What was the turning point of the vietnam war?

Question

im desperate b/c it hw.

please and thankyous.

Answer 1

If I mispoke and am wrong, I offer my sincerest apologies to gimlet. On a related note though, those who claim honor they're not entitled to, such as being a veteran, just chaps my fanny. Can I have some ice cream with my humble pie?

Answer 2

I'd say the Tet Offensive.

Even though we "won" every battle, this campaign lost us the war politically and in the hearts and minds of the Vietnamese people.

Tet showed the world that the South Vietnamese could not protect or defend themselves and that the massive infiltration of many key cities in So. Vietnam suggested equally massive popular support.

Tet cost the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese a LOT of men and materials, but it turned out to be a very discouraging event for US Policy Makers. The "light at the end of the tunnel
" was actually the headlight of a freight train.

We saw the truth, that this war was a civil war, and a hopeless one for us that could go on forever.

It was a battle of wills, and the North Vietnamese had the stronger will. They would never have given up I don't think. They were pretty tough characters and not afraid to die.

Our troops also became demoralized as the war dragged on. They were mis-used and mismanaged, especially the Marines. Drugs, racial tensions and killing of officers ("fragging") became epidemic in the ranks. It was not a pretty time for the US military.

Answer 3

The turning point for the Vietnam war was the Tet offensive of 1968. In one of the greatest ironies of warfare the VC, and NVA were completly routed, and the VC for all intents and purposes ceased to exist as a fighting force. That said despite Tet's amazing victory on the battlefield, what was shown on the news was quite another story. This was the tipping point that turned most Americans against the war. They could not believe an enemy that could overrun the US embessy was getting weaker.

Answer 4

Winning the 68 TET and it being called a loss by a crying Walter Cronkite.

Ole Gimlet, If you were with the 9th MEB in 64 you were on Okinawa, the 9th did not get in country till March 65, followed by the 173rd AB in May.

Read thru the 2 links. Way to much to retype or paste here.

Edit: Gimlet, Hope you see this. I know a guy that was a sniper and did a couple of landings into the North in 64. Had to challange you. Far to many fake everythings in here.

Answer 5

The TET offensive was the turning point in the war in Vietnam. The enemy lost 80,000 troops during this month long hostility, and they were all but beaten. General Giap was ready to surrender, it seemed all was lost. Then a bigger enemy emerged; the son-of -***** that started it all, Lyndon Baines Johnson .

It was at this point and time, this ignorant redneck decided , the country would take a different approach to the Vietnam war. Peace talks in Paris was his answer. The 58,000 lost American lives meant nothing to Johnson, he would even deprive them of victory. They truly did die in vain. The peace talks took seven more years and untold lives because of this decision.

This is what can happen, when a dog a pony show sways the thinking of the American voter. Voters need to reach down and touch the soul of the candidate they choose. We cannot survive another Lyndon Johnson.

Answer 6

Wayne C and Bill above it sounds like Ole Gimlet Eye was with the 9th MEB August of 1964.

[Snippet] On 6 August, the 6,000 Marines of the MEB embarked on board Seventh Fleet amphibious shipping. A composite Marine aircraft group (MAG), with headquarters and fixed wing squadrons in Japan and helicopter squadrons on Okinawa, was alerted to support the MEB, but was not embarked. Although the brigade did not land in Vietnam at this time, the August crisis resulted in the transformation of the 9th MEB from a paper organization into an effective force in readiness, capable of landing whereever needed on extremely short notice.

When the Gulf of Tonkin crisis faded, the amphibious task force carrying the MEB relaxed. Of the three BLTs making up the brigade, one returned to Okinawa, another to the Philippines, and a third remained afloat as part of the Special Landing Force (SLF) of the Seventh Fleet. While General Davis returned to Okinawa, he maintained a skeleton headquarters at Subic Bay on board the U.S. task force command ship, Mount McKinley (AGC 7). Brigadier General John P. Coursey relieved General Davis as brigade commander on 16 October 1964.

Good drop Ole Gimlet Eye about "Chesty", to bad he let his son Lt. Louis Puller Jr. go to a war he knew we would loose. FYI: Chesty's son stepped on a landmine and lost his legs and hands in Vietnam (very sad). http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/puller.htm

SF

Answer 7

hi Hal. in spite of the fact that the tit offensive turn into usual and affective in sixty 8, in sixty 9 the mouf2dick and mouf2poontang offensive completed on the comparable time looked as though it may artwork extra advantageous and had much less damaging aspects then the ealrier missionary positions of the previous years.

Answer 8

The Vietnam War was lost before it ever started. The Marines most Cherished General, Lt. General Lewis B. (Chesty) Puller said in 1957 (before the war) "The Red Chinese Army will win it [Vietnam] without firing a shot."

Answer 9

most say the Tet Offensive of 1968....prob not though...Id say the Linebacker bombings of 1972

Answer 10

To my the pictures of that little girl running out naked and covered in napalm it shook the world