The U.S. Senate repealed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution in 1970.

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That the Congress approves and supports the determination of the President, as Commander in Chief, to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression...
... the United States is, therefore, prepared, as the President determines, to take all necessary steps, including the use of armed force, to assist any member or protocol state of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty requesting assistance in defense of its freedom.

—Joint Resolution of Congress H.J. RES 1145, August 7, 1964

In 1964, North Vietnamese torpedo boats allegedly made an unprovoked attack on U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of Vietnam. In response to the incident, the U.S. Congress passed, with only two dissenting votes, the legislation that became known as the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. Public Law 88-408, drafted by the Johnson administration, gave the President the authority to take any action necessary, including military action, to protect Southeast Asia. President Johnson’s administration used the Tonkin Gulf Resolution as a legal justification for actions taken during the Vietnam War. By 1970, the Resolution had become controversial as the Vietnam War grew more and more unpopular with Americans. On this day in 1970, in an effort to limit the President’s power to continue the war, the Senate voted to repeal the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. It was voted on as an amendment, introduced by Senator Bob Dole, to the Foreign Military Sales Act.

EDSITEment
In Images at War (9–12), students examine American attitudes toward war as revealed in Civil War photographs and World War II home front posters, as well as optional images from the Vietnam and Gulf Wars.

ReadWriteThink
In Building Vietnam War Scavenger Hunts through Web-Based Inquiry (9–12), students read a book about Vietnam, as a whole class or in literature circles. Then, working in small groups, students adopt the perspective of members of a group involved in the war (e.g., soldier, nurse, doctor, photojournalist, TV reporter) and conduct Internet scavenger hunts to explore how that particular group was affected.

Xpeditions
Use the printable Map of Vietnam from the Xpeditions atlas in any study of Vietnam.