10+ Conspiracy Theories That Turned Out to be True

The U.S. announced in August 1964 that North Vietnamese boats had attacked American warships twice in three days. Congress quickly gave President Johnson power to expand the Vietnam War. But some sailors and a few senators doubted the second attack ever happened at all.

The doubters were right, though it took decades to prove. Defense Secretary Robert McNamara admitted in 1995 the second attack probably never occurred, and a 2005 NSA study showed the evidence had been mishandled. The war it helped grow killed over 58,000 Americans and millions of Vietnamese.