![]() Tet demonstrated the weakness of South Vietnam and convinced many skeptical Americans that the government had misled them on the progress of the war-particularly General William C. Yet, it hardly constituted a “victory” for the US. A major US-South Vietnam counter-offensive successfully repelled the attacks and militarily it was a crushing defeat for the North Vietnamese. The US embassy in Saigon was breached and guerrillas engaged in fighting with American soldiers for several hours. On Janu(the first day of the Tet lunar new year), North Vietnamese troops and Vietcong guerrillas launched attacks on hundreds of cities and towns in South Vietnam. The “only realistic if unsatisfactory conclusion,” as Cronkite saw it, was that the US was not on the verge of victory and should find an “honorable” way out of Vietnam. Towards the end of his report he delivered his only on-air personal commentary, in what historian David Schmitz has called the “single most important news event” of the Vietnam War. on February 27, at the CBS News headquarters in New York City, Cronkite delivered his controversial 30-minute “Report from Vietnam.” Tens of millions of Americans tuned in as “the most trusted man in America” presented facts from the ground in Vietnam, making the case that the situation was more dire than the administration of President Lyndon B. In February 1968 CBS Evening News anchor Walter Cronkite undertook a two-week fact-finding trip to Vietnam to assess the impact of the Tet Offensive-the massive coordinated North Vietnamese and Vietcong surprise attack on hundreds of targets across South Vietnam. “Report from Vietnam” | February 27, 1968
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