Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Congress authorized President Johnson to use military force without a formal war declaration. Passed almost unanimously in August 1964, this resolution gave Johnson extraordinary latitude to escalate the conflict. The president used this authority to deploy hundreds of thousands of troops to Vietnam. Many lawmakers later regretted their votes as casualties mounted. Senator Wayne Morse, one of only two dissenting votes, presciently warned it would lead to a full-scale war the American public never approved.
