Abstract:

As retaliation for covert raids along their coast, the North Vietnamese attacked the USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin, providing President Johnson a justification for war. Along with declassified documents and White House memoranda, this program presents interviews with such figures as Colonel Ho Minh Tri, who kept movement of troops and supplies secret along the Ho Chi Minh trail; Jack Valenti, President Johnson’s aide; Tran Quang Co, Deputy Foreign Minister of North Vietnam; and Tom Hughes, who worked in State Department Intelligence from 1961 to 1969. The program concludes with the commitment of major U.S. ground forces in July of 1965—an irrevocable decision. A Discovery Channel Production. (53 minutes, color)