...The Tet offensive is considered one of America’s greatest intelligence failures. The word Tet means Vietnamese New Year and it come from the word Tet Nguyen Dan, which means “Feast of the First Morning of the First Day”. The Tet celebrations is very important to the Vietnamese people and is the busiest time to the country. Most of the Vietnamese population travel throughout the country visiting family and friends. For the Vietnamese people the Tet celebration is a fresh start and a time where debts and paid, old disagreements are forgotten, and a house cleaning is done removing all the clutter. This is all done in the name of receiving good luck and fortune in the new year. On January 30, 1968, which was the start of the Vietnamese Buddhist Tet holiday, the Vietcong and North Vietnamese emerged from their tunnels and launched a colossal military offensive that proved to all that the war was not close to being over. The surprise attack was against the Dang base and the American embassy. The Communist forces saw a great number of casualties, but the Tet offensive drove the United States military out of the country. The United States and allies underestimated the over eighty thousand North Vietnamese force used during the offensive. Due to this underestimation “the allied intelligence had failed in its...
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...The Tet Offensive is an important event in American history because it was a battle that marked a climacteric turning point in American participation in the Vietnam War. It was a series of attacks against South Vietnam. Tet is a holiday on the Vietnamese calendar that has been valued by many people. It had been an occasion for an unofficial peace agreement in the Vietnam War between the South and North. On the eve of the holiday, South Vietnam found themselves caught up in war. North Vietnam attacked the city of Hue, on the eve of the New Year holiday, knowing that everyone had let their guards down that night. The attacks were meant to stir up uprising among the South Vietnamese population and scale down American involvement in the war....
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...How accurate is it to say that the Tet Offensive of 1968 was the most important reason for US withdrawal from Vietnam? There are many reasons that lead to the US withdrawing from Vietnam, like the Tet Offensive which can be seen as the most crucial turning point in the war for America as it was the first wide-scale organised attack by the Viet Cong and raised doubt among American public about the causes and the outcome of the war. However it is not the only reason that could have led to withdrawal; the election of the tough President Nixon, the media’s unflattering coverage of US forces and influencing public opinion, the process of withdrawal and the decreased threat of communism due to the Sino-Soviet split. Without any one of these major events or situations I don’t think withdrawal from Vietnam would have been in 1973 but possibly later. The Tet offensive was extremely significant as it was first and foremost a moral boost for the NVA who saw the success if short-lived of strategic surprise on the US troops and bases in the South. The US troops did not understand the willingness the NVA were to die for their cause and so it was in huge contrast to their own feelings about fighting in Vietnam- the Viet Cong weren’t going to give up easily. It was more of a shock to Americans than a defeat as Tet is a national holiday in Vietnam and was typically a truce but using their large numbers and weapons; the Viet Cong did not succeed in maintaining any control in the Southern cities...
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...American public with the war on an almost hourly basis." Despite initially positive media coverage of the war, it soon became increasingly negative, in some cases falsely so. It has been suggested that the media coverage of the Tet Offensive was an exaggeration of the true course of events that helped shock the American Public. But did the media coverage of this major battle really change public perception leading to America withdrawing from the Vietnam War? With the outbreak of the Tet Offensive the Vietnam War had hit the urban areas and had subsequently become more reported on than at any other point previous in the war. Many of the Journalists had not experienced war at first hand to such a scale and were shocked by what they were seeing and the ferocity of the attacks. The surprise nature of the attack coupled with the warfare inexperience of many journalists present in Vietnam saw many of them change their verdict on this war in Vietnam. They no longer accepted the official reports of progress from government and military announcements. The Tet offensive seemed to show that America was not winning the war against the communists in the North and so subsequently the media coverage reflected this. The most famous report on the Tet offensive was by CBS News reporter Walter Cronkite. In a...
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...Unwinnable war II The unwinnable war speech is a speech that is written and spoken by Robert F. Kennedy, which will say, that he is the sender of this text. The speech was hold under the circumstances of the Vietnam War. At the time the speech was hold, USA was loosing in Vietnam and Robert F. Kennedy was presidential candidate. Which will say that he by some knew about the war and its consequences. The speech is turned against the explicit audience of the USA population, who assumed that the US was winning the war in Vietnam. He is using rhetorical devises as logos and Ethos, he is well formulated and trying to make his points as clear as possible and do it with a passion about the topic. He uses logos when he want’s to make a point clear to his audience: ‘’Imagine the impact in our own country if an equivalent number—over 25 million Americans—were wandering homeless or interned in refugee camps, and millions more refugees were being created as New York and Chicago, Washington and Boston, were being destroyed by a war raging in their streets.’’ (l. 58-61, p. 3) So as we can se in this example, he both use some sort of figurative language because he compares the Vietnam situation in a American perspective and while he do that, he is emphasizing he’s argument by putting numbers to the bigger picture and appealing to people with logos. He does also uses pathos in a smaller degree as here, when he both appealing with logos and pathos at the same time: ‘‘you cannot expect...
