The Vietnamese did not commit aggressive acts against the United States until after the United States decided to get involved. Furthermore, Grotius would not have accepted that the propagation of a political ideology was a sufficient cause of potential loss of human life. This also affects the requirement of proportionality. While the United States viewed the spread of communism as a threat to global democracy, the threat to democracy does not in itself constitute a threat to human life. Additionally, France had proven that lives would be lost fighting an uprising in Vietnam. As American involvement grew, so did Vietnamese military power. This relationship was inversely proportional to the U.S. military's reasonable chance of success. Throughout the conflict, it became increasingly clear that contributing more troops would only lead to more loss of life. On August 7, 1964, the American Congress adopted the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. (HJ Resolution 1145, 1964) This satisfied both requirements of public declaration and authorization by a legitimate authority. Finally, the Vietnam War was not a last resort. The United States did not support the Geneva Accords of July 20, 1954. If the United States had allowed free elections and supported unification efforts, the Vietnam War could have been avoided.