When Richard Nixon became president in January 1969, the Vietnam War overshadowed all other foreign policy questions. By 1967, the questions that had first appeared at the outset of the war had created deep divisions within the nation over the efficacy, nature, and morality of the war. In the wake of the Tet Offensive in January 1968, opposition to the war had grown, and it was seen as a mistake by over half the population. The crisis created by Tet forced President Johnson to cap escalation and withdraw from the presidential election. The growing disillusionment of the American public with the fighting led to a wider and more receptive audience for critics of American foreign policy and the nation's support of right-wing dictatorships. While there had always been some complaints about America's backing of brutal antidemocratic regimes, the wrenching nature of the Vietnam War, the divisions it brought about in American society, the disaster it had become, and the questions it raised about the nature of American policy brought about a crisis of legitimacy concerning American foreign policy. This, in turn, made the policy of support for right-wing dictators of abiding interest to the American public for the first time. Antiwar leaders not only called for an end to the war in Vietnam, they also questioned the logic of containment and the assumptions that had led to the American escalation of the war, and sought a reevaluation of America's policy toward authoritarian regimes.