1 00:00:00,040 --> 00:00:02,160 Speaker 1: Hey everyone, it's Eaves. I just wanted to let you 2 00:00:02,200 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: know that you'll be hearing an episode from me and 3 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,040 Speaker 1: an episode from Tracy V. Wilson today. I hope you 4 00:00:07,120 --> 00:00:10,920 Speaker 1: enjoyed the show. Welcome to this Day in History Class 5 00:00:10,960 --> 00:00:13,400 Speaker 1: from how Stuff Works dot Com and from the desk 6 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:15,600 Speaker 1: of Stuff you Missed in History Class. It's the show 7 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:17,919 Speaker 1: where we explore the past one day at a time 8 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:25,120 Speaker 1: with a quick look at what happened today in history. Hello, 9 00:00:25,160 --> 00:00:27,960 Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson and 10 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:31,960 Speaker 1: its August seven, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed 11 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:35,760 Speaker 1: on the state in This was when the United States 12 00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:39,519 Speaker 1: became fully involved in the Vietnam War. Vietnam had been 13 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:42,800 Speaker 1: divided into North and South Vietnam about ten years earlier, 14 00:00:42,840 --> 00:00:45,200 Speaker 1: and this was supposed to be temporary. It's a temporary 15 00:00:45,240 --> 00:00:48,440 Speaker 1: measure and some fighting, but the Cold War between the 16 00:00:48,520 --> 00:00:51,200 Speaker 1: United States and the Soviet Union got in the way. 17 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:54,480 Speaker 1: They were both involved in these negotiations. It became pretty 18 00:00:54,560 --> 00:00:57,560 Speaker 1: much a stalemate as they had their own issues to resolve. 19 00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:01,800 Speaker 1: The United States, though, wanted to stop the spread of communism, 20 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:05,600 Speaker 1: and there were fears that a United Vietnam would be 21 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:10,240 Speaker 1: United under a communist government. So the nation remained divided, 22 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:13,120 Speaker 1: with a communist government in North Vietnam and a government 23 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:15,800 Speaker 1: in South Vietnam that had a lot more ties to 24 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:20,480 Speaker 1: the capitalist nations in the West. But a war soon followed. 25 00:01:21,360 --> 00:01:25,080 Speaker 1: At first, the United States wasn't formally involved in this war, 26 00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:28,520 Speaker 1: but it did support the efforts of South Vietnam, especially 27 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:32,160 Speaker 1: when it came to fighting communist insurgents within South Vietnam 28 00:01:32,319 --> 00:01:36,000 Speaker 1: who were being aided by the North, and that's why 29 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:39,240 Speaker 1: there was already a U. S. Military presence there before 30 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:43,240 Speaker 1: the United States was officially involved in this war. On 31 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:46,160 Speaker 1: August two of nineteen sixty four, the U. S. S. 32 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:49,440 Speaker 1: Matics was on a reconnaissance mission in the Gulf of Tonkin, 33 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:52,840 Speaker 1: that's a body of water between Vietnam and China that 34 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:56,280 Speaker 1: was attacked by a Vietnamese patrol boat. In response to 35 00:01:56,280 --> 00:01:59,160 Speaker 1: that attack, the United States sent a second destroyer to 36 00:01:59,200 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: the area, was the U. S. S. Turner Joy. On 37 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:07,559 Speaker 1: August four, both these destroyers reported another attack by North 38 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 1: Vietnam as well, although there was a lot of confusion 39 00:02:11,120 --> 00:02:15,600 Speaker 1: about exactly what happened. The events of August two and fourth, though, 40 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 1: prompted US President Lyndon Johnson to seek Congressional approval to 41 00:02:19,040 --> 00:02:22,280 Speaker 1: go to war. The Gulf of Tonkian Resolution followed. It 42 00:02:22,360 --> 00:02:26,359 Speaker 1: read quote, Congress approves and supports the determination of the President, 43 00:02:26,560 --> 00:02:30,480 Speaker 1: as Commander in Chief, to take all necessary measures to 44 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:33,400 Speaker 1: repel any armed attack against the forces of the United 45 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:38,359 Speaker 1: States and to prevent further aggression. This was unanimously passed 46 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: in the House of Representatives and only two no votes 47 00:02:41,320 --> 00:02:43,560 Speaker 1: were recorded in the Senate, and the President signed it 48 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:46,920 Speaker 1: into law on August ten. Following this, United States started 49 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:51,120 Speaker 1: an intensive bombing campaign, and American troops were in Vietnam 50 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:55,040 Speaker 1: in March of nineteen What followed after this was a 51 00:02:55,080 --> 00:02:59,480 Speaker 1: long and deadly war, with hundreds of thousands of civilians killed. 