1. 1968 Tet Offensive
"All of a sudden I heard them shooting, then I saw people dropping to the ground. Then I dropped to the ground," said a victim of the 1970 Kent State
shooting (Adams). The Vietnam War was a controversial war for the United States that was long and costly. The war was the start of communist North
Vietnam against South Vietnam. As an ally of South Vietnam, the US supported them in the war. American involvement in the war led the communists
of the northern part of Vietnam against the more democratic south. Opposition to the war in the US divided the American public. Many protests
occurred on college campuses a few resulting in multiple injuries and deaths. The Kent State shooting was a focal point of the anti–war movement. The
Kent State protests...show more content...
In 1963, the United States sent in 2,000 military advisors to support the South Vietnamese government in the war (Digital History). At the beginning of
the war, many Americans believed that defending South Vietnam from communist aggression was in the country's favor, although as the war
continued, that opinion drastically changed ("The Antiwar Movement"). In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson escalated the war by starting air strikes on
North Vietnam. Later on in the war, the 1968 Tet Offensive turned many Americans against the war. This was a large series of attacks resulting in
many South Vietnamese and American casualties (Digital History). President Richard Nixon served from 1969 to 1974 and when he was inaugurated
the nation was deeply divided by the war and over what was going to happen next. As the war continued more and more Americans grew impatient over
the increasing amount of casualties and escalating costs throughout the war. There were large gatherings of anti–war protesters that helped bring
attention to the public resentment of the US involvement in the Vietnam War. By the late 1960s, peaceful demonstrations became violent and the
anti–war movement was rapidly growing ("The Antiwar Movement"). Protests across the country were part of opposition against the military draft and
US
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2. Tet Offensive Essay
The Tet Offensive played a key role triggering a wave of peak anti–war movements after that. Moreover, after that event, American media "took an
increasingly unfavorable view of U.S. public policy" . It was remarkable that in the evening broadcast on February 27, 1968, Walter Cronkite
'broke the rule' by giving such comment on CBS evening news: "To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe in the face of the evidence,
the optimists we have been wrong in the past. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired
in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion." At the same time, General Westmoreland was reported to have requested more
than 260,000 additional troops by the New York Times. All of these events became a catalyst to a public protest.
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President Johnson declared his intention not to run for the next presidency term. This event was stated by John Hart, an NBC reporter: "It was as if the
normal restraints on human behavior, having been lifted in Vietnam were slipping dangerously in this country as well. The violence of the war, which
divided the country, was echoed by violence in the streets, which divided the country further." The Vietnam War was attributed to dividing the country
since 1965, when American army forces was officially involved in Vietnam, and the number of soldiers being sent and lost their lives in the battle
fields grew up dramatically after that. According to statistics, the number of soldiers killed in the war was 300 . The result from Gallup poll opinion
"Americans look back at Vietnam war" revealed that in 1968, more than half of interviewers thought that the war was a mistake in the
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