CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

THE NORTH VIETNAMESE MAY have indeed taken U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin as the source of fire they received against Hon Me and Hon Ngu. Two days after the raids, on the afternoon of August 2, Vietnam time, USS Maddox was approaching Hon Me Island inside the twelve-mile limit claimed by North Vietnam when she radioed being under attack.

John McCone telephoned me at home with the news. It was still dark outside; I had returned from China Beach less than twelve hours ago. Mary stirred in bed when the phone rang, then turned her back to me while I talked to the DCI. I hung up the phone and laid a hand on Mary’s back.

“I have to go to work,” I said.

She moved away from my hand and pretended to be asleep.

In the Gulf of Tonkin, three North Vietnamese P-4 torpedo boats had approached within five nautical miles of Maddox and released their torpedoes. Maddox evaded and returned fire with five-inch shells, scoring a direct hit on one of the P-4s.

Carrier USS Ticonderoga launched four F-8 Crusader jets that sank one of the two remaining boats and damaged the third as they retreated. Maddox suffered a single KPV heavy machine gun round through the destroyer’s superstructure.

For the next week I watched history unfold either from Langley or Pentagon conference tanks while diplomats were hard at it on both sides of the ocean to either defend, justify, or neutralize actions undertaken by their respective nations.

In North Vietnam, General Phuong Tai accused Maddox of attacking peaceful fishing boats, thus compelling the honorable North Vietnam Navy to fight back. In Washington, President Johnson and SecDef Robert McNamara portrayed the engagement as an unprovoked attack in international waters.

There was a lot of scurrying about all day August 3 at the Pentagon, as well as at State and the White House. Every conference room was full. Coffee pots emptied as fast as they were filled. I must have guzzled five gallons myself.

That night off Vietnam, Maddox paired with another destroyer, the USS Turner Joy, to resume patrol off the North Vietnamese coast, beyond the international three-mile line but inside the twelve miles North Vietnam claimed. Three China Beach Nasties with 57mm recoilless rifles also raided two separate NVA coastal installations.

North Vietnam fired back on the Nasties and filled the Gulf of Tonkin with Swatow patrol boats.

Things were not going to be allowed to die down, not with these kinds of “mine is bigger than yours” posturing from both sides. I suspected President Johnson would push this to the limit. From what I heard, and what I saw, the president was itching for a fight.

Daniel Ellsberg, special assistant to SecDef McNamara, was on Pentagon duty the night of August 4, when he received an emergency incoming radio message from the Gulf of Tonkin. At 11:00 p.m., USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy were patrolling the Gulf as a two-destroyer task force under the command of Captain John J. Herrick when their radar and sonar indicated another attack by the North Vietnamese Navy.

Rough weather and heavy seas on top of a night turned black by low cloud cover added confusion to the situation. For four hours, firing repeatedly against what their captains described as torpedo attacks, the two U.S. destroyers maneuvered amid electronic and visual reports of enemy watercraft. No wreckage or bodies were ever recovered from the contact despite the Navy’s claim of sinking two torpedo boats.

I accompanied John McCone to the Pentagon where SecDef McNamara, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, NSA’s McGeorge Bundy, and a number of others were crowded into the communications center with Ellsberg. It was 6:00 p.m. Washington time. Tension seemed to cast off sparks as Captain Herrick’s cables kept coming in at intervals. McNamara remained constantly on the horn relaying them to President Johnson at the White House. I could almost imagine LBJ grabbing the Soviet premier by his ears, as he famously did hound dog pups, and barking out something like, “You shithead, this is between me and that yellow sonofabitch in Hanoi—so stay out of it!”

Shortly before midnight local, the president interrupted national television to make his announcement.

“My fellow Americans: As president and commander-in-chief, it is my duty to the American people to report that renewed hostile actions against United States ships on the high seas in the Gulf of Tonkin have today required me to order the military forces of the United States to take action in reply. … That reply is being given as I speak to you tonight. Air action is now in execution against gunboats and certain supporting facilities in North Vietnam which have been used in these hostile operations…

“Finally, I have today met with the leaders of both parties of the Congress of the United States to pass a resolution making it clear that our Government is united in its determination to take all necessary measures in support of freedom and in defense of peace in Southeast Asia.…”

Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on August 7 by a unanimous vote in the House and only two nays in the Senate. The Resolution authorized the president to “take all necessary steps, including the use of armed force, to assist any member or protocol state of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty requesting assistance in defense of freedom.”

It was the equivalent of a declaration of war and provided a legal basis for massive American investment. McCone’s first reaction echoed mine: “Oh, shit! This thing has spun out of control.”