Tet was a clear example of how the modern media would handle this battle. “I have decided the war is lost and we should leave Europe to the Europeans.”
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Absolutely right.
And BTW, since you bring up Tet... if there had been no Watergate, South Vietnam would have survived. The reason for the Easter Offensive in 1972 (which failed) was because the war in the south was basically won.
But because of Watergate, the US flushed South Vietnam down the toilet. To Ford’s credit, he tried to prevent it.
The Easter Offensive failed because of American air support; it clearly showed that Vietnamization (having South Vietnam fight the war) wasn’t working.
That another push could begin three years later indicated the communists weren’t battered by the Easter Offensive losses - and the absence of American airpower made the outcome a foregone conclusion: South Vietnam couldn’t fight the war on its own. When you see interviews with the Americans over there at the end, all were surprised at how rapidly the ARVN collapsed.
Even with Watergate, Nixon had the war won again with the results of the Christmas bombings in 72 and the mining of their harbors.....and then gave it back because the goal was not to win but only to get the POWs back. Another few days of unrestricted bombing and the NV government would have agreed to any terms.