By December 1967, Intelligence was given reports of significant activity on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, then a striking build-up of NVA troops near the U.S. Base of Khe Sanh. In truth, the Communists were making themselves visible to make a diversionary attack on the base, making the Americans believe that this was the head-on battle they'd been waiting for.
By January 21st 1968, in preparation of the main Tet Offensive, the two whole NVA divisions attacked Khe Sanh. The U.S. troops that were stationed mainly consisted of Marines, but the Americans brought in their best troops and even a half the U.S. Army's mobile reserve units were sent to reinforce the base while it was bombarded by 360 NVA Artillery shells each day. President Johnson and General Westmoreland directed 24'000 airstrikes against the attackers. They believed that Khe Sanh was the true objective for American prestige.
The Tet Offensive
While Khe Sanh was standing by to be overrun, the Vietcong secretly smuggled weapons in rice bags and their underground tunnels. They had moved into their target cities under the disguise of the surrounding civilian crowds. As it was getting to the end of January, most South Vietnamese and ARVN troops were preoccupied with their annual holiday.
The Tet Lunar New Year was coming. An important holiday in the Vietnamese year. It's like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and Easter all together. Many ARVN soldiers, believing that a traditional truce was in effect were given permission to visit their families. On the early morning of January 30th 1968, tens of thousands of Vietcong deceitfully took advantage of the Tet Lunar New Year to launch their offensive all over the country. Within minutes of each other, bases, towns and cities were attacked by Vietcong. An estimated number of 84'000 Vietcong and NVA troops attacked every strategic area in South Vietnam. In Saigon, Vietcong had attacked the city's radio station, it's Presidential Palace, and the U.S. Embassy was broken into by Vietcong Sappers.
The U.S. and the ARVN had managed to restore control pretty quickly, except for the city of Hue which was one of the most important cities in the country. 5'000 NVA and the Vietcong had occupied the city of Hue both north and south of the Perfume River. Only two areas that were occupied by American and ARVN troops held out against the Communists. Hue City was one of the bloodiest battles Vietnam War, with intense close-quarter fighting in the middle of its ancient Citadel. After over a month of heavy fighting, Hue was back under South Vietnamese control at the cost of the lives of 150 U.S. Marines and 421 ARVN troops.Ho Chi Minh and General Giap had failed to bring up a rebellion among the South Vietnamese people. They'd failed to defeat the U.S. and ARVN in battle. Out of over 100 towns and cities that were attacked in the Tet Offensive, not even one was held on by the Communists. It was a devastating loss for the NVA and the Vietcong. In the big picture of things, it must have been a turning point. The U.S. troops did a wonderful job at fighting back and succeeded, or at least, that's what they thought.....
"The Employer's" Loss
With cities like the capital of Saigon under attack, news crews in the city relayed eyewitnessed reports into homes across the world. Throughout the weeks the Tet fighting was waged, the news coverage showed pictures of conflict daily in American homes, and what the people saw was a far uglier version of the war than they were expecting. What seemed military insignificant was crucial to the minds of the American public.
It started doubtful in the years before Tet and the Johnson Administration was just reassuring the public that victory was inevitable. After Tet, things were falling apart for the war effort and in the next five years, it came more and more clear the war was unwinnable because of this. The footage pictures on television of the Vietcong on American soil inside the U.S. Embassy in Saigon sent shockwaves across the United States.
Shocking images from the summary of a South Vietnamese General executing a prisoner to the footage of a little girl who had burnt naked from a Napalm Strike four years later were broadcasted on the evening news.All this was not what many Americans believed they should be fighting for.
But the most decisive blow was that the television and newspaper images suggested that President Johnson and General Westmoreland had got it wrong. The Tet Offensive appeared to show that the Communists were actually a lot stronger than the American people had been told. The End of the War seemed to be an even longer way off than ever.
America's most respected Television News Anchorman, Walter Cronkite was in Vietnam exploring a tour of battlefields ravaged by Tet. When he got back home, a filed a negative report that would strike an accord with millions.
Due to the circumstances, this didn't give the U.S. government a good look against the threat of Communism. Major changes had to be made. 33 days after Cronkite's report, Lyndon Johnson went live on television to announce a reduction in the bombing, but he knew that a simple Arms Reduction wasn't enough just to change policy. He was going to face re-election as president later in the year which would be futile because people in his own party were openly campaigning against him on a Peace Ticket. So, to the surprise even of his closest colleagues, he ended his broadcast on a note of high political drama.
Afterwards, he was replaced by Richard Nixon as the new president. The Tet Offensive had taken its highest-profile victim, but it wouldn't stop there. In 1971, it was later revealed in the New York Times and Washington Post by Katharine Graham and Ben Bradlee that the government, including the National Defence, knew the war was unwinnable, but they took part in it anyway and lied to the public. Those drove public outcry higher and higher.
Richard Nixon remained as president from January 1969 until that night when he sent burglers to the Watergate Hotel who were quickly arrested by the police because they were helping Richard Nixon's re-election campaign. This showed that Nixon couldn't be trusted as president and it called for his immediate resignation.
