The Vietnam War

great president. The Vietnam war heightened tensions by introducing draft which caused protests, a credibility gap was created between the government and the people, and the government was using excessive amounts of money on the war. All together these tensions embarrassed the United States to a level that turned the nation.

Politivcally the nation was strong heading into the war. In the beginning many people of the nation supported the war. But as time went on the support slowly decreased. This led to a remarkable increase in tensions. One event that escalated the war was the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which shifted the control and decisive powers of Congress to be controlled solely by President Lyndon B. Johnson. This topic is described in Document A which states, “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.” The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution shows that congress gave away all its power to the president to use at the his discretion. The heightened tensions because the Incident of the Gulf of Tonkin was questionable and the fact that it progressed into, The Gulf of Tonkin Reolution, a major shift of power in the government. That of which goes against the checks and balances our country was built on. This damaged the credibility of the government. Later on came the Pentagon Papers, a document that revealed that the presidents had been lying about there intentions in Vietnam. The approval rating of the war after the Pentagon Papers and the Tet Offensive diminished to a mear thirty six percent of the public.