52 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:03,320 Speaker 1: US involvement lasted for almost a decade, and as the 53 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 1: war became more and more unpopular in the United States, 54 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:10,200 Speaker 1: the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was repealed in nineteen seventy one, 55 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:14,519 Speaker 1: and the United States withdrew in nineteen seventy three. There 56 00:03:14,520 --> 00:03:18,800 Speaker 1: were doubts from the beginning about what had really happened 57 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:22,400 Speaker 1: on August four. Visibility on the water at the time 58 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:25,280 Speaker 1: was really poor, and the crew of both vessels were 59 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:29,160 Speaker 1: extremely anxious about the possibility of another attack. A pilot 60 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:31,359 Speaker 1: who was flying recon over the area said that there 61 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 1: were no Vietnamese vessels attacking the American ships. The incident 62 00:03:37,200 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 1: was described as firing on phantom ships, basically radar and 63 00:03:41,640 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 1: sonar readings that were being misread by over eager operators. Then, 64 00:03:47,400 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 1: documents that were declassified in two thousand five and two 65 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:53,080 Speaker 1: thousand six suggested that this whole thing might have been fabricated, 66 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:56,800 Speaker 1: and that some officials, including Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, 67 00:03:56,960 --> 00:04:01,240 Speaker 1: might have deliberately misled the President and the Congress in 68 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:04,560 Speaker 1: this information about what led them to go to war. 69 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:08,440 Speaker 1: The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution had also been incredibly broad. 70 00:04:08,520 --> 00:04:11,560 Speaker 1: It had given the president almost unlimited power when it 71 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:14,880 Speaker 1: came to the war in Southeast Asia, so Congress passed 72 00:04:14,880 --> 00:04:18,920 Speaker 1: the War Powers Act in ninety three. Was passed over 73 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:24,160 Speaker 1: President Richard Nixon's veto. It set limits on presidential power 74 00:04:24,240 --> 00:04:29,200 Speaker 1: to take military action without involving Congress. The goal was 75 00:04:29,279 --> 00:04:33,520 Speaker 1: to prevent another Vietnam War, although presidents since then have 76 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:38,800 Speaker 1: argued that it's an unconstitutional infringement on presidential power. Thanks 77 00:04:38,839 --> 00:04:41,160 Speaker 1: to Eve's Jeff Code for her research, work in today's 78 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:44,400 Speaker 1: episode and Tatara Harrison for her audio work on this podcast. 79 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:46,800 Speaker 1: You can subscribe to the Stay in History Class on 80 00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:50,360 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and where real you get your podcasts. 81 00:04:51,120 --> 00:04:53,839 Speaker 1: You can tune in tomorrow for a major battle that 82 00:04:53,960 --> 00:05:06,479 Speaker 1: turned the tide of the First World War. Welcome to 83 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:18,840 Speaker 1: this day in History Class, where history waits for no One. 84 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:26,760 Speaker 1: The day was August seven nine. Norwegian ethnographer Tour higher 85 00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:29,520 Speaker 1: Doll and his crew on the Kunti Ki made it 86 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:31,640 Speaker 1: to the Arroya at All in the two of Motu 87 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:36,760 Speaker 1: Archipelago near Tahiti. Higher Doll's goal was to show that 88 00:05:36,880 --> 00:05:40,760 Speaker 1: Native Americans could have migrated from east to west to 89 00:05:40,800 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 1: reach Polynesia. At the time, prevailing thought was that Southeast 90 00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:52,200 Speaker 1: Asians traveled from the west eastward to populate Polynesia. Polynesia 91 00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:55,400 Speaker 1: comprises more than a thousand islands in the Pacific Ocean, 92 00:05:55,880 --> 00:05:59,680 Speaker 1: and the Polynesian Triangle has Hawaii at its north eastern 93 00:05:59,720 --> 00:06:02,880 Speaker 1: island in the east and New Zealand in the southwest. 94 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:07,599 Speaker 1: Tahiti is near the middle of the triangle. In his 95 00:06:07,640 --> 00:06:12,200 Speaker 1: book Vikings of the Sunrise, Maori doctor and scholar Tehrani Heroa, 96 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:15,640 Speaker 1: also known as Sir Peter Henry Buck Trades the migration 97 00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:20,680 Speaker 1: of people eastward to Polynesia, but higher All thought differently. 98 00:06:21,360 --> 00:06:26,000 Speaker 1: He has studied zoology, geography, and Polynesian history and culture. 99 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:29,320 Speaker 1: He also spent time in the Marqueses, a group of 100 00:06:29,400 --> 00:06:33,280 Speaker 1: volcanic islands in the southern Pacific Ocean, and he came 101 00:06:33,320 --> 00:06:37,719 Speaker 1: to believe that South Americans traveled west to populate Polynesia. 