GULF OF TONKIN RESOLUTION--for the younger folks here . . . .

"The Gulf of Tonkin Incident was an alleged pair of attacks -- the second of which did not occur -- by North Vietnamese gunboats on two American destroyers, the USS Maddox and the USS C. Turner Joy, in August of 1964 in the Gulf of Tonkin. Later research, including a report released in 2005 by the National Security Agency, indicates that the second attack did not occur, but also attempts to dispel the long-standing rumor that U.S. President Lyndon Johnson had knowingly lied about the existence of the incident.

The outcome of the incident was the passage of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which granted the President authority to assist any Southeast Asian country whose governments were jeopardized and was Johnson's legal justification for introducing American troops into the Vietnam War."

That ring any bells?