The Gulf of Tonkin Incident: The False Flag That Led the US Into the Vietnam War

In August 1964, the United States formally escalated its involvement in the Vietnam War, citing reports of an unprovoked attack by the North Vietnamese in the Gulf of Tonkin. However, President Lyndon B. Johnson was aware that these reports were untrue.

At that time, the American destroyer USS Maddox was positioned in the Gulf of Tonkin, near the coast of North Vietnam. The vessel was involved in two separate incidents that became collectively known as the Gulf of Tonkin incident. These events significantly altered the course of history, with consequences that persist to this day.

On August 2, North Vietnamese torpedo boats engaged the USS Maddox. Two days later, on August 4, the Johnson administration claimed another attack had taken place. Following this second supposed incident, Congress overwhelmingly passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, granting the president the authority to take any necessary measures to protect American forces in Vietnam.

This resolution functioned as a de facto declaration of war—but it was built on misinformation.

After years of secrecy and public doubt, the truth was finally revealed in the early 2000s when nearly 200 declassified National Security Agency (NSA) documents confirmed that no attack had occurred on August 4. Instead, American officials had manipulated the facts for strategic and political purposes, potentially to bolster Johnson’s position domestically as he took the nation to war.

So what really transpired in the Gulf of Tonkin in early August of 1964? Here is the true story: