To What Extent 1968 Tet Offensive Was a Main Turning Point in the Vietnam War

Identification and Evaluation of Sources

This investigation will explore the question: To what extent was the 1968 Tet Offensive a main turning point in the Vietnam War? This investigation will focus on the months leading up to the Tet Offensive. The Tet Offensive itself lasted from January to March of 1968, and the effects after were detrimental to the future of Vietnam. This war was named the most watched war the world has ever seen. The reason for this, is that during the Vietnam War, various journalists, news reporters and camera crews entered the Jungles of Vietnam and basically filmed all the gruesome details. This was then later aired on national television for the American families on the Homefront. These photographs and reports are flooded with information about this War. This allows for factual-accurate analysis on the effects of the Tet Offensive, given by the American People in Vietnam, as well as its impact during the war and the events that led up to it.

The first source that will be evaluated in depth is Tom Bowman’s article “Military Victory But Political Defeat: The Tet Offensive 50 Years Later” written in 2018. The origin of this source is valuable because Bowman takes first person accounts from general’s during the Vietnam War and evaluates the progression of the war through these statements. These statements are credible because Bowman has had an exceptional career reporting factual checked statements and being a reliable journalist. In his late career, Bowman took month long trips to report on the Iraq and Afghanistan war first hand. This led him to accurately presume the validity of the statements presented in his article. Bowman was able to obtain statements from credible personnel during the Vietnam war, for instance, the Army Captain of the South Vietnamese troops. Which he got very valuable information pertaining towards the Tet Offensive. His information allows us to be able to see in to the Vietnam War fifty years later. He gives precise dialogue of what exactly he heard on his days in Vietnam and that is very valuable towards this investigation, especially once you realize how many lies were told throughout the entire Vietnam War. It was chaos and he describes it as “No one knows what’s going on”. The problem with this is that mixed-messages were being sent from the American government to its soldiers in Vietnam. The origin of this source maybe limited, even though he is a highly credited and respected Journalist, his sources may have been misinterpreted or misunderstood. Although that seems highly unlikely.

The purpose of Bowman’s article is to portray and analyze first person accounts of the Tet Offensive. He does this by interviewing and quoting very high profile and credible sources throughout the article. Such as, Jim Coolican, a highly respected Marine Captain. This is valuable because Bowman gives conclusive facts by his sources to support his arguments against American Media. This article allows us to see in to the minds of the people facing the War by showing us pictures and showing us real dialogue from Marines in the Tet Offensive.

The second source that will be evaluated in depth is James R. Bullington’s First Hand Account: Trapped Behind Enemy Lines in Hue. The origin of the source is extremely valuable because Bullington is an esteemed diplomat stationed in the embassy the day the Tet Offensive broke out. Therefore, his accounts are credible and story is captivating. Bullington tell’s a story of how he escaped the war-torn town of Hue by disguising himself as a French priest. This allowed Bullington to give the readers a first hand account of someone witnessing the Offensive. The raid of the North Vietnamese prompted Bullington and his colleagues to act fast and calm the situation. Later, they end up stuck in a building in the middle of the Hue and witnessed the bloodiest part of Vietnam War. With the origin in mind, Bullington account may be limited because he was trapped in Vietnam during the raid for a lengthy period of time. This means that Bullington may not have been correctly informed, even though he saw the atrocities with his own eyes.

The purpose of this source is to show the Tet Offensive from a different point of view. Since this source came from a young civilian with no military background, he is more sensible and emotional towards the attack on him. This is however limited, because the stressful and dangerous environment that surrounded him may have clouded analyses and the facts at hand. In his account, he explicitly exclaims that he had never left the house that he was stationed in. He was forced to stay in the house to not be detected by communists and continue to lie to the North Vietnamese troops. This limits the source because he does not obtain enough outside information to explain the Viet Cong’s standpoint.

Investigation

On January 30, 1968, The North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong launched many coordinated attacks against the United States army and South Vietnamese Troops. Today, those attacks are known as the Tet Offensive. This day will go down in history as the turning point in the Vietnam War, where lies by the U.S.government would be exposed and would lead to the retaliation by their own citizens by protests. (T. B)

After the Tet Offensive, many ideal aspects of this war were seen as false and even a lie towards the American people (T. B). Lyndon B. Johnson (President at the time) had halted many direct attacks against the Viet Cong, his idea was to negotiate the terms of war on behalf of the U. S and try and back out of the war as soon as possible (K. D). After the halt, there was an eminent fear that Johnson was turning his back on the soldiers stationed in Vietnam (K. D). Many people believed that the U. S was winning the war, through these attacks it is now known that the U.S.was not fighting to win (K. D).

The Tet Offensive caused serious morale issues throughout the American soldiers. Soldiers fought to win the war, not to explicitly attack and destroy villages (A. G). After an attack, soldiers would try and rehabilitate the city or province they just attacked. They would give healthcare and food to survivors and innocent citizens that were affected in the attack (K. D). After the Offensive, the morale changed drastically. Soldiers would go attack and destroy these cities from a hateful but frustrated stand point because they felt that what they were doing had no meaning and that rash actions were helping the war. Propaganda and false hope was shown and given to the American people by media (K. D). They were told that there was a light at the end of the tunnel and that fighting was necessary for peace in the Vietnam region and later we find that is not true. (K. D)

Politically, this effected all of America. Soldiers returning from the Vietnam War, usually used recreational drugs such as Heroin and other drugs they were introduced to in Vietnam. These soldiers would use these drugs because they would return to a homeland that did not welcome them. They would return from war, for what they thought they were fighting for a noble cause, when in reality they were returning to a hateful and disrespectful United States. This in-turn caused a drug epidemic and nationwide spike in veterans out on the street throughout American and Vietnam (T. B).

