gulf of tonkin false flag gulf of tonkin false flag

fact that several Senators knew that the White House and the Pentagon had deceived the American people over the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident. Johnson had fended off proposals from McNamara and other advisers for a policy of bombing North Vietnam on four occasions since becoming president. The Gulf of Tonkin by Erich Martel, The World Today, Vol. In August 1964, the American destroyer USS Maddox was stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam. This release includes a variety of articles, chronologies of events, oral history interviews, signals intelligence (SIGINT) reports and translations, and other related memoranda. However, President Johnson and Secretary of Defense McNamara treated these original, purposefully distorted reports as crucial evidence during their arguments for retaliation, ignoring the majority of reports that concluded that no attack had occurred. The torpedo boats sped up, and the warning shots were fired. In 1967, former naval officer John White wrote a letter to the editor of the New Haven (CT) Register. [13] In March 1956, the North Vietnamese leadership approved tentative measures to revive the southern insurgency in December 1956. [43] Immediately after the resolution was read and presented to Congress, Morse began to fight it. Crucible Vietnam: Memoir of an Infantry Lieutenant. Theme: Bushwick by James Dinsdale. America had entered in the Vietnam War. Morse supposedly received a call from an informant who has remained anonymous urging Morse to investigate official logbooks of Maddox. About 40,000 communist soldiers infiltrated the south from 1961 to 1963. [10] Gip confirmed that the attack had been imaginary. The Gulf of Tonkin incident (Vietnamese: S kin Vnh Bc B) was an international confrontation that led to the United States engaging more directly in the Vietnam War.It involved both a proven confrontation on August 2, 1964, carried out by North Vietnamese forces in response to covert operations in the coastal region of the gulf, and a second, claimed confrontation on August 4 . Months before an alleged attack was being blamed on Iran, a US Army Colonel predicted this very scenario playing out to start a war. Lots of the 'nuts' sure . The Gulf of Tonkin false flag operation actually happened. The 9/11 conspiracy theories predate 9/11. White's book explains the difference between lies of commission and lies of omission. The US elite is very partial to Modern False Flags (Spanish Maine, Gulf of Tonkin, Pearl Harbour, Oklahoma Bombings etc), but on home soil they often resort to Hoaxes, the purpose of which is to justify retaliation against an idea (eg Islam, gun ownership, drugs) but in which nobody actually gets killed (Sandy Hook, Boston Bombings etc). [43] After urging Congress that they should be wary of Johnson's coming attempt to convince Congress of his resolution, Morse failed to gain enough cooperation and support from his colleagues to mount any sort of movement to stop it. While Herrick soon reported doubts regarding the task forces initial perceptions of the attack, the Johnson administration relied on the wrongly interpreted National Security Agency communications intercepts to conclude that the attack was real. No further details were forthcoming. voted against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. At the same time it gathered this intelligence, the South Vietnamese navy conducted strikes on multiple North Vietnamese islands. [43] It was not until after the United States became more involved in the war that his claim began to gain support throughout the United States government. All subsequent Maddox torpedo reports are doubtful in that it is suspected that sonarman was hearing the ship's own propeller beat" [sic]. A skirmish and confused reports of a second engagement two days later led President Lyndon B. Johnson to order airstrikes against North . National Archives and Records AdministrationPresident Johnson signs the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Suggest complete evaluation before any further action taken.. Then read these 27 Vietnam War facts that will change the way you think about American history. USS Liberty. False. The Gulf of Tonkin incident is in many ways the epitome of government crime. The Maddox' mission was made even more provocative by being timed to coincide with commando raids, creating the impression that the Maddox was directing those missions " Thus, the North Vietnamese had every reason to believe that Maddox was involved in these actions. There were no U.S. casualties, and no further U.S. action was taken. How The Gulf Of Tonkin Incident Sparked The Vietnam War. They stepped up sabotage and hit-and-run attacks on the coast of North Vietnam." On the evening of August 4, the ships opened fire on radar returns that had been preceded by communications intercepts which US forces claimed meant an attack was imminent. Mexican wars of 1819 and 1846-48. One of the