President Lyndon B. Johnson’s ‘Gulf of Tonkin Speech’ was first delivered at the dedication of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.

FACT

On Aug. 2, 1964, The USS Maddox was attacked by three North Vietnamese patrol boats. The destroyer was on a reconnaissance mission in the Gulf of Tonkin, a body of water between China and Vietnam.

Days after the incident, President Lyndon B. Johnson addressed the American people about the incident on national television. The speech led to the passage of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave the president authority to assist any Southeast Asian country with a jeopardized government. This was the beginning of the Vietnam War.

But before any of that occurred, Johnson had an obligation to be the keynote speaker at the Aug. 5, 1964 dedication ceremony of a new journalism school. And what better place to practice his future address to the nation than at Newhouse.

‘Of course there was a longer address to the American public, but I think this was the first time he mentioned (the Gulf of Tonkin),’ said David Bennett, professor of modern American history at the Maxwell School. ‘It was a big event because the building was being dedicated. It’s part of Syracuse history.’