Gulf of Tonkin Incident, Vietnam War

Aug. 5, 1964 - Tonkin, Vietnam - Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War was a military struggle fought in Vietnam from 1959 to 1975, involving the North Vietnamese and the National Liberation Front (NLF) in conflict with United States forces and the South Vietnamese army. After Vietnamese had struggled for their independence from France during the First Indochina War, the country was temporarily divided into Communist North and non-Communist South Vietnam. The United States became involved in Vietnam because according to domino theory American policymakers believed that if the entire country fell under a Communist government, Communism would spread throughout Southeast Asia. The Vietnam War was a cause of much controversy in the United States. What began as a small group of advisors under President Dwight Eisenhower ended up with over a total of 2.5 million American troops involved. PICTURED: The Gulf of Tonkin Incident prompted the first large-scale involvement of U.S. armed forces in Vietnam. It was a pair of attacks carried out by naval forces of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) against two American destroyers, the USS Maddox and the USS Turner Joy

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According Advisors Attacks Believed Cause Controversy Destroyers Divided Domino Dwight Eisenhower Ended Entire Fought Gulf Incident Indochina Involved Involvement Involving Large-scale Maddox Non-communist Policymakers Prompted Southeast Spread Struggled Temporarily Theory Throughout Tonkin Vietnamese

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