Lyndon Baines Johnson gives televised report on Gulf of Tonkin incident on August 4th, 1964. "...it is my duty to the American people to report that renewed hostile actions against United States ships on the high seas in the Gulf of Tonkin have today required me to order the military forces of the United States to take action in reply." Color footage of naval soldiers looking through binoculars and pointing in the distance across the water. USS Maddox Destroyer, at sea. Naval personnel climb into hatch aboard war boat.