The Tet Truce

• As the celebration of the lunar new year, the Tet holiday is the most important holiday on the Vietnamese calendar

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• In previous years, the holiday had been the occasion for an informal truce in the Vietnam War between South Vietnam and North Vietnam

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• 1968 was to be no different, so American did not expect any fighting

The Tet Offensive

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• In early 1968, the North Vietnamese military chose Tet as the occasion for the first large scale coordinated series of surprise attacks

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• Ho Chi Minh believed that the attacks would cause ARVN forces to collapse

Tet Offensive Begins

• North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces launched a series 120 coordinated attacks​

• The attacks happened as families began their observances of Tet

• ​The attack on the U.S. Embassy, and its initial success, stunned American observers, who saw images of the carnage broadcast on television as it occurred

Video of Attack on American Embassy in Saigon

https://myarkansaspbs.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/5c7743df-a389-4045-b0cc-d3d2f0b4948e/attack-on-the-us-embassy-video-ken-burns-lynn-novick-the-vietnam-war/#.WfI0ElWnHIU​

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Press Coverage of the Tet Offensive

https://myarkansaspbs.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/38ab0465-47e7-44b0-be7d-0a2e02f8982d/press-coverage-of-the-tet-offensive-video-ken-burns-lynn-novick-the-vietnam-war/#.WfI1OFWnHIU​

The Tet Offensive

https://myarkansaspbs.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/1acd1aae-7b42-46c0-bff2-1f961b87b804/the-tet-offensive-video-ken-burns-lynn-novick-the-vietnam-war/#.WfI3k1WnHIU​

Impact of the Tet Offensive

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• The Tet Offensive was a military disaster for the communists, but it succeeded in shocking the American people and became a psychological defeat for the United States.

• From the comfort of their televisions, Americans witnessed enemy soldiers storm the U.S. embassy and attack U.S. bases

Impact of the Tet Offensive

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• The President and U.S. generals had been claiming the end of the war was in sight

• Now it was clear that a long struggle was still ahead

• Faith in the U.S. leadership had been shaken, and anti-war feeling rose at home