Lyndon Baines Johnson: Remarks on the Gulf of Tonkin Incident

About the Author

Lyndon Baines Johnson was born in 1908 in rural southwestern Texas and grew up in a household saturated with politics. He went to Washington in 1931 as a secretary to Representative Richard Kleberg. He returned to Texas in 1935 as the state director of the National Youth Administration. Johnson defeated nine other candidates in 1937 to win a special election to the U.S. House of Representatives. In the 1948 Democratic primary for senator, his eighty-seven-vote margin of victory brought charges of fraud and earned Johnson the mocking nickname “Landslide Lyndon.” Despite the charges and mockery, Johnson became a master of the legislative process. He worked two years as Senate majority whip, two as Senate minority leader, and six as Senate majority leader.

In 1960 Johnson campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination but was defeated in the primary by John F. Kennedy. Kennedy surprised observers by naming Johnson as his vice presidential choice. In November the Kennedy-Johnson ticket defeated the Republican candidate, Richard Nixon. Kennedy's 1963 assassination thrust Johnson into the presidency. As president, Johnson pledged to continue his predecessor's policies, beginning with a speech delivered to Congress five days after Kennedy's assassination. After a bitter battle in Congress, he secured passage of the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act. Soundly defeating Barry Goldwater in the 1964 election, Johnson embarked on a far-ranging legislative program. He introduced bills creating Medicare and Medicaid, guaranteeing voting rights for minority groups, and providing financial aid for elementary and secondary schools and grants for college students. Urban renewal, consumer protection, environmental quality, and the War on Poverty were other Johnson initiatives. The set of domestic programs that Johnson created, which he outlined in his Commencement Address at the University of Michigan in 1964, were collectively termed the Great Society. Johnson also began his push for additional civil rights in the form of voting rights legislation, which he supported in a speech to a joint session of Congress and before a television audience in March 1965. The Voting Rights Act was passed in August of that year.

During Johnson's presidency the country became mired in the Vietnam War, a war fought from the mid-1950s to 1976 between Communist North Vietnam and its allies and the government of South Vietnam. In August 1964, the USS Maddox was on a secret support mission in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin when it engaged with North Vietnamese torpedo boats. The incident led to the large-scale involvement of U.S. troops in the conflict in Southeast Asia, a plan that Johnson announced to the American people on August 4. Despite Johnson's sending more than half a million troops into battle, the United States and South Vietnam were unable to defeat the Vietcong. Opponents of the war challenged Johnson for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination. After a close New Hampshire Democratic primary, Johnson announced he would not seek reelection. In 1969 Johnson retired to his Texas ranch; his health declined, and he died of a heart attack in 1973.