The Tet Offensive made Johnson realise that it was unlikely that the war would be concluded quickly and that all previous military activity had failed to defeat the communists. Therefore, he initiated Peace Talks from May 1968. This shows that the Tet changed the attitude to the war and now America was trying to achieve a negotiated peace rather than a military victory.
Another effect of the Tet was to force Johnson not to stand for re-election, which in turn allowed Nixon to win by standing for election with the policy of ‘Peace with honour’. He had also taken this stance because of his shock reaction to the Tet. This meant that the way that the war was being fought changed as it was now being fought to pull out of Vietnam with honour instead of forcing a military defeat on the communists. Nixon aimed to achieve this by Vietnamisation, his ‘mad bomber’ theory and the use of détente with USSR and China.
The Tet had a dramatic effect on General Westmoreland who was Commander in Chief of Armed Forces as psychologically it provoked him into wanting to use nuclear weapons against the North. This was met with huge disapproval from The White House and Westmoreland was subsequently relieved of his command. This change in military leadership led to new direction and strategies.
We should now consider the proposition that the Tet Offensive highlighted issues in the conflict that already existed and therefore should not be seen as a turning point. The opposition to the war had already begun in 1964 with protests in American colleges. This had increased over the years and although the Tet gained media attention it is likely that public opposition would have continued to increase anyway, due to the issues of the Draft, bodybags and national expense. It is questionable how much effect public opinion had on the conduct of the war as the majority of the population were not against the war, this is what Nixon called the ‘silent majority’. Aggressive military action continued after the Tet with more soldiers being killed after 1968 than the years before so although Nixon is pursuing ‘peace with honour’ he continues to use similar tactics to those promoted by LBJ for example the Christmas bombing of Hanoi in 1972. This shows that the Tet was not a turning point in the tactics used in the war.
The Tet Offensive cannot be seen as a turning point as there was little military impact as the VC and NVA had huge losses and they didn’t achieve their aims so it was not an important or decisive battle. In fact, the communist losses took years to recover from so rather than the Tet being a military defeat and turning point for the US it left them in a theoretically stronger position.
After MacNamara’s breakdown Clark Clifford was appointed Secretary of Defence and this change in personnel signalled a change in American attitude in Vietnam as Clifford didn’t believe in the domino theory. This change would have come about regardless of the Tet as Nixon also adopted this view that communism was not a monolithic threat to the free world and saw victory in Vietnam more as a point of US pride than strategic importance.
The outcome of the war was mostly affected by Nixon’s realisation that it would be impossible to continue fighting much longer. He realised that the US people and congress would no longer support and bankroll a war that it was unlikely the US military could win. He therefore tried to negotiate peace terms, which would allow US to pull out without losing face. This attitude had already been decided before the Tet therefore although it was a shock to America it had little effect on the outcome of the war.
