January, 1968: Keh Sanh, The Tet Offensive, and the Unraveling of an American Presidency
[2023-10-24 09:44:53]
When President Johnson submitted his state speech to Congress on January 17, 1968, he optimistically talked about the war in Vietnam. He quoted a lot of military achievements so far, mentioned the word "progress" 5 times, discussed the "fruitful" visit with the Pope, discussed with peace and tenor, settled the next peace solution Proposed measures. ("Johnson 's Annual Lecture"). Within three months - in a speech as important as the American citizen - Johnson insisted that he would not seek re - election ("Speech to the country of Johnson").
On January 21, 1968, the PAVN army began a massive bombardment of a US Navy garrison located in Qi Sun on the main road from southern Vietnam to Laos. When President Lyndon Johnson and General William Westmoreland focused on the defense of Khe Sanh, 70 000 people of Giap were ready to start the real goal, Tet Offensive. A particularly bold attack against the US Embassy in Saigon, the Vietnamese army entered the building before the US troops destroyed. A bold attack on the US Embassy and its first success shocked Americans and international observers who saw the images of the Holocaust on TV.
At the same time as Tet attacks, Kei Sun's siege battles emphasized the image of war, an infinite, expensive, meaningless struggle. Between January 20th and April 14th 1968, 30,000 to 40,000 NVA troops enclosed 6,000 US Marines and ARVN at the summit of Khe Sanh in the northwest corner of South Vietnam. Using artillery and air force, including the B - 52 attack, the US eventually broke the siege and forced the NVA to withdraw. However, at the end of June the Marines abandoned the base and adopted a more fluid form of combat in the demilitarized zone. Again, large participation seems to have invisible results.
Eugene McCarthy's entry into the presidential election campaign in 1968 played a major role in promoting the antiwar movement, but as Americans noticed that North Vietnam refused to wear it, Ke Xan And the fight of Tetoffens changed the hearts of many people. According to a poll conducted in March 1967, more than half of Americans indicated that Johnson supported approaching the war, but by 1968 the ratio fell to about one third . Anthony Decotes told LIFE that the anti-war movement is rooted in political analysis rather than the guarantee that the star of the early protesters studded. "This is capitalism, about what needs to be knocked down," he said.
Early in the morning of January 31, 1968, the North Vietnamese army began attacking during the Vietnam War. Under the leadership of the Northern Vietnamese government, Teto's attack simultaneously included attacks of about 85,000 soldiers. The attacks took place in five major cities of South Vietnam, dozens of military facilities, and dozens of municipalities throughout South Vietnam. The name of the crime came from a Vietnamese New Year 's holiday, during which an attack occurred.