ong gunfire. Included in the cities were Saigon, capital of South Vietnam and home to the United States Embassy. At first the Tet Offensive appeared a failure for North Vietnam. A large portion of Vietcong troops were killed, and major Vietcong outposts were discovered. Most of the overtaken cities, including Saigon, had been regained. Unfortunately for the United States the timing of the Tet Offensive couldn't have been worse. For the past three years the Americans at home had been promised a swift defeat of the (so called) nearly destroyed Communists, which, after the retreating of the French, had become the main goal of the United States. Worst of all, election year was approaching, and the incumbent Richard Nixon was promising a swift plan of "Vietmenization" in which the war was supposed to be placed in the hands of the South Vietnamese and allow for the retreat of American soldiers. Johnson was so unconfident he didn't run for reelection. Finally, in 1972 the last United States foot soldiers were removed from Vietnam, and in 1975 the North Vietnamese over took Saigon, renaming it Ho Chi Mien City after their brilliant military leader. At this time the United States Embassy was surrendered, marking the end of the war (Winthrop, 861-865).As the soldiers returned home they had to adapt from a war in which over one million people were killed. There were no banners or celebrations, and as the news of events such as the My Lai Massacre spread, they were seen as ruthless killers. When these soldiers risked their lives every minute for a reason they were not told and seemingly was purposeless, and then returned to a country that despised them for what they did negative effects are emanate(Winthrop, 861-865). During the war many soldiers realized their maximum threshold for violence. When, as was the case for many soldiers, this limit was reached and even exceeded, psychological scarring is going to take place. This, combined with the retu...
