in 1964, there had been a minor incident in the gulf of tonkin between some pt boats and a destroyer. president johnson use that to get congress to pass the gulf of tonkin resolution, authorizing him to retaliate. one-shotseem to be a event at that point, rallying around the flag, showing we were all in support of the president during a crisis and it was done very quickly. debate, itvery short was passed unanimously with only two dissenting votes in the senate. absolutely no one thought it was a declaration of war at time and senator fulbright said to one of the senators who asked if it could be interpreted that way, possible to interpret it that way, but that is not what the president had in mind. the election in november over barry goldwater who is running as the presidential candidate against him. when president johnson decided 1965nd troops in early between january and july when he was making up his mind whether -- whether to send ground troops, he debated inside and talk to several leaders as to to call off the reserves. he chose not to do that because he was afraid it would disr

up-and-coming senator from south dakota. , one of wayne morris the two votes against the gulf of tonkin resolution. -- aave people like republican from iowa, who was a supporter of the war. or you have george aiken, who is a skeptic about the war, but not a hard-line skeptic. so you really have a whole range of people who support the administration, people who oppose the administration, people who are willing to trust the president, give the president a bipartisan foreign-policy, people who feel the president has led the country off the side of a cliff, that this is a disaster and he should never have done this, congress should never have given up their right to declare war, and so you have those senators asking questions of all the witnesses, the witnesses in favor of the war, the witnesses who are opponents of the war, being grilled on both sides. wayne morris in particular is a heocious interrogator, and brings up a lot of sparks when he does his questioning. >> is there any way to know at this time what the american public in general thought about the war? donald: polls were followi

if you got the money, i've got the time we'll go honky tonkin' we gonna have a time hi, everybody! i'm mickey gilley. boy, do i love playing those classic honky tonk songs. you know, i started my career way back in the fifties playing little ole honky tonks

and he believes he knows what caused it. 3:17 david: we were over in the gulf of tonkin. 3:32 david: and this huge tanker was flying from the coast of vietnam over the water spraying orange substance. 3:39 it turned out it was agent orange. despite everything he's been through, david says he wouldn't change a thing. 10:28 david: i think we have (pauses and gets emotional) the greatest country in the world. and i would do it again. i would do it again. making it all the more difficult to understand why the v.a. would deny him his freedom in the form of an electric wheelchair. 13:55 david (very emotional) know that i will die earlier than the five months. the v.a. approved him for home hospice, but told the dying vet he'd have to cancel that care to get an electric wheelchair. he did that, but then the v.a. denied his request... 7:57 david: the va double-crossed me... leaving him with no hospice, no wheelchair and no faith. we asked him to give us a message to deliver to the v.a. 10:53 (emotional) please stop lying to the vets. and that's all. (deep breaths) darcy stand-up: after talki

president lyndon johnson could use that to get congress to pass the gulf of tonkin, resolution, authorizing him to retaliate. they will see them rallying around the flag in support of the president during a period of crisis. it was done very quickly. senator fulbright brought it to the floor just after an hour's hearing. debate.it was passed with only -- they had a short debate. it was passed with only two dissenting votes in the senate. no one thought it was a declaration of war at the time. in fact, senator fulbright said to one of the senators who asked if it could be interpreted that way, it is possible but that is not what the president has in mind. in fact, the president did not see it as a declaration of war. he saw it as something to help his election in november over barry goldwater. when johnson decided to send troops to vietnam in early 1965 between january and july, he debated inside his administration and took the several leaders of congress as to whether or not he should ask for a formal declaration or state of emergency. who chose not to do that because he was afraid it would

the fact of the matter is that johnson used this to get the gulf of tonkin resolutions passed by congress almost unanimously authorizing him to use military force more aggressively. the following february a place called quake cue, american base is attacked. and johnson uses that to expand the american commitment even more. and when people say what's going on here? someone says kay cue is like street cars. they come along. in other words, sooner or later we know there's going to be an incident and that incident will give the president justification to act. so if you put people in harm's way, sooner or later harm is done to them. and then you can portray yourself as having been attacked when in fact, you've done something fairly provocative that makes the likelihood that an attack goes up. so even the reagan administration, remember the blowing up of the marine barracks in beirut, lebanon. but there's a marine barracks in beirut lebanon. why are there marines in lebanon you? put american forces in harm's way. there's a good chance that harm is going to come to them. and then you as presiden

