Vietnam War

===Tet Offensive===
[[File:T4 Vietcong Tet Offensive.jpg|thumb|Viet Cong before departing to participate in the Tet Offensive around Saigon-Gia Dinh]]
[[File:ARVN in action HD-SN-99-02062.JPEG|thumb|ARVN forces assault a stronghold in the [[Mekong Delta]].]]
{{Main|Tet Offensive|United States news media and the Vietnam War}}

In late 1967, the PAVN lured American forces into the hinterlands at [[Battle of Dak To|Đắk Tô]] and at the Marine [[Battle of Khe Sanh|Khe Sanh combat base]] in [[Quảng Trị Province]], where the U.S. fought a series of battles known as [[The Hill Fights]]. These actions were part of a diversionary strategy meant to draw U.S. forces towards the Central Highlands.<ref>{{Cite web |date=12 June 2006 |title=Interview with NVA General Tran Van Tra {{!}} HistoryNet |url=http://www.historynet.com/interview-with-nva-general-tran-van-tra.htm |access-date=1 June 2018 |website=www.historynet.com |language=en-US|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409152943/https://www.historynet.com/interview-with-nva-general-tran-van-tra/?f|archive-date=April 9, 2023}}</ref> Preparations were underway for the ''General Offensive, General Uprising'', known as Tet Mau Than, or the [[Tet Offensive]], with the intention of [[Văn Tiến Dũng]] for forces to launch "direct attacks on the American and puppet nerve centers—Saigon, [[Huế]], Danang, all the cities, towns and main bases{{Nbsp}}..."<ref name="Wilson">{{Cite news |date=20 October 2014 |title=The Urban Movement and the Planning and Execution of the Tet Offensive |language=en |work=Wilson Center |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/the-urban-movement-and-the-planning-and-execution-the-tet-offensive |access-date=1 June 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409152950/https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/the-urban-movement-and-the-planning-and-execution-the-tet-offensive|archive-date=April 9, 2023}}</ref> Le Duan sought to placate critics of the ongoing stalemate by planning a decisive victory.<ref name="Nguyen">{{Cite book |last=Nguyen |first=Lien-Hang T. |title=Hanoi's War: An International History of the War for Peace in Vietnam |date=2012 |publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press |isbn=978-1-4696-2835-6}}</ref>{{Rp|90–94}} He reasoned that this could be achieved through sparking a general uprising within the towns and cities,<ref name=Nguyen/>{{Rp|148}} along with mass defections among ARVN units, who were on holiday leave during the truce period.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wiest |first=Andrew |date=1 March 2018 |title=Opinion {{!}} The Tet Offensive Was Not About Americans |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/01/opinion/tet-offensive-americans-vietnam.html |access-date=1 June 2018 |issn=0362-4331|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416233243/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/01/opinion/tet-offensive-americans-vietnam.html|archive-date=April 16, 2023}}</ref>

