Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

In 2005, an official National Security Agency declassified report revealed that the Maddox had engaged the North Vietnamese on August 2, but that there may not have been any North Vietnamese vessels present during the engagement of August 4. The report stated,

"It is not simply that there is a different story as to what happened; it is that no attack happened that night."

In truth, Hanoi's navy was engaged in nothing that night but the salvage of two of the boats damaged on August 2.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_Inc...