Fifty-five years ago, on Jan. 30-31, 1968, the North Vietnamese Army, in conjunction with their Viet Cong allies, launched the Tet Offensive, a massive military campaign that shocked the world and marked a turning point in the Vietnam War. The offensive saw attacks on over 100 cities and towns in South Vietnam, including the capital city of Saigon, now known as Ho Chi Minh City.
The Tet Offensive was a big deal because it marked the peak of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. The scale and ferocity of the attacks undermined public support for the war back in the United States, leading to widespread protests and calls for an end to American involvement in the conflict.
With the Pentagon Papers revelations, the U.S. public's trust in the government was forever diminished. The leaked documents exposed the extent of government deception and manipulation in relation to the Vietnam War, further eroding public confidence in the administration's handling of the conflict.
It took decades to unravel Nixon's sabotage of Vietnam peace talks. Now, the full story can be told. President Nixon's actions to undermine peace negotiations with North Vietnam prolonged the war and cost countless lives on both sides, a dark chapter in American history that has only recently come to light.
In 1973, the last United States combat troops left South Vietnam, ending America's direct military involvement in the Vietnam War. The withdrawal came after years of escalating conflict, with Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon all deepening U.S. involvement in the decades-long conflict.
Until 1968, Walter Cronkite believed what his government told him about the Vietnam War. He was an old-school journalist, a patriot, but even he couldn't ignore the stark realities of the war forever. The fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, was a moment that shook the world, as South Vietnam's capital city fell to invading North Vietnamese troops, marking the end of the Vietnam War and the reunification of the country under communist rule.
While the Vietnam War raged — roughly two decades' worth of bloody and world-changing years — compelling images made their way out of the combat zones. The image of an overloaded Huey helicopter evacuating people from the rooftop of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon has become an iconic symbol of the chaotic end of the war, capturing the desperation and tragedy of those final days.
