Why did the Gulf of Tonkin incidents happen?
Shows causes on the record, then each account's causes side by side.
Not a single settled cause.
A connection is not evidence of wrongdoing.
Each account
A to Z, none ranked above another.
Named in 2 of the 2 accounts recorded here: OPLAN 34A
According to Robert J. Hanyok
According to Robert McNamara
Proof 2 sources
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Skunks, Bogies, Silent Hounds, and the Flying Fish: The Gulf of Tonkin Mystery, 2-4 August 1964 (Robert J. Hanyok, Cryptologic Quarterly, Winter 2000/Spring 2001; approved for release 3 Nov 2005), National Security Agency, 2001.
Primary record
We have seen that the Gulf of Tonkin incidents occurred as a result of the congruence of the Desoto patrols and the maritime commando raids along the North Vietnamese coast carried out under OPLAN 34A.
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LBJ Tapes on the Gulf of Tonkin Incident (transcripts and notes by John Prados, from The White House Tapes, 2003), National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book 132, National Security Archive, George Washington University, 2003.
Scholarship & press
And following twenty-four hours after that, with this destroyer in that same area, undoubtedly led them to connect the two events.
How this answer is built
Lines on the record come first: sourced links that no one presents as their own account, each with its strongest source. Then every account recorded here gets its own column, A to Z, none ranked above another. A column quotes only that account's own words and shows the strength of its own sources. Disputed lines are listed apart, with the reason, and lines still being verified come last. Neither is counted. Withdrawn lines are never shown.
When a list is longer than the page shows, the links the public methodology ranks strongest stay (methodology 0.3), and the rest open in the explorer.
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