. >> i have to read about the gulf of tonkin resolution. by 2005 the release of more classified documents from the nsa plus others new disclosures revealed high government officials had distorted facts about what actually happened. scott: a whole series of things occurred. we had the pentagon papers in 1971. we recently had a film involving robert mcnamara, in which he did effectively a mea culpa about this whole chapter in american history. we have had tapes involving president johnson and mcnamara and others. the bottom line is we see this resolution was really a deceptive one. congress was not completely told exactly what had happened. this of course, is very unfortunate. it is not thing. >> sensing that the words lacked power, the impassioned gospel singer mahalia jackson cried out "tell them about the dream martin." scott: martin luther king during the civil rights march on washington in 1963 was, of course, at the lectern giving his great speech. but it really wasn't worth going over that well -- wasn't going over that well. he had a

we were misled by those who of the bay falseness of tonkin, which falsely led us into a war with theam. a war that we could not and did not win. we lied to the american people about grenada and what was going on in that tiny island. we lied to the american people about nicaragua, el salvador, cuba, and many places in the world. and we stand here today to let those people and others know that america is a vast and diverse country, and we are pt of the greater truthss of what makes our nation. dr. king once said that if there is -- if mankind does not put an end to warwar will put an end to mankind. amy: we turn a 2004, the second ouster of haitian president aristide. at this hour, the streets of port-au-prince are barricaded. president aristide and his wife mildred are inside the palace. ared gangs, paramilitaries moving closer to the capital of port-au-prince. we turn to the palace where i just got off the phone with the first lady of haiti, mildred aristide. >> the situation is quite critical. armed, they're sending messages repeatedly on the airwaves in haiti that they stand ready

tonkin -- sen. fulbright: there was a war they had between north and south vietnam, very much, i suppose like our war between north and south here, but we still consider ourselves one country even though we had a war, didn't we? and the more powerful side prevailed. gen. taylor: we behave somewhat differently sir after that situation in southeast asia. i am always reminded of the events that took place in the north in 1954 when tens of thousands of the north vietnamese who opposed ho chi minh were murdered. that seems to be the pattern of the communist leadership. sen. fulbright: war has a way of killing people. there are a lot being killed now. one last question in your , statement, in the u.s. news and world report which i had the opportunity to read, it was published before i only got your , speech this morning. one of the other things about this involved is our commitment. you say there, and i quote first , we have the moral stake of our commitment to the people of the vietnam. i say the people,

because of vietnam golf of tonkin rights antiwar demonstration question authority hell no we won't gothe chicago demonstration, was a police riot. in 1970, kent state for dead. ohio. this was huge antiwar, anti-government and we still have not gotten it right. we don't need 1971 police levels. i know we have more people but the basically coders. they're not criminals. what we need in a police is a championship team. who could look at what we saw on television and root for that? you would have to be a bigot. we need to melt this blue coat. the police need to be part of the trust, the truth, the justice of our community and now we are asking them to be mental health guardians also. on the radio today the chief of police was saying in scotland only 5% where guns. maybe in our two-man teams one is gun free. maybe in the back of the truck we can throw a fishing net. major fire extinguishers the co2 can make a person same. we need intelligent, a championship team in this city. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> my name is otto duffie. neighborhood activist in area around city

