My Lai Massacre

Due to the frustration, lack of belief and low morale of US soldiers in post-Tet Vietnam, a village named My Lai had been massacred in March 1968. The village had been a stronghold for Vietcong troops and most of the villagers had been communist, Vietcong sympathizers. During a routine search and destroy mission, Charlie Company, led by Lieutenant William L. Calley, was ordered to destroy the village. Charlie Company had lost a total 28 men which is almost 1/5 of the companies original size. While tensions were still high from the Tet offensive, Charlie Company marched in My Lai and did not find any Vietcong troops. However, they still proceeded to round up all villagers and kill, rape or torture them. Up to 500 villagers had been killed and once pictures of the incident had reached TV, further escalation of US protestors occurred.
De-Escalation into Resolution

While the United States military was technically successful at repelling the North Vietnamese invaders, they began to go to war with a new enemy; the American public. There had already been protesting before the Tet offensive but due to the fact that this was the first televised war, the people could get a daily dose of the Vietnam war. The shocking nature of seeing dead Americans, dead Vietnamese in My Lai and seeing places under US control being infiltrated made the American public question whether we were winning the war like the Johnson administration had been claiming. Before the Tet offensive president Johnson was claiming that the war was almost over but afterward it became clear that this was not the truth. Even after the Tet Offensive happened, General Westmoreland continued to believe the United States was winning. Contrary to the American