What Role Did The Tet Offensive Play In Shaping The Vietnam War?
What Role Did the Tet Offensive Play in Shaping the Outcome of the War?
From a purely military, tactical point of view, the Tet Offensive was successful for the allied forces. By the end of the Tet Offensive, all Vietcong were expelled from each place they had invaded. However, the offensive was a dismal blow to the U.S. in regards to public support for the military actions in the Vietnam War. “By February 1968, the U.S. death toll in Vietnam had risen to more than 500 per week, and as the casualty numbers rose, U.S. public support declined (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d.).” As a result, the Tet Offensive became the turning point which would eventually end with the U.S. Forces withdrawing from the Vietnam War and the collapse of the South Vietnamese regime. The Tet Offensive shaped the outcome of the war in terms of politics, policy and public opinion within the United States. …show more content…
Many historians attribute this to the unfiltered media coverage that was available to the American people during and after the Tet Offensive. Namely, evidence that was contradictory to the positive narrative from the American leadership at the time. Examples, such as the famous image of brigadier general Nguyen Ngoc Loan, the chief of the national police, putting a bullet in the head of Nguyen Van Lem and Walter Cronkite’s famous broadcast challenging the president and the integrity of the American government, both played a major role in the swaying public opinion. By March of 1968, almost half of the Americans thought the war was a mistake, and 35% did believe it was coming to an end in the near future (Zelizer,
From a purely military, tactical point of view, the Tet Offensive was successful for the allied forces. By the end of the Tet Offensive, all Vietcong were expelled from each place they had invaded. However, the offensive was a dismal blow to the U.S. in regards to public support for the military actions in the Vietnam War. “By February 1968, the U.S. death toll in Vietnam had risen to more than 500 per week, and as the casualty numbers rose, U.S. public support declined (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d.).” As a result, the Tet Offensive became the turning point which would eventually end with the U.S. Forces withdrawing from the Vietnam War and the collapse of the South Vietnamese regime. The Tet Offensive shaped the outcome of the war in terms of politics, policy and public opinion within the United States. …show more content…
Many historians attribute this to the unfiltered media coverage that was available to the American people during and after the Tet Offensive. Namely, evidence that was contradictory to the positive narrative from the American leadership at the time. Examples, such as the famous image of brigadier general Nguyen Ngoc Loan, the chief of the national police, putting a bullet in the head of Nguyen Van Lem and Walter Cronkite’s famous broadcast challenging the president and the integrity of the American government, both played a major role in the swaying public opinion. By March of 1968, almost half of the Americans thought the war was a mistake, and 35% did believe it was coming to an end in the near future (Zelizer,