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Winston Churchill to Franklin D. Roosevelt, 7/31/1940 From the File Unit:  1940 Correspondence.  The Franklin D. Roosevelt/Winston Churchill Correspondence, 1939 - 1945. Papers as President, Map Room File, 1939 - 1945

Another installment in the on-going correspondence between British Prime Minister (and former First Lord of the Admiralty, hence the “Former Naval Person”) Winston Churchill to President Franklin Roosevelt. Churchill had kept FDR apprised of the latest developments in the war with Germany, as well making entreaties for materiel assistance in Great Britain’s war efforts.  Aspects of Churchill’s request would evolve into the “Destroyers for Bases” agreement, followed by the subsequent “Lend-Lease” program. 

President Ford traveled to Helsinki, Finland, to participate in  the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) 40 years ago this week. He joined the leaders of 34 other nations in signing the Final Act on August 1, 1975, in one of the major foreign policy events of his administration. 

President Ford saw the trip to the CSCE as an opportunity to get a commitment from leaders of Communist controlled countries to permit greater freedom of movement for people and freer flow of information. It also allowed him to meet with Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and follow up with the arms control negotiations from their previous summit at Vladivostok. Not everyone agreed with his decision to participate. The Wall Street Journal implored “Jerry, don’t go,” and several prominent politicians including Ronald Reagan stated their opposition. Americans of Eastern European descent also registered their disapproval, scheduling a vigil in protest of the administration’s policy. One sampling of White House mail on the Helsinki agreement measured 558 letters against it versus 32 in favor. Before signing the Final Act all of the heads of state addressed the gathering. “Peace is not a piece of paper,” President Ford said in his remarks. “But lasting peace is at least possible today because we have learned from the experiences of the last 30 years that peace is a process requiring mutual restraint and practical arrangements. This Conference is a part of that process – a challenge, not a conclusion. We face unresolved problems of military security in Europe; we face them with very real differences in values and in aims. But if we deal with them with careful preparation, if we focus on concrete issues, if we maintain forward movement, we have the right to expect real progress.” After the CSCE President Ford still faced negative reactions from those who viewed the Helsinki Accords as selling out Eastern Europe to the Soviet Union. Nevertheless, the agreement served as an important stepping stone in easing Cold War tensions and the Act’s human rights provisions helped Eastern Europeans seeking an end to the communist regimes in their countries.

The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolultion:

Joint Resolution for the Maintenance of International Peace and Security in Southeast Asia, (Public Law 88-408, House Joint Resolution 1145), also known as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, August 10, 1964

National Archives, General Records of the U.S. Government

In a late-night televised address on August 4, 1964, President Johnson announced that he had ordered retaliatory air strikes on the North Vietnamese in response to reports of their attacks earlier on U.S. Navy ships in the Gulf of Tonkin.

He then asked Congress to pass a resolution stressing that “our Government is united in its determination to take all necessary measures in support of freedom and in defense of peace in southeast Asia.”

The resolution stated that “Congress approves and supports the determination of the President, as Commander in Chief, to take all necessary measures to repeal any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression” in Southeast Asia, thereby providing a legal foundation for President Johnson’s escalation of the war.

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed Congress quickly on August 7, with only two dissenting votes in the Senate. President Johnson signed the resolution on August 10, 1964.

Read more at Prologue: Pieces of History » On exhibit: Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Seeking a brother’s release In this letter to the Union commander of the prisoner-of-war camp at Point Lookout, Maryland, one of four sisters asks the commander to release their brother. Writing on August 11, 1864, from Marietta, Ohio, Lou A. Briggs asks the commander to have pity as they were orphans and cannot “get along without him.” One sister was sick with consumption, she wrote, and “desires very much to see her brother once more in this world.”

Letter from Lou A. Briggs to the Commander of Point Lookout Military Prison Regarding Rufus Briggs, 08/11/1864  From the series Personal Letters to Confederate Prisoners at Point Lookout, Maryland, 1889 - 1904

The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Gulf of Tonkin Incident:

Fifty years ago on August 2, 1964, three North Vietnamese patrol boats attacked the USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin. The Maddox and aircraft from the USS Ticonderoga damaged all three hostile boats, almost sinking one. Following reports of a second alleged incident two days later, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave President Lyndon B. Johnson advance approval to respond to military aggression in Southeast Asia without congressional consultation, and leading to an escalation of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

Map of the U.S.S. Maddox Incident, 08/02/1964 - 08/07/1964

Photographs of North Vietnamese Torpedo Boat Approaching the U.S.S. Maddox During the Gulf of Tonkin Incident

Deck Log of the U.S.S. Maddox, 08/02/1964

Read more at Prologue: Pieces of History » On exhibit: Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

On August 3, 1789, President George Washington sent to the Senate a list of nominees to be port collectors. The name of each nominee appear next to each position with a note on the outcome of the Senate’s vote. “Aye” is written next to each name but Benjamin Fishbourn. Fishbourn was the first presidential nominee to be rejected by the Senate, and the event marked the beginning of the custom of senatorial courtesy—a tradition which continues today.

This tradition holds that the Senate may reject a nominee who is not supported by the nominee’s home state senators. It encourages the President to engage the Senate in the “advice” part of the nomination process, as well as the “consent” part.

The Fiftieth Anniversary of the Gulf of Tonkin Incident:

Telegram to the United States Embassy in Saigon, 08/03/1964

This message instructed the American Embassy in Saigon to hand a note of protest to the International Control Commission (ICC) concerning the North Vietnamese attack on the USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin. The ICC was requested to pass the protest to the Hanoi regime.

Fifty years ago the USS Maddox was attacked by 3 North Vietnamese patrol boats on August 2, 1964.  The incident would ultimately lead to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave President Lyndon B. Johnson advance approval to respond to military aggression in Southeast Asia without congressional consultation, and leading to an escalation of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War.

Read more at Prologue: Pieces of History » On exhibit: Gulf of Tonkin Resolution