The Tet Offensive In The 1970's

Social tensions intensified on the home front from corresponding events happening in East Asia. The Tet Offensive in January 1968 caused the American public opinion to shift further away from the war causing more unrest and divide in the country. (footnote A Life in a Year) The United States announced a ceasefire that lasted seven days to celebrate Tet, the Vietnamese New Year. On January 32, 1968 the North Vietnamese disregarded the ceasefire and launched many surprise attacks against South Vietnam and the U.S. A photographer, Eddie Adams, observed the national Chief of Police shoot a man suspected of being a guerilla during the offensive. Adams took a picture of the incident and by the next day it circled around the United States. Along

Multiple U.S. officers attempted to cover up what had happened in order to try to save the little American citizen support they had, but instead it just made Americans dislike the war even more (My Lai ebsco). Later on Nixon announced the U.S. invasion of Cambodia to disrupt North Vietnamese supply lines. This message caused a number of strikes and riots across the nation, (footnote Nixon Tapes) specifically the Kent State Massacre on May 4, 1970 because of Nixon’s previous claims that the war would end soon and he would start to pull out troops. During the Kent State Massacre, the Ohio National Guardsmen came to put down the strike and ended up killing four people and wounding nine (fn Nixon Tapes). The Kent State Massacre and other anti-war events that followed, like the Jackson State College shootings continued the motivation of many to want to end the war as a whole. The Christmas bombing in 1972 caused both U.S. citizens and those of other nations to criticize the effectiveness of the war. These bombings destroyed Haiphong and Hanoi’s facilities for military and industrial necessities and lead to the death of over 1600 civilians.

High unemployment and high inflation caused stagflation in the 1970s (fn Stagflation ebsco). In order to fix this problem, the government needed to increase the number of jobs, but increasing jobs would further increase inflation. Decreasing the production of items would help lower inflation, but it would also increase unemployment. Instead of borrowing money from other nations or increasing taxes, the U.S. just printed more money; thus, adding to the problem. The government stopped the conversion between paper money and gold to try and help the economy. (fn Stagflation) Along with the actual Vietnam War, the United States fought domestically, attempting to end the war on poverty. In order to try to counteract the poverty levels, Johnson increased social security. The Medicaid and Medicare created during Johnson’s Great Society also assisted the war of poverty to help the unemployed and the elderly that could not pay on their