Episode Details

Geoffrey Wawro, guest author, recounts how, in January 1968, the Tet Offensive was launched by the NVA and Viet Cong to deliver a knockout blow to the South Vietnamese government. While the communists suffered massive tactical losses, they achieved a strategic victory in information warfare by shattering the American public's illusion of progress. This shift was cemented by Walter Cronkite's broadcast declaring the war a stalemate, leading Johnson to believe he had lost "middle America." Simultaneously, the Siege of Khe Sanh served as a symbol of the war's futility. Despite a harrowing months-long defense involving intense B-52 strikes to "freeze" NVA divisions, the US abandoned and bulldozed the base shortly after the battle ended. This segment emphasizes how both sides were "wasting human beings" in engagements that lacked tactical or strategic significance. The Vietnam War: A Military History (4)