ProLiberty

The US entered the Vietnam war based on a lie. 62 years ago today, the USS Maddox exchanged fire w/ North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. Two days later, the ships returned and fired again on the Maddox, leading the US to declare war. Problem: it didn't happen. That second "attack" was the basis for Lyndon Johnson to escalate war fever. Within 30 minutes of the event he began demanding retaliatory attacks against North Vietnam. Soon after, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving Johnson power to deploy ground troops. But there was no second attack on the Maddox. There weren’t even any Vietnamese ships in the area when the alleged attack happened. That didn't stop Johnson and his buddies from pushing for military engagement. ("Never let a good crisis go to waste"…) The Vietnam War raged on for almost twenty years and cost the lives of more than 58,000 US troops. Additionally, over a million North Vietnamese soldiers were killed, 200,000 South Vietnamese soldiers, and more than two million civilians in the North and South. Since the Vietnam War, the United States govt has employed similarly dishonest methods to garner public support for war.