Vietnam War Turning Points

1. Why was the Tet Offensive a turning point? Explain your answer.
The Tet Offensive was a major turning point because it made the US people question the war.There were about 500,000 troops in Vietnam we were spending $20 billion a year on the war. Also the US and South Vietnamese forces were able to take back the towns that the US army captured quickly. On top of that, many civilians were killed as well.

2. Are Sources 51 and 52 making the same point about the My Lai Massacre?
These sources are not making the same point about the My Lai Massacre. Source 51 is opposing the reasoning behind the My Lai Massacre and it makes the point that they had gone thereon the behalf of their country and they had not known what they were doing. Source 52 opposes source 51 and states that it was not a massacre of innocent civilians, but that they were just killing the supporters of communism which needed to be done anyways.

3. Why do you think it took 12 months for anyone to do anything about the massacre?
It took 12 months for anyone to do anything because there had already been photographs of screaming children running from the Napalm Bombs the US had set off against Viet Cong in the papers and this had already been showed to the american public, and so support was already leaving the offensive.

4. Why was the massacre so shocking to the American public?
The Massacre was so shocking to the American public because nobody thought the US army would do such horrible things, like killing 400 innocent civilians, which were mainly comprised of woman, children, and the elderly. The american people did not think that this was going on in Vietnam.