The Tet Offensive: Lessons from the Campaign After 50 Years

On January 31, 1968, Vietnamese Communist forces launched surprise attacks on more than one hundred South Vietnamese towns and cities in what came to be known as the Tet Offensive. The event would subsequently be viewed as a pivotal moment in U.S. history, one that destroyed the confidence of Americans in their government and set the stage for the abandonment of South Vietnam. On the 50^th anniversary of the offensive, four leading historians will reexamine the conventional wisdom and present their own views on how the offensive and its legacy should be remembered.