This is an ABC podcast.

Round, rectangular, triangular, or square.

A table is a table, right?

No, a table is a symbol.

In 1968, the Vietnam War had been raging for more than a decade.

The enemy of the planning the Tet Offensive for the past six months.

The disastrous Tet Offensive that year was a turning point.

The Viet Cong had chosen a number of strategic targets.

The various parties were finally ready to start negotiating for peace.

But first, another battle needed to be won.

The Battle of the Tables.

So there are four parties in these negotiations.

They were the Americans, the South enemies government.

These two were allies.

There was the North Vietnamese government, and there was the Vyakong or the southern insurgents.

And these two were allies.

And basically the issue with the tables was a dispute over how these southern insurgents would be represented.

So initially the Americans opposed a triangular table with the U.S. and the South Vietnamese each having one side,

and the North Vietnamese and the Southern insurgents having a third side. But the North Vietnamese the South Vietnamese each having one side and the North Vietnamese and the Southern

insurgents having a third side. But the North Vietnamese and Southern insurgents found this

proposal unacceptable. Because it meant that they got one side versus the Americans and the

South Vietnamese who each had a side of their own. So they'd be outpowered, you know, symbolically,

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