Within weeks of Diem's murder, President Kennedy was assassinated.

Vice President Lyndon Johnson assumed office determined not to lose Vietnam to the communists. He sent Defense Secretary Robert McNamara to South Vietnam to repledge U.S. support.

In August 1964, the USS Maddox, an American destroyer on patrol in the Gulf of Tonkin, exchanged fire with North Vietnamese torpedo boats. Two days later, the ship's captain reported he was under attack again. Despite conflicting evidence, the Pentagon insisted there had been a second unprovoked attack.

The incident prompted Johnson to push the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution through Congress. The measure allowed LBJ to wage war in Vietnam.
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