What 1964 event led to a rapid expansion of US involvement in Vietnam?

Answer 1

It was actually a non-event, if you mean the Tonkin Gulf incident. It has since been admitted by the US Government that the 'attack' on American ships never happened. It was a fraud engineered by the military and the Johnson Administration. It led to Congress giving President Johnson the authority to do anything he wanted to do, as long as he said it was to protect American troops: it was called the 'Tonkin Gulf Resolution'. This led to a decade of war that devastated Vietnam. The Vietnamese won the conflict regardless, and unified their nation.

Answer 2

During the cold war (Vietnam era) battles and bloodshed were down played into "incidents" to avoid scaring the public (atomic war and etc.). So when 3 torpedo boats from the North Vietnamese Navy attacked the destroyer USS Maddox in 1964 in the Tonkin Gulf, this and a following episode involving the USS Turner Joy & Maddox were down-played into INCIDENTS.

Thus the lable...the "Tonkin Gulf Incident." (Which included both naval engagements).

Then to top it all off, the LBJ administration called the resulting change in the Vietnam War to an "Escalation"...instead of a direct war between two nations: North Vietnam & the United States. Prior to the Tonkin Gulf sea action...there was no war between NORTH Vietnam and the US. The only war was against communist (Viet Cong) in South Vietnam. That all changed after August 1964 (Tonkin Gulf).

Answer 3

The French lost control of Vietnam to the Vietcong after getting heavily bombed :)