War has played a key role in the history of the United States, from the nation's founding

right down to the present. War made the U.S. independent, kept it together, increased its size,

and established it as a global superpower. Understanding America's wars is essential for understanding American history.

Welcome to Key Battles of American History,

a podcast in which we discuss American history

through the lens of the most important battles of America's wars.

Here is your host, James Early.

Thank you. host, James Early. Hello and welcome back to Key Battles of the Vietnam War, a 10,000-foot survey of the war

that defined a generation. I'm your host, James Early, as always. And as always, I am joined by my co-host, Sean McIver.

Sean, how are you, sir?

I'm doing all right.

Doing okay.

All right.

Well, let's recap our last episode before we get into our new episode, and this episode

is called the Americanization of the war.

So our last episode began with the Gulf of Tonkin incident, an attack on an American

destroyer by three North Vietnamese gunboats that was followed by a perceived, but imaginary

second attack.

These incidents, though one was not real, led to the U.S. Congress passing the Gulf of Tonkin resolution,

which authorized the president to take, quote,

all necessary measures to repel armed attack against the forces of the United States

and to prevent further aggression, end quote.

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