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In reply to the discussion: Lyndon Baines Johnson - Good President or Bad President [View all]1-Old-Man
(2,667 posts)This is a very big deal to me because it besmirches President Johnson's name to not understand it.
The "Gulf of Tonkin" incident is often cited as Johnson's lie to the people, used to justify escalation of the war in Viet Nam. The 'incident' was this, on two different nights US naval ships reported being fired on in the Gulf of Tonkin. This would have constituted an 'unprovoked' attack on our country by North Viet Nam and the incident would be used to escalate the war in Viet Nam.
Here is the thing though. While Johnson used the incident as justification for the growth of the war all he was doing was relaying information that he had relied on that was provided to him by the US Navy. It was the Navy who lied to Johnson and Johnson who passed the lie on to the people, but it would not be correct to say that Johnson lied to the people, at least not knowingly. Johnson was told that the nation was under attack, and he responded. We can judge his response as we choose but I do not think he was wrong to trust his source - which was the top command of the United States Navy.