102 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:41,680 Speaker 1: He figured that they got to the islands by accidentally 103 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:45,719 Speaker 1: drift voyaging. He came to that conclusion because wind and 104 00:06:45,839 --> 00:06:49,599 Speaker 1: current patterns in the Pacific Ocean mainly flow from east 105 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:53,359 Speaker 1: to west, and he thought that Native Americans would have 106 00:06:53,480 --> 00:06:56,839 Speaker 1: drifted with the wind rather than traveled against the wind, 107 00:06:57,200 --> 00:06:59,720 Speaker 1: as people coming to the islands from the west would 108 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:03,800 Speaker 1: have had too. He noted how South American plants like 109 00:07:03,880 --> 00:07:08,560 Speaker 1: the sweet potato were in Polynesia, and he noticed similarities 110 00:07:08,560 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 1: between monuments on the Fatu Hiva and the Marqueses and 111 00:07:12,440 --> 00:07:17,360 Speaker 1: those from ancient South American civilizations. He also drew connections 112 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:21,560 Speaker 1: between the appearance and cultural traditions of Polynesians and South Americans. 113 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:26,840 Speaker 1: Hired All hypothesized that people arrived in Eastern Island from 114 00:07:26,880 --> 00:07:31,440 Speaker 1: pre Incan Peru around five hundred CE and another group 115 00:07:31,440 --> 00:07:34,840 Speaker 1: of people, he said, arrived in Hawaii from British Columbia 116 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:39,200 Speaker 1: about five hundred years later. So hired Doll set off 117 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:41,640 Speaker 1: on a mission to show that South Americans could have 118 00:07:41,720 --> 00:07:45,680 Speaker 1: drift voyage to the Polynesian Islands. He assembled a crew 119 00:07:45,800 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 1: of five men for Norwegians and a Swede to make 120 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:53,840 Speaker 1: the journey from Peru to Polynesia to demonstrate how the 121 00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:57,000 Speaker 1: South Americans could have drifted there with the wind and currents. 122 00:07:57,520 --> 00:08:00,200 Speaker 1: He had the crew build a raft made of the 123 00:08:00,280 --> 00:08:04,240 Speaker 1: wood logs. He named the raft kon Tiki, after an 124 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:08,520 Speaker 1: alternative name for an Incan creator guide. The team's trip 125 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:14,280 Speaker 1: began on April nine, when they left Kayao, Peru, along 126 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:18,320 Speaker 1: with a Spanish speaking parrot. They had an amateur radio 127 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:21,080 Speaker 1: station that they used to communicate with North and South 128 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:26,400 Speaker 1: American stations. Otherwise, they looked to the sun, stars, currents, 129 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:30,520 Speaker 1: and winds to keep them on track. They used sales 130 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:34,520 Speaker 1: paddles and a steering oar to guide the craft. On 131 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:38,880 Speaker 1: July they spotted land, and on August seven, the crew 132 00:08:39,000 --> 00:08:42,640 Speaker 1: arrived at the Arroya. At all, they had traveled more 133 00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:46,640 Speaker 1: than four thousand miles or sixty hundred kilometers in one 134 00:08:46,679 --> 00:08:50,480 Speaker 1: hundred and one days. Hire Dollar had proved that it 135 00:08:50,559 --> 00:08:53,520 Speaker 1: was possible for South Americans to travel to Polynesia on 136 00:08:53,559 --> 00:08:59,480 Speaker 1: the tides, but oral tradition, archaeological data, linguistic structures, and 137 00:08:59,559 --> 00:09:03,920 Speaker 1: plant still pointed to the west to east migration theory 138 00:09:04,360 --> 00:09:09,120 Speaker 1: being the more probable one. Scholars still rejected his east 139 00:09:09,240 --> 00:09:12,840 Speaker 1: to west theory, and researchers built models showing that it 140 00:09:12,920 --> 00:09:17,000 Speaker 1: was highly unlikely that Polynesia was populated through the drift process. 141 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:22,079 Speaker 1: Hired All later led more expeditions to islands and voyages 142 00:09:22,160 --> 00:09:26,880 Speaker 1: and primitive vessels. In the nineteen fifties, New Zealander Andrew 143 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:31,400 Speaker 1: Sharp proposed that Polynesians did come from Asia, but that 144 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:34,679 Speaker 1: their vessels and navigational tools were too crude to get 145 00:09:34,720 --> 00:09:39,280 Speaker 1: them from Tahiti to Hawaii or New Zealand intentionally. In 146 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:44,320 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six, traditional Micronesian navigator Malpa Luke showed that 147 00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:49,720 Speaker 1: intentional voyaging was possible using non instrument navigational and land 148 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:54,400 Speaker 1: finding techniques, and Polynesia could have been populated that way. 149 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:58,439 Speaker 1: I'm Eve Jeff Code, and hopefully you know a little 150 00:09:58,440 --> 00:10:02,840 Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday. If you 151 00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:06,280 Speaker 1: have any burning questions or comments to tell us. You 152 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:10,040 Speaker 1: can find us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at T 153 00:10:10,520 --> 00:10:14,960 Speaker 1: D i h C podcast. Thank you so much for 154 00:10:15,080 --> 00:10:18,120 Speaker 1: listening and I hope to see you again tomorrow for 155 00:10:18,240 --> 00:10:27,400 Speaker 1: more tidbits of history. For more podcasts for My Heart Radio, 156 00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:30,040 Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 157 00:10:30,120 --> 00:10:31,360 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.