1. Instructional Video on Tet
Offensive
Lesson Objective: To demonstrate the
influence of Walter Cronkite’s
criticism of the Vietnam War

2. • Scene 1
– Setting: Image of burning hut
– Narrator: The Tet Offensive,
1968. The North Vietnamese
had planned a visible attack on
the Army of South Vietnam.
The attack was a total failure
for the North Vietnamese army.
However, as images of burning
South Vietnamese villages were
broadcast on the American
news outlets, the American
public realized that the
Johnson administration had not
been truthful about American
successes during the conflict

3. • Scene 2:
– Setting: Walter Cronkite
comments on the
Vietnam War
– Narrator: Even America’s
“most trusted
newscaster” came to
doubt the value of the
war

4. • Scene 3
– Setting: Walter Cronkite
in newsroom, February
1968
• Video footage
• http://video.yume.vn/video-
clip/cbs-news-feb-27-1968-
report-from-
vietnam.hongtham16.35A58439.
html

5. • Scene 4
– Setting: The homes of
middle American families
– Narrator: “When Cronkite
criticized the war effort,
Johnson noted ominously:
‘If I’ve lost Walter Cronkite,
I’ve lost middle America.”
Walter Cronkite’s criticism
helped to reshape public
opinion and move the
United States to
withdrawal from Vietnam.
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