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JOHN MUSGRAVE: I was assigned a listening
post at Con Thien in the fall.
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That was like getting a
death sentence at a trial.
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Because that's just three
Marines out there with a radio.
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And that's the scariest thing I did.
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You're listening for the enemy.
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They call you on the radio every hour,
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"Delta, Lima, Papa, Three, Bravo,
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"Delta, Lima, Papa, Three,
Bravo, this is Delta Three.
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"lf your sit rep is alpha
sierra, key your handset twice.
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"lf your situation report is all secure,
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break squelch twice on the handset."
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And if it's not, they keep
thinking you're asleep
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so they keep asking you, "If
your sit rep is alpha sierra,"
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And then it finally dawns on them
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maybe there's somebody too
close for you to say anything.
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So then they say, "If your sit
rep is negative alpha sierra,
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key your handset once,"
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And you damn near squeeze the
handle off the, you know,
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and two on the radio
because they're so close
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that you can hear them
whispering to one another.
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And that's scary stuff.
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That's real scary stuff.
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And I'm scared of the dark, still.
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I still got a night light.
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When my kids were growing up,
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that's the first time they really found out
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that Daddy'd been in a war when they said,
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"Well, why do we need to
outgrow our night lights?
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Daddy's still got one."
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JOHN KENNEDY: Let the word go
forth from this time and place,
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to friend and foe alike,
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that the torch has been
passed to a new generation
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of Americans born in this
century, tempered by war,
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disciplined by a hard and bitter peace,
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proud of our...
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JACK TODD: I still believed, very much,
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in this concept of an heroic America,
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America being a really special country,
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the best country in the
world, the best democracy,
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all the things that we
believe about it, which...
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and I didn't really see
anything wrong with that.
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I was sure that we were
right to be in Vietnam.
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You know, because it started under Kennedy
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and, to me, JFK was God.
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Anything that he thought was
right, I thought was right.
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NARRATOR: At 43, John Fitzgerald
Kennedy was the youngest man
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ever elected president
of the United States.
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He had promised bold new leadership,
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and to his supporters his
inauguration seemed to signal
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a new day.
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To those new states whom we welcome
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to the ranks of the free,
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we pledge our word that one
form of colonial control
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shall not have passed away
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merely to be replaced by
a far more iron tyranny.
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We shall not always expect to
find them supporting our view.
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But we shall always hope to
find them strongly supporting
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their own freedom and to
remember that, in the past,
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those who foolishly sought power
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by riding the back of the
tiger ended up inside.
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NARRATOR: The new president
gathered around him
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an extraordinary set of advisors
who shared his determination
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to confront communism, including
Secretary of State Dean Rusk,
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National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy,
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his deputy Walt Rostow,
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special military advisor
General Maxwell Taylor,
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and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara,
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who had given up his post
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as president of the Ford Motor
Company to serve his country.
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He was a pioneer in the
field of systems analysis.
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Like the president who picked them,
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all of Kennedy's men had
served during World War II.
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Each had absorbed what they all believed
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was its central lesson:
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Ambitious dictatorships needed
to be halted in their tracks
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before they constituted a serious danger
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to the peace of the world.
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Meanwhile, in South Vietnam,
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the National Liberation Front...
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labeled by its enemies the Viet Cong...
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was determined to overthrow
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the anticommunist and
increasingly autocratic
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government of Ngo Dinh Diem.
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In North Vietnam,
unbeknownst to Washington,
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Ho Chi Minh, the father of
Vietnamese independence,
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was now sharing power with
a more aggressive leader,
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Le Duan, who was even more impatient
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to reunify his country.
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BAO NINH:
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LESLIE GELB: None of us knew
anything about Vietnam.
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Vietnam in those days was
a piece on a chessboard,
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a strategic chessboard,
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not a place with a culture and a history
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that we would have an
impossible time changing,
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even with the mighty force
of the United States.
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NARRATOR: Over the next three years,
the United States would struggle
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to understand the complicated
country it had come to save,
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fail to appreciate the enemy's resolve,
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and misread how the South
Vietnamese people really felt
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about their government.
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The new president would find himself caught
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between the momentum of war
and the desire for peace,
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between humility and hubris,
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between idealism and expediency,
between the truth and a lie.
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KENNEDY: And so, my fellow Americans,
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ask not what your country can do for you,
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ask what you can do for your country.
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MUSGRAVE: I grew up in
Missouri, near Kansas City,
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a little community called Fairmount.
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I was born in 1948.
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And there were lots of kids
being born in those days
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from the guys who were
lucky enough to come home
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from World War II.
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My dad was a pilot in the Army Air Corps.
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And all of dad's friends
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were World War Il vets or Korean vets.
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And all of my male teachers were veterans.
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And even my pastor had been a chaplain.
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Well, they were my heroes, and
l wanted to be like them.
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NARRATOR: For all of John
Kennedy's soaring rhetoric,
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for all the talent he gathered around him,
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the first months of his
presidency did not go well.
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He approved a CIA-sponsored
invasion of Cuba
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at the Bay of Pigs that ended in disaster.
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He felt he'd been bullied
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by Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev
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at a summit meeting in Vienna.
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He was unable to keep the Soviets
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from building the Berlin Wall.
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And in Southeast Asia,
he refused to intervene
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against a communist insurrection in Laos.
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Critics accused him of being
immature, indecisive,
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inadequate to the task of
combating what seemed to be
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a mounting communist threat.
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"There are just so many
concessions that we can make
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in one year and survive politically,"
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He confided to an aide
in the spring of 1961.
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In South Vietnam, Kennedy
felt he had to act.
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After the president received reports
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that the Viet Cong might be in control
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of more than half the densely
populated Mekong Delta,
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he dispatched General Maxwell
Taylor and Walt Rostow
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to Vietnam.
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They urged him to commit
American ground troops.
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Kennedy refused.
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It would be like taking a
first drink, he said...
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the effect would soon wear off
and there would be demands
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for another and another and another.
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Instead, in the midst of a cold war,
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with its constant risk of
nuclear confrontation,
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the president supported
a new "flexible" way
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to confront and contain
communism: limited war.
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This is another type of
warfare, new in its intensity,
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ancient in its origin...
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war by guerrillas, subversives,
insurgents, assassins;
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War by ambush instead of by combat;
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By infiltration instead of aggression.
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NARRATOR: To fight his "limited wars,"
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Kennedy hoped to use the
elite Green Berets,
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special forces trained
in guerrilla warfare,
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counterinsurgency.
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They were meant to be dispatched
to hotspots around the world.
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ROBERT RHEAULT: Khrushchev said,
"We're not going to destroy you
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with nuclear weapons,
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we're going to destroy you with
wars of national liberation."
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Everybody talked about the fact
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that communism was spreading
and it had to be stopped.
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You went to Command and
General Staff College
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and you were playing on
maps with nuclear weapons
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and so forth.
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And I escaped from that by
getting into Special Forces.
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So that instead of planning
what we were going to do
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if World War Ill broke out,
we were actually doing stuff.
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And Vietnam was a place where
we were going to draw the line.
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NARRATOR: Kennedy sent the Green Berets
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to the Central Highlands of Vietnam
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to organize mountain tribes
to fight the Viet Cong
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and to undertake covert missions
to sabotage their supply bases
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in Laos and Cambodia.
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But Kennedy understood that
counterinsurgency alone
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would never be enough,
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so he doubled funding for
South Vietnam's army,
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dispatched helicopters and APCs,
armored personnel carriers.
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Kennedy also authorized the use of napalm
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and the spraying of defoliants
to deny cover to the Viet Cong
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and destroy the crops that fed them.
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A whole array of chemicals was used,
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including one named for
the color of the stripes
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on the 55-gallon drums in which
it came... "Agent Orange."
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And the president quietly
continued to increase
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the number of American military advisors.
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Within two years, the number
he had inherited would grow
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to 11,300,
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empowered not only to teach
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the Army of the Republic
of Vietnam... the ARVN...
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to fight a conventional war,
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but to accompany them into battle,
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a violation of the agreement
that had divided Vietnam
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back in 1954.
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The administration did its best
to hide from the American people
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the scale of the buildup
that was taking place
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00:12:55,832 --> 00:12:57,600
on the other side of the world,
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fearful that the public would not support
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the more active role advisors
had begun to play in combat.
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00:13:07,566 --> 00:13:10,165
Mr. President, a Republican
National Committee publication
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has said that you are...
have been less than candid
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with the American people as
to how deeply we are involved
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in Vietnam.
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Could you throw any more light on that?
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We have increased our
assistance to the government,
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its logistics.
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We have not sent combat troops there.
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Though the training
missions that we have there
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have been instructed if
they are fired upon to...
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they are, would of course, fire
back, to protect themselves.
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But we have not sent combat troops
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00:13:38,932 --> 00:13:41,200
in the generally understood
sense of the word.
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00:13:41,299 --> 00:13:46,899
So that I-l feel that we are
being as frank as the...
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as we can be.
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00:13:48,265 --> 00:13:49,799
I think we... what I have said to you
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is a description of our activity there.
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NEIL SHEEHAN: I was a
child of the Cold War.
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00:14:01,066 --> 00:14:04,533
When I got off the plane in
Saigon on a humid evening
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in April 1962,
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I really believed in all the
ideology of the Cold War.
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On...
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That if we lost South Vietnam,
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that the rest of Southeast Asia
would fall to the communists.
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There was an international
communist conspiracy.
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00:14:20,700 --> 00:14:23,133
We believed fervently in this stuff.
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00:14:23,232 --> 00:14:27,100
NARRATOR: Neil Sheehan was
a 25-year-old reporter
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for United Press International, UPI.
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00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:34,666
He had served three years in
the Army in Korea and Japan
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00:14:34,765 --> 00:14:37,500
before deciding to become a newspaperman.
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00:14:37,600 --> 00:14:41,799
Vietnam was his first full-time
overseas assignment,
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00:14:41,899 --> 00:14:43,732
and his only worry, he remembered,
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was that he would get there
too late and miss out
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00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:48,566
on the big story.
