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“The Gulf of Tonkin incident,” Hallin observes, “was a classic of Cold War news management . . . On virtually every important point, the reporting of the two Gulf of Tonkin incidents . . . was either misleading or simply false”—and in accordance with the needs of the U.S. executive at that crucial moment. The New York Times had reported sabotage missions against the North as recently as July 23, and reported Hanoi’s August 2 protest of an attack on North Vietnamese villages by Laotian Air Force planes, but neither the Times nor the Washington Post mentioned these facts “either at the time of the incidents or in the weeks that followed, aside from inconspicuous sidebars on Hanoi’s ‘allegations’ [which were accurate, but dismissed] and a passing reference” in a column by James Reston. The reporting was “objective” in that it correctly reported U.S. government statements, raising no question about them, presenting no relevant background, and marginally citing Communist denials while proceeding to report the events as Washington wished them to be perceived.98

In subsequent weeks, the Times published a number of brief references to what was “charged” or “asserted” in the generally accurate reports from North Vietnam, which were rejected and dismissed by reporters while front-page stories and headlines presented the false Washington version as fact, with much speculation about Hanoi’s motives in sending a few patrol boats to attack the mighty U.S. Seventh Fleet. The relevant background continued to be ignored or buried with marginal references in back pages. The criticism by Senator Morse was barely mentioned, and dismissed. There was no hint of administration doubts that the August 4 incident had even taken place.99

The newsweeklies adhered still more rigidly to the government propaganda line, even providing vivid and dramatic accounts of the August 4 incident, which apparently never took place. The accurate criticism by Senators Gruening and Morse received a few lines, dismissed as “predictable” responses by the “irascible” Morse. There was no interest in their charge that the Tonkin Gulf resolution had been predated, also dismissed by the Times without inquiry. North Vietnamese and Chinese reactions were dismissed as “bluster” by Communists who “boiled with hatred and hostility toward the U.S.” (Newsweek) and “propaganda blasts” (U.S. News & World Report). None of the weeklies considered the possibility that U.S. actions might have provoked the August 2 incident, or that there were doubts in Washington about the August 4 attack, although some of the relevant facts had been briefly noted (e.g., Time, July 31, noting missions inside North Vietnam by parachuted sabotage teams). The U.S. government version was simply adopted as unquestioned truth, with no further discussion or inquiry necessary.100

There were ample grounds at the time for suspicion about the U.S. government version. The foreign press was able to see that serious questions arose. Le Monde presented public statements on all sides and an analysis of what the public record indicated. “Neither the Times nor the Post made any such analysis of the record,” simply taking the false Washington version to be correct and dismissing the accurate Communist “allegations” with a bare mention.101 In London, the New Statesman covered the U.S. and Chinese versions, including the (accurate) Chinese account of the U.S.-Saigon actions that preceded the incidents and the charge that the first was provoked by Washington while the second never occurred, and concluding that “the incidents in Vietnam do not seem quite as simple as the initial headlines indicated” (a substantial understatement). In the United States, the left-wing National Guardian, with five major articles, and I.F. Stone’s Weekly provided the most extensive, careful, and accurate account of the events. In contrast to the fevered rhetoric of the mainstream newsweeklies, the National Guardian simply described the facts that were available,