Vietnam: The Tet Offensive

William G. McGowan Theater
Washington, DC

Erik B. Villard and a panel will discuss the Tet Offensive and Villard’s book Combat Operations: Staying the Course, September 1967–October 1968. Moderated by Charles R. Bowery, Jr., Executive Director, U.S. Army Center of Military History, panelists include Villard; Merle L. Pribbenow II, author of Victory in Vietnam; and Gregory Daddis, associate professor of history, Chapman University. Keynote remarks will be made by The Honorable Chuck Hagel, 24th Secretary of Defense. The panel will explore the 12-month period when the Viet Cong and their North Vietnamese allies embarked on a new and more aggressive strategy that shook the foundations of South Vietnam and forced the United States to reevaluate its military calculations in Southeast Asia. The allied situation at the end of this period appeared to be only marginally better than it had been in late 1967; the peace talks in Paris had stalled, and American public opinion had turned decisively against the war. A book signing of Combat Operations will follow the program.

Presented in partnership with the U.S. Army Center of Military History.