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00:14:48,665 --> 00:14:52,799
Sheehan and other reporters
rode along as the ARVN mounted
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00:14:52,899 --> 00:14:56,399
a series of helicopter
assaults on enemy strongholds
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00:14:56,500 --> 00:14:58,832
in the Mekong Delta and elsewhere
242
00:14:58,932 --> 00:15:02,365
and brought terror to the Viet Cong.
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00:15:02,466 --> 00:15:05,466
American pilots were at the controls.
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00:15:05,566 --> 00:15:09,966
SHEEHAN: It was a crusade
and it was thrilling.
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00:15:10,066 --> 00:15:12,566
And you'd climb aboard the helicopters
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00:15:12,666 --> 00:15:16,000
with the Vietnamese soldiers who
were being taken out to battle.
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And they'd take off.
248
00:15:17,766 --> 00:15:20,400
And they'd contour-fly, they'd
skim across the rice paddies
249
00:15:20,500 --> 00:15:22,665
at about three or four
feet above the paddies,
250
00:15:22,766 --> 00:15:26,633
and then pop up over the tree
lines that lined the fields.
251
00:15:26,732 --> 00:15:27,900
It was thrilling.
252
00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:29,309
I mean it was absolutely thrilling.
253
00:15:29,333 --> 00:15:32,333
And you believed in what was happening.
254
00:15:32,432 --> 00:15:34,500
I mean you had the sense
that we're fighting here
255
00:15:34,598 --> 00:15:38,400
and some day we'll win, and
this country will be a better,
256
00:15:38,500 --> 00:15:39,700
better country for our coming.
257
00:15:41,500 --> 00:15:44,299
NARRATOR: The new M-113
armored personnel carriers
258
00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:48,066
were capable of churning
across rivers and rice paddies
259
00:15:48,165 --> 00:15:49,932
and right through the earthen dikes
260
00:15:50,032 --> 00:15:52,333
that separated one field from the next.
261
00:15:53,766 --> 00:15:58,766
The Viet Cong had nothing
with which to stop them.
262
00:15:58,865 --> 00:16:04,599
JAMES SCANLON: We were just overwhelming
them with force, with firepower.
263
00:16:04,700 --> 00:16:08,000
And the firefights would be
over in a pretty short time.
264
00:16:08,099 --> 00:16:10,766
MAN ON RADIO: We have some
people running along the dikes.
265
00:16:10,865 --> 00:16:13,799
Actually, the canal is perpendicular
266
00:16:13,900 --> 00:16:15,299
to the one you're attacking now.
267
00:16:15,400 --> 00:16:19,266
They have on black uniforms, and
l estimate approximately 3-0.
268
00:16:19,365 --> 00:16:21,932
Do you have them in sight? Over.
269
00:16:22,032 --> 00:16:24,232
SCANLON: That's what was
causing us to win, see.
270
00:16:24,333 --> 00:16:27,465
And we were winning one after the other.
271
00:16:27,566 --> 00:16:31,133
And we were not meeting a
heck of a lot of resistance.
272
00:16:31,232 --> 00:16:34,965
NARRATOR: Captain James Scanlon had
been stationed in West Germany
273
00:16:35,066 --> 00:16:38,165
and had seen for himself
the brutality with which
274
00:16:38,266 --> 00:16:40,799
the communist East Germans
dealt with anyone
275
00:16:40,900 --> 00:16:44,299
who dared try to escape to the West.
276
00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:46,633
He was now in the Mekong Delta,
277
00:16:46,732 --> 00:16:49,700
an advisor to the 7th Division of the ARVN,
278
00:16:49,799 --> 00:16:54,500
and had begun to see evidence
of Viet Cong brutality as well.
279
00:16:57,732 --> 00:17:01,400
SCANLON: Those of us who talked to
the people who fled East Germany,
280
00:17:01,500 --> 00:17:05,500
we saw the need to stop
the growth of communism,
281
00:17:05,599 --> 00:17:09,000
to stop the dominoes from being tumbled.
282
00:17:09,099 --> 00:17:11,633
That was a worthy cause.
283
00:17:13,133 --> 00:17:16,900
NARRATOR: As the ARVN and their
advisors pursued the Viet Cong,
284
00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:19,633
the government of Ngo
Dinh Diem had launched
285
00:17:19,732 --> 00:17:24,032
an ambitious program meant to
gain control of the countryside
286
00:17:24,133 --> 00:17:26,799
by concentrating the rural population
287
00:17:26,900 --> 00:17:29,465
into thousands of fortified settlements,
288
00:17:29,566 --> 00:17:33,900
ringed with barbed wire and
moats and bamboo spikes
289
00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:36,665
meant to keep out the Viet Cong.
290
00:17:36,766 --> 00:17:41,099
They were called strategic
hamlets, part of the effort
291
00:17:41,200 --> 00:17:44,266
to win the hearts and minds, and loyalty,
292
00:17:44,365 --> 00:17:45,766
of the Vietnamese people.
293
00:17:45,865 --> 00:17:50,465
The French had tried something
like it a decade before.
294
00:17:50,566 --> 00:17:54,500
They had called it pacification.
295
00:17:54,599 --> 00:17:57,165
ROBERT McNAMARA: President
Diem's strategic hamlet program
296
00:17:57,266 --> 00:17:59,700
is making substantial progress.
297
00:17:59,799 --> 00:18:04,432
About 1,600 of the some 14,000 hamlets
298
00:18:04,532 --> 00:18:08,099
have been fortified to date.
299
00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:10,400
NARRATOR: By the summer of 1962,
300
00:18:10,500 --> 00:18:13,833
news from South Vietnam seemed so promising
301
00:18:13,932 --> 00:18:17,665
that Defense Secretary
Robert McNamara made sure
302
00:18:17,766 --> 00:18:20,833
the Pentagon was prepared
to implement a plan
303
00:18:20,932 --> 00:18:24,400
for a gradual withdrawal
of American advisors
304
00:18:24,500 --> 00:18:27,066
to be completed by 1965.
305
00:18:27,165 --> 00:18:30,700
So far as most Americans knew,
306
00:18:30,799 --> 00:18:33,633
the United States was achieving its goal:
307
00:18:33,732 --> 00:18:37,000
A stable, independent, anticommunist state
308
00:18:37,099 --> 00:18:39,200
in South Vietnam.
309
00:18:39,299 --> 00:18:43,665
It was "a struggle this
country cannot shirk,"
310
00:18:43,766 --> 00:18:45,532
TheNew York Tim es said,
311
00:18:45,633 --> 00:18:50,032
and the United States
seemed to be winning it.
312
00:18:51,700 --> 00:18:55,566
But that same summer, Ho Chi
Minh traveled to Beijing
313
00:18:55,665 --> 00:18:59,165
in search of more help from the Chinese.
314
00:18:59,266 --> 00:19:02,599
The American buildup in South
Vietnam had alarmed him
315
00:19:02,700 --> 00:19:04,900
and the other leaders in Hanoi.
316
00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:08,266
Ho told the Chinese that American attacks
317
00:19:08,365 --> 00:19:14,232
on North Vietnam itself now
seemed only a matter of time.
318
00:19:14,333 --> 00:19:18,333
The Chinese promised to equip
and arm tens of thousands
319
00:19:18,432 --> 00:19:21,400
of Vietnamese soldiers.
320
00:19:21,500 --> 00:19:25,000
Meanwhile, the Politburo
in Hanoi had directed
321
00:19:25,099 --> 00:19:28,365
that every able-bodied North Vietnamese man
322
00:19:28,465 --> 00:19:33,299
be required to serve in the armed forces.
323
00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:36,566
["Honky Tonk Pt. 1" by
Bill Doggett playing]
324
00:19:40,266 --> 00:19:42,500
NARRATOR: Inspired by
their president's call,
325
00:19:42,599 --> 00:19:45,799
thousands of young Americans
would join the Peace Corps
326
00:19:45,900 --> 00:19:49,732
and other organizations to
help project American ideals
327
00:19:49,833 --> 00:19:52,200
and goodwill around the world.
328
00:20:05,099 --> 00:20:09,799
RUFUS PHILLIPS: We were not only
there in Vietnam to stop communism,
329
00:20:09,900 --> 00:20:13,732
but there had to be something positive.
330
00:20:13,833 --> 00:20:17,066
We're trying to find out what
the Vietnamese people want
331
00:20:17,165 --> 00:20:19,766
and to help them get it.
332
00:20:19,865 --> 00:20:21,099
And that was very simple
333
00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:23,232
but, if you think about
it, also very complex.
334
00:20:23,333 --> 00:20:25,700
But it went to the heart, I thought,
335
00:20:25,799 --> 00:20:28,165
of what we were trying to do.
336
00:20:30,165 --> 00:20:33,400
NARRATOR: Pete Hunting, a
22-year-old from Oklahoma City,
337
00:20:33,500 --> 00:20:37,066
would go to Vietnam right after
college to do what he could
338
00:20:37,165 --> 00:20:40,400
to help poor villagers in the countryside.
339
00:20:40,500 --> 00:20:42,865
WOODY GUTHRIE: ? I was
a soldier in the fight
340
00:20:42,965 --> 00:20:45,200
? And I fought till we won
341
00:20:45,299 --> 00:20:49,365
? My uniform's my dirty overhauls. ?
342
00:20:51,365 --> 00:20:53,766
I finally finished up my
work in Phan Rang last week.
343
00:20:53,865 --> 00:20:55,732
Had spent a month working on a windmill
344
00:20:55,833 --> 00:20:57,833
I'd promised the people of one hamlet.
345
00:20:57,932 --> 00:21:02,500
Cost a lot of money, too, which
l paid out of my own pocket.
346
00:21:02,599 --> 00:21:06,365
GUTHRIE: ? Well, I'll give you my
sweat, I'll give you my blood. ?
347
00:21:06,465 --> 00:21:08,566
In soaring spirits today
348
00:21:08,665 --> 00:21:11,833
despite all the natural
disasters, political intrigues,
349
00:21:11,932 --> 00:21:14,000
and subversive activities.
