![Picture](/uploads/2/9/6/0/29607521/362602401.jpg?259)
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (August 7, 1964) gave approval for the expansion of the Vietnam War. In the spring of 1964, military planners had made a detailed design for many attacks on the North, but President Lyndon B. Johnson and his advisers were scared that the public wouldn't support the expansion of the war. However by summertime, rebellion forces had control over nearly half of South Vietnam. Senator Barry Goldwater, Republican nominee for president, was criticizing President Johnson's administration for not going after the war more violently. On August 2, the U.S. destroyer Maddox was fired at by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. Two days later, the Maddox and another destroyer announced that they were being attacked again. Now reports show it was mistaken, Johnson continued to authorize air strikes against North Vietnam. The following day Johnson gathered congressional leaders and charged North Vietnam for "open aggression on the high seas." Then, he acknowledged the Senate of a resolution that gave him the authority to take any necessary measures to repel any attack against the United States. The Congres approved the resolution. Only two Senators were against the resolution. Later on when after information of the Tonkin incident became available a lot of people thought that Johnson and his advisors had made Congress support the expansion of the war. Six years later, (December 31, 1970), the resolution was ended. Johnson had used the resolution as proof that congress supported it. To many this was a symbol of escalation they opposed.