Antiwar sentiment increases

An advertisement headed “A Call To Resist Illegitimate Authority,” signed by over 320 influential people (professors, writers, ministers, and other professional people), appears in the New Republic and the New York Review of Books, asking for funds to help youths resist the draft.

In Washington, Senator Thurston B. Morton (Republican from Kentucky), told reporters that President Johnson had been “brainwashed” by the “military-industrial complex” into believing a military victory could be achieved in Vietnam. Johnson felt the sting of such criticism and he was also frustrated by contradictory advice from his advisors. Still, he thought that slow and steady progress was being made in Vietnam based on optimistic reports coming out of the U.S. military headquarters in Saigon. General Westmoreland, Commander of U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam, reported that U.S. operations were keeping the Viet Cong off balance and inflicting heavy losses. Still, the home front was crumbling as Johnson came under increasingly personal attacks for his handling of the war. The situation would reach a critical state when the communists launched a major surprise attack on January 31 during the 1968 Tet holiday, the traditional Vietnamese holiday celebrating the lunar new year.