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President Johnson’s Message to Congress ,August 5, 1964
(Department of State Bulletin, August 24, 1964)
Last night I announced to the American people that the North Vietnamese regime had conducted further deliberate
attacks against U.S. naval vessels operating in international waters, and I had therefore directed air
action against gunboats and supporting facilities used in these hostile operations. This air action has
now been carried out with substantial damage to the boats and facilities. Two U.S. aircraft were lost
in the action.
After consultation with the leaders of both parties in the Congress, I further announced a decision to
ask the Congress for a resolution expressing the unity and determination of the United States in supporting
freedom and in protecting peace in southeast Asia.
These latest actions of the North Vietnamese regime has given a new and grave turn to the already serious
situation in southeast Asia. Our commitments in that area are well known to the Congress. They were first
made in 1954 by President Eisenhower. They were further defined in the Southeast Asia Collective Defense
Treaty approved by the Senate in February 1955.
This treaty with its accompanying protocol obligates the United States and other members to act in accordance
with their constitutional processes to meet Communist aggression against any of the parties or protocol
states.
Our policy in southeast Asia has been consistent and unchanged since 1955. I summarized it on June 2 in
four simple propositions:
1. America keeps her word. Here as elsewhere, we must and shall honor our commitments.
2. The issue is the future of southeast Asia as a whole. A threat to any nation in that region is a threat
to all, and a threat to us.
3. Our purpose is peace. We have no military, political, or territorial ambitions in the area.
4. This is not just a jungle war, but a struggle for freedom on every front of human activity. Our military
and economic assistance to South Vietnam and Laos in particular has the purpose of helping these countries
to repel aggression and strengthen their independence.
The threat to the free nations of southeast Asia has long been clear. The North Vietnamese regime has
constantly sought to take over South Vietnam and Laos. This Communist regime has violated the Geneva accords
for Vietnam. It has systematically conducted a campaign of subversion, which includes the direction, training,
and supply of personnel and arms for the conduct of guerrilla warfare in South Vietnamese territory. In
Laos, the North Vietnamese regime has maintained military forces, used Laotian territory for infiltration
into South Vietnam, and most recently carried out combat operations —all in direct violation of the Geneva
Agreements of 1962.
In recent months, the actions of the North Vietnamese regime have become steadily more threatening . .
.
As President of the United States I have concluded that I should now ask the Congress, on its part, to
join in affirming the national determination that all such attacks will be met, and that the United States
will continue in its basic policy of assisting the free nations of the area to defend their freedom.
As I have repeatedly made clear, the United States intends no rashness, and seeks no wider war. We must
make it clear to all that the United States is united in its determination to bring about the end of Communist
subversion and aggression in the area. We seek the full and effective restoration of the international
agreements signed in Geneva in 1954, with respect to South Vietnam, and again in Geneva in 1962, with
respect to Laos . . .
Joint Resolution of Congress H.J. RES 1145, August 7, 1964
(Department of State Bulletin, August 24, 1964)
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That the Congress approves and supports the determination of the President, as Commander in Chief, to
take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent
further aggression.
Section 2. The United States regards as vital to its national interest and to world peace the maintenance
of international peace and security in southeast Asia. Consonant with the Constitution of the United States
and the Charter of the United Nations and in accordance with its obligations under the Southeast Asia
Collective Defense Treaty, the United States is, therefore, prepared, as the President determines, 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 its freedom.
Section 3. This resolution shall expire when the President shall determine that the peace and security
of the area is reasonably assured by international conditions created by action of the United Nations
or otherwise, except that it may be terminated earlier by concurrent resolution of the Congress.
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