AVON

I agree with "gman992", the Tet Offensive was a great disaster but, the mass media of the USA portrayed it as some sort of victory because the US Government had stated the Viet Cong could not launch a massive assault.

The USA could not win for a few reasons;
1) The administration provided the military with to many conflicting rules of engagement, that insured a no win situation.
2) One weakness of a democracies are wars of attrition. After five years or so the national will starts to wane!
3) The US mass media was so inaccurate (it wasn't funny) and often believed Hanoi over the words of Washington. At the time Linebacker Two raids were considered by the mass media as killing thousands of North Viet Namese in carpet bombing and that B-52s were being shot down in numbers that would quickly deplete the force. Both assumptions were false.
4) The North Vietnamese would not quit. They had fought almost continuously for hundreds of years... the Japanese, French and, the Americans were just the last of the invaders they had fought in order to unite their country under a single government. They were willing to fight until their opponents quit.
5) After the Korean Conflict, America wanted no more ground wars against the Chinese Army. That is the reason for the hesitation about provoking the involvement of the Chinese Army. If the Viet Cong and then the North Viet Namese Army gave America all it could handle, what would the US ground forces do if China sent a few dozen divisions south to assist the North Viet Namese?

NOTE:
Ho Chi Minh asked the US Government after WW-2 for assistance in getting their independence from the French. He figured we loved freedom, we would help him get freedom for his people. America did not want to displease the French, so we said no.
After WW-2, Mao Tse-tung wanted America to assist him in becoming an independent country. The USA refused to help China, so the Soviets gladly helped. The US State Department supported Mao Tse-tung but, the CIA supported Chiang Kai-Shek! ANOTHER BLUNDER!