1964 in the Vietnam War On January 30 , 1964 , a successful coup led by General Nguyen Khanh ousted the military junta led by General Duong Van Minh from the leadership of South Vietnam . It came less than three months after Minh ' s junta had themselves come to power in a bloody coup against then President Ngo Dinh Diem . The coup was bloodless and took less than a few hours . The Battle of Long Dinh was a battle of the Vietnam War that involved the People ' s Liberation Armed Forces ( Viet Cong ) and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam ( ARVN ) . Operation Quyet Thang 202 was a 1964 Army of the Republic of Vietnam operation carried out with US support . The one month - long operation ended with heavy damages to the People ' s Liberation Armed Forces ' s ( Viet Cong ) communication line that linked Do Xa with other National Liberation Front controlled provinces . United Nations Security Council Resolution 189 , adopted unanimously on June 4 , 1964 , deplored an incident cased by the penetration of units of the Republic of Vietnam into Cambodia and requested compensation for the Cambodians . The resolution then requested that all States and authorities recognize and respect Cambodia ' s neutrality and territorial integrity , deciding to send 3 of its members to the places the most recent incidents had occurred to report back to the Council in 45 days with suggestions . The Battle of Nam Dong was fought on July 6 , 1964 , when the Viet Cong attacked the Nam Dong Civilian Irregular Defense Group ( CIDG ) camp in an attempt to overrun it . The first Australian , Warrant Officer Kevin Conway , died in the Vietnam war . Conway was a member of the Australian Army Training Team ( Vietnam ) AATTV . The Gulf of Tonkin Incident is the name given to two separate incidents involving the Democratic Republic of Vietnam ( North Vietnam ) and the United States in the waters of the Gulf of Tonkin . On August 2 , 1964 the US destroyer USS Maddox while performing a DeSoto mission , was engaged by three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats of the 135th Torpedo Squadron , a sea battle , in which the " Maddox " expended over 280 3 " and 5 " shells , and which involved the strafing from four USN F8 Crusader jet fighter bombers , all of which resulted in the damage to one US aircraft , one 14 . 5mm hit on the destroyer , 3 damaged torpedo boats , and 4 North Vietnamese sailors killed and 6 wounded ; with no US casualties . August . The second " Tonkin Gulf " incident , which occurred on August 4 , 1964 , was also a naval battle , but this time , may have involved the " " Tonkin Ghosts " " , and no actual NVN Torpedo Boat attacks . The outcome of this second incident was the passage by Congress of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution , which granted President Lyndon B . Johnson the authority to assist any Southeast Asia n country whose government was considered to be jeopardized by " communist aggression " . The resolution served as Johnson ' s legal justification for deploying US conventional forces and the commencement of open warfare against North Vietnam . Operation Pierce Arrow was a U . S . military operation in response to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident when the USS " Maddox " of the United States Navy was attacked , sustaining light damage as it gathered electronic intelligence while in the international waters of the Gulf of Tonkin . Nguyễn Văn Trỗi was executed on October 15 , 1964 . A Vietnamese electrical worker and Viet Cong ( National Liberation Front ) urban guerrilla . He became known after being captured by the South Vietnamese when trying to assassinate United States Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and future ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge , Jr . who were visiting South Vietnam in May 1963 . The Battle of An Lao occurred after the Viet Cong captured the district headquarters of An Lao , Binh Dinh , about 300 miles from Saigon . The Viet Cong were successful in repeatedly beating back large numbers of counterattacking ARVN troops . Operation " Barrel Roll " was a covert U . S . Air Force 2nd Air Division ( later the Seventh Air Force ) and U . S . Navy Task Force 77 , interdiction and close air support campaign conducted in the Kingdom of Laos between 14 December 1964 and 29 March 1973 concurrent with the Vietnam War . The Brinks Hotel in Saigon was bombed by the Vietcong on the evening of December 24 , 1964 , during the Vietnam War . Two Vietcong operatives detonated a car bomb underneath the hotel , which housed United States Army officers ; the explosion killed two American officers and injured approximately 60 , including military personnel and Vietnamese civilians . The Battle of Binh Gia , a Catholic village not far from Saigon ; is attacked by the VC . Both sides proclaim victory .