Ultimately, the question of whether the United States deliberately planned its operations in the Gulf of Tonkin as a means of provoking North Vietnam to retaliate remains elusive, especially with respect to the first incident, on 2 August. For the historian, there is insufficient evidence to suggest that the whole affair, from beginning to end, was staged for the purpose of justifying an American retaliation. But there is compelling circumstantial evidence that, at the very least, government officials entered the month of Au gust hoping desperately for a pretext that would allow a show of U.S.
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