[oh8eleven]

It was clear by 1971 that the war had descended into a stalemate ...
1971? Walter Cronkite came back from VN, after the Tet Offensive in early 1968, and told America, "To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion."

[21twelve]

“Walter Cronkite came back from VN, after the Tet Offensive in early 1968, and told America, “To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory, conclusion.”

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I recall watching an old news item on Vietnam with some famous reporter. It was after the first major fight using American troops. The reporter ended it up with something like “It remains to be seen how long Americans will support the war as the number of dead increases.” I was ASTOUNDED! It must have been in there playbook from the very beginning.

And iirc didn’t they really push the number of dead during the first Gulf War?

[AmericanVictory]

Tet was a victory that the media and the campus lefties cast as a defeat. After Tet we had the war won, but the media and the campus lefties insisted that we turn tail and run, betraying the people of South Vietnam.

As Tom Moorer used to growl at me if I asked him about it: "Seems like they turned all our victories into defeats."

[Old North State]

Yeah, but I think Cronkite turned out to be right for the wrong reason. Tet was a political victory for the Viet Cong but a military defeat. I think the direct intervention of the North Viet regulars added a dimension to the conflict that required a response the US leadership was unwilling to make. Anyway, maybe I should have said ‘clear to me by 1971’ because that's when I got drafted. Those letters had a way of clarifying things.