THE TONKIN RESOLUTION AND POLITICS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP70B00338R000200010054-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 10, 2000
• Sequence Number: 54
• Publication Date: February 26, 1968
• Content Type: NSPR

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Approved For Release 2001/07/26: CIA-RD 0 31MIR000200010054-6
DAVID LAWRENCE
0
When two American naval
vessels in Southeast Asian wa-
ters were attacked on Aug. 4,
1964, by the North Vietnamese
navy, the United States gov-
ernment-which had experi-
enced similar hostilities, two
days before - ordered its
forces to retaliate, and they
did, including the bombing of
port facilities.
As a result of this incident,
which occurred in the Gulf of
Tonkin off the coast of Viet-
nam, President Johnson asked
Congress fora joint resolution
authorizing him to use the
armed forces to help repel the
aggressive acts of the North
Vietnamese. A broad basis for
the request was the commit-
ment the United States had
made in the Southeast Asia
treaty to come to the defense
of nations in the region.
Now, three and one-half
years afterwards, Senator J.
William Fulbright of Arkan-
sas, Democrat, chairman of
the Senate Foreign ? Relations
committee, say a is sorry e
sponsored the resolution -
which was passed by an over-
whelming vote of both parties
in the Senate and the House.
He questions whether the at-
tacks in 1964 happened as de-
scribed to his committee at
the time or whether the clash,
between the ships was "pro-
voked" in order to get
congressional authority to car-',
ry on the war in Vietnam.,
Secretary of Defense Mc
Namara was asked by the Sen-
ate Foreign Relations Commit-
tee to give its members com-.
prehensive information and
data about the Gulf of Tonkin'
episodes. Last week he sub-
mitted a document, and the
senators asked him a variety
of questions. The whole testi-
mony, comprising about 60,000
words, was released over the
weekend.
. McNamara furnished de-
tails, replied to all questions
fully, and made this final com-
ment:
"I find it inconceivable that
anyone remotely familiar with
our society and system of gov-
ernment could suspect the ex-
istence of a conspiracy which
would include almost, if not
all, the entire chain of military
command in the Pacific, the
chairman of the joint chiefs of
staff, the joint chiefs, the sec-
retary of defense, and his
chief civilian assistants, the
secretary of state, and the
P r' e s i d e n t of the United
States."
But notwithstanding this.
forthright declaration, some
members of the Foreign Rela-
tions Committee proceeded to
pick out isolated sentences in
re-examining the cabled mes-
sages from the naval com-
manders in the Pacific in 1964.
These senators sought to show
that some other motive was
behind the request for the
congressional resolution.
Angered by this, Senator
Frank Lausche, D-Ohio, said
at one point during the hear-
ing in answer to the critics of
the administration:
"Are we trying to prove we
were not shot at and that we
initiated the shooting under a
misapprehension of the facts?
. . . It looks to me as if it (the
meeting of the committee) is
trying to put the United States
in a bad light and the North
Vietnamese in a good light,
and I cannot subscribe to
that."
What is really behind it all?
Why do members of Congress
risk provoking the ill effects
upon world opinion which are
felt by the United States when
prominent members of Con-
gress accuse their own govern-
ment of the very things that
the Communists have been
s a y in g continually about
American policy?
The only plausible answer is
domestic politics. Senator Ful-
bright is up for re-election this
year. He knows the Vietnam
war is unpopular, but he voted
for the Gulf of Tonkin Resolu-
tion in 1964. So now he pre-
sumably finds it is politically
expedient to renounce that
vote and criticize the adminis-
tration for i ving allegedly
misled him.
There is a big question still
unanswered: if any members
of Congress think the Gulf of
Tonkin Resolution was a mis-
take, why haven't they pro-
posed its repeal? They could
have done this at any time
within the last three and a half,
years since it was passed.
Six months ago President
Johnson himself challenged
the opposition to take such a
step. He was fully convinced
Congress would never venture
to adopt a ,proposal for re-
treat.
It is hard enough to fight a
war at the battlefront where
more than 500,000 Americans
are striving to protect a small
nation from the aggressive
acts of Communist imperial-
ism. But it is discouraging for
the United States government
itself to be confronted by accu-
sations at home, which, as one
senator phrased it, tend "to
give aid and comfort" tothe
enemy..
?.1968
Approved For Release 2001/07/26 : CIA-RDP70B00338R000200010054-6