Johnson signs the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

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...

U.S. officials reported a second attack on U.S. ships, but contemporaneous messages raised doubts about radar and sonar evidence. The episode shows how uncertain intelligence was presented publicly as...

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,...

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....

The Johnson administration approved a sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam. Air strikes also expanded across the wider region. Officials sought to coerce Hanoi, but the campaign brought...

Colonel Thảo and allied officers attempted to overthrow the military government. The plot failed, but political instability continued and Thảo remained active in later conspiracies. FRUS reports are...