Anti War Rallies And The Tet Offensive example essay topic

Thus far the Vietnam War has shown to be a highly complex situation. Many of times, I have found myself agreeing with Lyndon B. John's decisions to escalate the war. First and foremost, the United States had made a promise of freedom and tranquility to the people (whom were not part of Viet-Cong) of Vietnam. As an American, it is my opinion that the United States had to uphold its word, essentially its credibility. Secondly, withdrawing troops from Vietnam when the situation was really out of control would make the United States appear weak. In midst of the Cold War, the one thing that was not going to prove true was that the United States was weak.

Although these reasons were and are valid, the anti-war movement in conjunction with the Tet offensive required President Johnson to make a decision that changed the perception of the war; he chose to call a halt on the bombardment in Vietnam. The purpose of this essay is to further analyze how the continuing anti-war movement and the Tet Offensive were the reasons that "America's fate was effectively sealed by mid-1968". The anti warriors that have been described in Melvin Small's book have shown to be relentless. They were fighting for a just cause, or at least it was a just cause in their opinion. They were able to organize and rally others to join in their quest to end the violence that was occurring in Vietnam.

Between 1967 and 1968, however, a new phenomenon was occurring, the age of the "hippies". Small mentions, "For many Americans by 1967, antiwar demonstrators were not only unruly and potentially violent but hippies... serious politically oriented activists became easily conflated with hippies to the detriment of their cause". (Small, 81) This unexpected result of the antiwar movement definitely did put a damper on the cause because hippies were perceived as these pot-smoking, disrespectful, unappreciative bunch of kids who had no idea what they were talking about because they were high all the time. This proved to be untrue.

The hippies were just as much as a centrifugal as the other activists, and this was evident in the rally held at the Pentagon. Although only 75,000 or less activists were there, the event that occurred at the Pentagon was one of the underlying reasons LBJ had decided to end the bombing in Vietnam. What made this event stand out from the rest is that is was one of the largest, and nonetheless, it occurred "at the center of [American citizens] center of their war-making machine [which] presented a powerful image of a nation in turmoil". (Small, 84) This take-over of the Pentagon gave antiwar activists an advantage because it showed other members of the world that not everyone agrees with the actions that are occurring in Vietnam, and they are trying their best to make an impact on the President. Although the siege at the Pentagon did have an effect, one cannot forget the Tet Offensive. In conjunction, these two major occurrences eventually led to "the hawk's [death]".

(Small, 91) The Tet Offensive was highly detrimental to the United States. This is where one can begin to understand why the fate of the United States was sealed after this point. Although reports to the Pentagon stated differently, it was at this point that the United States had no other choice but to decrease escalation because war and violence proved to be unsuccessful. RFK mentions in his dissent of the war that "we must, first of all, rid ourselves of the illusion that the events of the past two weeks represent some sort of victory. This is not so". (Kennedy, 317) The enemy had came out of the jungles to fight a guerilla style war in the cities, and although they may have not been able to maintain control of the cities for long, the fact of the matter is they were able to infiltrate in the first place.

This further proved that the United States was losing control, and that their initial mission and promise was failing. RFK further argues that "half a million American soldiers with 700,000 Vietnamese allies... were unable to secure a single city from the attacks of an enemy whose total strength is about 250,000" (Kennedy, 318) Even though "the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong [were] not able to accomplish either one of their missions", considering the ration given by RFK, the United States had indeed lost a major battle, and this was the pivotal point of the war. (McNamara, 315) LBJ did the best he could, but in March of 1968 he made a momentous decision to pretty much end the war. Between anti-war rallies and the Tet Offensive, the war in Vietnam was more that the government and its people could handle. Many Democrats were opposing the war, and many of LBJ's cabinet members, along with his Wise Men, were also showing dissent for the war. These events marked the ending of a gruesome war, which was not fulfilling its principle objectives.

The fate of the US was sealed in mid-1968 because after all the deaths, the fighting, the violence, the United States had to eventually do what it did not want to do, declare a cease fire, which can be represented as an end to the war. As with everything else in life, mistake will be made. Vietnam may have it fair share of mistakes, but as mentioned earlier, out Commander-in-Chief did the best he could to retain the dignity of the United States, let just hope we can learn from our mistakes.