Why did the US fail to achieve its objectives in Vietnam?
Discussion Questions
- Was the strategy of “flexible response” the culprit?
- Would another containment strategy have worked better?
- Was the problem about the arrogance of the “best and the brightest”?
- How did the “strange dread of American irrationality” affect policy choices?
- Why was it so difficult to “monitor implementation” in Vietnam?
- How did the failures in Vietnam create problems elsewhere for US policy?
Vietnam Timeline
- 1954 // Fall of Dien Bien Phu
- 1963 // Assassination of Diem
- 1964 // Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
- 1965-68 // Escalation & anti-war protests
- 1968 // Tet Offensive
- 1970 // Invasion of Cambodia and Kent State protests
- 1971 // Pentagon Papers & trial of Lt. William Calley (My Lai)
- 1972 // China opening, Easter offensive, Detente (SALT / ABM)
- 1973 // Paris peace accords (Vietnam agreement)
- 1975 // Fall of Saigon
Recalling the Turning Point: Tet Offensive (1968)
Here are video clips of Walter Cronkite’s original February 27, 1968 CBS Evening News Broadcast on the Tet Offensive, illustrating a turning point in the “living room war.”