Synopses & Reviews
Retracing the confused and inconsistent pattern of planning for escalation of the Vietnam War, Edwin Moïse carefully reconstructs the events of the night of August 4, 1964, when the U.S. Navy destroyers
Maddox and
Turner Joy reported that they were under attack by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. The next day, President Lyndon Johnson ordered the first U.S. air strikes against North Vietnam, and on August 7, Congress passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which gave the president authority to take 'all necessary steps' to combat further North Vietnamese aggression.
Many people, including some men who were on the destroyers that night, believe that what appeared on radar screens as torpedo boats were actually false images generated by weather conditions, flocks of birds, or American planes overhead. Using recently declassified records and interviews with participants, Moïse conclusively demonstrates that there was no North Vietnamese attack. But the original report was not a lie concocted to provide an excuse for escalation; it was a genuine mistake.
Review
[A] refreshingly welcome addition to the Vietnam War literature, and certainly one for the shelves of serious students.
Intelligence and National Security
Review
Far surpasses in its breadth and detail anything previously written on the Gulf of Tonkin incident.
American Historical Review
Review
Fair-minded and meticulous.
Economist
Review
It is essential reading for the national security community and those interested in U.S. policy in Vietnam.
Naval War College Review
Review
A valuable addition to literature on the Vietnam War.
Vietnam
About the Author
Edwin E. Moïse, professor of history at Clemson University, is author of Land Reform in China and North Vietnam and Modern China: A History.