Tet Offensive Research Paper

During the 1960s our nation was going through many important and crucial events. From the Vietnam War to national politics, and even civil rights, our country was changing a lot. In particular, the year 1968, was when our country went through a major turning point, especially when you take in consideration the major events that involved the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement such as the “Tet Offense”, violent protests, and the Civil Rights Act being passed.

The Tet offensive was when the Viet Kong decided to attack on the week of Tet. Tet was similar to our new years and in the previous years neither side of the war had ever fought on that day. Suddenly Tet came and we (the United States) was being attacked. This played a huge role in society. Eventually this lead to Cronkite announcing that this war was not winnable, it also lead to LBJ announcing that he would not run again for president. Both of these were a wake up call to the United States basically letting them know that we are way further in on the war then we had expected. This also stated that we could not win the war, making more and more riots happen at home. No one wanted the United States at war anymore for they thought that they were there for no reason and we weren't going to win so why not come home? Tet Offensive also impacts the following topics.

During the 1960s our nation was going through many important and crucial events. From the Vietnam War, to national politics, and even civil rights, our country was changing a lot. In particular the year 1968 was a year that was filled with change, conflict, and turmoil. With events such as the assassinations of prominent political and social leaders within the United States such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy to the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, and everything else in between, 1968 proved to be a very challenging year for America. The events of 1968 didn’t only impact the period of time that they occurred in but they continue to influence society today.

The Tet Offensive and Counteroffensive caused horrible impacts on the war through its battles, and causing the deaths of U.S. and South Vietnamese forces, and discouraging future war efforts. The Tet Offensive was a plan forged by the Northern Vietnam forces to strike back and cripple the Saigon government, the government of South Vietnam, and destroy the hope of American Victory. The Northern Vietnamese distracted attention away from from multiple large cities that would be the basis of the attack and got the U.S. to send 50,000 troops to Khe Sanh, the city that many  Americans and South Vietnamese were expecting the attack to take place. However, on January 31, 1967, the Northern Vietnamese attacked 36 out of 44 provincial capitals, 64 district capitals, and five major cities (“Tet Brings The War Home 1,2). The Northern Vietnamese’s attack was an attack against, not only against many of South Vietnamese cities and provinces, but also the hopes of the American Government.

The United States presidential election of 1968 was the 46th quadrennial United States presidential election. It was a wrenching national experience, conducted against a backdrop that included the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. and subsequent race riots across the nation, the assassination of

Imagine you are sitting on the couch in the living room, and you look at the news and you see that the leader of the civil rights movement was shot. This is the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. James Earl Ray had a very bad early life. James had done very many crimes and the worst, the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. James had a bad prison life. James had a bad early life, he did many crimes, and he also had a bad prison life.

January 31, 1968 North Vietnamese attacked over 100 cities throughout South Vietnam on thirty-five of forty-four province capitals, thirty-six district towns, and many villages and hamlets. Dubbed the “Tet Offensive” because it coincided with the Vietnamese New Year’s holiday, Tet, was a turning point in the Vietnam War. Most historians agree that the Tet Offensive was the turning point in the Vietnam War as events shifted the role of United States involvement in Southeast Asia as the shock it produced was the catalyst that led to the reevaluation of U.S. policy. While intelligence failure contributed to the shift in the Vietnam War, most historians have disagreed on the role of the media in aiding the American public’s views against the war.

Martin Luther King Jr. was not only a huge civil rights activist, but a person to look up to in such dire times. He gave people hope and spoke of the equality for all. Due to his popularity and worldwide recognition, his death was of course a huge topic to be discussed. On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther Jr. was shot outside his hotel room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was rushed to the hospital and later pronounced dead at 7:05 that evening. The announcement of his death immediately caused an uproar and later even violence to occur. Martin Luther King Jr’s death was no ordinary death, upon investigating the case, questions were being brought up. This lead to conspiracy theories to be made about the case of his murder.

The assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. caused racial tensions to escalate even more. “Many whites openly celebrated the murder.” (Westheider 97) “The feeling of anger and frustration did not

Preceding Robert F. Kennedy’s assassination was North Vietnam’s Tet Offensive against the United States which “signified the beginning of the end of U.S involvement in the Vietnam War” (CNN). Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, “was a holiday during which the North and South had previously observed an informal truce” (CNN). However, on January 31st, 1968, a “coordinated attack by Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese targeted 36 major cities and towns in South Vietnam” (CNN). Despite the heavy casualties, “North Vietnam achieved a strategic victory with the Tet Offensive, as the attacks marked a turning point in the Vietnam War and the beginning of the slow, painful American withdrawal from the region” (“Tet Offensive”). This attack was a crucial turning point in the war because the ambush resulted in Americans withdrawing their support of the war. Before the offensive, the U.S.

Martin Luther was a civil rights activist, a clergy and one of the key personalities behind the formation of the American Civil Rights Movement. The major goal of the movement was to advocate for the abolishment the racial discrimination of the African Americans population. King was shot on 4th April 1968 while he was his motel room at Memphis, Tennessee and was pronounced dead that evening while in hospital2. After the killing, James Earl Ray, who was convicted for murdering King, escaped but was arrested after two months in London. Many people believe that the government was involved in the assassination. Following the death of King, lots of riots and protests emerged in different cities across US.

How significant was the Tet Offensive in achieving a communist victory in Vietnam by 1975?

The Battle of Huế is a battle of the Vietnam War that took place in the city of Hue, from January 31 to March 3, 1968. One of the longest and most bloody of the war, this battle is part of the T offensivet offensive, launched by the National Front of Liberation of South Vietnam (or Viet Cong) and the Vietnamese People's Army, which succeed at the cost of enormous losses to be taken and hold 28 days this imperial city of great symbolic importance for Vietnamese. The battle is ultimately a military victory for the Republic of Vietnam and the US forces chasing the Hue Communist

Then, on January 31, 1968, the North Vietnamese Army, supported by the Vietcong, launched the Tet Offensive, a series of surprise attacks on cities and towns throughout South Vietnam. Militarily, American forces repelled the attacks and retook the cities initially occupied by the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong. However, television portrayed the attack as an appalling defeat for the United States. In addition, the Tet Offensive made the brutality of the war very visible to Americans as the viewing public watched graphic footage of a prisoner being shot through the head by a South Vietnamese general.

Racism was a larger issue back in the 1930’s than it is today. During the 1930’s many Black Americans were unable to find jobs. With the Great Depression came the “last hired first fired” mindset. Many African Americans felt that this was targeted towards them (Racial 5). This along with Jim Crow laws kept most blacks in a level of poverty, which added to the discrimination (Racial 7). Throughout this time, all the way up into the 1960’s and 1970’s African Americans were under great segregation. During this thirty years, great strides toward social equality were made, but at the cost of numerous racial driven incidents. Many great African American icons were assassinated during this time. Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965 because he stood up against racial oppression as well as Martin Luther King Jr. who was assassinated in 1968. Both of these two men were part of the leading force in the desegregation of America (Rosenberg 1). This movement led to great tension between the African American culture and white culture, which led to many very violent cases between the races. A great