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Now the whole power over the ROV lay in the hands of general Duong Van Minh. He also won a large measure of support from Johnson by cancelling martial law, releasing captures monks and nuns and promising total equality between all religions. Everything seemed to be perfect at this moment. However to Johnson\'s dismay Minh planned to dismantle the discredited hamlet program and seeked contact to the communist rebels. He also favoured neutralisation of his country and the solution of the conflict by returning to the Geneva Accords. Any kind of a coalition government in Saigon that included the communists was anathema to the American president, who described the whole thing as a sell out to the enemies. So Minh turned to be the new big problem and not the long expected solution.
Other Vietnamese generals sensed the American lack of confidence in the new leadership and toppled it in 1964. General Nguyen Khanh took charge of the military junta. Although won Washington\'s approval by pledging no compromise peace with North Vietnam, this is another chapter in the history of permanent instability in the ROV. After public riots Khanh declared at state of emergency and installed a triumvirate composed by himself, Minh and another general. Under American pressure the government had to restore the facade of a civilian rule. Though President Johnson worried about the chronic political disorder of The ROV and its tendencies to military coups, he persisted in treating the war as if it was entirely the fault of North Vietnam. In consequence he decided to set Ho Chi Minh under massive pressure in early 1964 by approving the Pentagon\'s Operations Plan 34A (OPLAN34A). Among other things this plan provided for the dropping of South Vietnamese saboteurs into the north and a special army, that helped commandos in carrying out raids on North Vietnam\'s coastline. The former assistant secretary of state became William Bundy and so he sent some proposals for an open warfare against the DRV. The main features of this program were heavy bombing campaigns on North Vietnam\'s industries, railroads, barracks and training camps. A naval blockade to choke off any aid by sea from the communist block nations should be also prepared. However, it was not justified for the United States to start a battle without a declaration of war or an emergency authority from Congress. Instead of putting an enabling resolution before Congress, Johnson ventured a diplomatic initiative to secure peace in Vietnam. He offered the DRV diplomatic recognition and aid if they would stop all VC insurgency in South Vietnam. If they disagreed military actions would follow. In response the premier Pham Van Dong refused the proposals and wanted the Americans to leave whole Vietnam alone.
On 3 July navy headquarters sent the specially equipped destroyer Maddox to the Gulf of Tonkin to get further information of DRV\'s radio and radar electronics. Despite the fact that they claimed a twelve mile limit to its territorial waters Captain John Herrick ordered to bring his ship as close as possible to the limit. On 31 July 1964 South Vietnamese commandos based at Danang raided two DRV island. So there was enough tension in the Gulf of Tonkin and when the Maddox steamed back into international waters patrol torpedo boats followed the vessel and opened fire. With help from other destroyers and planes the two boats were destroyed. The 2 August is therefore the date for the beginning of the \"real\" Vietnam War. Secretary McNamara claimed the attack as unprovoked and the mission as a routine patrol. Facts about the spionage were not revealed. Journalists, the Congress and the public were led to believe that the attack was a wanton assault on a peaceful US warship in international waters.
Two days after the first occurrence in the Gulf of Tonkin North Vietnamese torpedo boats assaulted the Maddox again. But this time the Americans had not provoked this incident because the vessel lay more than sixty miles away from the coast. Doubtless this incident outraged the society and the government all over the United States. President Johnson arranged to appear on the TV screens to give his public version of these event. He praised the performance of the brave American soldiers and said that repeated acts of violence against the armed forces must be met with defence and a positive reply. After this speech he urged the Congress to pass a resolution making it clear that the US government was united in its determination to take all necessary measure to protect peace and freedom in Southeast Asia. Now Johnson had won the support from both sides in America: from the people and from the Congress because they all had the same opinion. The Viet Cong should feel the rage of the world\'s biggest superpower. From that moment it was in Johnson\'s hands to direct the war in Vietnam He ordered the US Air Force to move squadrons into air bases in Thailand and to South Vietnam. The navy increased its forces in the Far East. Meanwhile the presidential elections underway. Johnson was in a very good position because he protected the country and so he won the elections by a big amount of votes.
On 1 November 1964 the Viet Cong attacked an US air base in the environment of Saigon and destroyed several B-57 bombers and killed soldiers and civilists. Some days later terrorists bombed a hotel in the capital. Americans died in this incident again. In part to retaliate for such attacks on 1 December Johnson approved Operation BARREL ROLL, a secret bombing campaign against the Ho Chi Minh Trail to undermine the supply of the VC. But the communist fighters were well prepared too, the planning to destroy their path failed and more and more troops intruded the country. The prospect of finding a peaceful resolution of the crisis in Vietnam was fading away rapidly.
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