National Short Memory Day

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

If you were approaching 18 years of age, this was a very bad day some 49 years ago.  The short story here is that the US had a destroyer named the Maddox that was on patrol off Vietnam. On August 2, 1964 it was supposedly attacked by three N. Vietnamese torpedo boats. Two days later, another attack was reported.  This second one set off a storm. Unfortunately for us (US), it appears that the second "attack", the one that drove Congress, the President, and the hawks over the edge and us (US) off a cliff was made of whole clothe.

President Johnson got on TV and reported all this to the American people and asked Congress to give him authority to help our SEATO partner defend itself from the Communist Aggression. Congress talked it up for 10 hours and passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that gave Johnson full authority to conduct what turned out to be a war that nearly tore the country apart.

So today is the day that resolution was passed. It reminds me of the Patriot Act - something passed fast that gives a lot of authority to one or very few people and winds up causing a lot of mischief.

This should be named "National Short Memory Day".