Theme 3

Operation Rolling thunder, a sustained bombing campaign in 1965

The war became increasingly unpopular at home, emphasised after the Tet Offensive, a series of simultaneous attacks on ARVN and US during a holiday. Though militarily it was north failure, it lowered US morale for troops and US at home, increasing the anti-war sentiment.

Walter Cronkite, a reporter, turned against the war and left LBJ isolated


General Westmoreland;

Search and Destroy tactics, often relied on the metric of ‘body counts’ to measure success, though led to high civilian casualties

Management of the public image, optimistic reports, this narrative was shattered by the Tet Offensive uncovered, his request for 206,000 more troops was leaked to the media and was a major factor in the collapse of public support


Jungle Warfare;

Vietminh would use small group attacks, waiting and hiding using the environment

often has assistance from locals and were difficult to identify

Lots of underground tunnels were built, they were often complex and were booby trapped, 80% of all a=casualties came from booby traps


A televised war:

Graphic images, highlighted the brutality of the war, public scrutiny and scepticism


Battle of Hue- 1968, an 11-week long siege


Military outcomes of the Tet Offensive:

NLF/VC deaths- 45,000

US deaths- 1,500

Civilian deaths- 14,000

ARVN deaths- 3,000


The credibility gap had turned some people away from democracy and further towards communism


Changes in public opinion towards the Vietnam War;


  1. 1964- Gulf of Tonkin

  2. 1965- Operation Rolling Thunder

  3. 1966- B52 bombers bombed north Vietnam for the first time

  4. McNamara reported bombing campaign was ineffective

  5. The Tet Offensive