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...The Tet Offensive, was a series of North Vietnamese surprise attacks on many cities and outposts in South Vietnam. It is estimated that there were 39,000 U.S. casualties during the Tet Offensive. This marked a turning point for U.S. officials to start gradually withdrawing the U.S. from Vietnam. Nearly two months after the Tet Offensive another large event took place that would change the way people saw this war even more. The My Lai massacre took place on March 16th, 1968. U.S. soldiers had murdered more than 500 My Lai civilians. The commanding officer of the unit attempted to cover the massacre up, however it was seen by a helicopter gunner from a different unit. After investigation, Lt. William Calley was convicted and charged. The My Lai massacre had both an effect on U.S. soldiers and citizens. During the same month of this massacre, President Johnson halted the bombing in North Vietnam and announced that...
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...Section 1: Identification and Evaluation of sources The focus of this investigation is “To what extend did the Tet offensive change the United States’ public perception and military plans regarding Vietnam?” The essay will compare and contrast how the United States reacts to Vietnam before and after the Tet Offensive, while also evaluating any other factors that might also had a role. Since the Tet Offensive is a series of events, the essay will analyze all effects since the start of the offensive through the end. Source 1: “Tet” section of “Vietnam: A history” by Stanley Karnow Stanley Karnow worked for Time, Life, the Washington Post, and NBC to cover Asia from 1959-1974. He started to write this secondary source book when he arrived in Vietnam on July 1959. The book serves to...
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...Vietnam was tangled in a decades-long civil war, and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was the start of the United States formal involvement in the Vietnam War, with the stated goal of stopping the spread of communism in the region. It passed commonly in the U.S. House of Representatives, and with only two conflicting votes in the U.S. Senate. Tet Offensive: The Tet Offensive was a harmonize series of North Vietnamese attacks on more than 100 cities and frontier in South Vietnam. What was annoying was the bid to agitate rebellion against the South Vietnamese culture and boost the United States to scale back its involvement in the Vietnam War. Even though heavy casualties, North Vietnam accomplished a critical victory with the Tet Offensive, as the attacks marked a turning point in the Vietnam War and the beginning of the slow, painful American withdrawal from the...
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...The Vietnam War was one of most hated wars of the United States history. This war was almost last twenty years long. This war was heavily covered in the media of the time period due to fact that it was an uncensored war. The media coverage at the beginning of the Vietnam War was for war was for the war, but there was a turning point in the media coverage that changes public opinion. This event was the Tet Offensive which is a very famous military event of the Vietnam War. This event was one of major changing point of the Vietnam War and public opinions of the Vietnam War. This can be seen in the newspaper articles that were published after the Tet Offensive. This essay with focus on the newspaper for the Vietnam War to argue the point of...
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...The tet holiday in Vietnam Tet - Vietnamese Lunar New Year, is the most important Festival of Vietnamese people. The Chinese New Year and Tet, the Vietnamese New Year have many similarities. Tet is the abbreviation of Tet Nguyen Dan which means the first morning of the first day of the new period. Tet marks the beginning of a new year on the lunar calendar, and the beginning of Spring. Vietnamese are constantly aware of the phases of the moon. All events are planned by the lunar calendar. The New Year begins on the first night of the first moon after the sun enters Aquarius. This is sometime between January 21 and February 19 on the solar calendar. Although officially a three-day affair, festivities may continue for a week or more with every effort made to indulge in eating, drinking, and enjoyable social activities. It is also a time for family reunions, and for paying respect to ancestors and the elders. Gifts of food are made to friends, neighbors and relatives in the days before Tet. Families save money, store food, and plan far in advance for Tet, major holiday in Vietnam. They buy new clothes, paint and clean their homes, cook three days worth of food, pay off all debts and make amends to rid themselves of all bad feelings. Cleaning is frowned on during Tet because one would not want to sweep out any good luck. Digging and drawing water is also not allowed so the ground and water can enjoy the holiday. The marketplace is very busy the week before Tet, as people...
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... BABAWE15097 INSTRUCTOR’S NAME: Đoàn Kim Khoa TOPIC: Is Tet no longer suitable for Vietnam? (Thanhniennews.vn) SUMMARY OF THE ARTICLE According to the writer of the article, Tet is not appropriate for the current Vietnam economic situation. There are three main reasons the author argued. Firstly, the majority of the poor have to spend a great amount of money during Tet event, which pauperizes them and may get them commit crimes. Secondly, before and after Tet celebration, people get lazy and pay less attention on work, which not only slows down the whole business but also waste time and money. The final reason is Tet holiday interrupts Vietnam economic sectors while our country is integrating global economy, which can bring to some serious consequences. THE COUNTER-ARGUMENT ESSAY Global economy has become a common trend nowadays. Vietnam, a developing country, has to face lots of difficulties in making suitable policies for current economic situation, so that the international integration can be rapid and effective. One policy according to an author of the article “Tet is no longer suitable in Viet Nam” (Thanhniennews.vn) is that Tet festival should be removed or modified because it has many negative impacts as well as inappropriate for Vietnam economy. In my opinion, Tet is the most valuable traditional festival, hence we should keep respected and preserved. According to the writer, consumption in Tet is more harmful than good because it exhausts the poor. This may...
