Vietnam War

===Gulf of Tonkin incident===
{{Main|Gulf of Tonkin incident}}
{{Further|Credibility gap}}

[[File:Bombing in Vietnam.jpg|thumb|upright|A U.S. [[Douglas B-66 Destroyer|B-66 Destroyer]] and four [[Republic F-105 Thunderchief|F-105 Thunderchiefs]] dropping bombs on [[North Vietnam]] during [[Operation Rolling Thunder]]]]

On 2 August 1964, {{USS|Maddox|DD-731|6}}, on an intelligence mission along North Vietnam's coast, allegedly fired upon and damaged several torpedo boats that had been stalking it in the Gulf of Tonkin.<ref name=Kolko/>{{Rp|124}} A second attack was reported two days later on {{USS|Turner Joy|DD-951|6}} and ''Maddox'' in the same area. The circumstances of the attacks were murky.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|218–219}} Lyndon Johnson commented to Undersecretary of State George Ball that "those sailors out there may have been shooting at flying fish."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kutler |first=Stanley I. |title=Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War |date=1996 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |isbn=978-0-13-276932-7 |page=249}}</ref> An undated [[National Security Agency|NSA]] publication declassified in 2005 revealed that there was no attack on 4 August.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Shane |first=Scott |date=31 October 2005 |title=Vietnam Study, Casting Doubts, Remains Secret |work=The New York Times] |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2005/10/31/politics/31war.html |url-status=live |access-date=4 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211090222/http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/31/politics/31war.html?fta=y&pagewanted=all |archive-date=11 December 2008}}</ref>

The second "attack" led to [[Operation Pierce Arrow|retaliatory airstrikes]], and prompted Congress to approve the [[Gulf of Tonkin Resolution]] on 7 August 1964.<ref name="Moïse">{{Cite book |last=Moïse |first=Edwin E. |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780807823002 |title=Tonkin Gulf and the Escalation of the Vietnam War |date=1996 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-0-8078-2300-2 |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{Rp|78}} The resolution granted the president power "to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression" and Johnson would rely on this as giving him authority to expand the war.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|221}} In the same month, Johnson pledged that he was not "committing American boys to fighting a war that I think ought to be fought by the boys of Asia to help protect their own land".<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|227}}

The [[United States National Security Council|National Security Council]] recommended a three-stage escalation of the bombing of North Vietnam. Following an [[Attack on Camp Holloway|attack on a U.S. Army base in Pleiku]] on 7 February 1965,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Simon |first=Dennis M. |date=August 2002 |title=The War in Vietnam, 1965–1968 |url=http://faculty.smu.edu/dsimon/Change-Viet2.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090426064833/http://faculty.smu.edu/dsimon/Change-Viet2.html |archive-date=26 April 2009 |access-date=7 May 2009}}</ref> a series of airstrikes was initiated, [[Operation Flaming Dart]], while Soviet Premier [[Alexei Kosygin]] was on a [[state visit]] to North Vietnam. [[Operation Rolling Thunder]] and [[Operation Arc Light]] expanded aerial bombardment and ground support operations.{{Sfn|Nalty|1998|pp=97, 261}} The bombing campaign, which ultimately lasted three years, was intended to force North Vietnam to cease its support for the Viet Cong by threatening to destroy North Vietnamese air defenses and industrial infrastructure. It was additionally aimed at bolstering the morale of the South Vietnamese.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tilford |first=Earl L. |url=https://media.defense.gov/2017/Apr/07/2001728434/-1/-1/0/B_0040_TILFORD_SETUP.PDF |title=Setup: What the Air Force did in Vietnam and Why |date=1991 |publisher=Air University Press |page=89|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404230151/https://media.defense.gov/2017/Apr/07/2001728434/-1/-1/0/B_0040_TILFORD_SETUP.PDF|archive-date=April 4, 2023}}</ref> Between March 1965 and November 1968, ''Rolling Thunder'' deluged the north with a million tons of missiles, rockets and bombs.<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|468}}