because of vietnam golf of tonkin rights antiwar demonstration question authority hell no we won't go, 68 the chicago demonstration, was a police riot. in 1970, kent state for dead. ohio. this was huge antiwar, anti-government and we still have not gotten it right. we don't need 1971 police levels. i know we have more people but the basically coders. they're not criminals. what we need in a police is a championship team. who could look at what we saw on television and root for that? you would have to be a bigot. we need to melt this blue coat. the police need to be part of the trust, the truth, the justice of our community and now we are asking them to be mental health guardians also. on the radio today the chief of police was saying in scotland only 5% where guns. maybe in our two-man teams one is gun free. maybe in the back of the truck we can throw a fishing net. major fire extinguishers the co2 can make a person same. we need intelligent, a championship team in this city. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> my name is otto duffie. neighborhood activist in area around

the gulf of tonkin was basically fabricated. lied into the war in iraq and recently as came out with the hillary clinton e-mails we were lied to overthrow gadhafi in libya. >> guest: but you learned, didn't you? now must have hurricane from someone, a journalist or historian becauseom know about these lies. >> absolutely. i think a growing number of people are waking up but we still let it happen over and over again. eight years of the war in iraq that they same thing happened in libya, and it just as crazy -- actually probably going to be the next president that is -- it's the war policy, and real quick i want to pivot back to woodrow will son. one of the worth presidents ever had, thank income tax, federal reserve, world war one, all terrible thingness our hoyt, and thank you for taking the time to listen to me today. >> host: thanks, sam. >> guest: thank you, yes. >> host: well to go back to woodrow wilson, in your book, "1920", you talk about how he was not very adapt at politics when he became president of princeton and not

because of vietnam golf of tonkin rights antiwar demonstration question authority hell no we won't gothe chicago demonstration, was a police riot. in 1970, kent state for dead. ohio. this was huge antiwar, anti-government and we still have not gotten it right. we don't need 1971 police levels. i know we have more people but the basically coders. they're not criminals. what we need in a police is a championship team. who could look at what we saw on television and root for that? you would have to be a bigot. we need to melt this blue coat. the police need to be part of the trust, the truth, the justice of our community and now we are asking them to be mental health guardians also. on the radio today the chief of police was saying in scotland only 5% where guns. maybe in our two-man teams one is gun free. maybe in the back of the truck we can throw a fishing net. major fire extinguishers the co2 can make a person same. we need intelligent, a championship team in this city. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> my name is otto duffie. neighborhood activist in area around city

because of vietnam golf of tonkin rights antiwar demonstration question authority hell no we won't gothe chicago demonstration, was a police riot. in 1970, kent state for dead. ohio. this was huge antiwar, anti-government and we still have not gotten it right. we don't need 1971 police levels. i know we have more people but the basically coders. they're not criminals. what we need in a police is a championship team. who could look at what we saw on television and root for that? you would have to be a bigot. we need to melt this blue coat. the police need to be part of the trust, the truth, the justice of our community and now we are asking them to be mental health guardians also. on the radio today the chief of police was saying in scotland only 5% where guns. maybe in our two-man teams one is gun free. maybe in the back of the truck we can throw a fishing net. major fire extinguishers the co2 can make a person same. we need intelligent, a championship team in this city. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> my name is otto duffie. neighborhood activist in area around city

because of vietnam golf of tonkin rights antiwar demonstration question authority hell no we won't gothe chicago demonstration, was a police riot. in 1970, kent state for dead. ohio. this was huge antiwar, anti-government and we still have not gotten it right. we don't need 1971 police levels. i know we have more people but the basically coders. they're not criminals. what we need in a police is a championship team. who could look at what we saw on television and root for that? you would have to be a bigot. we need to melt this blue coat. the police need to be part of the trust, the truth, the justice of our community and now we are asking them to be mental health guardians also. on the radio today the chief of police was saying in scotland only 5% where guns. maybe in our two-man teams one is gun free. maybe in the back of the truck we can throw a fishing net. major fire extinguishers the co2 can make a person same. we need intelligent, a championship team in this city. thank you. >> thank you. next speaker, please. >> my name is otto duffie. neighborhood activist in area around city