the Tet offensive. The Tet offensive had dramatic effects within the USA. President Johnson faced a major economic crisis in 1968. The dollar fell in value as the costs of the war escalated out of control. Politicians and the public were worried that the USA could not manage to finance the war for much longer. Time and Newsweek magazines soon ran anti-war editorials urging withdrawal. Even the conservative Wall Street Journal concluded after the Tet Offensive that “the whole Vietnam effort may be doomed.” Polls showed that Johnson’s popularity had declined to 35 percent. A famous journalist, Walter Cronkite, spoke on television and declared that the war could not be won. The anti-war movement became much stronger as the opinion polls showed almost 40% of Americans opposed the war. People saw events of the war on their televisions and read about them in their newspapers, and more people were convinced that the US should get out of Vietnam completely. The antiwar movement became much stronger.
