USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -On August 7, 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, authorizing President Johnson to take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate and to promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia.

Detailed explanation-2: -when the U.S. could have withdrawn from Vietnam.” Instead, Johnson escalated because he did not have a better alternative. By February 1965 the situation had morphed into perilous anarchy. Between the Diem coup and Johnson’s escalation Saigon fell to seven different governmental factions.

Detailed explanation-3: -Escalation was achieved through use of the Congressional Gulf of Tonkin Resolution of 1964 which empowered the president to take “all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent any further aggression.”