most important documents that was released to the public in 2005 is a study by NSA historian Robert J. Hanyok. [47] On May 4, 1964, William Bundy had called for the U.S. to "drive the communists out of South Vietnam", even if that meant attacking both North Vietnam and communist China. This August 4 incident never happened. It was only invented to start a war the New World Order already wanted (pretext for war). L. Paul Epley/National ArchivesTwo soldiers next to a fallen man during the Vietnam War. Google searches for "Gulf of Tonkin," June 10-17, 2019. The Gulf of Tonkin incident (Vietnamese: S kin Vnh Bc B) was an international confrontation that led to the United States engaging more directly in the Vietnam War. Cecil Stoughton/U.S. RES 1145), titled the Southeast Asia Resolution, which granted Johnson the authority to conduct military operations in Southeast Asia without the benefit of a declaration of war. [57] Stockdale said his superiors ordered him to keep quiet about this. For this purpose, it was authorized to approach the coast as close as 13 kilometers (8mi) and the offshore islands as close as four; the latter had already been subjected to shelling from the sea. Early on August 5, Johnson publicly ordered retaliatory measures stating, "The determination of all Americans to carry out our full commitment to the people and to the government of South Vietnam will be redoubled by this outrage." Originally American claims blamed North Vietnam for both attacks. Tapes included in this release of documents also reveal President Johnson saying, Hell, those damn, stupid sailors were just shooting at flying fish.. The next day, the USS Maddox once again resumed its normal patrol, this time alongside another U.S. Navy destroyer, the USS Turner Joy. By the end of July, they were tracking the USS Maddox, which was stationed in international waters just a few miles outside of Hn M Island in the Gulf of Tonkin. As the battle continued, Captain Herrick too began to have doubts about these attacks. This would have been communicated back to the NSA along with evidence supporting such a conclusion, but in fact the evidence did not do that. Additionally, he concluded that many pieces of evidence were carefully picked to distort the truth. Obama's real legacy makes him one of the worst US presidents of all time. [36][37] Johnson's speech repeated the theme that "dramatized Hanoi/Ho Chi Minh as the aggressor and which put the United States into a more acceptable defensive posture. Gulf of Tonkin incident. [24] On July 31, 1964, Maddox had begun her mission in the Gulf of Tonkin. The purpose of this article is to break down false flag events into their parts, deconstruct them. Commander James Bond Stockdale exiting his aircraft. The three North Vietnamese torpedo boats were damaged, and four North Vietnamese sailors were killed. "A close scrutiny of Johnson's public statements reveals no mention of preparations for overt warfare and no indication of the nature and extent of covert land and air measures that already were operational." "[53], Johnson commented privately: "For all I know, our navy was shooting at whales out there."[54]. Debunking the myths and propaganda behind 'D-Day'. History of American False Flag Operations . Stockdale was always adamant that no attack ever occurred on August 4. 26, No. Later investigation revealed that the second attack never happened; the American claim is that it was based mostly on erroneously interpreted communications intercepts. [14]:67 A communist-led uprising began against Diem's government in April 1957. Port Arthur, AUS, .all very real illusions. It was known quickly that no North Vietnamese ships had been in the vicinity, and no U.S. ships had been attacked. Increase. Four years later, Secretary McNamara admitted to Congress that the U.S. ships had in fact been cooperating in the South Vietnamese attacks against North Vietnam. Questions about the Gulf of Tonkin incident have persisted for more than 40 years. No boats, he would later write, no boat wakes, no ricochets off boats, no boat impacts, no torpedo wakes nothing but black sea and American fire-power. He contended in speeches to Congress that the actions taken by the United States were actions outside the constitution and were "acts of war rather than acts of defense. [47] Even so, the Johnson administration in the second half of 1964 focused on convincing the American public that there was no chance of war between the United States and North Vietnam. It is not NSA's intention to prove or disprove any one set of conclusions, many of which can be drawn from a thorough review of this material. [5] The North Vietnamese boats then attacked,[5] and Maddox radioed she was under attack from the three boats, closing to within 10 nautical miles (19km; 12mi), while located 28 nautical miles (52km; 32mi) away from the North Vietnamese coast in international waters. A moderately sanitized version of the overall history[67] was released in January 2008 by the National Security Agency and published by the Federation of American Scientists.