The Tet Offensive of 1968 was a major turning point in the Vietnam War that triggered a wave of anti-war protests in the United States. During this offensive, Communist forces launched surprise attacks on U.S. and South Vietnamese bases, though they failed to hold them. However, it contradicted recent American claims of progress and led Walter Cronkite, a respected news anchor, to declare the war a stalemate. Around the same time, requests were made for over 260,000 additional troops, fueling public dissent. As protests grew larger and more frequent, support for the war declined rapidly, contributing to Lyndon Johnson's decision not to seek re-election that year and the country's growing divisions over American involvement

1. Essay On Tet Offensive
In August of 1964, the USS Maddox had reported being engaged by the North Vietnamese Navy.
This was known as the Gulf of Tonkin incident and lead to the official involvement of the U.S. in
Vietnam with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Additionally, this also lead to the conscription of
military aged males between the ages of 18–25. Typically, the conscription was taken from the poor
and working classes, those who afford college. Considering the conscription, this lead to 25 percent
our forces being draftee. On the Vietnam new year known as Tet, some 70,000 NVA and VC
conducted a mass attack on U.S. and South Vietnam held bases and towns. Although the Tet
Offensive failed in taking control over these bases and town, it was still claimed as a victory...show
more content...
I found this unjustified, because they are promoting and inciting military desertion. According to the
Uniformed Code of Military Justice(UCMJ), Article 85, "Any member of the Armed forces who (2)
quits his unit, organization, or place of duty with intent to avoid hazardous duty or to shirk important
service...(C) Any person found guilty of desertion or attempt to desert shall be punished, if the
offense is committed in time of war, by death..." In my opinion, the death penalty should have been
applied at the start of GI's refusing to fight in the conflict, this would have detoured others from
following suit. Another antiwar group is the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and in 1971, they
wrote a letter entitled, Statement to Congress. I found it interesting how, within their letter they
state, "Each day to facilitate the process by which the United States washes her hands of Vietnam
someone has to give up his life so that the United States doesn't have to admit something that the
entire world already knows, so that we can't say that we have made a
Get more content on HelpWriting.net

2. Tet Offensive Essay
The Tet Offensive played a key role triggering a wave of peak anti–war movements after that.
Moreover, after that event, American media "took an increasingly unfavorable view of U.S.
public policy" . It was remarkable that in the evening broadcast on February 27, 1968, Walter
Cronkite 'broke the rule' by giving such comment on CBS evening news: "To say that we are
closer to victory today is to believe in the face of the evidence, the optimists we have been wrong
in the past. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say
that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion." At the same
time, General Westmoreland was reported to have requested more than 260,000 additional troops by
the New York Times. All of these events became a catalyst to a public protest.
...show more content...
President Johnson declared his intention not to run for the next presidency term. This event was
stated by John Hart, an NBC reporter: "It was as if the normal restraints on human behavior, having
been lifted in Vietnam were slipping dangerously in this country as well. The violence of the war,
which divided the country, was echoed by violence in the streets, which divided the country
further." The Vietnam War was attributed to dividing the country since 1965, when American army
forces was officially involved in Vietnam, and the number of soldiers being sent and lost their lives
in the battle fields grew up dramatically after that. According to statistics, the number of soldiers
killed in the war was 300 . The result from Gallup poll opinion "Americans look back at Vietnam
war" revealed that in 1968, more than half of interviewers thought that the war was a mistake in the
Get more content on HelpWriting.net

3. 1968 Tet Offensive
"All of a sudden I heard them shooting, then I saw people dropping to the ground. Then I dropped to
the ground," said a victim of the 1970 Kent State shooting (Adams). The Vietnam War was a
controversial war for the United States that was long and costly. The war was the start of communist
North Vietnam against South Vietnam. As an ally of South Vietnam, the US supported them in the
war. American involvement in the war led the communists of the northern part of Vietnam against
the more democratic south. Opposition to the war in the US divided the American public. Many
protests occurred on college campuses a few resulting in multiple injuries and deaths. The Kent State
shooting was a focal point of the anti–war movement. The Kent State protests...show more content...
In 1963, the United States sent in 2,000 military advisors to support the South Vietnamese
government in the war (Digital History). At the beginning of the war, many Americans believed that
defending South Vietnam from communist aggression was in the country's favor, although as the
war continued, that opinion drastically changed ("The Antiwar Movement"). In 1965, President
Lyndon Johnson escalated the war by starting air strikes on North Vietnam. Later on in the war, the
1968 Tet Offensive turned many Americans against the war. This was a large series of attacks
resulting in many South Vietnamese and American casualties (Digital History). President Richard
Nixon served from 1969 to 1974 and when he was inaugurated the nation was deeply divided by the
war and over what was going to happen next. As the war continued more and more Americans grew
impatient over the increasing amount of casualties and escalating costs throughout the war. There
were large gatherings of anti–war protesters that helped bring attention to the public resentment of
the US involvement in the Vietnam War. By the late 1960s, peaceful demonstrations became violent
and the anti–war movement was rapidly growing ("The Antiwar Movement"). Protests across the
country were part of opposition against the military draft and US
Get more content on HelpWriting.net