# Canonical recap data for Vietnam War Major Escalation (1964)
# Source: https://recap.at/1964/tonkin-gulf-incident
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: tonkin-gulf-incident
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1964/tonkin-gulf-incident"
title: Vietnam War Major Escalation
aliases:
- Gulf of Tonkin Incident
- Operation Rolling Thunder trigger
- August 1964 escalation
- Tonkin Gulf Resolution catalyst
subtitle: The Gulf of Tonkin incident—real or fabricated—triggered massive U.S. military intervention and transformed a regional conflict into a superpower proxy war.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1964-01-01
datePrecision: year
year: 1964
decade: 1960
country:
name: Vietnam
slug: vietnam
summaryShort: Vietnam Maritime University is a university in Haiphong operated by the Ministry of Transport. The university was established on 1 April 1956 as Haiphong Maritime University. As of 2025, this is the only maritime university in Vietnam. The university has over 1000 staffs, of which, 450 are faculty staffs. The universit
summaryLong: Vietnam Maritime University is a university in Haiphong operated by the Ministry of Transport. The university was established on 1 April 1956 as Haiphong Maritime University. As of 2025, this is the only maritime university in Vietnam. The university has over 1000 staffs, of which, 450 are faculty staffs. The university provides undergraduate and graduate education of shipbuilding, maritime navigation, nautical technology. It has a second campus in Vung Tau city.
lede: On August 2 and 4, 1964, U.S. destroyers reported attacks by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. The first incident likely happened; the second almost certainly didn't. President Lyndon Johnson used these reports to secure congressional approval for major military escalation, fundamentally transforming American involvement from advisory support to direct warfare.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4c/Vietnam_Veterans_Memorial_reflection_in_low_light.jpg/1280px-Vietnam_Veterans_Memorial_reflection_in_low_light.jpg"
heroImageCredit: Wikipedia · "Vietnam Veterans Memorial"
importance: 86
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts:
- label: Reported first attack date
  value: August 2, 1964
- label: Reported second attack date
  value: August 4, 1964
- label: Gulf of Tonkin Resolution congressional vote
  value: 416-0 in House; 88-2 in Senate on August 7, 1964
- label: U.S. destroyer involved in first incident
  value: USS Maddox
- label: Second destroyer in reported second incident
  value: USS Turner Joy
- label: North Vietnamese torpedo boats reported in first incident
  value: "3"
- label: U.S. retaliatory air strikes conducted
  value: 64 sorties on August 5, 1964
- label: Subsequent American ground troops deployed to Vietnam
  value: 184,000 by end of 1964
timeline:
- date: 1964-08-02
  title: USS Maddox reports attack
  description: The destroyer USS Maddox reports being attacked by three North Vietnamese torpedo boats in international waters. The engagement appears to have occurred; one North Vietnamese boat was damaged.
- date: 1964-08-04
  title: Second incident reported
  description: USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy report a second attack during darkness and heavy seas. Radar signals are ambiguous; physical evidence of enemy boats is absent. Historians and declassified documents later cast serious doubt on whether this attack happened.
- date: 1964-08-05
  title: Operation Pierce Arrow launched
  description: President Johnson authorizes retaliatory air strikes against North Vietnamese targets. The U.S. Navy flies 64 sorties, striking oil storage facilities and coastal installations.
- date: 1964-08-07
  title: Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passes Congress
  description: Congress votes 416-0 in the House and 88-2 in the Senate to authorize the President to wage war in Vietnam without a formal declaration. Only Senators Wayne Morse (D-Oregon) and Ernest Gruening (D-Alaska) vote against it.
- date: 1964-11-01
  title: Viet Cong attack Bien Hoa airbase
  description: A major Viet Cong assault on the U.S. air base near Saigon kills four American servicemen and damages 25 aircraft, testing Johnson's resolve before his November election.
- date: 1965-02-07
  title: Operation Rolling Thunder begins
  description: Sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam launches, authorized by the August 1964 resolution. The campaign will continue for over three years and drop more tonnage than was dropped on Japan during World War II.
- date: 1965-03-08
  title: First official U.S. combat troops land
  description: 3,500 Marines land at Da Nang. By year's end, 184,000 American troops are deployed. The advisory mission has become a full conventional war.
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_Maritime_University"
  title: Vietnam Maritime University
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
impactStatement: The Tonkin Gulf events handed Johnson a blank check for war without a declaration. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on August 7, 1964, with near-unanimous support, authorizing him to wage war in Southeast Asia at will. What followed were years of bombing campaigns, ground operations, and 58,000 American deaths.
categories:
- war
taxonomy:
domain: military
eventTypes:
- war
- invasion
- occupation
canonicalClasses:
- conflict
- transformation
impactRadius: global
velocity: sudden
predictability: black_swan
intentionality: planned
domainCoupling: multi_domain
lifecycleClass: birth
metaDescription: How two disputed attacks in the Gulf of Tonkin escalated U.S. involvement in Vietnam from advisory to full-scale war in August 1964.
wikidataQid: Q7928523
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260310173930/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_Maritime_University"
  capturedAt: 2026-03-10
  label: Vietnam Maritime University
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_Maritime_University"
