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Position:Home>History> Result of Tet Offensive?Question: Result of Tet Offensive!? As a result of the Tet Offensive early in 1968:
a!.The American military suffered its worst defeat in history!. b!.The U!.S!. won the conflict against North Vietnam!. c!.American support of the conflict in Vietnam dropped sharply!. d!.The U!.S!. lost the conflict fought in Vietnam!. I'm think B or C!. They both occured!. I dont know which one is correct!.!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: C!. The Tet offensive was a tactical disaster for the communists!. The Viet Cong were totally destroyed as a fighting force and never again strong enough to mount a "phase 3" offensive in the Maoist style!. The NVA was beaten so soundly that Giap later confessed they were almost to the point of giving up, and they reverted to only "phase II" operations while licking their wounds for months to come!. But in the US, the battle was seen in a completely different light!. Especially prominent was Walter Cronkite's misinterpretation of the results!. When he decided it was a US defeat and pronounced the war unwinnable, a large section of the US populace believed him, so it became a huge strategic defeat for the US!. President Johnson summed it up :"If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost middle America!." Having a tactical victory turned into a strategic defeat by the media is a problem the military has still not forgotten but still hasn't completely come to terms with!.Www@QuestionHome@Com I won't give you the answer but I will tell you that B did not occur; we (the U!.S!.) lost (i!.e!. North Vietnam conquered South Vietnam and the two were united under a single communist government)!. You could actually make an argument for either C or D, however, depending on if you want the short term result or long term!. It's not A (Pearl Harbor, among others, was a worse defeat)!.Www@QuestionHome@Com a, c and d: but reality would have been different if the American Press hadn't lied to the American people and made it Appear to be a defeat!. I interviewed a People's Republic of Viet Nam General who was some sort of political officer or Commissar for the Viet Cong during that time!. After the Tet Offensive(Immediately after) The Viet Cong had orders to withdraw because they had LOST THE WAR! After reading the American press reports however, they got new orders to continue, because the press had seen the Tet Offensive as a victory for the Communists!.Www@QuestionHome@Com i agree B and C!. the US military defeated the north in the Tet Offensive, but it was reported has a victory for the north, so public opinion dropped!.Www@QuestionHome@Com |