A disputed second Gulf of Tonkin attack report shapes escalation

Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức set himself on fire in Saigon to protest discrimination and repression under Diệm’s government. The image circulated internationally and made the Buddhist crisis a global...

Special forces attacked Buddhist pagodas across South Vietnam, including Xá Lợi in Saigon, and arrested monks and activists. The raids intensified public opposition and fractured the Diệm government’s...

South Vietnamese generals overthrew Diệm on November 1; Diệm and his brother Nhu were killed the next day. The coup followed Buddhist repression and U.S. policy shifts. A succession of unstable...

President Lyndon Johnson appointed General William Westmoreland to command the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam. The appointment came amid escalating U.S. involvement and helped place the conflict...

North Vietnamese patrol boats attacked the U.S. destroyer USS Maddox during a covert-supported patrol. A second reported attack on August 4 was later shown by U.S. records to be unfounded, a...

Congress granted President Johnson broad authority to use force in Southeast Asia after disputed reports of a second attack. The resolution became a key legal and political basis for escalation,...

Johnson signed the resolution after Congress passed it on August 7. The document gave the president broad authority to use force in Southeast Asia without a formal declaration of war, narrowing public...

Units led by Lâm Văn Phát and Dương Văn Đức occupied strategic points in Saigon before the attempt collapsed. The episode followed repeated military interventions and political instability in the...

National Liberation Front forces attacked Bình Giã, a Catholic resettlement village, and fought South Vietnamese units through early January. Government losses and the battle’s duration alarmed U.S....

An attack on the U.S. advisory compound at Pleiku killed U.S. personnel and wounded others. The Johnson administration used it to justify Operation Flaming Dart air strikes against North Vietnam....