ABSTRACT
The three-year period from the election of 1966 to the Moratorium mobilisation which began at the end of 1969 has all the features of a pause. The anti-war movement began the period demoralised, while the government became progressively more disoriented, and the Australian Labor Party (ALP) struggled to contain its divisions. For each of the different political forces in Australia, Tet Offensive was crucial in different ways. For the conservatives, it signified the crumbling of their postwar policy, though this was only clear after the implications of Tet for American policy had emerged. Editorial reaction to the Tet Offensive was dramatic. The disintegration of the conservatives' position provided excellent conditions for the ALP to minimise its own dilemmas on Vietnam. The right could argue that retrieving American prestige was the highest priority and required withdrawal from the war; the ALP's policy was thus made consistent with support for the American alliance.