[68]. Wikimedia CommonsA map of the Gulf of Tonkin, where the supposed attacks took place on Aug. 4, 1964. No actual visual sighting by Maddox. Suggest complete evaluation before any further action taken." It's the perfect time for a false flag attack, where one country carries out a covert attack, disguising it to look like it was done by someone else. "[36] Johnson also referred to the attacks as having taken place "on the high seas", suggesting that they had occurred in international waters. Charleston church shooting. President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara meet with Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky in Honolulu. But false flags are a very real and very present feature of geopolitics and denying that is simply denying reality. In the case of the PRESUMED DEAD (BODY REMAINS RECOVERED) and PRESUMED DEAD (BODY REMAINS NOT RECOVERED) categories of the table, the record counts are based on the codes in both the CASUALTY CATEGORY and REMAINS RECOVERED fields. In the end he concluded that there were no torpedo boats on the night in question, and that the White House was interested only in confirmation of an attack, not that there was no such attack. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution authorized President Lyndon Johnson to "take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further. It authorized Prezi Johnson by the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution to retaliate for the purported attacks in the Gulf of Tonkin and to start an official war against N-Vietnam. Within 24 hours, though, the Maddox resumed its normal patrolling routine. Any truth to this claim? Many historians now agree that the Gulf of Tonkin incident, in which many believed North Vietnamese ships had attacked American naval forces, may not have occurred in the way it was described at the time. Captain Herrick radioed that the USS Maddox was under attack, and U.S. officials ordered nearby aircraft from the USS Ticonderoga to fly in as backup. After the fraudulent second attack, LBJ capitalized on initial reports and ordered the bombing of four torpedo boat bases, and an oil-storage facility in Vinh. Gulf of Tonkin confirmed as False Flag Reprehensor Wed, 01/09/2008 - 11:51am Daniel Ellsberg Gulf of Tonkin Strait of Hormuz (For anyone still harboring doubts about the status of the Gulf of Tonkin incident as an example of a False Flag event, a report made public by the NSA clears it up. This time their orders indicated that the ships were to close to no less than 11 miles (18km) from the coast of North Vietnam. By 1964, the pressure on these waters had reached a boil, and North Vietnamese forces were not about to stand still against these operations. [45] Time reported: "Through the darkness, from the West and south intruders boldly sped at least six of them they opened fire on the destroyers with automatic weapons, this time from as close as 2,000 yards. Gulf of Tonkin. Although August 4 was a stormy day, Captain Herrick ordered the two destroyers further out to sea in order to give them more space in the case of an attack. U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage CommandThree North Vietnamese torpedo boats approaching the USS Maddox. [47] George Ball stated that the mission of the destroyer warship involved in the Gulf of Tonkin incident "was primarily for provocation. Polmar, Norman "The U. S. Navy Electronic Warfare (Part 1)", OAH Magazine of History, fall 1992. [22] After the coastal attacks began, Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam, lodged a complaint with the International Control Commission (ICC), which had been established in 1954 to oversee the terms of the Geneva Accords, but the U.S. denied any involvement. Doubts later emerged as to whether or not the attack against the Turner Joy had taken place. Everyone knew how volatile LBJ was. Gulf of Tonkin incident, complex naval event in the Gulf of Tonkin, off the coast of Vietnam, that was presented to the U.S. Congress on August 5, 1964, as two unprovoked attacks by North Vietnamese torpedo boats on the destroyers Maddox and Turner Joy of the U.S. Reaction To Events in the Gulf of Tonkin, August 110, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident&oldid=1138963597, Naval battles of the Vietnam War involving the United States, Battles and operations of the Vietnam War in 1964, Articles with dead external links from December 2019, Articles with permanently dead external links, Articles with dead external links from June 2016, Articles containing Vietnamese-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 12 February 2023, at 17:06. Two well-known incidents in American history the explosion of the U.S.S. And while the Maddox remained in international waters, three North Vietnamese patrol boats began tracking the destroyer in early August. He asked for further details on time, weather and surface conditions. As Commander