46 years ago today the Vietnam War Tet Offensive began. The North Vietnamese Army and local Viet Cong guerrilas attacked some 200 South Vietnamese cities and military installations. Goal was to foment a popular uprising, overthrow the South Vietnamese government and thus force the U.S. to withdraw. Public opinion here shifted against the war as Tet seemed to belie the official line that we were winning. Just read This Time We Win: a Study of Tet that posits in fact the Communists failed. No uprising occurred, they sustained very heavy losses, and the Viet Cong were no longer effective from then on. Surprisingly, polls showed that a majority favored escalation of the war through attacks on North Vietnam and their sanctuaries in Cambodia and Laos. Instead LBJ tried to force a negociated end. (Cont above)
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 16:25:37 +0000