Primary Sources: Vietnam War: Events

"The Gulf of Tonkin incident, like others in our nation's history, has become the center of considerable controversy and debate. It is not NSA's intention to prove or disprove any one set of conclusions, many of which can be drawn from a thorough review of this material. Instead, through these public releases, we intend to make as much information as possible available for the many scholars, historians, academia, and members of the general public who find interest in analyzing the information and forming their own conclusions."

"Signals Intercepts, Cited at Time, Prove Only August 2nd Battle, Not August 4;
Purported Second Attack Prompted Congressional Blank Check for War;
Johnson-McNamara Tapes Show Readiness to Escalate, Even on Suspect Intel;
Top Aides Knew of Mistaken Signals, but Welcomed Justification for Vote"

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 132

Includes a summary, bibliography, documents, etc. related to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident

"The article presents the text of a speech given by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 regarding the Gulf of Tonkin affair."

President Johnson's Message to Congress August 5, 1964
Joint Resolution of Congress H.J. RES 1145 August 7, 1964

"Peers Commission investigators asked Jay Roberts, an Army journalist who accompanied photographer Ronald Haeberle on the My Lai operation, to explain why the massacre had occurred. Roberts was a veteran journalist, and My Lai was not his first assignment. Nonetheless, Roberts had written a completely sanitized version of the events at My Lai, despite having been a first-hand witness to the massacre."

"HEARINGS of the Armed Services Investigating Subcommittee of the Committee on Armed Services, House of Representatives, Ninety-First Congress, 2nd Session, under Authority of H. Res. 105
(Hearings held on April 15, 16, 17, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, May 8, 9, 12, 13, June 9, 10 and 22, 1970)
REPORT (July 15, 1970)"

"Presents two documents about US Army Lieutenant William L. Calley's court-martial murder trial for his involvement in the Vietnam War's 1968 My Lai massacre."

"Sergeant Jay Roberts was a reporter with the Public Information Department of the 11th Brigade. He accompanied Charlie Company during the assault on My Lai and witnessed the killings, but after the incident on March 18, 1968, he wrote a press release that completely sanitized the operation, transforming the massacre into a "battle.""

Part of the Famous Trials in America site. It includes excerpts of testimony, the Peers Report, images, etc.

"The National Liberation Front Committee of Quang Ngai province began disseminating this shortly after the My Lai massacre. While the notice exaggerates some aspects of the massacre, the document suggests the potential of incidents like My Lai to be used by pro-Communist forces as propaganda."

"In November 1969, Stanley R. Resor, Secretary of the Army, and General William C. Westmoreland, U.S. Army Chief of Staff, directed Lieutenant General William R. Peers, U.S. Army, to “explore the nature and scope of the original Army investigations of what occurred on 16 March 1968 in Son My Village, Quang Ngai Province, Republic of Vietnam.” This collection of materials, commonly known as the “Peers Inquiry,” which provides the results of General Peers’ investigation of the “My Lai incident”— later also known as the “My Lai massacre”..."

"This subject guide is meant to give the user a broad overview of the collections most relevant to Tet Offensive research. More collections may be available inside the Virtual Vietnam Archive. Click on the links to the moving images, photographs or oral histories to view the material through the subject guide. Clicking on a finding aid will send you to a document describing an entire collection with either a box or folder level listing of the collection's contents. The finding aid will give you a general idea of what is contained in the collection.
Many of our documents are scanned and available online. You can find the individual documents by searching the virtual archive. "