Tet Offensive

For several thousand years, Têt, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year has been a traditional celebration that brings the Vietnamese a sense of happiness, hope and peace. However on January 31, 1968 Têt was a disastrous event for many Southern Vietnamese and American soldiers as General Vo Nguyen Giap , the North Vietnamese strategist, launched the infamous and bloody Têt Offensive of 1968. Giap’s goal for the offensive was to drive out the Americans by initiating …

…fourth year as president. Yet the emotions were mixed; most wanted to get the men out, yet most did not want to lose neither. “Like Johnson and Nixon, the majority of Americans in 1968and 1969 wanted to ‘get out’ but ‘didn’t want to lose.” (Spector 315). For many years, the Vietnam War was a stalemate for both sides, but in the end, containment did not work, the communists had won, thanks to the 1968 Têt Offensive.