Which legislation passed by Congress authorized the use of force in Vietnam?
History · Middle School · Tue Nov 03 2020
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Answered on
- The legislation passed by Congress that authorized the use of force in Vietnam was the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. The resolution was swiftly enacted after an incident in which North Vietnamese forces allegedly attacked two U.S. naval destroyers, the USS Maddox and the USS Turner Joy, in the Gulf of Tonkin in August 1964. President Lyndon B. Johnson requested the resolution as a means to take "all necessary measures" to repel any armed attack and to prevent further aggression.
- The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution effectively gave President Johnson (and later, President Nixon) the authority to conduct military operations in Southeast Asia without a formal declaration of war by Congress. The resolution was passed virtually without opposition in Congress, with votes of 416-0 in the House and 88-2 in the Senate.
- It is important to understand that the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution is not equivalent to a formal declaration of war, which is a power constitutionally granted to the U.S. Congress. The U.S. Constitution divides war powers between the Congress and the President: Congress has the power to declare war, and the President, as Commander in Chief, directs the military. However, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was seen as giving the President significant leeway to prosecute the war as he saw fit.