Soldiers did not believe in their cause, because they were mostly lied to and respectively not want to fight anymore or enlist in the army at all (T. B). This also caused “draft-dodgers”. After the offensive, many citizens were placed on a draft to go to war. People drafted would often find excuses to not go to the war such as, religious beliefs, college or medical reasons (T. B). Before the offensive, many were open to risking their lives to fight this war because it was seen as just and that we were going to win the war. This want to help quickly faded once they realized they were fighting an un-just war.

One of the most prominent and memorable points of the Tet Offensive, was the Battle of Hue. This battle was the longest and bloodiest battles of the entire war. This battle lasted approximately 2 months and showed how the U.S.Army was outnumbered by the Viet Cong and struggled during the entire war, unlike popular belief that they were winning the war (E. V). 6 weeks before the battle broke out, the White House made an official statement saying that the war was over (E. V). Once this battle broke out, more lies were released to the American people (E. V). The government made a statement saying that during the Battle of Hue the Viet Cong forced had only captured a small amount of the city. In reality, South Vietnamese and U.S.Troops had only around 2 blocks of captured territory and the rest of Hue which was a very large city, was captured by Viet Cong (E. V. ). During this battle, it was the only city that fell under communist administration. A fired police chief of the city of Hue had taken over the mayor position during the battle (A. G). This helped communists gain a steep increase in political prestige and followers because they had instilled a revolutionary and communist administration in one of the largest and most important cities in South Vietnam (E. V). At the end of the battle, the Viet Cong had been successfully pushed out of Hue, with an absurd amount of deaths on both sides (A. G). The U. S and South Vietnamese took this as a victory, but in all reality, it was a loss on the American home front (E. V). Through all the lies, no one believed Washington or the leaders in Vietnam at the time. No one had the faintest idea of what was going on.

The Tet Offensive did not disrupt the natural flow or damage the Vietnamese economy (CIA). Viet Cong armies did not target or attack on any Vietnamese economic facilitates, which caused little to no future economic damage to Vietnam. They deliberately did not attack the economy, because the Viet Cong wanted the highest public opinion that they could achieve, and by destroying the economy they would not achieve that (CIA). The Viet Cong wanted to keep the economy as healthy and intact as possible because they relied on it for support and if they were to be successful on their offensive, have a strong economy to take over (CIA). Many main cities had severe damage to infrastructure such as bridges, roads and public buildings. Even cities such as Hue, where fighting and bombing had nearly leveled the city, they had a relatively strong economic recovery (CIA). The economy did have some severe hits, such as the rice production (CIA). In 1968, most rice crops had been practically destroyed (CIA). This caused long term food shortages during the Tet Offensive and the entire Vietnam War. Prices of food and rice also skyrocketed by 50-75% and most people could not afford to eat during the Offensive (CIA).

The most crucial and largest economic hit was of the citizens of Vietnam. More that 460,000 people had been displaced and labeled homeless in South Vietnam (CIA). More than 700,000 were living in refugee camps before the offensive. Another 170,000 refugees were displaced after the Offensive (CIA). This caused many problems starting with housing. In South Vietnam, roughly 50,000 homes and shelters were destroyed. Refugee camps were filled and many were left homeless and in the street (CIA). The optimistic part was that the housing destruction is much less than the refugees, inciting that many people left their homes and then would hope to return to their homes once the fighting decreases and state wide curfews were lifted (CIA). Many refugees had the luxury of moving in with family or friends where they were deemed safe and no government help was provided. (CIA) In conclusion, we can see that ultimately the Tet Offensive was the main turning point in the war. It was the main turning point because after the Tet Offensive, American people could not trust their own government, causing the people to turn their backs on the war. This is a prime example of a main turning point in the war and it accurately shows the eventual decline in the U.S.presence and eventually losing the war.

Reflection

This investigation allowed me to explore different ranges of sources, including primary and secondary sources. This allowed me to use a vast variety of sources and use various research methods to find conclusive evidence to the topic. This evidently led me to face certain problems that Historians have during the research gathering process. Firstly, through my wide variety of primary sources, I was able to understand the underlying problems historian’s face such as limitations to our own research and reliability of the answers. An article written by Kirk Donald, shows the behind the scenes and raw emotion of the Vietnam War and the Tet Offensive, proving why it would be a main turning point. While primary sources, such as this one, give great insight on the problem itself, the historical credibility and accuracy must be a question to any historian researching a specific topic

In writing this essay, I took every necessary precaution to use sources that are non-bias and historically credible to the Vietnam War and more specifically the Tet Offensive. Methods that I used can be widely compared to methods used by a historian, I analyzed the proper documents and articles related to the subject, I used a vast number of primary and secondary sources and looking at sources that did not agree or had a different perspective with my statement to understand the full truth.

During this process, it became very clear how difficult it is to properly synthesize and find limitations to certain articles. This is also a very common problem that historian’s face when trying to gather useful and non-bias information. Finally, I was able to use sources pertaining to the Tet Offensive and try and create new angles and perspectives on the main turning point of the Vietnam War. To back these claims up, I needed to use historically accurate and valid information to prove the different point of views.