Which of the following best describes an outcome of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution?

Which of the following best describes an outcome of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution?

A. It banned most forms of large-scale political protests during times of war.

B. It increased the president’s ability to wage war without congressional approval.

C. It allowed the U.S. military to slowly withdraw troops from the Vietnam War.

D. It decreased the Supreme Court’s ability to regulate presidential actions.

Answer: It increased the president’s ability to wage war without congressional approval.

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was signed in 1964 as consequence to the alleged attacks on US ships off Vietnam by approving President Johnson from undertaking military activity without a formal congressional declaration. The resolution effectively allowed the president to unilaterally wage war in Southeast Asia for security reasons ostensibly so that American interests abroad would be protected, a decision requiring immense invidious discretionary power from the legislature. This made it possible to send in regular ground troops rapidly, and broaden the covert operations both in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia during subsequent years purely by presidential right . Effectively, the resolution gave up congress’s constitutional authority to control executive war powers thereby making way for a more comprehensive and aggressive unilateral military action triggered by only one branch of government.