Tet Offensive Turning Points

The Tet Offensive was a major turning point in the Vietnam War for both North Vietnam and the United States. The offensive caught the United States and South Vietnam by surprise and really called into question the claims of the Johnson administration that the United States was winning the war: “The North Vietnamese appeared so bloodied by the campaigns of 1967 that the Americans did not conceive they could bounce back and deliver a blow of the magnitude of Tet” (Herring, 237). Tet also had an impact on the opinion of the American public regarding the war. The confidence many Americans had in their government was already on shaky ground prior to the offensive, but I believe Tet was a reality check for anybody who believed that the Vietnam War

was coming to an end. If the North Vietnamese forces were capable of launching such an attack, was the United States’ strategy in Vietnam really that effective?
I cannot say that I believe Tet was entirely a U.S.

military victory, despite the fact that the North Vietnamese forces suffered heavy losses. However, the NLF did most of the fighting during Tet and suffered huge losses from which it could not recover and may have severely crippled its ability as an effective fighting force (Herring, 240). Hanoi’s attempt to deliver a knockout blow to South Vietnamese and American forces was hindered due to the prematurity of attacks in some areas and poor timing (Herring, 237). Had Tet been much more coordinated, it is very possible that the losses suffered by the U.S. and South Vietnam could have been far greater.
I would have to say that Tet definitely was a strategic and political loss for the United States. The strategy for pacifying rural areas in South Vietnam was interrupted because ARVN forces had to mobilize to defend the cities and damage and destruction of the cities produced a massive amount of refugees that the Saigon government lacked the ability to deal with (Herring, 240). Politically, Tet was damaging to the Johnson administration because it exposed the reality of the situation in Vietnam. Many Americans who may have believed that the war was coming to an end were in for an unpleasant

surprise.
I think that perhaps the press did misrepresent or exaggerate certain events of Tet but I also think the Johnson administration did a lackluster job at preparing the American public for the reality of the offensive. It became clear that many Americans were dissatisfied with the war and how it was being handled: “… an overwhelming majority of Americans (78 percent) believed that the United States was not making any progress in Vietnam” (Herring, 250). The fact that the war was being broadcast on television also had an impact on the opinion of many American citizens: “The sight of the Viet Cong in the U.S. embassy shook the confidence of many Americans in the prospects for final victory in South Vietnam” (Duiker, 213). It was difficult for many Americans to believe that the U.S. strategy was effective if the North Vietnamese could coordinate such an attack.