350
00:21:14,099 --> 00:21:16,500
NARRATOR: Pete Hunting worked
351
00:21:16,599 --> 00:21:19,400
for the International Voluntary Services,
352
00:21:19,500 --> 00:21:23,232
a nonprofit organization
committed to improving
353
00:21:23,333 --> 00:21:26,432
agriculture, education, and public health.
354
00:21:26,532 --> 00:21:29,700
He was one of hundreds
of dedicated aid workers
355
00:21:29,799 --> 00:21:32,333
in South Vietnam.
356
00:21:32,432 --> 00:21:36,165
GUTHRIE: ? My hoe is my gun.
357
00:21:36,266 --> 00:21:38,508
News on this side of the world
358
00:21:38,532 --> 00:21:40,609
is that I'll almost definitely
be extending over here
359
00:21:40,633 --> 00:21:42,500
for another two years,
360
00:21:42,599 --> 00:21:44,732
providing the country stays
in one piece that long.
361
00:21:47,799 --> 00:21:49,932
NARRATOR: Two years after he arrived,
362
00:21:50,032 --> 00:21:52,432
Pete Hunting was driving
in the Mekong Delta
363
00:21:52,532 --> 00:21:55,333
when he ran into a Viet Cong ambush.
364
00:21:55,432 --> 00:21:58,900
He was shot five times in the head...
365
00:22:00,700 --> 00:22:02,665
The first American civilian volunteer
366
00:22:02,766 --> 00:22:05,432
to be killed in Vietnam.
367
00:22:10,066 --> 00:22:18,066
[helicopter blades
beating, voices on radio]
368
00:22:33,932 --> 00:22:36,232
People used to joke in Vietnam
369
00:22:36,333 --> 00:22:37,965
about winning the hearts and minds.
370
00:22:38,066 --> 00:22:41,599
And you hear that expression,
but that should not be a joke.
371
00:22:41,700 --> 00:22:43,799
It's a serious, serious problem.
372
00:22:43,900 --> 00:22:46,333
If you pull off a military operation,
373
00:22:46,432 --> 00:22:50,032
and it may be successful
on the military basis,
374
00:22:50,133 --> 00:22:53,000
but you destroy a village,
375
00:22:53,099 --> 00:22:56,833
then you've created a
village of resistance.
376
00:22:56,932 --> 00:23:00,799
NARRATOR: Few advisors
understood the unique challenges
377
00:23:00,900 --> 00:23:03,633
of fighting an insurgency in Vietnam
378
00:23:03,732 --> 00:23:07,633
better than Lieutenant
Colonel John Paul Vann.
379
00:23:07,732 --> 00:23:10,365
A career soldier from Virginia,
380
00:23:10,465 --> 00:23:12,633
he was the senior American advisor
381
00:23:12,732 --> 00:23:16,732
to the 7th ARVN Division
in the Mekong Delta.
382
00:23:16,833 --> 00:23:21,299
Small, wiry and abrasive,
John Paul Vann was convinced
383
00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:25,500
he knew how to defeat the Viet Cong.
384
00:23:25,599 --> 00:23:30,133
PHILIP BRADY: John Paul Vann was
simply the most remarkable soldier
385
00:23:30,232 --> 00:23:31,299
I ever met.
386
00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:33,266
Period.
387
00:23:33,365 --> 00:23:38,099
The biggest challenge of
John Paul Vann's life
388
00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:44,000
was somehow saving Vietnam, winning.
389
00:23:44,099 --> 00:23:47,000
That, to him, was the ultimate challenge.
390
00:23:49,566 --> 00:23:51,133
NARRATOR: When it became clear to Vann
391
00:23:51,232 --> 00:23:54,099
that the tactics the Americans
had taught the ARVN
392
00:23:54,200 --> 00:23:57,299
were beginning to make
more enemies than friends,
393
00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:02,066
he sought out newspapermen
to spread the word.
394
00:24:02,165 --> 00:24:06,032
NEIL SHEEHAN: He was able to
explain to us what was going on.
395
00:24:06,133 --> 00:24:09,432
The important thing was not
to alienate the population.
396
00:24:09,532 --> 00:24:12,400
That if you got sniper fire from a hamlet,
397
00:24:12,500 --> 00:24:14,865
you sent in riflemen to
take out the sniper.
398
00:24:14,965 --> 00:24:17,285
You didn't shell the place,
because you were going to kill
399
00:24:17,333 --> 00:24:19,633
women and kids and destroy houses
400
00:24:19,732 --> 00:24:22,200
and you were going to turn
the population against you.
401
00:24:24,432 --> 00:24:27,700
NARRATOR: Most press coverage
of Vietnam was upbeat
402
00:24:27,799 --> 00:24:30,465
in the tradition of previous wars.
403
00:24:30,566 --> 00:24:35,365
But a handful of young reporters
including Neil Sheehan,
404
00:24:35,465 --> 00:24:37,932
David Halberstam of theNew York Times,
405
00:24:38,032 --> 00:24:40,566
and Malcolm Browne of the Associated Press,
406
00:24:40,665 --> 00:24:44,365
who spent time in the field
with officers like Vann,
407
00:24:44,465 --> 00:24:48,500
were beginning to see that from
the Vietnamese countryside,
408
00:24:48,599 --> 00:24:50,766
things looked very different than they did
409
00:24:50,865 --> 00:24:54,665
from the press offices
in Washington or Saigon.
410
00:24:54,766 --> 00:24:58,932
SHEEHAN: So it was terribly important
that we not only win the war
411
00:24:59,032 --> 00:25:01,865
but that we as reporters report the truth
412
00:25:01,965 --> 00:25:04,799
that would help to win the war.
413
00:25:04,900 --> 00:25:07,932
We were very fervent in
wanting to report the truth
414
00:25:08,032 --> 00:25:11,099
because it was very important
to the welfare of our country
415
00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:12,599
and to the welfare of the world.
416
00:25:14,732 --> 00:25:18,165
NARRATOR: Sheehan and his colleagues
began asking tough questions
417
00:25:18,266 --> 00:25:23,200
about what constituted progress,
what victory would look like,
418
00:25:23,299 --> 00:25:25,599
and if the people in the countryside,
419
00:25:25,700 --> 00:25:29,299
where 80% of South Vietnam's
population lived,
420
00:25:29,400 --> 00:25:34,165
could ever trust the government in Saigon.
421
00:25:34,266 --> 00:25:37,266
SHEEHAN: I remember going, during
one of Robert McNamara's visits,
422
00:25:37,365 --> 00:25:40,333
out to one of these hamlets.
423
00:25:40,432 --> 00:25:41,941
The Vietnamese general
who commanded the area
424
00:25:41,965 --> 00:25:43,476
was telling McNamara what a
wonderful thing this was.
425
00:25:43,500 --> 00:25:46,000
And the-the... some of
these farmers were down
426
00:25:46,099 --> 00:25:49,732
digging a ditch around the...
around the hamlet.
427
00:25:49,833 --> 00:25:53,165
And I looked at their faces
and they were really angry.
428
00:25:54,932 --> 00:25:56,500
I mean it was very obvious to me
429
00:25:56,599 --> 00:25:59,432
that if these people could,
they'd cut our throats.
430
00:26:03,766 --> 00:26:07,732
NARRATOR: Farmers resented being
forced to abandon their homes
431
00:26:07,833 --> 00:26:10,266
and move to strategic hamlets.
432
00:26:10,365 --> 00:26:14,432
Corrupt officials siphoned off funds.
433
00:26:14,532 --> 00:26:16,932
And villagers blamed the Diem regime
434
00:26:17,032 --> 00:26:20,900
for failing to protect them
from guerrilla attacks.
435
00:26:21,000 --> 00:26:26,165
As the people's anger grew, so
did the ranks of the Viet Cong.
436
00:26:26,266 --> 00:26:30,566
SHEEHAN: It turned out that the
Viet Cong were recruiting men
437
00:26:30,665 --> 00:26:34,099
right out of those strategic...
so-called strategic hamlets.
438
00:26:34,200 --> 00:26:36,200
And then the whole program fell apart.
439
00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:39,000
NGUYEN NGOC:
440
00:26:59,965 --> 00:27:03,833
NARRATOR: Nguyen Ngoc's father was
a postal clerk south of Danang.
441
00:27:03,932 --> 00:27:08,400
His brothers and sisters taught
in South Vietnamese schools.
442
00:27:08,500 --> 00:27:12,165
But he joined the revolution,
and as a political officer,
443
00:27:12,266 --> 00:27:16,200
wrote poems, songs, and
slogans to inspire the people
444
00:27:16,299 --> 00:27:20,799
in the countryside to
support the Viet Cong.
445
00:27:20,900 --> 00:27:25,432
DUONG VAN MAl: The Viet Cong cadre
would come in and talk to them
446
00:27:25,532 --> 00:27:30,299
and their message is usually
447
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:32,900
which means "turn your grief into action.
448
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:35,400
"Do something about it.
449
00:27:35,500 --> 00:27:37,432
"Join us.
450
00:27:37,532 --> 00:27:38,900
"We'll fight together.
451
00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:43,400
"We'll liberate the country from
this corrupt, unjust government.
452
00:27:43,500 --> 00:27:45,400
"We'll throw out the foreigners.
453
00:27:45,500 --> 00:27:47,200
"We'll reunify the country.
454
00:27:47,299 --> 00:27:50,365
"And we'll bring in this great regime
455
00:27:50,465 --> 00:27:52,000
"that will take care of you
456
00:27:52,099 --> 00:27:53,900
and bring economic and social justice."
457
00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:59,099
NARRATOR: The Viet Cong ran
rival local governments,
458
00:27:59,200 --> 00:28:03,000
complete with their own tax
collectors and school teachers,
459
00:28:03,099 --> 00:28:07,500
spies and propagandists,
and province chiefs.