The Tet Offensive began on 30 January 1968, as over 100 cities were attacked by over 85,000 VC/PAVN troops, including assaults on key military installations, headquarters, and government buildings and offices, including the [[United States Embassy, Saigon|U.S. Embassy in Saigon]].<ref name=McNamara/>{{Rp|363–365}} U.S. and South Vietnamese forces were initially shocked by the scale, intensity and deliberative planning of the urban offensive, as infiltration of personnel and weapons into the cities was accomplished covertly;<ref name=Wilson/> the offensive constituted an [[intelligence failure]] on the scale of [[Attack on Pearl Harbor|Pearl Harbor]].<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|556}} Most cities were recaptured within weeks, except the former imperial capital of Huế in which PAVN/Viet Cong troops captured most of the city and citadel except the headquarters of the [[1st Division (South Vietnam)|1st Division]] and held on in the fighting for 26 days.<ref name="Bowden">{{Cite book |last=Bowden |first=Mark |title=Hue 1968 A turning point of the American war in Vietnam |date=2017 |publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press}}</ref>{{Rp|495}} During that time, they had [[Massacre at Huế|executed approximately 2,800 unarmed Huế]] civilians and foreigners they considered to be enemy's spies.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hosmer |first=Stephen T. |title=Viet Cong Repression and its Implications for the Future |date=1970 |publisher=Rand Corporation |pages=72–8}}</ref><ref name=Bowden/>{{Rp|495}} In the following [[Battle of Huế]] American forces employed massive firepower that left 80 percent of the city in ruins.<ref name=Kolko/>{{Rp|308–309}} Further north, at Quảng Trị City, the [[Republic of Vietnam Airborne Division|ARVN Airborne Division]], the 1st Division and a regiment of the US [[1st Cavalry Division (United States)|1st Cavalry Division]] had managed to hold out and overcome an assault intended to capture the city.<ref name="Villard">{{Cite book |last=Villard |first=Erik B. |url=https://history.army.mil/html/books/vietnam/tet_battles/tet.pdf |title=The 1968 Tet Offensive Battles of Quang Tri City and Hue |date=2008 |publisher=U.S. Army Center of Military History |isbn=978-1-5142-8522-0|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605173341/https://history.army.mil/html/books/vietnam/tet_battles/tet.pdf|archive-date=June 5, 2023}}</ref>{{Rp|}}<ref name="Ankony">{{Cite book |last=Ankony |first=Robert C. |title=Lurps: A Ranger's Diary of Tet, Khe Sanh, A Shau, and Quang Tri |date=2009 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-7618-3281-2}}</ref>{{Rp|104}} In Saigon, Viet Cong/PAVN fighters had captured areas in and around the city, attacking key installations and the neighborhood of Cholon before US and ARVN forces dislodged them after three weeks.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|479}} During one battle, [[Peter Arnett]] reported an infantry commander saying of the [[Battle of Bến Tre]] (laid to rubble by U.S. attacks) that "it became necessary to destroy the village in order to save it."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Keyes |first=Ralph |url=https://archive.org/details/quoteverifierwho00keye |title=The Quote Verifier: Who Said What, Where, and When |date=2006 |publisher=St. Martin's Griffin |isbn=978-0-312-34004-9}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Weinraub |first=Bernard |date=8 February 1968 |title=Survivors Hunt Dead of Bentre, Turned to Rubble in Allied Raids |work=The New York Times |url=https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0D1FFA3F541B7B93CAA91789D85F4C8685F9|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409014500/https://www.nytimes.com/1968/02/08/archives/survivors-hunt-dead-of-bentre-turned-to-rubble-in-allied-raids.html|archive-date=April 9, 2023}}</ref>

[[File:Cholon after Tet Offensive operations 1968.jpg|thumb|The ruins of a section of Saigon, in the Cholon neighborhood, following fierce fighting between ARVN forces and Viet Cong Main Force battalions]]

During the first month of the offensive, 1,100 Americans and other allied troops, 2,100 ARVN and 14,000 civilians were killed.<ref name="Trieu">{{Cite journal |last=Triều |first=Họ Trung |date=5 June 2017 |title=Lực lượng chính trị và đấu tranh chính trị ở thị xã Nha Trang trong cuộc Tổng tiến công và nổi dậy Tết Mậu Thân 1968 |journal=Hue University Journal of Science: Social Sciences and Humanities |volume=126 |issue=6 |doi=10.26459/hujos-ssh.v126i6.3770 |doi-broken-date=31 January 2024 |issn=2588-1213}}</ref> By the end of the first offensive, after two months, nearly 5,000 ARVN and over 4,000 U.S. forces had been killed and 45,820 wounded.<ref name=Trieu/> The U.S. claimed 17,000 of the PAVN and Viet Cong had been killed and 15,000 wounded.<ref name=Ankony/>{{Rp|104}}<ref name=Villard/>{{Rp|82}} A month later a second offensive known as the [[May Offensive]] was launched; although less widespread, it demonstrated the Viet Cong were still capable of carrying out orchestrated nationwide offensives.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|488–489}} Two months later a third offensive was launched, the [[Phase III Offensive]]. The PAVN's own official records of their losses across all three offensives was 45,267 killed and 111,179 total casualties.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Tết Mậu Thân 1968 qua những số liệu |language=vi-VN |url=http://www.nhandan.com.vn/chinhtri/item/7976502-.html |access-date=1 June 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230407184326/https://nhandan.vn/tet-mau-than-1968-qua-nhung-so-lieu-post484868.html|archive-date=April 7, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Eyraud |first=Henri |date=March 1987 |title=Anatomy of a War: Vietnam, the United States, and the Modern Historical Experience. By Kolko Gabriel. [New York: Pantheon Books, 1985. 628 pp.] |journal=The China Quarterly |volume=109 |page=135 |doi=10.1017/s0305741000017653 |issn=0305-7410 |s2cid=154919829}}</ref> By then it had become the bloodiest year of the war up to that point. The failure to spark a general uprising and the lack of defections among the ARVN units meant both war goals of Hanoi had fallen flat at enormous costs.<ref name=Nguyen/>{{Rp|148–149}} By the end of 1968, the VC insurgents held almost no territory in South Vietnam, and their recruitment dropped by over 80%, signifying a drastic reduction in guerrilla operations, necessitating increased use of PAVN regular soldiers from the north.{{Sfn|Military History Institute of Vietnam|2002|pp=247–249}}

