Office of the Historian

302. Letter From President Johnson to Chairman Khrushchev1

Washington, August 7, 1964.

Dear Mr. Chairman: I share the concern expressed in your message of August fifth2 concerning the incidents in the Gulf of Tonkin.

I also fully share your view of the heavy responsibility which we both bear for keeping the peace and for preventing incidents anywhere in the world from starting a chain of dangerous and irreversible developments. It was for this reason that we took only the minimum defensive action in response to the first attack upon the American destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin. I think you can understand that the second deliberate attack—on which there is complete and incontrovertible evidence—could not be allowed to pass without reply. Our action was carefully measured to fit the circumstances, and we have no wish at all to see this matter go further. We have, of course, made appropriate deployments in the area as we are uncertain of the purpose of these flagrant attacks on our ships on the high seas. We do not know, for example, whether they were instigated by Peiping or made by the North Vietnamese in an effort to draw Peiping into the area. I have made it clear, publicly, that we ourselves do not wish an escalation of this situation.

Our position with respect to South Vietnam has been made clear on many occasions. I repeat that we seek no military base or special position in this area and that our sole purpose is to enable the nations there to maintain their independence without outside intervention. Our complete withdrawal from Laos following the agreement of 1962, about which I have already communicated with you,3 is convincing evidence of the sincerity of our purpose. Anything you can do to restrain either the North Vietnamese or Peiping from further reckless action in this area will be most helpful to peace. My country will always be prompt and firm in its positive reply to acts of aggression, and our power is equal to any such test. But the mission of that power is peace.

Sincerely,4

  1. Source: Department of State, Presidential Correspondence: Lot 77 D 163. No classification marking. Also published in Declassified Documents, 1978, 315B.↩
  2. Document 295.↩
  3. Reference is to the President’s August 1 letter. (Telegram 316 to Moscow, August 1; Department of State, Central Files, POL 27 LAOS)↩
  4. Printed from an unsigned copy.↩