460
00:28:10,099 --> 00:28:12,299
To make matters worse,
461
00:28:12,400 --> 00:28:16,133
ARVN troops and American
advisors now found themselves
462
00:28:16,232 --> 00:28:19,133
confronted by a new threat:
463
00:28:19,232 --> 00:28:22,400
Battalions of well-armed
Viet Cong soldiers,
464
00:28:22,500 --> 00:28:25,665
as well as by local guerrillas.
465
00:28:25,766 --> 00:28:27,965
SHEEHAN: We'd armed them.
466
00:28:28,066 --> 00:28:31,400
You could hear the arming of the Viet Cong.
467
00:28:31,500 --> 00:28:34,932
Back in early '62, they only had
one machine gun per battalion.
468
00:28:36,200 --> 00:28:37,665
It was sporadic fire.
469
00:28:37,766 --> 00:28:41,665
Then, as they captured more and
more of these American arms,
470
00:28:41,766 --> 00:28:43,500
when you made contact, it fi...
471
00:28:43,599 --> 00:28:45,833
it would build up into a
drumfire of automatic
472
00:28:45,932 --> 00:28:47,365
and semi-automatic weapons.
473
00:28:55,099 --> 00:28:58,200
RUFUS PHILLIPS: Secretary McNamara
decided that he would draw up
474
00:28:58,299 --> 00:29:01,133
some kind of a chart to determine
475
00:29:01,232 --> 00:29:04,066
whether we were winning or not.
476
00:29:04,165 --> 00:29:06,766
And he was putting things in
477
00:29:06,865 --> 00:29:09,633
like numbers of weapons recovered,
478
00:29:09,732 --> 00:29:12,000
numbers of Viet Cong killed.
479
00:29:12,099 --> 00:29:14,500
Very statistical.
480
00:29:17,066 --> 00:29:19,465
And he asked Edward Lansdale,
481
00:29:19,566 --> 00:29:23,266
who was then in the Pentagon
as head of Special Operations,
482
00:29:23,365 --> 00:29:25,365
to come down and look at this.
483
00:29:25,465 --> 00:29:29,599
And so Lansdale did and he said,
"There's something missing."
484
00:29:29,700 --> 00:29:32,900
And McNamara said, "What?"
485
00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:36,532
And Lansdale said, "The feelings
of the Vietnamese people."
486
00:29:36,633 --> 00:29:40,465
You couldn't reduce this to a statistic.
487
00:29:40,566 --> 00:29:45,133
NARRATOR: Robert McNamara had
vowed to make America's military
488
00:29:45,232 --> 00:29:46,599
"cost-effective."
489
00:29:46,700 --> 00:29:50,400
He demanded that everything be quantified.
490
00:29:50,500 --> 00:29:54,299
In Saigon, General Paul D. Harkins,
491
00:29:54,400 --> 00:29:57,665
head of the Military
Assistance Command, Vietnam,
492
00:29:57,766 --> 00:30:01,000
known as MACV, dutifully complied.
493
00:30:01,099 --> 00:30:05,700
He and his staff generated
mountains of daily, weekly,
494
00:30:05,799 --> 00:30:07,965
monthly, and quarterly data
495
00:30:08,066 --> 00:30:11,066
on more than a hundred separate indicators,
496
00:30:11,165 --> 00:30:15,665
far more data than could
ever be adequately analyzed.
497
00:30:19,133 --> 00:30:21,932
General Harkins had little
use for skeptical reporters
498
00:30:22,032 --> 00:30:23,566
like Neil Sheehan.
499
00:30:23,665 --> 00:30:26,133
Bad news was to be buried.
500
00:30:26,232 --> 00:30:30,333
Harkins ignored the alarming
after action reports
501
00:30:30,432 --> 00:30:34,000
John Paul Vann and other
officers were sending in
502
00:30:34,099 --> 00:30:36,066
from the field.
503
00:30:36,165 --> 00:30:39,133
DONALD GREGG: I was going to be
made head of the Vietnam desk
504
00:30:39,232 --> 00:30:41,200
at CIA headquarters.
505
00:30:41,299 --> 00:30:44,532
And the first person of
importance that I met
506
00:30:44,633 --> 00:30:46,833
was General Harkins.
507
00:30:46,932 --> 00:30:49,365
And he started out by saying,
508
00:30:49,465 --> 00:30:52,232
"Mr. Gregg, I don't care what
you hear from anybody else,
509
00:30:52,333 --> 00:30:54,708
"l can tell you without a doubt
we're going to be out of here
510
00:30:54,732 --> 00:30:56,532
with a military victory in six months."
511
00:30:58,032 --> 00:30:59,965
JAMES MOSSMAN: The country's
12 million peasants
512
00:31:00,066 --> 00:31:02,665
can scarcely remember what peace was like.
513
00:31:02,766 --> 00:31:04,646
They're caught between
the predatory guerrillas
514
00:31:04,700 --> 00:31:07,200
and the almost equally demanding soldiery.
515
00:31:07,299 --> 00:31:09,619
Their lives are lived in a state
of permanent uncertainty,
516
00:31:09,700 --> 00:31:12,299
punctuated by bouts of violence
517
00:31:12,400 --> 00:31:13,833
as government forces come to grips
518
00:31:13,932 --> 00:31:16,165
with the black-clad communist rebel forces
519
00:31:16,266 --> 00:31:17,599
called the Viet Cong.
520
00:31:22,333 --> 00:31:24,833
HUY DUC:
521
00:32:03,732 --> 00:32:07,099
NGUYEN NGOC:
522
00:32:49,532 --> 00:32:52,233
CAO XUAN DAl:
523
00:33:15,565 --> 00:33:19,800
On our side we were not as committed
524
00:33:19,900 --> 00:33:21,733
and we were...
525
00:33:21,833 --> 00:33:25,065
our leaders were corrupt and incompetent.
526
00:33:25,166 --> 00:33:30,132
And so deep down we'll
always have this fear,
527
00:33:30,233 --> 00:33:35,800
this suspicion that in the end
it'll be the communists who won.
528
00:33:35,900 --> 00:33:39,365
TOM VALLELY: When John Kennedy assembled
529
00:33:39,465 --> 00:33:41,500
what he thinks is the
best and the brightest,
530
00:33:41,599 --> 00:33:47,766
20 years before that in a
cave in the northern part
531
00:33:47,865 --> 00:33:50,432
of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh also put together
532
00:33:50,532 --> 00:33:51,932
his best and the brightest.
533
00:33:52,032 --> 00:33:55,099
And these guys are at it for a while.
534
00:33:55,199 --> 00:33:58,733
And when we show up, they were far along
535
00:33:58,833 --> 00:34:04,699
to consolidating their victory
over this inevitable conflict
536
00:34:04,800 --> 00:34:09,333
between Ho Chi Minh and John F.
Kennedy's vision.
537
00:34:09,432 --> 00:34:14,500
The more you think about
the American strategy,
538
00:34:14,599 --> 00:34:18,199
the more you know
539
00:34:18,300 --> 00:34:21,065
that it was never going to
work out particularly well.
540
00:34:35,932 --> 00:34:41,599
RHEAULT: I was at my top of
my game when I was in combat.
541
00:34:46,565 --> 00:34:49,632
You don't have the luxury
to indulge your fear
542
00:34:49,733 --> 00:34:51,699
because other people's lives depend upon
543
00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:53,099
you keeping your head cold.
544
00:35:01,865 --> 00:35:04,833
You know, when something goes wrong,
545
00:35:04,932 --> 00:35:06,233
they call it emotional numbing.
546
00:35:06,333 --> 00:35:08,599
It's not very good in civilian life,
547
00:35:08,699 --> 00:35:10,900
but it's pretty useful in combat.
548
00:35:22,599 --> 00:35:25,199
To be able to get absolutely very cold
549
00:35:25,300 --> 00:35:30,465
about what needs to be
done and to stick with it.
550
00:35:36,300 --> 00:35:39,233
To me it's, it's a little
bit distressing to realize
551
00:35:39,333 --> 00:35:41,000
that I was at my best
552
00:35:41,099 --> 00:35:43,766
doing something as terrible as war.
553
00:35:53,166 --> 00:35:55,699
MOSSMAN: President Kennedy has
staked his reputation in Asia
554
00:35:55,800 --> 00:35:58,632
on saving South Vietnam from communism.
555
00:35:58,733 --> 00:36:01,132
As the army makes the
sweep towards the village
556
00:36:01,233 --> 00:36:03,032
suspected of harboring Viet Cong,
557
00:36:03,132 --> 00:36:06,233
it can't tell whether it
will meet resistance.
558
00:36:12,465 --> 00:36:14,666
The troops round up all the
young men they can find,
559
00:36:14,766 --> 00:36:17,833
since they can't tell who is
a communist just by looking.
560
00:36:20,333 --> 00:36:23,000
Those who try to run for it are shot
561
00:36:23,099 --> 00:36:25,032
on the assumption they
have something to hide.
562
00:37:16,699 --> 00:37:21,565
NARRATOR: Each of South Vietnam's
44 provinces had its own chief.
563
00:37:21,666 --> 00:37:24,465
Some were simply political appointees,
564
00:37:24,565 --> 00:37:27,333
corrupt allies of President Diem.
565
00:37:27,432 --> 00:37:33,065
Tran Ngoc Chau, province chief
of Kien Hoa, was different.
566
00:37:33,166 --> 00:37:38,000
A privileged judge's son from
the old imperial city of Hue,
567
00:37:38,099 --> 00:37:41,065
he and two of his brothers had
fought against the French
568
00:37:41,166 --> 00:37:42,532
with the Viet Minh.
569
00:37:42,632 --> 00:37:46,632
But he had refused to
join the Communist Party;
570
00:37:46,733 --> 00:37:49,666
He admired their dedication,
but disliked the way
571
00:37:49,766 --> 00:37:52,900
they punished those who
dared differ with them.
