During this year, the number of U. S. troops in Vietnam totals 385,000. The average age of a soldier is 19. The North Vietnamese and the Vietcong conduct a surprise attack on various points in South Vietnam, even threatening the U. S. Embassy in the capital, Saigon. Although the attack is immediately repelled, media images of the enemy in the streets of Saigon influence public opinion so that more than fifty percent of Americans now oppose the war. In the wake of the Tet Offensive, Johnson refuses to run for re-election.
Peace talks begin in Paris.
Richard M. Nixon elected President. 543,400 U. S. troops are in Vietnam. Troop withdrawal begins. The U. S. commences bombing of Cambodia, located directly to the west of Vietnam. The goal was to stop the movement of supplies from North to South Vietnam along the Ho Chi Minh trail, which ran through Laos and Cambodia.