The Beginning of the End
The Tet Offensive was a powerful blow against US imperialism and a boon to the antiwar movement.
US Air Force Security Police in combat at Tan Son Nhut, Vietnam during the Tet Offensive in 1968.US Air Force / Wikimedia
Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Tet Offensive, the surprise assault that kicked off one of the most tumultuous years in American history and fatally undermined US determination to prosecute the Vietnam War.
In this interview for Jacobin, Joe Allen speaks with Christian G. Appy, author of American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and Our National Identity. They discuss Richard Nixon’s covert machinations, the antiwar movement, the role of independent journalists like I. F. Stone, and how a new generation is learning about the war from Ken Burns and Lynn Novick.
Joe Allen
1968 was a tumultuous year in world politics. The year began with the Tet Offensive, when the North Vietnamese and the liberation forces in South Vietnam launched a nationwide campaign against the US military and the Saigon government. Tet shook the US political establishment and changed the course of the presidential election. Why did it have such an impact?
Christian G. Appy
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