reunited again and there become a whole communist state as this would increase communism in the world.The blank check ensured that the Vietnamese were unable to spread communism to other countries- this is because the USA had enough supplies to be able to do so. As a result of this, an increasing number of troops came into Vietnam in the hope of halting the spread of communism. This links onto my third reason which is the Domino Theory.

My third reason for the US involvement Vietnam was the Domino Theory. The Domino Theory was the belief of President Eisenhower. He was determined to stop the spread of communism to South Vietnam because he believed that if South Vietnam became communist then so would Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Burma and then India. He believed they would all fall to communism like dominos but the problem with this would be that communism would have spread to India which is a very big country and also close to America. The US feared that communism would spread throughout the whole would and eventually reach American and destroy their capitalist way of life. Source A on page eight of the Waugh and Wright text book shows how worried President Eisenhower was about the Domino theory with his saying that ‘Asia has already lost some 450 million...to communism dictatorship. We simply can’t afford greater losses.’ This shows how rapidly communism was spreading and that parts of Asia had already fallen to communism as the US had feared. As a result, their fear of the Domino theory increased US involvement as to prevent South Vietnam becoming communist; the US had to take a stand and go against the Geneva Agreement of allowing elections to elect a government. This was because as source B from page eight of the Waugh and Wright text book says: ‘...had an election been held, Ho Chi Minh would have been elected Premier.’ If Ho Chi Minh had won then the whole of Vietnam would have become communist so for this reason the US had to get involved to ensure that this did not happen or to them, the threat of communism would have been worse. Both sources A and B from the Waugh and Wright text book are from President Eisenhower himself so would be reliable enough to trust the source. This point links very closely to my final reason why the US got involved in Vietnam which was become of their policy of containment.

My final reason why the US got involved in Vietnam was because of the Policy of containment. During the years after 1947 the USA became involved in a Policy called the Policy of containment which was also nicknamed the ‘Truman Doctrine’. The Aim of this policy was to limit the spread of communism o as many areas as possible without reversing the effects; the aim was to stop the spread of communism. As source B on page 27 of the Waugh and Wright text book on peace and international relations says, ‘...it must be a policy of the United States to support peoples who resist...outside pressure. [We] believe we must help free peoples to work out their own density in their own way.’ Therefore the USA would have deemed it fit for them to get involved in Vietnam and stop South Vietnam becoming communist as they felt that communism was taking away the democracy of the Vietnamese people which was against the Policy of containment. This links up with the Domino theory as in order to stop the domino theory happening, the policy of containment had to be applied.

The US became involved in the Vietnamese war due to many reasons however they are all lined together. As a result of events such as the Domino theory, the USA became committed to a policy of containment in order to stop communism spreading from one country to another. However communism was speeding quickly so President Johnson needed a way to use armed forces to protect South Vietnam from communism at any cost. This result could only be achieved through a blank check so President Johnson used the Gulf of Tonkin incident as his excuse to get the blank check he desired which enabled him to use armed forces to protect South Vietnam and use strategies to fight North Vietnam such as Operation rolling thunder. The Gulf of Tonkin which was a significant incident for the USA and the Vietnamese but I don’t think it was the main reason for US involvement in the war as after the blank check was received, the urgency to prevent communism arose- which led to the main reason of I think the US got involvement in the Vietnam War; the Domino Theory.

In conclusion, I believe the Domino theory was the main reason why the US became involved in the Vietnam War, and that the Gulf of Tonkin affected the US involvement to a small extent and was only used as an excuse as Source A is an extract from Modern World History Student Book, 2009 says: ‘... [The Gulf of Tonkin] gave Johnson the excuse he had wanted to take direct military action…’ The Gulf of Tonkin incident which stated that ‘north Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked American torpedo boats’ gave Johnson the excuse he wanted to take direct military action in the form of a blank check. From this I can infer that the Gulf of Tonkin was merely a trigger for increased US involvement in Vietnam because the US had already been involved in Vietnam for a while to try and stop communism spreading to South Vietnam like when they withdrew their support from Ho Chi Minh after his Guerrilla fighters had defeated the French and Japanese and switch sides to help the French win against North Vietnam. Senator Wayne during the debate of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, August 6-7, 1964 said: ‘’I believe that within the next century, future generations will look with dismay and great disappointment upon a Congress which is now about to make such a historic mistake."His view clearly shows that he disagreed with the Gulf of Tonkin resolution which could be for the reason that it didn't really happened and was invented to help President Johnson achieve his purpose. The real reason that the US became involved in Vietnam was because of the Domino effect which they felt as Truman said was not a ‘free society.’ After China had become communist, the Korean War and the Communist Victory over the French in Vietnam, many Americans feared that communism was spreading to the whole world and must be stopped. They believed that by helping South Vietnam resist communism, they were helping prevent the spread of communism throughout the world which is why they decided to get involved in Vietnam in the first place.