572
00:37:53,000 --> 00:37:55,965
Instead, he left the Viet Minh,
573
00:37:56,065 --> 00:37:59,199
became a major in the army
fighting against them,
574
00:37:59,300 --> 00:38:03,166
and eventually so impressed Diem
with his insider's knowledge
575
00:38:03,266 --> 00:38:07,099
of communist tactics that
he was promoted to colonel
576
00:38:07,199 --> 00:38:13,032
and made chief of Kien Hoa,
a Viet Cong stronghold.
577
00:38:13,132 --> 00:38:16,800
PHILLIPS: He was absolutely incorruptible.
578
00:38:16,900 --> 00:38:21,865
And people came to really
understand that here's a guy
579
00:38:21,965 --> 00:38:24,965
who's, even though it's
not an elected system,
580
00:38:25,065 --> 00:38:27,900
who never... nevertheless
really represents us.
581
00:38:29,599 --> 00:38:31,519
NARRATOR: "Give me a budget
that equals the cost
582
00:38:31,599 --> 00:38:35,800
of one American helicopter,"
Chau liked to say,
583
00:38:35,900 --> 00:38:38,532
"and I'll give you a pacified province.
584
00:38:38,632 --> 00:38:42,699
"With that much money, I can
raise the standard of living
585
00:38:42,800 --> 00:38:44,300
"of the rice farmers,
586
00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:46,160
"and government officials
can be paid enough
587
00:38:46,199 --> 00:38:50,900
so they won't think it necessary to steal."
588
00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:53,465
Rather than hunt down the Viet Cong,
589
00:38:53,565 --> 00:38:56,233
he sought to persuade them.
590
00:39:51,632 --> 00:39:55,233
NARRATOR: Back home, Americans
were paying little attention
591
00:39:55,333 --> 00:39:57,500
to what was happening in Vietnam.
592
00:39:57,599 --> 00:40:00,333
They were watching The Beverly Hillbillies
593
00:40:00,432 --> 00:40:02,532
andGunsm oke on TV,
594
00:40:02,632 --> 00:40:05,565
were interested in whether
the Yankees would win
595
00:40:05,666 --> 00:40:07,065
the World Series again
596
00:40:07,166 --> 00:40:11,300
and in the recent death of Marilyn Monroe.
597
00:40:14,599 --> 00:40:17,000
But some Americans had
been growing impatient
598
00:40:17,099 --> 00:40:20,365
with the slow pace of social change.
599
00:40:20,465 --> 00:40:22,099
BILL ZIMMERMAN: We were told in the '50s
600
00:40:22,199 --> 00:40:24,900
that we lived in the best
country in the world.
601
00:40:25,000 --> 00:40:28,400
In the middle of, you know,
trying to figure out
602
00:40:28,500 --> 00:40:30,733
what it meant to be a citizen of the...
603
00:40:30,833 --> 00:40:33,166
of this best country in the world,
604
00:40:33,266 --> 00:40:35,065
suddenly the civil rights movement exploded
605
00:40:35,166 --> 00:40:37,099
into our consciousness.
606
00:40:37,199 --> 00:40:43,333
BEN E. KING: ? When the night has come...
607
00:40:43,432 --> 00:40:45,266
ZIMMERMAN: We didn't
think we had any power.
608
00:40:45,365 --> 00:40:48,500
We didn't think we could
be actors in history,
609
00:40:48,599 --> 00:40:51,199
that we could affect things.
610
00:40:53,432 --> 00:40:56,500
KING: ? No, I won't be afraid
611
00:40:56,599 --> 00:40:58,432
? Oh, I won't...
612
00:40:58,532 --> 00:41:00,266
ZIMMERMAN: And suddenly, you know,
613
00:41:00,365 --> 00:41:02,266
these young black students in the South
614
00:41:02,365 --> 00:41:03,965
were doing exactly that.
615
00:41:04,065 --> 00:41:07,132
And it just blew the tops of our heads off.
616
00:41:07,233 --> 00:41:12,865
KING: ? So darling,
darling, stand by me ?
617
00:41:12,965 --> 00:41:17,300
? Oh, stand by me
618
00:41:17,400 --> 00:41:22,565
? Oh, stand, stand by me
619
00:41:22,666 --> 00:41:25,432
? Stand by me
620
00:41:25,532 --> 00:41:28,199
? If the sky that we look upon... ?
621
00:41:28,300 --> 00:41:31,699
NARRATOR: Other Americans were
concerned about the proliferation
622
00:41:31,800 --> 00:41:35,032
of nuclear weapons in the world.
623
00:41:35,132 --> 00:41:39,032
Perhaps it would be a good thing
to put Khrushchev and Kennedy
624
00:41:39,132 --> 00:41:42,932
on an island and not let
either one of them off
625
00:41:43,032 --> 00:41:45,300
until they came to an agreement.
626
00:41:45,400 --> 00:41:47,766
KING: ? Stand by me
627
00:41:47,865 --> 00:41:52,699
? And darling, darling, stand by me. ?
628
00:42:08,065 --> 00:42:11,199
SHEEHAN: And if you were in a cafe
when Diem was giving a speech,
629
00:42:11,300 --> 00:42:13,100
somebody would get up
and shut the radio off,
630
00:42:13,166 --> 00:42:14,932
it would be coming in over the radio.
631
00:42:15,032 --> 00:42:17,333
Somebody would get up and
they'd just shut the radio off.
632
00:42:17,432 --> 00:42:21,599
I mean, he was not connected with...
to his own population.
633
00:42:24,565 --> 00:42:29,465
PHAN QUANG TUE: Diem was simply the
opposite of what democracy was.
634
00:42:29,565 --> 00:42:33,333
South Vietnam, in the
competition against the North,
635
00:42:33,432 --> 00:42:38,500
that should been, should have
been a golden opportunity
636
00:42:38,599 --> 00:42:43,900
to have that society open
with the free press,
637
00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:46,000
free expression.
638
00:42:46,099 --> 00:42:48,833
But there was not much choice
639
00:42:48,932 --> 00:42:53,333
if the two system are structurally dictator
640
00:42:53,432 --> 00:42:54,733
and oppressive systems...
641
00:42:54,833 --> 00:43:01,166
one under the Communist
Party, one under a family.
642
00:43:18,099 --> 00:43:21,699
NARRATOR: Diem's brother, Ngo
Dinh Nhu, had been the architect
643
00:43:21,800 --> 00:43:24,199
of the strategic hamlet program,
644
00:43:24,300 --> 00:43:28,432
ran a personal political party
that mirrored the techniques
645
00:43:28,532 --> 00:43:31,000
and the ruthlessness of the communists,
646
00:43:31,099 --> 00:43:35,266
and supervised a host of
internal security units
647
00:43:35,365 --> 00:43:39,500
that spied on and seized
enemies of the regime.
648
00:43:41,365 --> 00:43:43,465
Some reporters who probed too deeply
649
00:43:43,565 --> 00:43:45,965
into what Diem and Nhu were doing
650
00:43:46,065 --> 00:43:48,233
were ordered out of the country.
651
00:43:49,365 --> 00:43:51,766
When an American journalist objected,
652
00:43:51,865 --> 00:43:55,932
Nhu's sharp-tongued wife
told him Vietnam had no use
653
00:43:56,032 --> 00:43:58,666
for "your crazy freedoms."
654
00:44:00,132 --> 00:44:02,000
Meanwhile, out in the countryside,
655
00:44:02,099 --> 00:44:06,266
John Paul Vann and other
advisors had begun to notice
656
00:44:06,365 --> 00:44:10,099
that the corruption within
Diem's regime had filtered down
657
00:44:10,199 --> 00:44:12,132
to the commanders in the field.
658
00:44:12,233 --> 00:44:17,233
Troops, who had once been
willing to engage the enemy,
659
00:44:17,333 --> 00:44:21,365
now seemed strangely reluctant.
660
00:44:21,465 --> 00:44:26,266
God, I was told so many times,
661
00:44:28,365 --> 00:44:29,465
Um...
662
00:44:29,565 --> 00:44:34,766
very dangerous, you know, going out there.
663
00:44:34,865 --> 00:44:37,599
NEIL SHEEHAN: John Vann would
go out with them at night.
664
00:44:37,699 --> 00:44:41,800
And he noticed that
somebody would always cough
665
00:44:41,900 --> 00:44:45,233
or make some other slight
noise when it turned out
666
00:44:45,333 --> 00:44:47,733
that the Viet Cong were
heading into the ambush site.
667
00:44:47,833 --> 00:44:49,565
They did not want to get in a fight.
668
00:44:49,666 --> 00:44:52,865
NARRATOR: South Vietnamese
officers were chosen
669
00:44:52,965 --> 00:44:56,432
less for their combat skill
than for their loyalty
670
00:44:56,532 --> 00:45:00,500
to President Diem, and their men knew it.
671
00:45:01,800 --> 00:45:03,160
RHEAULT: What we should've done is
672
00:45:03,233 --> 00:45:07,800
either forced the Vietnamese...
I mean really forced them...
673
00:45:07,900 --> 00:45:10,000
to clean up their act.
674
00:45:10,099 --> 00:45:12,132
And if they wouldn't clean
up their act to say,
675
00:45:12,233 --> 00:45:14,632
"We're out of here.
676
00:45:14,733 --> 00:45:17,532
"Because we don't bet on losing horses.
677
00:45:17,632 --> 00:45:20,032
"This is a losing horse.
678
00:45:20,132 --> 00:45:22,400
You are not going to win this insurgency."
679
00:45:22,500 --> 00:45:25,233
We, as Americans, should
have understood the desire
680
00:45:25,333 --> 00:45:28,800
of the Vietnamese people
to have their own country.
681
00:45:28,900 --> 00:45:31,900
I mean we did the same thing to the Brits.
682
00:45:37,532 --> 00:45:42,365
NARRATOR: In October of 1962, the
United States and the Soviet Union
683
00:45:42,465 --> 00:45:45,233
came closer than they would ever come again
684
00:45:45,333 --> 00:45:48,000
to mutually assured destruction.
685
00:45:48,099 --> 00:45:51,099
Good evening, my fellow citizens.
