The event that led to the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was the Gulf of Tonkin Incident of the same year.
Explanation:
The incidents in the Gulf of Tonkin occurred on August 2 and 4, 1964. North Vietnamese torpedo-boats and two US destroyers, USS Maddox (DD-731) and USS Turner Joy (DD-951), exchanged gunshots on August 2, and August 4.
The existence of the 4 August clash has long been controversial. Subsequent evidence, including a report released in 2005 by the National Security Agency, indicates that there was no North Vietnamese attack on that date. It is said that those events were invented to give President Johnson full military powers to declare the war in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and resolutely engage his country in the Vietnam War.
