was what eventually gave President Linden B. Johnson permission to escalate the war in Vietnam.
             President Johnson felt that he had to take a forceful stance on Vietnam so that other Communist countries wouldn't think that the United States "lacked resolve". Johnson also believed that the key to success was to frighten North Vietnam's leaders with the possibility of full-scale United States military intervention. In January of 1964 Johnson approved of top-secret, covert attacks against North Vietnam, including commando raids against bridges, railways, and coastal installations. After reports of North Vietnamese gunboats attacking United States NAVY war ships Johnson went on air to get approval from the public of an attack on Vietnam. Soon after Congress gave Johnson the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which gave him war-making powers until such time as "peace and security" had returned to Vietnam. On March 8, 1965, 3500 U.S. Marine troops landed in da Nang. Soon after about 74,000 combat troops arrived.
             When some of the soldiers of the U.S. 9th Marine Regiment landed in da Nang in March 1965, their orders were to protect the U.S. air base, but the mission was quickly changed to include search-and-destroy patrols of the area around base. This corresponded in miniature to the larger strategy of General William Westmoreland. Westmoreland, who took over the Military Assistance Command in Vietnam (NACV) in 1964, wanted to establish a large American force and then unleash it in big sweeps. This strategy was called attrition- eliminating or wearing down the enemy by inflicting the highest death toll possible. There were 80,000 U.S troops in Vietnam by the end of 1965, by 1969 there would be 534,
             ...