James Stockdale, one of the pilots at the Gulf of Tonkin incident, later said, I had the best seat in the house to watch that event, and our destroyers were just shooting at phantom targets there were no PT boats therenothing there but black water and American firepower.. Domestically speaking, a large-scale false flag such as . The Manchurian Incident was a classic false flag attack designed by Japanese military personnel to provide a pretext for the invasion in 1931 of Manchuria, in Northeastern China. An F8 Crusader from the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga flew overhead for ninety minutes and failed to locate any North Vietnamese ships attacking the "Maddox" and "Turner" on august 4. The sinking of the USS Maine in 1898 and the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964 - each of which was a critical part of a casus belli - have been claimed as possible false flag attacks, though the evidence supporting these allegations is weak. . This lie jumpstarted a war that would claim 58,220 American and more than 3 million Vietnamese lives. On the morning of 4 August, U.S. intelligence intercepted a report indicating that the communists intended to conduct offensive maritime operations in the Gulf of Tonkin. That month, this ship was involved in two events collectively referred to as the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which changed the course of modern history in ways that reverberate to this day. Freak weather effects on radar and overeager sonarmen may have accounted for many reports. Instead, "only information that supported the claim that the communists had attacked the two destroyers was given to Johnson administration officials."[65]. The Geneva Conference in 1954 was intended to settle outstanding issues following the end of hostilities between France and the Viet Minh at the end of the First Indochina War. The commander of the Maddox task force, Captain John Herrick, reported that the ships were being attacked by North Vietnamese boats when in fact, there were no North Vietnamese boats in the area. With regard to why this happened, Hanyok writes: As much as anything else, it was an awareness that Johnson would brook no uncertainty that could undermine his position. Herrick proposed a "complete evaluation before any further action taken. The floodgates had opened. President Johnson barely won the election in 1964. false. Sweden and Denmark said that they had detected underwater blasts in the area. [59], In October 2012, retired Rear Admiral Lloyd "Joe" Vasey was interviewed by David Day on Asia Review and gave a detailed account of the August 4 incident. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was a statement which allowed President Johnson to _______U.S. As Hanyok put it, The overwhelming body of reports, if used, would have told the story that no attack occurred.. The Gulf of Tonkin Mystery, 2-4 August 1964, a definitive study of the events in the gulf, including the manipulation of signals intelligence. They reported an attack by North Vietnamese patrol boats on August 2, and a second attack on August 4. The Gulf of Tonkin incident, like others in our nation's history, has become the center of considerable controversy and debate. On the night of Aug. 4, the Pentagon proclaimed that a second attack by North Vietnamese PT boats had occurred earlier that day in the Tonkin Gulf a report cited by President Johnson as he went on national TV that evening to announce a momentous escalation in the war: air strikes against North Vietnam. Captain George Stephen Morrison was in command of local American forces from his flagship USSBon Homme Richard. There was nothing there but black water and American fire power." The Gulf of Tonkin incident is considered a false flag operation because the military was used by the CIA to heighten the involvement of the US in Vietnam. Proudly powered by WordPress. Kennedy rejected the plan. Reply . The most commonly known false flag operations consist of a government agency staging a terror attack, whereby an uninvolved entity gets blamed for the carnage. He also reminded Americans that there was no desire for war. Prior to the two incidents the U.S. had provided substantial aid to South Vietnam and also had a number of military advisers in South Vietnam. Johnson was guilty of willful lies of omission. [9] In 1995, McNamara met with former People's Army of Vietnam General V Nguyn Gip to ask what happened on August 4, 1964. In contrast to the clear conditions two days earlier, thunderstorms and rain squalls reduced visibility and increased wave heights to six feet. [5] In the ensuing engagement, one U.S. aircraft (which had been launched from aircraft carrier USSTiconderoga) was damaged, three North Vietnamese torpedo boats were damaged, and four North Vietnamese sailors were killed, with six more wounded. ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE! While we cannot be sure whether this is a Gulf of Tonkin . [64], Reviewing the NSA's archives, Hanyok concluded that the August 4 incident began at Phu Bai Combat Base, where intelligence analysts mistakenly believed the destroyers would soon be attacked. The NSA historian said agency staff "deliberately skewed" the evidence to make it appear that an attack had occurred. The decisions made by President Lyndon B. Johnson and his top advisors, and the Congressional debate that ensued, resulted in a resolution . [43] These logs were not available before Johnson's resolution was presented to Congress. And because it was highly probableand because even if it hadn't occurred, there was strong feeling we should have responded to the first attack, which we were positive had occurredPresident Johnson decided to respond to the second [attack]. Please Note: These historical documents are PDF images of formerly classified carbon paper and reports that have been declassified. President Johnson's Vietnam Address, August 4, 1964 about the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. More posts from r/skeptic. He revealed that 90 percent of the relevant intercepts, including those from the North Vietnamese, had been kept out the NSA's final . After Kennedy's assassination, Johnson ordered in more U.S. forces to support the Saigon government, beginning a protracted United States presence in Southeast Asia. BRITISH RIOT PHOTOS: The Brits Finally Begin to Take Back Their PowerBIG TIME! They do not necessarily represent the official views of the National Security Agency. National Archives and Records AdministrationPresident Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara meet with Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky in Honolulu. A map of the Gulf of Tonkin, where the supposed attacks took place on Aug. 4, 1964. Later analysis showed those communications to have concerned the recovery of torpedo boats damaged in the August 2 attack and North Vietnamese observations of (but not participation in) the August 4 U.S. Some people suspected the deception all along. This is the true story of the Gulf of Tonkin incident. The National Security Agency released a paper entitledSkunks, Bogies, Silent Hounds, and the Flying Fish: The Gulf of Tonkin Mystery, 2-4 August 1964. [25], In July 1964, "the situation along North Vietnam's territorial waters had reached a near boil", because of South Vietnamese commando raids and airborne operations that inserted intelligence teams into North Vietnam, as well as North Vietnam's military response to these operations. The rest is history: nearly 10 years of American involvement in the Vietnam War, an estimated 2 million Vietnamese civilians killed, 1.1 million North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers killed, up to 250,000 South Vietnamese soldiers killed, and more than 58,000 American soldiers killed. In the video below, McNamara admits the Gulf of Tonki attack of August 4, 1964 never happened. Indeed, false flags are themselves capable of taking on a wide variety of forms - domestic or foreign, small or large, economic or political, and many other designations that can often blur into one another. This article will show that President Lyndon B. Johnson twisted the Gulf of Tonkin incident into aFalse Flagto start a war between America and North Vietnam. In the foreword, he notes "Among the many books written on the Vietnamese war, half a dozen note a 1967 letter to the editor of a Connecticut newspaper which was instrumental in pressuring the Johnson administration to tell the truth about how the war started. on the platform of Responsibility to Protect similar to the Gulf of Tonkin. President Johnson signs the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. This final release includes additional articles, chronologies of events, oral history interviews, and other related memoranda. It is not NSA's intention to prove or disprove any one set of conclusions, many of which can be drawn from a thorough review of this material. List of Mass Shootings in the United States in 2021, CLICK FOR RECENT POSTS, SEARCH & ARCHIVES , Skunks, Bogies, Silent Hounds, and the Flying Fish: The Gulf of Tonkin Mystery, 2-4 August 1964, PRESUMED DEAD (BODY REMAINS NOT RECOVERED). [62], In October 2005, The New York Times reported that Robert J. Hanyok, a historian for the NSA, concluded that the NSA distorted intelligence reports passed to policy makers regarding the August 4 incident. Despite this, he led a strike of 18 aircraft against an oil storage facility located just inland of where the alleged Gulf of Tonkin incident had occurred. But every time he hightailed it out of one area, another blip on the sonar would appear. On August 2, it was attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. Global Visibility, Disinformation and Cynicism . Even at the time, there was widespread skepticism about the Gulf of Tonkin incident, in which the North Vietnamese were said to have attacked American destroyers on Aug. 4, 1964, two days after an . On August 5, at 10:40, these planes bombed four torpedo boat bases and an oil-storage facility in Vinh.