Sunday, February 22, 1970

1968: We won the Tet offensive on the ground but lost it on the front pages


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During February 1968, thousands of North Vietname and Viet Cong troops crossed into South Vietnam.  It came to be known as "The Tet Offensive".  

Overall, US soldiers successfully beat back troops in the Vietnam War.

By any measurement, the offensive was a crushing military defeat for the communist invaders.   

Unfortunately, the media reported a smashing communist victory and lied about what happened on the ground.

Shame on the news media.

Indeed, we were caught by surprise but US troops fought back and stopped the offensive.

Sadly, President Johnson was so weak that he could not go over the news media and talk to the American voters.  He allowed the news media to tell us that Tet was a defeat when it really wasn’t.

In my opinion, the best book about Vietnam was written by President Nixon after he left office.
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