History 12

Rachel McMillan
UNIT NINE
The Tet Offensive

Design criteria to determine what constitutes losing in the Vietnam War.

As the Vietnam War was a part of the Cold War, in order to be considered the loser of the Vietnam
War, the alleged country must have a poor image following the conflict. Furthermore, the losing party will
have encountered unnecessary casualties, and failed to make sufficient economic, military, or territorial
gains.
The United States were clearly losing the war by early 1968. Do you agree?
As the USA and USSR continued their struggle for ideological dominance during the Cold War
throughout the 1960s, the United States became involved in the Vietnam War in 1964 in order to inhibit a
communist occupation of South Vietnam, and subsequently, contain the spread of communism. By 1968,
five years before American soldiers had officially withdrawn from Vietnam, the United States could
already be considered the losing party in the Vietnam War. This conclusion can be drawn due to the poor
military image the USA gained among American citizens, the number of military and civilian deaths the
war had cost, and the economic deficit encountered as a result of Americas involvement.
For the first time in history, live footage from the front lines of a military conflict were being
broadcasted to fifty-million homes across America. Not surprisingly, domestic Americans were
continually shocked as they witnessed Viet Cong troops storming the US Embassy or an innocent-looking
Vietnam man being shot in the head at point-blank range by a Saigon police officer. Americans were also
updated on the state of the Vietnam War by an American journalist, Harrison Salisbury of the New York
Times, permitted to enter North Vietnam. Similar to the video broadcasts, Salisbury delivered appalling
news through his printed reports, speaking to the destruction of civilian areas caused by American
bombing campaigns. As a result of such media coverage, global and local public opinion began to turn
against the United States involvement in the Vietnam War, regardless of the fact that, from a military
perspective, the American and South Vietnamese forces were truly winning. The Tet Offensive remained a
clear victory for the Americans and South Vietnamese, as the operation annihilated many of the finest
fighters belonging to the Vietcong and wiped out the National Liberation Fronts organization in the
south. However, despite the incredible defeat suffered by the communist forces, the media in the United
States gave an impression of an endless war that could never be won (General Westmoreland, 1968).
Americans lost the support of their own people, resulting in a decrease in morale, and the adoption of a
poor image. Furthermore, Americans could no longer justify the incredible cost of involvement in the
Vietnam War, as both lives and money were being lost. 1968 saw the highest reported American deaths in
Vietnam, with the total reaching 16,592 that year alone, not including the extensive Vietnamese civilian
casualties encountered. President Johnson was also forced to announce an increase in taxes to fund the
war, as it was costing Americans twenty billion dollars annually. Due to these factors, the United States
public began to question American presence in Vietnam, which greatly influenced the decisions made by
American military commanders.
Lack of support from the American people, as well as widespread coverage of unspeakable
violence, led the United States Army to gain a poor reputation on a national and international scale. While
the United States had significant hopes of eventually winning the Vietnam War, their poor image, along
with a monumental amount of deaths and substantial economic loss, ultimately concludes that the USA
was losing the conflict by 1968.