The Gulf of Tonkin Incident was a series of events that occurred on August 2 and 4, 1964, in which the United States Navy destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy were allegedly attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. In response to the incident, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered air strikes against North Vietnam and requested a resolution from Congress that would grant him broad powers to wage war in Southeast Asia. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on August 7, 1964, which gave Johnson the authority to use military force in Vietnam without a formal declaration of war.