In a campaign called the Tet Offensive, Viet Cong forces, led by General Vo Nguyen Giap, turned the tide of the war and imposed a relentless attack to South Vietnamese. The primary objective of North Vietnamese forces in instigating the Tet Offensive was to dispel ARVN forces and simultaneously initiate or catalyze discontent that would lead to an uprising against the South Vietnamese government. The second goal was to destroy trust and support for American involvement in the war. While the first objective was fully achieved, the second was not. The attacks did not necessarily trigger or dispel the ARVN to lead to an uprising, in fact the Viet Cong forces were spread out enough for the American and South Vietnamese armies to counter and inflict casualties accordingly. However, when the Tet Offensive was reported in the US media, public sentiment in the United States began to change. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay “That bloodshed and devastation caused by the heavy fighting, along with the pessimistic reports, which were brought directly into the American living room, stunned every single American who watched it” (Rohn). In addition to realizing that Americans were facing severe losses, the media, which had originally supported the war, also turned against supporting the war. Furthermore, the anti-war protest movement reached its peak in early 1968 after the offensive of Tet, which sparked the most intense anti-war protest to date. A Gallup poll showed that in 1968 46% of people thought sending US troops to Vietnam was a mistake compared to 32% in 1967. illustrates the dramatic rise in antiwar sentiment. Particular volume of the Pentagon Papers suggests the importance of public opinion in escalation decisions during the Tet Offensive. Westmoreland asked Johnson to send him an additional 200,000 troops in addition to the 525,000 already present. Johnson consulted a small group of action officers about it. The report states that “it will be difficult to convince critics that we are not simply destroying South Vietnam to 'save' it and that we sincerely want peace talks. This growing disaffection, accompanied, as it certainly will be, by increased draft defiance and growing unrest in cities due to the belief that we are neglecting domestic problems, runs the great risk of provoking a domestic crisis of unprecedented proportions.” This was a secret report written by political and military experts and is therefore unlikely to have an underlying agenda. Furthermore, the idea that escalation would bring considerable unrest is valid; The Tet Offensive caused the public to question the accuracy of the U.S. government's claim that it would soon prevail over the Communists, as many citizens had previously taken an optimistic view of the war. The offensive marked a critical turning point for the war, as Johnson effectively rejected troops at Westmoreland and announced on March 31 that he was "taking the first step in de-escalating the conflict." Three days later Hanoi announced that it was ready to talk to the Americans, and discussions began in Paris on May 13. Even though these talks came to nothing, it was still a key turning point in the war, where for the first time the United States would decide to escalate the conflict, essentially the beginning of the end of their.