Congress hands Johnson the war powers he asked for; only two senators say no

Five days after American destroyers reported coming under fire in the Gulf of Tonkin, Lyndon Johnson asked Congress for authority to respond without asking it to declare war. On August 7, 1964, the Senate and House passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, authorizing "all necessary measures" to repel attacks and prevent further aggression in Southeast Asia. Only Wayne Morse of Oregon and Ernest Gruening of Alaska voted no. The resolution became Johnson's legal basis for escalating a war that had, until then, been fought mostly by South Vietnamese troops with American advisors…