The Significance of the Tet Offensive to the Indochina Conflict

While the Tet Offensive did not achieve its immediate aims, it did alter the direction of the Indochina conflict. Launched on the 30th of January, the Tet offensive anticipated the crippling of the South Vietnamese forces and inspire uprising throughout Indochina and end the war. However, significant outcomes of the Tet were the decimation of American credibility and marking the beginning of the reduction of US troops from Vietnam.

American creditability was fractured in the Indochina conflict following the events of the Tet offensive. Significant criticisms of the US in the Tet offensive became increasingly prevalent as a result of the US news media contradicting information being disclosed by the Government. Commander of the US forces, General William Westmoreland actively spoke about how the military and political situation in South Vietnam had made significant improvements and that the “end was beginning to come into view and victory was within our grasp”. However, on February 27th, Walter Cronkite, a CBS news anchor informed viewers that the outcome of the Tet offensive was significantly unclear and how the conditions of the ending of the Vietnam war “seems now more certain than ever, that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate.” The contradictions between the US government and the media are significant in the Indochina conflict in relation to the deteriorating confidence in the US policy. 

Miscalculations of the US administration was further solidified with the release a photograph that encouraged a moral collapse of the Johnson administration. The photograph was taken on the Saigon street on February 1, 1968 and it was suspected that the South Vietnamese General, Nguyen Ngoc Loan, chief of the national police executes suspected Viet Cong officer Nguyen Van Lem. It was speculated that the US was fighting on behalf of the communists, which intensified the worlds distrust towards US policy. Tet inspired a lack of certainty in the US, but also an indifference for US government officials. Tom Bowman discusses how the US lack of credibility has remained continuous over time, “on the heels of the Tet then came the Pentagon Papers, came the Watergate break-in, a series of kind of catastrophic events in terms of the public’s perception of its own leaders.” United States administration changed as a result of the Tet Offensive following President Johnson’s rejection to pursue a second term of presidency. Distrust of the US government following the Tet offensive was significant in the Indochina conflict as it paved a continuous skepticism in US policy in subsequent events.

Tet offensive stimulated the American withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam, which can be linked to the subsequent victory of the communists in the Indochina conflict. The inauguration of Nixon following the replacement of president Johnson, American troops began to withdraw shortly after, decimating North Vietnamese defences against the South. The new administration of President Richard M. Nixon would oversee the withdrawal of U.S. forces and the continuation of negotiations. Nixon promised “peace with honour” in the Vietnam war, which began his ‘Vietnamization’ policy. President Nixon’s policy changed the direction of the US involvement in the Indochina conflict, following the events of the Tet offensive and Johnson’s doctrine of supplying heavy US military support in the war. 

The policy, following the Tet offensive withdrew over 70,000 troops was compelling in the fall of the South Vietnamese forces as it highlights how the significant pressure on the US government to retain peace compromised the South claiming victory against Communist insurgency. It is criticised that the Vietnamization policy, “moved too quickly and now that the Americans had gone, the South Vietnamese found themselves with equipment but no logistics system.” Consequently, the disintegration of US troops caused significant chaos for the South, which allowed the North communists to strengthen defences and ultimately claim victory in the Indochina war. The withdrawal of American troops in Indochina following the events of the Tet offensive and the inauguration of Nixon, led to the breakdown of South Vietnamese defences against the North Communists in the Indochina conflict.