The Tet Offensive was what truly opened my eyes to how bad the media had become in this country- the impression I got from TV and the press was that it was a resounding blow against America-- then I started reading the books that came out not long after, and saw that the North Vietnamese were the ones defeated. But that was not the story America was told, and the spin stuck.
I had just returned from a year in-country at Tet; was in CNO's front office, trying to keep Adm. Moorer's schedule on track. But, I had a good view of the action in DC at the time.
The gut-shot reaction to Tet on the E-Ring was palpable -- following just a couple of weeks after the Pueblo.
I well remember the deplorable press coverage. Cronkite was leading the hand-wringing, as he had "flipped" the year before.
IMHO, however, the war had already been lost, as the corruption and ineptness of the Saigon Regime was absolutely unbelievable. I had dealt with Thieu and Ky on two separate instances coordinating their flight(s) up to Yankee Station. The stories I could relate about these decadent bums would fill volumes. The war was lost before Westmoreland could check the crease in his fatigues, for the hearts and minds of the populace literally were already lost by early "65. Komer and Company actually exacerbated the problem -- winging it with one failed program after another -- all with McNamara's hapless guidance. (In fact, Moorer tasked me with the job of engineering the JCS going-away present for the fired SecDef in late November '67.)Horrible times in Washington !!
So much for that war. We have another one right now --and in my view, we ignore the Islamist threat at our peril.