686
00:45:51,199 --> 00:45:55,166
This government, as
promised, has maintained
687
00:45:55,266 --> 00:45:59,099
the closest surveillance of
the Soviet military buildup
688
00:45:59,199 --> 00:46:01,000
on the island of Cuba.
689
00:46:02,000 --> 00:46:04,032
Within the past week,
690
00:46:04,132 --> 00:46:07,432
unmistakable evidence has
established the fact
691
00:46:07,532 --> 00:46:10,932
that a series of offensive missile sites
692
00:46:11,032 --> 00:46:16,065
is now in preparation on
that imprisoned island.
693
00:46:16,166 --> 00:46:19,365
NARRATOR: The Soviets had
secretly placed nuclear missiles
694
00:46:19,465 --> 00:46:22,500
90 miles from the United States.
695
00:46:22,599 --> 00:46:27,500
The Joint Chiefs of Staff urged
President Kennedy to bomb Cuba.
696
00:46:27,599 --> 00:46:31,733
He resisted and instead
ordered a naval blockade
697
00:46:31,833 --> 00:46:36,233
to stop Soviet ships from
resupplying the island.
698
00:46:37,800 --> 00:46:43,199
For 13 excruciating days,
the world held its breath.
699
00:46:46,599 --> 00:46:49,833
Finally, in exchange for a private pledge
700
00:46:49,932 --> 00:46:52,632
to remove American missiles from Turkey,
701
00:46:52,733 --> 00:46:56,333
Khrushchev agreed to remove
his missiles from Cuba.
702
00:46:59,166 --> 00:47:02,166
Neither the United States
nor the Soviet Union
703
00:47:02,266 --> 00:47:06,300
wanted so direct a
confrontation ever again.
704
00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:08,800
From now on, limited wars,
705
00:47:08,900 --> 00:47:11,400
like the growing conflict in Vietnam,
706
00:47:11,500 --> 00:47:15,000
would assume still greater importance.
707
00:47:18,300 --> 00:47:22,800
MUSGRAVE: I'd grown up in the
shadow of the mushroom cloud.
708
00:47:22,900 --> 00:47:26,932
And I remember the... watching
President Kennedy speak
709
00:47:27,032 --> 00:47:28,599
during the Cuban Missile Crisis
710
00:47:28,699 --> 00:47:30,900
and wondering if I was
ever gonna kiss a girl.
711
00:47:31,000 --> 00:47:33,865
And so this was just continuing that battle
712
00:47:33,965 --> 00:47:35,733
against the Russians.
713
00:47:35,833 --> 00:47:39,365
Only we were fighting, you
know, their, their proxies,
714
00:47:39,465 --> 00:47:42,900
the Vietnamese there... but
it was monolithic communism.
715
00:47:44,266 --> 00:47:47,132
It didn't matter to me where
it was, I was going to go
716
00:47:47,233 --> 00:47:51,300
if my government said
we needed to be there.
717
00:47:51,400 --> 00:47:54,333
We were probably the last
kids of any generation
718
00:47:54,432 --> 00:47:55,666
that actually believed
719
00:47:55,766 --> 00:47:57,500
our government would never lie to us.
720
00:48:02,833 --> 00:48:05,132
SHEEHAN: We had been writing
stories about all the flaws
721
00:48:05,233 --> 00:48:08,065
on the Saigon side... about
how they wouldn't fight,
722
00:48:08,166 --> 00:48:10,900
about the corruption, they
wouldn't obey orders,
723
00:48:11,000 --> 00:48:12,532
the disorganization.
724
00:48:14,465 --> 00:48:19,000
And then all of a sudden the
Viet Cong, for the first time,
725
00:48:19,099 --> 00:48:20,465
the "raggedy-ass little bastards"
726
00:48:20,565 --> 00:48:23,365
As the Harkins's people
in Saigon called them,
727
00:48:23,465 --> 00:48:25,000
stood and fought.
728
00:48:25,099 --> 00:48:27,365
And suddenly all the
flaws on the Saigon side
729
00:48:27,465 --> 00:48:29,766
were illuminated by this.
730
00:48:29,865 --> 00:48:33,065
Like a star shell, it
illuminated the battlefield.
731
00:48:33,166 --> 00:48:34,632
Everything came out.
732
00:48:35,900 --> 00:48:39,199
NARRATOR: A few days after Christmas 1962,
733
00:48:39,300 --> 00:48:42,766
the 7th ARVN Division got orders to capture
734
00:48:42,865 --> 00:48:44,965
a Viet Cong radio transmitter
735
00:48:45,065 --> 00:48:49,699
broadcasting from a spot some
40 miles southwest of Saigon
736
00:48:49,800 --> 00:48:52,766
in a village called Tan Thoi.
737
00:48:52,865 --> 00:48:55,599
The village was surrounded by rice paddies.
738
00:48:55,699 --> 00:49:01,699
An irrigation dike linked it to
a neighboring hamlet... Ap Bac.
739
00:49:01,800 --> 00:49:06,132
Intelligence suggested no
more than 120 guerrillas
740
00:49:06,233 --> 00:49:08,565
were guarding the transmitter.
741
00:49:08,666 --> 00:49:12,000
John Paul Vann helped
draw up what seemed to be
742
00:49:12,099 --> 00:49:14,532
a foolproof plan of attack.
743
00:49:14,632 --> 00:49:18,865
Supported by helicopters and
armored personnel carriers,
744
00:49:18,965 --> 00:49:22,833
some 1,200 South Vietnamese
troops would attack the village
745
00:49:22,932 --> 00:49:24,766
from three sides.
746
00:49:24,865 --> 00:49:27,733
When the surviving Viet Cong
tried to flee through the gap
747
00:49:27,833 --> 00:49:31,766
left open for them, as they
always had whenever outnumbered
748
00:49:31,865 --> 00:49:34,065
and confronted by modern weapons,
749
00:49:34,166 --> 00:49:37,666
artillery and airstrikes
would destroy them.
750
00:49:37,766 --> 00:49:42,233
Vann would observe the
fighting from a spotter plane.
751
00:49:42,333 --> 00:49:47,932
But the intelligence underlying
it all turned out to be wrong.
752
00:49:48,032 --> 00:49:53,565
There were more than 340 Viet
Cong, not 120, in the area.
753
00:49:53,666 --> 00:49:56,599
Communist spies had tipped them off
754
00:49:56,699 --> 00:49:58,800
that they were soon to be attacked.
755
00:49:58,900 --> 00:50:02,965
And this time they would
not flee without a fight.
756
00:50:05,432 --> 00:50:08,166
Among them was Le Quan Cong,
757
00:50:08,266 --> 00:50:12,699
who had been a guerrilla fighter
since 1951, when he was 12.
758
00:50:27,166 --> 00:50:32,233
NARRATOR: At 6:35 in the
morning on January 2, 1963,
759
00:50:32,333 --> 00:50:35,632
ten American helicopters
ferried an ARVN company
760
00:50:35,733 --> 00:50:39,099
to a spot just north of Tan Thoi.
761
00:50:42,000 --> 00:50:45,000
They met no resistance.
762
00:50:45,099 --> 00:50:48,666
Meanwhile, two South Vietnamese
Civil Guard battalions
763
00:50:48,766 --> 00:50:52,065
approached Ap Bac from the South on foot.
764
00:50:55,065 --> 00:50:58,733
The Viet Cong commander let the
Civil Guards get within 100 feet
765
00:50:58,833 --> 00:51:01,400
before giving the order to fire.
766
00:51:03,900 --> 00:51:06,666
Several South Vietnamese
soldiers were killed.
767
00:51:10,632 --> 00:51:13,699
Survivors hid behind a dike.
768
00:51:16,632 --> 00:51:18,465
Ten more helicopters,
769
00:51:18,565 --> 00:51:22,266
filled with troops and escorted
by five helicopter gunships,
770
00:51:22,365 --> 00:51:23,632
roared in to help.
771
00:51:25,166 --> 00:51:27,132
LE QUAN CONG:
772
00:51:50,465 --> 00:51:54,766
NARRATOR: Viet Cong machine
guns hit 14 of the 15 aircraft.
773
00:51:54,865 --> 00:52:00,233
Five would be destroyed, killing
and wounding American crewmen.
774
00:52:01,699 --> 00:52:03,865
LE QUAN CONG:
775
00:52:09,932 --> 00:52:12,300
NARRATOR: The enemy concentrated
their fire on the ARVN
776
00:52:12,400 --> 00:52:15,465
struggling to get out of
the downed helicopters.
777
00:52:15,565 --> 00:52:18,532
"lt was like shooting
ducks for the Viet Cong,"
778
00:52:18,632 --> 00:52:20,565
An American crewman remembered.
779
00:52:22,900 --> 00:52:25,900
Colonel Vann circled helplessly overhead.
780
00:52:26,000 --> 00:52:28,400
He radioed the ARVN commander,
781
00:52:28,500 --> 00:52:32,599
urging him to send an APC
unit to rescue the men.
782
00:52:33,932 --> 00:52:36,500
SCANLON: I got the word from John Vann
783
00:52:36,599 --> 00:52:39,400
that American helicopters were down.
784
00:52:39,500 --> 00:52:41,865
They were right in front of
the Viet Cong positions.
785
00:52:41,965 --> 00:52:45,266
We had Americans killed and wounded
786
00:52:45,365 --> 00:52:47,432
and we had to get over there right away.
787
00:52:47,532 --> 00:52:51,432
NARRATOR: Like Vann, Captain
Scanlon was only an advisor.
788
00:52:51,532 --> 00:52:54,965
Captain Ly Tong Ba, his ARVN counterpart,
789
00:52:55,065 --> 00:52:57,766
would have to give the order to advance.
790
00:52:57,865 --> 00:53:01,099
Scanlon liked and admired him.
791
00:53:01,199 --> 00:53:03,632
SCANLON: I turned to Ba and said,
792
00:53:03,733 --> 00:53:06,400
"Hey, you know, you got to
get over there right away."