Prior to Tet, in November 1967, Westmoreland had spearheaded a public relations drive for the Johnson administration to bolster flagging public support.<ref name="Witz">{{Cite book |last=Witz |title=The Tet Offensive: Intelligence Failure in War |date=1994 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-0-8014-8209-0 |pages=1–2}}</ref> In a speech before the [[National Press Club (United States)|National Press Club]] he said a point in the war had been reached "where the end comes into view."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Berman |first=Larry |title=Lyndon Johnson's War |date=1991 |publisher=W.W. Norton |page=116}}</ref> Thus, the public was shocked and confused when Westmoreland's predictions were trumped by the Tet Offensive.<ref name=Witz/> Public approval of his overall performance dropped from 48 percent to 36 percent, and endorsement for the war effort fell from 40 percent to 26 percent."<ref name=Karnow/>{{Rp|546}} The American public and media began to turn against Johnson as the three offensives contradicted claims of progress made by the Johnson administration and the military.<ref name=Witz/>

At one point in 1968, Westmoreland considered the use of [[nuclear weapon]]s in Vietnam in a contingency plan codenamed [[Fracture Jaw]], which was abandoned when it became known to the White House.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sanger |first=David E. |date=6 October 2018 |title=U.S. General Considered Nuclear Response in Vietnam War, Cables Show |language=en |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/06/world/asia/vietnam-war-nuclear-weapons.html |access-date=8 October 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314213812/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/06/world/asia/vietnam-war-nuclear-weapons.html|archive-date=March 14, 2023}}</ref> Westmoreland requested 200,000 additional troops, which was leaked to the media, and the subsequent fallout combined with intelligence failures caused him to be removed from command in March 1968, succeeded by his deputy [[Creighton Abrams]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sorley |first=Lewis |title=A Better War: The Unexamined Victories and Final Tragedy of America's Last Years in Vietnam |date=1999 |publisher=Harvest |isbn=0-15-601309-6 |pages=11–6}}</ref>

On 10 May 1968, [[Paris Peace Accords|peace talks]] began between the United States and North Vietnam in Paris. Negotiations stagnated for five months, until Johnson gave orders to halt the bombing of North Vietnam. At the same time, Hanoi realized it could not achieve a "total victory" and employed a strategy known as "talking while fighting, fighting while talking", in which military offensives would occur concurrently with negotiations.<ref>{{Cite news |date=16 April 2012 |title=North Vietnam's "Talk-Fight" Strategy and the 1968 Peace Negotiations with the United States |language=en |work=Wilson Center |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/north-vietnams-talk-fight-strategy-and-the-1968-peace-negotiations-the-united-states |access-date=1 June 2018|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409174807/https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/north-vietnams-talk-fight-strategy-and-the-1968-peace-negotiations-the-united-states|archive-date=April 9, 2023}}</ref>

Johnson declined to run for re-election as his approval rating slumped from 48 to 36 percent.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|486}} His escalation of the war in Vietnam divided Americans into warring camps, cost 30,000 American lives by that point and was regarded to have destroyed his presidency.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|486}} Refusal to send more U.S. troops to Vietnam was also seen as Johnson's admission that the war was lost.<ref name="Command Magazine Issue 18, page 15">''Command Magazine'' Issue 18, p. 15.</ref> As Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara noted, "the dangerous illusion of victory by the United States was therefore dead."<ref name=McNamara/>{{Rp|367}}

Vietnam was a major political issue during the [[1968 United States presidential election|United States presidential election in 1968]]. The election was won by Republican party candidate Richard Nixon who claimed to have a secret plan to end the war.<ref name=Hastings/>{{Rp|515}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johns |first=Andrew |title=Vietnam's Second Front: Domestic Politics, the Republican Party, and the War |date=2010 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |isbn=978-0-8131-7369-6 |pages=198 |language=en}}</ref>