Tet Offensive

In a 1968 news broadcast, a United Press International reporter, Bill Riley, reported,

“A young Negro man is head wrapped in a bandage, a combat bandage, being helped across the road now. Three others went out ahead of him, they are pulling him, telling him, come on, come on; they are about 100 feet from here. Two more wounded, three, four, five, coming out, just barely making it to the walls, the walls around the villa. The helicopter is circling over, one man chips over a piece of debris at the outside of the alley, at the end of the alley.” … "The alleyway where I can see now just outside the side gate of the Joint General Staff of the South Vietnamese Command is littered with bodies … to the U.S. … stretchers and a burned-out truck that carried in military policemen early in the morning. It looks like a scene from World War II as depicted on the -- here comes a -- one of the fire teams; we have to get down now" (1968 Year in Review).

“Announcer: UPI reporter Bill Reilly was describing the scene in Saigon at the beginning of a Viet Cong major offensive” (1968 Year in Review).

The Vietnam War peaked in the year of 1968, when the Tet Offensive was underway. On January 30, 1968, Viet Cong attacked cities across Vietnam. These attacks included ones at 36 of 44 provincial capitals, and the national capital of Saigon. (Goldfield, 860) The Tet Offensive was one of the most important battles of the Vietnam War because of the background of the planned attack, the aftermath regarding Vietnam, and the effect it had on the United States.

The Tet Offensive was named after the Vietnamese holiday, which is the celebration of the Lunar New Year. The Word “Tet” stands for “new year” in Vietnamese. An unwritten agreement was made with South Vietnam claiming that there would be a cease-fire during this important holiday so celebration could take place. The United States military was not completely positive that an attack would not occur, but they ignored the threat of one happening. The threat was ignored for three main reasons. First of all, the majority of Americans truly felt that the North Vietnamese and its other enemies would not go against their word and break the cease-fire agreement established in order to celebrate during the Lunar New Year holiday. Also, the superior U.S. commanders felt that the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong were not competent enough to initiate major combat operations. Lastly, there was already another military conflict occurring. There was a blockade at Khe Sanh continuing from its start on January 21st that in which the Army and Marines were involved. An end was not seen to this siege at Khe Sanh anytime soon, and it ended up lasting 77 days. (Borch) Being a surprise attack that the United States did not realize was capable of the enemies makes the Tet Offensive one of the most important battles of Vietnam.

The Tet Offensive is still considered the turning point of the Vietnam War. Previous to this attack, at the end of 1967, U.S. officials were confident of victory; too confident as a matter of fact. (Goldfield, 860). “How could, critics asked, the enemy mount such a campaign if the war was being won?” (Simon). Because the Tet Offensive was not expected and The United States was so sure of their victory, the Tet Offensive is labeled as the turning point of the Vietnam War, which expresses the battle’s significance.
From a military standpoint, the Tet Offensive failed from the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong. American forces held up against the attacks of the Offensive and reclaimed the cities that were initially under the power of the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong. The mission of the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong was not accomplished. (Simon) The total number of enemy deaths is unknown, but there was about 5,800 civilians dead in the ancient city of Hue when the US. took it over again. Many of them were killed by North Vietnam and Viet Cong. (Borch) The battle at Hue lasted about 26 days. (The Sixties: Moments in Time) Additionally, the North Vietnam and Viet Cong casualties are estimated to be about 52,000. This is significantly higher compared to the estimated 6,300 casualties from the American, South Korean, New Zealand, and Australian forces, with about 20,000 wounded in the fighting. The South Vietnam had been estimated to have about 11,600 casualties. (Borch) Due to the conditions of this Offensive, the defeat of the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops makes the battle important.
Even though the Tet Offensive was a military victory for the United States, it was a psychological defeat for America. By 1968, the United States public started thinking negatively about the war.

“Public opinion in the U.S., already beginning to turn against the war, looked at Tet as evidence that U.S. participation in Vietnam was too costly,” (Borch).

The psychological defeat of the United States shows how the Tet Offensive was negatively affecting the American people, and support for the war was dwindling, making the Tet Offensive an important battle because it noted these changes.

