Tonkin Gulf Resolution Themes

Going to war is not the same thing as declaring war. Confused? Officially, Tonkin Gulf Resolution is not a declaration of war. It's a permission slip, allowing the President to wage war in Vietnam...

Congress isn't made of dummies. Any politician knows that playing off people's fear is a good way to gain their support. In the 1960s, fear of communism was everywhere in the U.S., and the Tonkin G...

It's much easier to justify going to war if you were attacked first. If we quickly look at U.S. history, we find this to be true many times: Mexico attacked U.S. forces first in the Mexican-America...

The entire Cold War Era was a struggle between freedom and tyranny. But was it clearly that black and white? And how does the Tonkin Gulf Resolution fit in to this battle of ideas? Vietnam was what...

When big, powerful nations take over small, weak ones, and claim them for their own, it's called imperialism. Imperialism has shaped the world—it's the reason English is spoken in the U.S., Spani...