Question

why did americans grow distrustful after pentagon papers, tet offensive and watergate

Answer 1

For watergate, Nixon admitted to complicity in the burglary of the democratic national committe's executive quarter... This led to his began his impeachment but resigned before he could be impeached. As for when the pentagon papers were published, it showed the history of the internal planning and policy-making process within the government itself concerning the Vietnam War, led to public distrust, especially of Nixon. The tet offenses ended in a military defeat for the Viet Cong, but at the same time, proved that Johnson's "gradual escalation" strategy was not working, shocking an American public that believed the Vietnam conflict was a sure victory. It was like the turning point when the American public realized that they were loosing. Keep in mind that the reason why we went into Vietnam was because France basically told us that if we didn't help them keep control, they wouldn't help us fight communism. This was in the time were people were frightened of communism spreading. It wasn't like wwi or WWII because in those wars, the soldiers knew why they were fighting and in Vietnam they had no idea. So basically, the tet offenses, pentagon papers, and watergate.. Showed corruption how much corruption was in he nixons administration and government during the time.