793
00:53:06,500 --> 00:53:11,000
And Ba said to me, "I'm not going."
794
00:53:11,099 --> 00:53:14,465
NARRATOR: Ba's superiors within the
ARVN, far from the battlefield,
795
00:53:14,565 --> 00:53:17,632
had told him to stay put.
796
00:53:17,733 --> 00:53:21,666
And John Vann, my boss, was, uh,
screaming at me over the...
797
00:53:21,766 --> 00:53:25,065
over the radio to get them over there.
798
00:53:25,166 --> 00:53:29,500
NARRATOR: It took Scanlon an hour
to convince Captain Ba to move.
799
00:53:29,599 --> 00:53:32,000
Another two hours were lost
800
00:53:32,099 --> 00:53:35,099
before the APCs could make
their way through the paddies
801
00:53:35,199 --> 00:53:37,400
toward the trapped men.
802
00:53:39,365 --> 00:53:41,632
The firing had died down.
803
00:53:41,733 --> 00:53:43,632
SCANLON: Everything was quiet.
804
00:53:43,733 --> 00:53:46,432
You could see the open
expanse of rice fields.
805
00:53:46,532 --> 00:53:49,833
And my reaction was, hey, it was all over.
806
00:53:49,932 --> 00:53:53,132
NARRATOR: The first two
APCs dropped their ramps.
807
00:53:53,233 --> 00:53:55,599
Infantry squads stepped out,
808
00:53:55,699 --> 00:53:58,666
prepared to spray the tree
line with automatic fire
809
00:53:58,766 --> 00:53:59,965
as they advanced.
810
00:54:00,065 --> 00:54:02,766
In the past, that had been enough
811
00:54:02,865 --> 00:54:06,199
to make the Viet Cong scurry away.
812
00:54:06,300 --> 00:54:08,565
This time was different.
813
00:54:12,266 --> 00:54:14,266
Eight of the APCs came under attack.
814
00:54:14,365 --> 00:54:17,733
Within minutes, six of their
gunners had been killed,
815
00:54:17,833 --> 00:54:19,065
shot through the head.
816
00:54:20,465 --> 00:54:22,565
SCANLON: And boy, we got raked.
817
00:54:22,666 --> 00:54:24,400
So it was like a pool table.
818
00:54:24,500 --> 00:54:25,865
We were on the green
819
00:54:25,965 --> 00:54:28,199
and they were in the
pockets shooting at us.
820
00:54:28,300 --> 00:54:31,065
NARRATOR: When Captain
Ba managed to convince
821
00:54:31,166 --> 00:54:33,733
a few more APCs to advance,
822
00:54:33,833 --> 00:54:36,800
guerrillas leapt from their foxholes
823
00:54:36,900 --> 00:54:38,932
and hurled hand grenades at them.
824
00:54:43,932 --> 00:54:46,333
None did any real damage,
825
00:54:46,432 --> 00:54:50,000
but the drivers were so
demoralized that they halted,
826
00:54:50,099 --> 00:54:55,032
turned around, and withdrew
behind the wrecked helicopters.
827
00:54:55,132 --> 00:54:57,032
From his spotter plane,
828
00:54:57,132 --> 00:55:01,266
Vann begged the ARVN to
make a simultaneous assault
829
00:55:01,365 --> 00:55:04,733
on the enemy by all the
remaining ground forces.
830
00:55:05,865 --> 00:55:08,865
ARVN commanders refused.
831
00:55:11,266 --> 00:55:14,233
That night, the Viet Cong melted away,
832
00:55:14,333 --> 00:55:17,733
carrying most of their dead
and wounded with them.
833
00:55:19,865 --> 00:55:23,932
At least 80 South Vietnamese
soldiers had been killed.
834
00:55:24,032 --> 00:55:29,400
So had three American advisors,
including Captain Ken Good,
835
00:55:29,500 --> 00:55:30,632
a friend of Scanlon's.
836
00:55:34,532 --> 00:55:38,432
SCANLON: We stacked the armored
personnel carriers with bodies,
837
00:55:38,532 --> 00:55:40,233
stacked them up on top till they...
838
00:55:40,333 --> 00:55:42,166
we couldn't stack anymore.
839
00:55:42,266 --> 00:55:48,365
And, um, I wouldn't let the
Vietnamese touch the Americans.
840
00:55:48,465 --> 00:55:51,233
So I carried Americans out.
841
00:55:51,333 --> 00:55:53,599
And, um...
842
00:55:53,699 --> 00:55:55,900
And I was... I was exhausted.
843
00:55:56,000 --> 00:56:01,865
They told me about Ken Good getting killed.
844
00:56:01,965 --> 00:56:06,199
And Ken and I had worked so
hard with our two battalions.
845
00:56:06,300 --> 00:56:12,099
And to hear that... he got killed hurt.
846
00:56:15,266 --> 00:56:17,465
NARRATOR: Reporters arrived from Saigon
847
00:56:17,565 --> 00:56:21,500
before all of the ARVN
dead could be removed.
848
00:56:21,599 --> 00:56:25,800
They were horrified at what
they saw and tried to find out
849
00:56:25,900 --> 00:56:28,565
what had really happened.
850
00:56:28,666 --> 00:56:33,099
John Paul Vann took Neil Sheehan
and David Halberstam aside
851
00:56:33,199 --> 00:56:35,132
and told them.
852
00:56:35,233 --> 00:56:37,000
The Battle of Ap Bac had been
853
00:56:37,099 --> 00:56:39,833
"a miserable goddamn performance."
854
00:56:39,932 --> 00:56:42,065
"The ARVN won't listen," he said.
855
00:56:42,166 --> 00:56:45,099
"They make the same mistakes
over and over again
856
00:56:45,199 --> 00:56:47,233
in the same way."
857
00:56:48,900 --> 00:56:50,400
But back in Saigon,
858
00:56:50,500 --> 00:56:54,199
General Harkins immediately
declared victory.
859
00:56:54,300 --> 00:56:57,300
"The ARVN forces had an
objective," he said.
860
00:56:57,400 --> 00:56:58,833
"We took that objective.
861
00:56:58,932 --> 00:57:02,432
"The VC left and their
casualties were greater
862
00:57:02,532 --> 00:57:05,099
"than those of the government forces.
863
00:57:05,199 --> 00:57:06,833
What more do you want?"
864
00:57:08,300 --> 00:57:10,632
When Halberstam and Sheehan reported
865
00:57:10,733 --> 00:57:13,632
that Ap Bac had in fact been a defeat,
866
00:57:13,733 --> 00:57:17,800
the U.S. Commander in the
Pacific denied it all
867
00:57:17,900 --> 00:57:23,432
and urged the reporters
to "get on the team."
868
00:57:23,532 --> 00:57:25,565
SHEEHAN: Ap Bac was terribly important.
869
00:57:25,666 --> 00:57:27,833
They had shot down five helicopters,
870
00:57:27,932 --> 00:57:30,333
which they previously
had been terrified of.
871
00:57:30,432 --> 00:57:34,500
They'd stopped the armored
personnel carriers.
872
00:57:34,599 --> 00:57:36,599
They demonstrated to their own people
873
00:57:36,699 --> 00:57:39,766
that you could resist
the Americans and win.
874
00:57:43,465 --> 00:57:45,699
LE QUAN CONG:
875
00:57:59,432 --> 00:58:03,199
NARRATOR: In Hanoi, the
Battle of Ap Bac was seen
876
00:58:03,300 --> 00:58:07,900
by Party First Secretary Le
Duan and his Politburo allies
877
00:58:08,000 --> 00:58:10,199
as evidence of the inherent weakness
878
00:58:10,300 --> 00:58:13,266
of the South Vietnamese regime.
879
00:58:13,365 --> 00:58:17,099
Even when faced with American
advisors and weaponry,
880
00:58:17,199 --> 00:58:20,965
the Viet Cong had learned how
to inflict heavy casualties
881
00:58:21,065 --> 00:58:24,865
on Saigon's forces, and get away again.
882
00:58:26,365 --> 00:58:30,166
In Saigon, President Diem
claimed the ARVN were winning,
883
00:58:30,266 --> 00:58:31,500
not losing.
884
00:58:31,599 --> 00:58:34,865
Ap Bac had only been a momentary setback.
885
00:58:34,965 --> 00:58:36,766
And he resented Americans telling him
886
00:58:36,865 --> 00:58:40,465
how to fight his battles
or run his country.
887
00:58:40,565 --> 00:58:45,565
The president's sister-in-law,
Madame Nhu, went further.
888
00:58:45,666 --> 00:58:50,065
She denounced the Americans
as "false brothers."
889
00:58:51,532 --> 00:58:54,333
"We don't have a prayer
of staying in Vietnam,"
890
00:58:54,432 --> 00:58:58,500
President Kennedy privately
told a friend that spring.
891
00:58:58,599 --> 00:59:00,666
"These people hate us.
892
00:59:00,766 --> 00:59:04,099
"But I can't give up a piece
of territory like that
893
00:59:04,199 --> 00:59:08,699
to the communists and then get
the people to reelect me."
894
00:59:15,432 --> 00:59:17,041
ED HERLIHY: Buddhist monks
and nuns are joined
895
00:59:17,065 --> 00:59:18,465
by thousands of sympathizers
896
00:59:18,565 --> 00:59:20,233
to protest the government's restrictions
897
00:59:20,333 --> 00:59:23,266
on the practice of their
religion in South Vietnam.
898
00:59:24,865 --> 00:59:28,432
SHEEHAN: Diem began by
alienating the rural population.
899
00:59:28,532 --> 00:59:31,099
And that started the Viet Cong.
900
00:59:31,199 --> 00:59:34,032
And now he was alienating
the urban population.
901
00:59:34,132 --> 00:59:36,666
HERLIHY: Seventy percent of
the population is Buddhist
902
00:59:36,766 --> 00:59:38,341
and the demonstrators
clashed with the police
903
00:59:38,365 --> 00:59:42,532
during the week-long series
of incidents like this.
