Tet+Offensive

The Tet Offensive (1968)

The Tet Offensive started on January 21, 1968 and lasted for 77 days. The attack began on the Tet holiday, Vietnamese New Year, and there was a traditional cease-fire during the holiday but the North Vietnamese broke it by launching a major attack on a lot of South Vietnamese cities as shown on the map to the right. This was a major counterattack from the North Vietnamese. One specific place was a U.S. marine base at Khe Sanh in northwest South Vietnam. During this time, 6000 U.S. marines held off 20,000 Vietnamese troops at the base in Khe Sanh. The U.S. and ARVN forces successfully pushed back the Viet Cong attack and once the fighting had ended the Viet Cong forces were permanently crippled and failed to fight effectively after the offensive. Some of war's deadliest fighting took place during the Tet Offensive. Overall, the Tet Offensive was a military success for U.S. and ARVN forces but was a political and media nightmare.

The Johnson Administration could not convince the public that this had been a defeat for the Communists. The highest casualty rate of the war for a single week took place during the Tet Offensive, 543 dead and 2547 wounded, and 1968 became the deadliest year of the war with 16,592 dead. These numbers scared the public and caused the disbelief that the U.S. had been the victors of the Tet Offensive. The government also called for a draft of 48,000 more soldiers on February 23. Five days later Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense, resigned from office. All of this took place in the short period of time and it wasn't easy for government to handle.

The Tet Offensive was a success for the military but a huge mess for the government to clean up. However, the Tet Offensive was not a U.S. operation so we couldn't stop it if it was causing a political nightmare, we just had to go with it and fight the North Vietnamese the best we could. Overall, I think the military success was worth all the political problems and all the lost lives because it brought the war closer to an end and it was only a matter of time before the Vietnamese would have to negotiate. Even if the public didn't believe the Johnson Administration right away, in the long run they would see that it was successful.

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__ Citations __

Edmonds, Anthony O. //The War in Vietnam// . WestPort, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1998. 59-62. Print.

 Hickman, Kennedy. "Vietnam War Tet Offensive." //About.com// . N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov 2010. .