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...To what extent can the Tet Offensive of 1968 be described as the key turning point in the Vietnam War 1968-75? A ‘turning point’ of the Vietnam War could be interpreted in different ways. For example, the Tet Offensive, which took place January 31st, 1968, could be understood as a turning point in the US state of the war (were they winning at this point?) as well as entirely changing the opinion of the US public – literally splitting them in two as to whether the war could be justified. Alongside the Tet Offensive, several other factors could also be interpreted as a turning point in the war. The Cambodian Offensive, of 29th March 1970 could be used alongside President Richard Nixon’s resignation and the entire withdrawal of soldiers in Vietnam. As the largest set of battles during the course of the War, causing severe losses to the communist side of the NVA (North Vietnamese Army) and Viet Cong, the Tet Offensive was the first majorly reported part of the Vietnam War and thus changed many people’s opinion on the war after realization of the tragic event. Approval rating of current president Lyndon B. Johnson plummeted by almost 20%. Despite Walter Cronkite’s interview stating that the war was “unwinnable”, opinion on the war had changed long before. Violent protests took place in Washington during 1968, forcing Johnson to stop the sending of 200,000 troops – this effectively marked the end of the gradual escalation policy in Vietnam. Tet could be argued as a severe turning...
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...Book Review: Tet Offensive 1968: Turning Point in Vietnam Organized by the North Vietnamese General, Vo Nguyen Giap, the Tet Offensive aimed to impregnate an uprising in South Vietnam. However, horrific battle scenes that took place in Saigon, Hue and other cities resulted in a cataclysmic defeat for the North. James Arnold, author of Tet Offensive 1968: Turning Point in Vietnam, does a substantial assessment of detailing the plans and purposes involved in the key battle of the Vietnam conflict. The author explains how, despite American and South Vietnamese victory in the battle, the American public and their political leaders came to perceive the war as lost. The book, with just over ninety pages long, articulates a major military offensive from two perspectives. It is a book that leaves out essential key components because to offer an imperative discussion of such a massive engagement like the Tet Offensive in limited space is nearly impossible. However, the author offers a surprisingly well written introduction to the operation. Arnold includes illustrations captioned with a description for a concise understanding of the offensive through visual effects. The illustrations are used to portray American soldiers, North Vietnamese Army (NVA) soldiers, and VC (Viet Cong) soldiers as isolated individuals who were physically and emotionally deprived. Photographs are also used in Arnold’s book. Some photos included in the book are Russian weapons used by the NVA and VC, camouflaged...
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...The 1960’s Diary Entries An African American participant in one of the Selma marches in 1965 And An American soldier fighting during the Tet Offensive 1968 Entries by: Ashley M. Johnson Journal Entre “Our March to Montgomery” Journal Entre- March 6, 1965: Tomorrow is the day we start our march to the State Capitol in Montgomery. Everyone has been directed to a group with an appointed group leader, to help guide us on our 54 mile journey. (According to History.com Staff (2010) I have to admit I am a little scared and excited all at the same time, many white people don’t want us to have the rights to vote and I wonder if we can make this journey safely. Journal Entre- March 7, 1965: This day started with much determination, excitement, fear, and courage. I found it a little settling to see that there were not just blacks lining up to march, but whites too. I then thought at that moment that we could actual accomplish the long journey we had ahead of us, as one. Over the next few hours when we approached the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, I saw the mist of my true fears come out. (Hagler-Geard (2015) White officials attempted to stop our march, most of us started to pray, although our attempts failed, we seem to have angered them more. Shots were fired, at first I thought they were shooting us, but after the clouds of heavy smoke filled my sight and lungs, I became disoriented and confused. (The Harris-Perry (2015) website) I was seeing brutal acts of violence all around...
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...involvement in Vietnam war and his military strategy is a great example, as well as the Tet Offensive event that partook in the war. Once more going back to the Vietnam War, General Westmoreland partook an important role. He was the permanent commander of MACV and given command of all US forces in Vietnam. General Westmoreland perceived the escalation of the conflict and had “535,000 troops under his control when he departed in 1968” (Hickman 1). He was a terror, and to no surprise portrayed by their own media as a hero. Even named “man of the year” by Times magazine at one point. Military Expert, Kennedy Hickman...
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