the Tonkin Gulf Incident occurred and was soon
transformed into an excuse for massive escalation of U.S. involvement in
the Vietnam War. When President Lyndon Johnson took the
matter to the Senate to get a resolution authorizing him to take
whatever action “necessary” in Southeast Asia, only two senators, Wayne
Morse (D-OR) and Ernest Gruening (D-AK) opposed it. Eventual outcome:
58,318 American military personnel killed, Total estimates of all those
killed in the 1955-75 war in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, vary widely,
from a low of 1.45 million to a high of 3.95 million. This does not
include the millions killed in the Khmer Rouge genocide. Other
consequences include estimates that up to
1 million Vietnamese are disabled or have health problems due to
contact with the chemical defoliant Agent Orange. Americans who handled
the chemical also have suffered in large numbers.
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