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  3. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume VI, Vietnam, January–August 1968
  4. January 30–February 8: The Tet Offensive

January 30–February 8: The Tet Offensive

62. Telegram From the Embassy in Vietnam to the Department of State

Saigon, February 8, 1968, 1115Z.

Source: National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1967–69, POL 27 VIET S. Secret; Immediate; Nodis. Received at 8:35 a.m. This telegram is printed in full in Pike, ed., The Bunker Papers, Vol. 2, pp. 327–333. On February 6 Bunker, Westmoreland, and Thieu had preliminary discussions on ways to galvanize the GVN and also on Loan’s February 1 public execution of a VC suspect. (Telegram 18269 from Saigon, February 6; National Archives and Records Administration, RG 59, Central Files 1967–69, POL 27 VIET S) Additional information on Loan’s action during the height of Tet is in telegram 109066 from Saigon, February 2, and memorandum from Meeker to Rusk, February 3. (Both ibid.)