The Tet Offensive of 1968 was a surprise attack by the Vietcong on several South Vietnamese cities during the Lunar New Year celebration. Though the US and South Vietnam won militarily, with over 32,000 Vietcong deaths, the offensive shook public support for the war as it showed the Vietcong was not close to defeat as had been portrayed. This caused US news anchor Walter Cronkite and others to lose confidence in the war, and led President Johnson to decide not to seek re-election. Protests against the war escalated amid rising violence, with the assassinations of MLK and RFK. At the chaotic 1968 Democratic Convention, Richard Nixon was elected after promising to restore order and end the Vietnam War.