Hey guys! I wrote this paper for a year 12 modern history assessment. The paper focuses on the Impacts of the Tet Offensive on the US towards the end of the Vietnam War. Hopefully this will be useful to any other students studying Modern History as well as interesting to read! I have also linked a timeline and a bibliography that goes with the paper. Enjoy reading and feel free to leave any feedback or advice!
Impact of the Tet Offensive – 1968
The Tet Offensive was the largest military campaign by the Viet Cong against South Vietnamese forces, United States of America (USA) and its allies during the Vietnam War. Although the offensive resulted in a tactical victory for the Allies, it was also a strategic/propaganda victory for North Vietnam as it shocked the US government and public who had been led to believe that a coordinated attack was impossible. This led to a significant decline in the support for the war, ultimately forcing the US to seek negotiations and attempt to end the war.
Background – United States:
In early 1967, the US war strategy in Vietnam was to achieve a “crossover point” where the number of North Vietnamese troop casualty rate exceeded the recruitment rate. However, when the Military assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) met to produce a Special National Intelligence Estimate, they came up with different results. The CIA believed that the total number of North Vietnamese forces could be as high as 430,000, but the MACV were certain that the number of troops were no more than 300,000 (Dougan and Weiss). US General William Westmoreland was concerned that the American public would perceive this increase negatively as there now was evidence that the North Vietnamese had the capability and the will to continue a protracted war of attrition.” (Dougan and Weiss).
By mid-1967, the percentage of US citizens who believed that their involvement in Vietnam was a mistake had risen from 25% to 45% (Dougan and Weiss). This was mostly the result of rising casualties and the belief that the war seemed endless. According to polls in November, 55% called for a tougher war policy with the mindset that the US should either win the war or get out (Karnow). As a result of this, the US administration launched their “Success Offensive” in order to spin the public opinion of the war from stalemate to success. US news and media became flooded with propaganda including ‘kill ratios’ and ‘body counts’, the US Vice President Hubert Humphrey stated “we are beginning to win this struggle” and “we are on the offensive. Territory is being gained. We are making steady progress.” On NBC’s Today show (Dougan and Weiss). Field Force commander and General Bruce Palmer Jr. went as far as to say that “the Viet Cong have been defeated.” (Schmitz). At an address on the 21st of November, Westmoreland informed the press that NVA were “unable to mount a major offensive” and that “the end begins to come into view.” The opinion polls towards the war had indeed risen by 8%, but according to Dougan and Weiss in their book Nineteen Sixty-Eight the US were “more confused than convinced” and had adopted a “wait and see attitude.”
Background - North Vietnam:
The general opinion from various historians is that the formation of the Tet Offensive was a result of the US failure to swiftly end the war, the failure of the bombing campaign and the large anti-war movements in the US. The decision to launch this offensive however was much more complex.
The decision marked the end of a prolonged debate between the Moderates and the Militants within the North Vietnamese Government. The Moderates believed that the economic capability of North Vietnam is priority over support of the southern war. Their goal was to follow the Soviet example of peaceful coexistence through political reunification. They also argued that a revision of strategy was needed, calling for a return of guerrilla warfare as the US could not be defeated conventionally. The Militants however called for reunification of Vietnam through military action, similarly to the People’s Republic of China. They believed that all negotiations with the US should be broken off and to majorly focus on conventional warfare in the south rather than protracted guerrilla war.
The debate ended on the 27th of July 1967 with a mass arrest of hundreds of pro-Soviets, moderates and military officers whose opinions aligned with the moderates in an attempt to reaffirm autonomy in the government. This move strengthened the militants’ position. The result of this event was the rejection of negotiations with the allies, the abandonment of protracted guerrilla warfare and a focus on attacks on towns and cities in South Vietnam.
The basis for the Tet Offensive built on two conclusions. That, based on anti-war demonstrations in Saigon, that the South Vietnamese military were no longer a combat effective fighting force, and that a broad based attack in the south would spark a civilian uprising due to the US having such an unpopular presence. Provided that the offensive was successful, this would enable the North to sweep to a decisive victory.
