yr13_ia_2007_durrant_d

= = =D. Analysis (500-650 words)=

From the orthodox viewpoint, the Gulf of Tonkin incident was an unwarranted act of aggression against the United States, which sparked off armed conflict against an aggressive Communist nation.[|[1]] However, as closer analysis reveals, this is not an accurate interpretation. The Gulf of Tonkin incident was provoked, and did not play any role in U.S. policy-making regarding North Vietnam. However, this is not to say that it was insignificant; indeed it served as an important propaganda tool to bring public support behind military action in Vietnam; a crucial factor for a president facing re-election in a democratic nation.

President Johnson, having taken office on Kennedy’s ticket rather than being elected on his own merits, had a reputation to forge, especially with the prospect of presidential elections and a second-term to win. The collapse of South Vietnam to the forces of supposedly Moscow-directed Communism would all but condemn his prospects of re-election to failure, and so American involvement in Vietnam escalated with the sole purpose of maintaining the inept and tottering South Vietnamese government in power. This situation highlights a weakness in the democratic system – that of personal before public interest, pushing a country into a war that all[|[2]] knew was condemned to failure.

The reprisal strikes in response to the Gulf of Tonkin incident were important to the American government, as they established precedent. The strikes were conducted swiftly after the incident while the American public supported them, allowing the American government to cross an important psychological and military threshold with little effort. These reprisal strikes reinforced American commitment to its South Vietnamese ally and its own interests in South-East Asia, but they also established a policy of retaliation against DRV aggression, a policy that made war more likely, and lessened the chance of American withdrawal of its interests in South-East Asia.

American involvement in Vietnam was never driven by the Gulf of Tonkin incident, despite any pretence otherwise. Indeed, the mere presence of the U.S. Destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin shows that American military interest in Vietnam had started long before the Gulf of Tonkin incident. American covert operations had started in Vietnam six months before the incident, with the purpose of imposing a “progressively escalating pressure” on North Vietnam, carrying, or 1970-80’s literature, maybe) [|[2]] Fog of War / Pentagon Papers – Analysis (500-650 words)with it “an implicit and psychological intensification of the U.S. commitment”. The Gulf of Tonkin incident did not cause American military involvement in Vietnam; it simply provided a pretext, assuaging public doubts.

[|[1]] Find a source that actually says this! (Textbook