Tet Offensive Begins

January 30, 1968

1968-01-30_Girl-and-smallchild-Saigon_January_31,_1968_NARA

Overview

During the Vietnamese New Year celebrations known as Tet—customarily a ceasefire period observed by both sides—Communist forces launch what becomes known as the Tet Offensive. North Vietnam has been planning the offensive since early 1967. Its objective is to defeat the South Vietnamese Army and spark a popular uprising across the South, possibly ending the war in one bold stroke. Roughly 84,000 enemy troops launch coordinated, timed attacks on 36 provincial capitals and 64 district towns, as well as many American bases.

The offensive shocks the American public. Media attention focuses primarily on scenes of the violence in Saigon and the U.S. Embassy compound, which is a prominent symbol of the American presence in Vietnam.¹

¹Graham A. Cosmas, MACV: The Joint Command in the Years of Withdrawal, 1968–1973, United States Army in Vietnam (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 2006), 36–37, 58–60; George C. Herring, America’s Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950–1975 (4th edition; New York and other cities: McGraw Hill, 2002), 225–30, 232–33; Spencer C. Tucker, ed., The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History (2nd edition; Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2011), 1102–3, 1106–7.