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Vietnam War
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North Vietnam Complains
North Vietnamese officials in Hanoi file a formal complaint with a commission set up by the Geneva Accords, declaring that under the protection of American destroyers, South Vietnamese vessels had bombarded northern ports. -
1st North Vietnam Bombing
The USS Maddox reports a second assault by North Vietnamese gunboats, though evidence of such an attack is inconclusive. President Lyndon B. Johnson orders retaliatory strikes. The U.S. bombs North Vietnam for the first time. -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
The U.S. Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gives President Lyndon Johnson the power to take whatever actions he sees necessary to defend South Vietnam against Viet Cong forces. -
North Vietnamese Troops in South
The first unit of North Vietnamese troops is sent to the South; by May 1965 they will number 6,500. -
Johnson Landslide
Lyndon B. Johnson wins the presidential election in a tremendous landslide. -
Students burn draft cards
Some 1,000 students gather in New York City to protest the Vietnam War. Twelve burn their selective service registration cards—draft cards—in a symbolic gesture of opposition to the war. -
USS Maddox
Responding to raids on northern ports, North Vietnamese gunboats attack the USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin; the Maddox suffers little damage and no casualties are reported. The U.S. declares that its destroyer was on routine patrol in international waters and that it did nothing to provoke the attack, nor did it play any part in the South Vietnamese raids. Four years later, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara will admit that the U.S. had in fact cooperated with the South.