Key issues Raised by the Tet Offensive:
The Vietnam War is one of the most well-known wars in western civilisation if not the world. It was the first time America had suffered a major defeat. This is mainly because they did not understand the North Vietnamese, and more specifically, why they were fighting. Historian James Paterson concluded that “The Unyielding determination of the enemy wore down the American commitment, which proved to be far less resolute.” Because land gains were almost meaningless in this war, kill ratios and body counts became the way of measuring who is winning and losing. The US believed that if they could kill or capture more communist troops than there were being recruited, NVA would simply give up communism, however, this is not what the NVA were fighting for. They were fighting for Vietnam. This misunderstanding combined with the dishonesty of the American government is what ultimately led to the US defeat.
It is important to understand the key issues raised by the Tet Offensive, as these issues are what revolutionised the way war is fought today. The most important issue of the Tet offensive is the shock felt by the American troops and citizens as they had been convinced by the Johnson Administration that the NVA troop count was at an all-time low, Saigon controlled 68% of Vietnamese villages as opposed to Hanoi’s 17% and that NVA troops and the Viet Cong were totally incapable of launching a major offensive (Schmitz).
The falsified reports from the Johnson Administration were a result of the so called “Success Offensive” which aimed to increase public opinion towards US involvement in Vietnam. Congress was fed with reports of body counts and kill ratios suggesting the “success” of the US and its Allies in Vietnam. The enemy troop counts that were provided to the congress and the media did not include Viet Cong militias as they were only regarded as low level communists used for information collection, despite the fact that these militias were responsible for over half of the US casualties (Dougan and Weiss). Before the Tet offensive, opinion polls towards the US involvement were at 53%, in September-October 1968, the polls were at 37% towards US involvement (Newport and Carrol).
The Vietnam War and specifically, the Tet offensive, was also famous for its uncensored broadcast to televisions across the western world. During the Tet Offensive, 90% of the evening news was purely devoted to Vietnam War coverage. Over 50 million Americans would tune in nightly. One of the most famous and most shocking images to come out of the Tet Offensive was the image of a street execution of a Viet Cong soldier by the Saigon police which truly revealed the savagery of war to the US.
Hundreds of news reporters were in Vietnam during the Tet offensive, one significant anchor who had ventured to Vietnam for a week was Walter Cronkite also known as the “most trusted man in America”. On the 27th of February 1968 he stepped out of his formal role as anchor to give his own personal conclusion. “To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who 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. On the off chance that military and political analysts are right, in the next few months we must test the enemy's intentions, in case this is indeed his last big gasp before negotiations. But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honourable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.” (Bates, Lichty, Miles, Spector and Young). This report and many others like it became one another of the key issues raised by the Tet Offensive. It convinced many Americans that there was no end to the war in sight and that the only way to peace was through negotiations.
The final key issue raised by the Tet Offensive, as a result of the public dissatisfaction with the war, were public protesting in American Universities and on the streets. From April 23rd to April 27th, anti-war protesters seized five university buildings in Columbia University and over 200,000 students refuse to attend class in protest of the war. Although they, being students, were not drafted into the war, many of their friends and family were during the Tet Offensive. In Chicago on the 28th of August, 10,000 anti-war activists rallied on the streets to protest against the war. They were met by over 26,000 police and national guardsmen. The result was of course broadcasted to the whole of America. In total, the US had experienced more civil unrest during the Tet Offensive than it ever had, with over 22 protests at over 100 schools.
The Tet offensive also had an impact in other countries fighting alongside the US at the time. In Australia, footage from the Offensive was also being broadcasted to televisions nationwide and young Australians were being conscripted to go and fight in the Tet offensive. The Australian government’s involvement was in order to help build relations with the US, however, it also sparked major protests from activist groups such as Save Our Sons (SOS) who were large groups of mothers and women whose sons and loved ones had been conscripted to fight. Mass protests took place in streets and in government buildings as well as teaching strikes in an attempt to end the conscription.
Conclusion:
The Tet Offensive was the largest, most costly on both sides and most reported period in the entirety of the Vietnam War. According to US military reports, of the 84,000 NVA forces and Viet Cong involved in the Tet Offensive, 69% were killed. Militarily, the Tet offensive was a decisive victory for the US. But for many of the American public, it will be the graphic images of death and destruction that continue to resonate the loudest.
Link to the timeline here
Link to bibliography here
Paper by Jakob Mcdonald, written on the 15th of July 2016.