[42]. This table contains record counts based on the codes recorded in the CASUALTY CATEGORY field of theVietnam Conflict Extract Data File. The Gulf of TonkiMonday, May 31, 2010 n Incident, in 1964, was a major turning point in US military involvement in Vietnam. . After decades of public skepticism and government secrecy, the truth finally came out: In the early 2000s, nearly 200 documents were declassified and released by the National Security Agency (NSA). "[34] It is likely that McNamara did not inform either the president or Admiral U. S. Grant Sharp Jr. about Herrick's misgivings or Herrick's recommendation for further investigation. "Absolutely nothing", Gip replied. Silence Around Hersh's Bombshell & Ominous Gulf of Tonkin Parallels On September 26, the Nord Stream AG operator registered a rapid gas pressure drop on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, and Nord Stream 1 followed soon after. The resolution gave Johnson approval "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. 1898, on a flag-showing mission . What the Maddox operators were probably hearing was the ships propellers reflecting off its rudder during sharp turns. In addition, many nations had previously carried out similar missions all over the world, and the destroyer USSJohn R. Craig had earlier conducted an intelligence-gathering mission in similar circumstances without incident. By mid-1965, his approval rating was 70 percent (though it fell precipitously once the war dragged on longer than expected). It covers everything.. involvement in Vietnam. His actions would lead to the deaths of 58,220 Americans and an untold number of Vietnamese, Cambodians, and Laotians. Herrick sent a flash message to the U.S. saying he had received info indicating possible hostile action. He had spotted three North Vietnamese torpedo boats coming his way, and once again began to retreat. "[61] The story discusses Lt. White reading Admiral Stockdale's In Love and War[57] in the mid 1980s, then contacting Stockdale who connected White with Joseph Schaperjahn, chief sonarman on Turner Joy. This article will demonstrate three principal factual conclusions: (1) that Mr. Gamble is absolutely wrong, as a matter of historical fact, to claim that the Gulf of Tonkin incident was a "false flag" operation; (2) that belief in "9/11 was an inside job" conspiracy theories is not growing, but in fact shrinking; and (3) the conclusion . Fri, 07/16/2010 - 10:33 . [5] In this context, on July 31, Maddox began patrols of the North Vietnamese coast to collect intelligence, coming within a few miles of Hn M island. National Archives and Records Administration. contribution. actions. Two soldiers next to a fallen man during the Vietnam War. On August 2, Capt. Martens Meyer, who was head of department at the military intelligence staff, operated on behalf of U.S. intelligence. Vietnam Gulf Of Tonkin False Flag Attack By US CIA In 1965 - Warmongering Military Industrial Complex Used Propaganda, Pro War Mass Media Coverage And Fake Outrage By US President In Order To Start Vietnamese War - All Wars Are Based On Fear, Hatred, Greed And War Profiteering - Hugh Thompson And My Lai Massacre False Flags are Real - US Has a Long History of Lying to Start Wars Written by Danielle Ryan Tuesday April 17, 2018 Use of the term "false flag" is often met with raised eyebrows and accusations of conspiracism. It's a good example of a 'false flag', so common in politics since the beginning. [47] U.S. [5] A U.S. aircraft carrier, the USS Ticonderoga, was also stationed nearby. So much like with Iraq's WMD in 2003, the US launched its full scale war on Vietnam on nothing but lies and propaganda. "Dispropaganda" - An independent and politically unbiased website which strives to tell historical, political and contemporary, unfashionable, hidden truths through the use of satire and humor. A false flag is a political or military action carried out with the intention of blaming an opponent for it. [30] Moreover it officially claimed a 12nmi limit, which is practically identical to the old 20km French claim, after the incidents of August, in September 1964. This territorial limit was unrecognized by the United States. But not every event is a false flag . It was tantamount to a declaration of war, but it was based on a lie. How Putin and Donald Tusk covered up what caused the Polish presidential plane crash in 2010. The deeper lesson of the Tonkin Gulf episode is how a group of senior national security officials seeks determinedly through hardball - and even illicit tactics to advance its own war agenda,. In fact the Maddoxs captain, John J. Herrick sent an urgent message to Pacific Command in Honolulu saying that the Maddox and C. Turner Joy had never been attacked: "No actual visual sightings by MADDOX. However, the truth of what really happened in the Gulf of Tonkin on August 4 1964, was very different. President Johnson and Secretary of Defense McNamara in a cabinet room meeting.