Identify and describe the significance of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.

What will be an ideal response?

Answers should identify the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution as the piece of legislation in 1964 that allowed President Johnson and subsequent presidents to send U.S. troops and other forms of support to aid the South Vietnamese government in fighting communist insurgents and the North Vietnamese Army. Answers could also note that the resolution was passed by Congress by a unanimous vote in the House and with only one dissenting vote in the Senate. Answers should explain that the resolution is significant because of the carte blanche power Congress gave to U.S. presidents for military intervention in Vietnam based on the containment doctrine and fear during the Cold War.