The war in Vietnam, before the Tet Offensive, was the first televised or “living room” war as well. The horrific fighting was filmed and shown on television networks every night to show updates of the war. These films were not edited or censored by the government like they had been in World War II. Publically, in-process battles were viewed. For example, this included the images of dead and wounded people, as well as coffins of dead people being unloaded. (Simon)

“One of the more shocking photographs of the war occurred during the TET offensive. A Viet Cong terrorist was captured by South Vietnamese military officials and summarily executed in the streets of Saigon” (Simon).

Walter Cronkite of CBS Evening News was extremely influential to the common public during the Vietnam War and the Tet Offensive. He persuaded America that we needed to get out of Vietnam. He said that the U.S. was “mired in a stalemate”. The United States continued their fighting in Vietnam though for another five years. This was because President Richard Nixon was persistent in his effort to keep his troops in Vietnam until South Vietnam and its allies were capable of fighting the war on their own. This never happened but the United States ended up leaving eventually. This led to the defeat of South Vietnamese army in 1975. (David) Because of how graphic the war became to the American public, it peaked during the Tet Offensive, which added to this offensive, making it one of the most important battles.

For the United States, the Tet Offensive was a political defeat too. Before the Tet Offensive, 48 percent of the United States felt that President Johnson was handling his job as president well. After the Tet Offensive, Johnson losing support from 12 percent of the American people, dropping down to 36 percent approval of his presidency. Also, before the Tet Offensive, 39 percent of the American population approved of Johnson’s handling of Vietnam. After the Tet Offensive, his approval of handling the Vietnam War conflicts dropped 13 percent to a total of only 26 percent. (Simon) This is most likely due President Johnson’s insisting in public statements that North Vietnam and Viet Cong were not able to launch any major attacks. After the Tet Offensive, this was obviously not the case. President Johnson announced nationally on March 21st that he will not be running for reelection in November of 1968. (Borch) That very same day, President Johnson announced,

“Tonight, I have ordered our aircraft and our naval vessels to make no attacks on North Vietnam. The area in which we are stopping our attacks includes almost 90 percent of North Vietnam’s population and most of its territory" (1968 Year in Review).

The impact that the Tet Offensive had on Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency makes the Tet Offensive one of the most significant battles of the Vietnam War.

Previous to the Tet Offensivee, a large percentage of the United States did not want to be fighting in the Vietnam War. There was a total of 45 percent of the United States that felt that the Vietnam War was a mistake. After the Tet Offensive took place, this total rose to 49 percent of the United States in opposition to the Vietnam War. That is about half the United States against the action of their government. The country was split greatly among the Vietnam War, especially after the Tet Offensive, which makes the Tet Offensive one of the most important battles of the Vietnam War. (Simon)

Between the years of the Vietnam War in the 1950s tension spanning to the late 1960s, the Tet Offensive that occurred on January 30, 1968 was one of the most important battles of them all. That is because the background of the planned attack informs people of the unpreparedness of the U.S. military. The United States did not expect the attack on the Southern Vietnam cities. After the Tet Offensive, the Vietnam Military suffered great losses of casualties and the United States were able to stand their ground, helping to protect South Vietnam. Although the United States troops were not defeated, the American people were psychologically overpowered. The support for the Vietnam rose higher than ever. The Tet Offensive shifted the entire Vietnam War.

Works Cited

“1968 Year in Review : Vietnam War/Tet Offensive.” United Press International, Inc. 1968. 23 May 2010. http://www.upi.com/Audio/Year_in_Review/Events-of-1968/Vietnam-War/Tet-Offensive /12303153093431-8.

Borch, Fred L. and Dorr, Robert F. “40th anniversary of Tet Offensive marked.” Army Times Publishing Company 31 Jan. 2008. 23 May 2010. http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/01/army_history_080131w/.

David, Saul. “History Warns Us to Withdraw.” CommonDreams.org 22 Oct. 2006. 23 May 2010. http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1022-24.htm.

Goldfield, David; Abbott, Anderson, Argersinger, Argersinger, Barney, Weir. The American Journey. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007: 860.

Simon, Dennis M. “The War in Vietnam,1965-1968.” Aug. 2002. 23 May 2010. http://faculty.smu.edu/dsimon/Change-Viet2.html.

“The Sixties: Moments in Time.” Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) 2005. 32 May 2010. http://www.pbs.org/opb/thesixties/timeline/timeline_text.html.