Newspapers and coverage of the Tet offensive

 Map showing the major attacks of the Tet Offensive

By Katherine Noll

On January 18th, 1968, the Chicago Tribune reported that in honor of the Lunar New Year or Tet holiday the Viet Cong planned to “observe a seven-day cease-fire..The paper also observed the existence of the enemy building up in the Republic of Vietnam’s (RVN) northwest region. Only 13 days later the Chicago Tribune proclaimed “Cong Attack in 8 Cities.” This began the "Tet offensive,” a series of attacks led by the National Liberation Front (NLF) against cities and military installations. The Chicago Tribune was not alone in its reporting. Other major American newspapers published similar articles. Charles Mohr wrote forThe New York Times “Street Clashes Go On In Vietnam, Foe Still Holds Parts Of Cities.”  These articles relayed the surprise felt by Americans  when receiving news of the attack. 

In the days preceding the offensive, newspapers mostly focused on the attack of Khe Sanh. The New York Times reported that “North Vietnamese gunners hammered the Marines’ Khe Sanh base yesterday.” It described the desperate situation that the marines faced. The reporter  compared it to the  Viet Minh”s siege against the French at  Dienbien-phu in 1954. The Chicago Tribune also described  the desperate conditions that the Marines faced and conveyed the need to reinforce them. The focus  changed on the morning of January 30th when The New York Times ran the front page headline “Vietcong Attack 7 Cities; Allies Call Off Tet Truce.” It described the surprise attacks on the different cities.

As the days went on the newspapers painted a dire picture of what transpired.  The Chicago Tribune reported American efforts to retake the  US embassy after it briefly fell under insurgent control.   The New York Times  also focused on the attack on Saigon and the embassy.  The Chicago Tribune reported one American who acknowledged that the insurgency attained its  objective “which was to embarrass us” The New York Times reported that various members of Congress expressed shock and frustration. They previously thought of such an attack as impossible.  The New York Times and Chicago Tribune provided readers with urgent reporting about the Tet offensive. They further recorded the shock experienced by Americans. Overall, both newspapers captured  the chaos and shock that Americans in Vietnam experienced. Moreover, they captured domestic reaction to the events as they transpired.  These newspapers provide a window into the past. They yield some sense of the contemporary reaction to the Tet Offensive. They reveal the immediacy of events conveyed through photos such as the one depicting the execution of Nguyễn Văn Lém. This suggests reasons why the conflict became so contentious in the United States.