904
00:59:42,632 --> 00:59:46,032
NARRATOR: In the months that
followed the Battle of Ap Bac,
905
00:59:46,132 --> 00:59:50,800
South Vietnam plunged into civil
strife that had little to do
906
00:59:50,900 --> 00:59:53,699
with the Viet Cong.
907
00:59:53,800 --> 00:59:57,766
Religion and nationalism were at its heart.
908
00:59:57,865 --> 01:00:01,599
A Catholic minority had for
years dominated the government
909
01:00:01,699 --> 01:00:04,532
of an overwhelmingly Buddhist country.
910
01:00:06,132 --> 01:00:08,532
That spring in the city of Hue,
911
01:00:08,632 --> 01:00:11,565
Christian flags had been flown to celebrate
912
01:00:11,666 --> 01:00:14,800
the 25th anniversary of the ordination
913
01:00:14,900 --> 01:00:17,699
of Diem's older brother
as a Catholic bishop.
914
01:00:20,833 --> 01:00:24,166
But when the Buddhists of
the city flew their flags
915
01:00:24,266 --> 01:00:29,599
to celebrate the 2,527th
birthday of Lord Buddha,
916
01:00:29,699 --> 01:00:32,532
police tore them down.
917
01:00:32,632 --> 01:00:35,266
Protesters took to the streets.
918
01:00:37,365 --> 01:00:41,166
The Catholic deputy province
chief sent security forces
919
01:00:41,266 --> 01:00:44,065
to suppress the demonstration.
920
01:00:44,166 --> 01:00:45,733
The soldiers opened fire.
921
01:00:46,833 --> 01:00:49,766
Eight protesters died.
922
01:00:49,865 --> 01:00:55,733
The youngest was 12; the oldest was 20.
923
01:00:55,833 --> 01:00:59,699
The Diem regime blamed the Viet Cong.
924
01:01:01,300 --> 01:01:05,099
Monks throughout the country
demanded an apology.
925
01:01:13,965 --> 01:01:16,266
They also called for an
end to discrimination
926
01:01:16,365 --> 01:01:18,632
by Catholic officials.
927
01:01:18,733 --> 01:01:21,900
Many Buddhists had come
to see Diem's policies
928
01:01:22,000 --> 01:01:25,266
as a direct threat to
their religious beliefs.
929
01:01:28,065 --> 01:01:31,699
DUONG VAN MAl: My family was
against what Diem was doing.
930
01:01:31,800 --> 01:01:34,365
My mother was convinced
931
01:01:34,465 --> 01:01:38,400
that Diem was destroying
the Buddhist faith.
932
01:01:38,500 --> 01:01:42,666
She would go to the pagodas and
listen to the monks' speeches.
933
01:01:42,766 --> 01:01:46,132
And she was just extremely upset.
934
01:01:47,500 --> 01:01:48,699
She was not alone.
935
01:01:48,800 --> 01:01:51,599
There was a lot of people like her.
936
01:01:51,699 --> 01:01:55,632
NARRATOR: American officials
urged Diem and his brother Nhu
937
01:01:55,733 --> 01:01:59,032
to make meaningful concessions
to the Buddhists,
938
01:01:59,132 --> 01:02:01,166
for the sake of maintaining unity
939
01:02:01,266 --> 01:02:03,800
in the struggle against communism.
940
01:02:03,900 --> 01:02:05,532
They refused.
941
01:02:08,065 --> 01:02:13,032
On June 10, 1963, Malcolm
Browne of the Associated Press
942
01:02:13,132 --> 01:02:16,000
received an anonymous tip:
943
01:02:16,099 --> 01:02:19,266
Something important was going
to happen the next day
944
01:02:19,365 --> 01:02:22,766
at a major intersection in Saigon.
945
01:02:22,865 --> 01:02:24,800
He took his camera.
946
01:02:32,333 --> 01:02:35,699
To protest the Diem regime's repression,
947
01:02:35,800 --> 01:02:42,199
a 73-year-old monk named Quang
Duc set himself on fire.
948
01:02:59,800 --> 01:03:04,932
As a large, hushed crowd
watched him burn to death,
949
01:03:05,032 --> 01:03:08,465
another monk repeated over and over again
950
01:03:08,565 --> 01:03:11,500
in English and Vietnamese,
951
01:03:11,599 --> 01:03:14,532
"A Buddhist monk becomes a martyr.
952
01:03:14,632 --> 01:03:17,266
A Buddhist monk becomes a martyr."
953
01:03:24,065 --> 01:03:26,932
SHEEHAN: I remember they held the ashes
954
01:03:27,032 --> 01:03:29,532
of the monk who burned himself to death
955
01:03:29,632 --> 01:03:32,632
where it was kept in one
of the main pagodas.
956
01:03:32,733 --> 01:03:38,833
And lines of people came to
pass by, and I saw these women,
957
01:03:38,932 --> 01:03:41,900
not rich women, ordinary Vietnamese women,
958
01:03:42,000 --> 01:03:44,965
take off the one piece of gold
they had on, their wedding ring,
959
01:03:45,065 --> 01:03:49,965
and drop it in the bottle to
contribute to the struggle.
960
01:03:50,065 --> 01:03:53,900
And I thought to myself,
"This regime is over.
961
01:03:54,000 --> 01:03:55,065
It's the end."
962
01:03:59,166 --> 01:04:01,766
NARRATOR: Soon other monks
would become martyrs.
963
01:04:05,032 --> 01:04:10,565
Fresh outbursts by Madame
Nhu only made things worse.
964
01:04:10,666 --> 01:04:14,132
Burning monks made her
clap her hands, she said.
965
01:04:14,233 --> 01:04:16,800
If more monks wanted to burn themselves,
966
01:04:16,900 --> 01:04:20,000
she would provide the matches.
967
01:04:20,099 --> 01:04:21,965
The only thing they have done,
968
01:04:22,065 --> 01:04:27,766
they have barbecued one of their monks,
969
01:04:27,865 --> 01:04:33,400
whom they have intoxicated, whom
they have abused the confidence.
970
01:04:33,500 --> 01:04:37,800
And even that barbecuing was done
971
01:04:37,900 --> 01:04:40,132
not even with self-sufficient means
972
01:04:40,233 --> 01:04:43,266
because they-they used imported gasoline.
973
01:04:44,965 --> 01:04:47,599
DUONG VAN MAl: They
thought she was arrogant,
974
01:04:47,699 --> 01:04:49,166
she was power hungry.
975
01:04:49,266 --> 01:04:52,532
They suspected her and her
husband of being corrupt.
976
01:04:52,632 --> 01:04:58,900
Nhu ran the secret police, which
arrested and tortured people.
977
01:04:59,000 --> 01:05:02,199
People feared the Diem regime.
978
01:05:02,300 --> 01:05:05,865
Perhaps more than they feared
it, they really hated it.
979
01:05:08,132 --> 01:05:10,766
NARRATOR: Students,
including many Catholics,
980
01:05:10,865 --> 01:05:13,333
rallied to the Buddhist cause.
981
01:05:13,432 --> 01:05:16,632
So did some army officers.
982
01:05:16,733 --> 01:05:21,000
People among the military
had to ask the question,
983
01:05:21,099 --> 01:05:24,400
"Can we continue this kind
of situation like that
984
01:05:24,500 --> 01:05:27,900
"when the whole country,
country was almost burning
985
01:05:28,000 --> 01:05:29,709
with the kind of protest
from the Buddhists?"
986
01:05:29,733 --> 01:05:30,733
You see?
987
01:05:34,333 --> 01:05:38,266
ZIMMERMAN: I first became aware of
Vietnam because of a burning monk.
988
01:05:40,800 --> 01:05:45,599
We had watched the civil
rights movement in the South
989
01:05:45,699 --> 01:05:48,599
and it had set the standard for us
990
01:05:48,699 --> 01:05:55,032
to stand up against injustice,
allow yourself to be beaten up,
991
01:05:55,132 --> 01:05:57,432
allow yourself to be attacked by a dog
992
01:05:57,532 --> 01:05:59,865
or hit by a police truncheon.
993
01:05:59,965 --> 01:06:01,833
And we had enormous respect
994
01:06:01,932 --> 01:06:05,065
for people who were willing to go that far.
995
01:06:09,465 --> 01:06:12,365
And then one day in 1963,
996
01:06:12,465 --> 01:06:16,900
we saw on television a
picture of a monk in Saigon.
997
01:06:18,333 --> 01:06:20,465
This was an extraordinary act.
998
01:06:22,865 --> 01:06:25,666
Why was a Buddhist monk burning himself
999
01:06:25,766 --> 01:06:28,500
on the streets of Saigon?
1000
01:06:31,233 --> 01:06:33,632
NARRATOR: The protests continued.
1001
01:06:33,733 --> 01:06:38,565
Tensions between Washington
and Saigon steadily worsened.
1002
01:06:38,666 --> 01:06:42,565
The more the Kennedy
Administration demanded change,
1003
01:06:42,666 --> 01:06:46,632
the more Diem and his brother
Nhu seemed to resist.
1004
01:06:48,300 --> 01:06:51,033
The White House announced that
a new American ambassador,
1005
01:06:51,132 --> 01:06:56,265
former senator Henry Cabot
Lodge, was being sent to Saigon,
1006
01:06:56,365 --> 01:06:58,832
a man eminent enough, the president hoped,
1007
01:06:58,932 --> 01:07:04,000
to make Diem listen more
closely to American advice.
1008
01:07:04,100 --> 01:07:07,865
Diem professed to be unimpressed.
1009
01:07:07,966 --> 01:07:10,600
"They can send ten Lodges," he said,
1010
01:07:10,699 --> 01:07:14,632
"but I will not let myself
or my country be humiliated,
1011
01:07:14,733 --> 01:07:18,500
not if they train their
artillery on this palace."
1012
01:07:18,600 --> 01:07:23,166
He did promise the outgoing
ambassador, Frederick Nolting,
1013
01:07:23,265 --> 01:07:26,000
that he would take no
further repressive steps
1014
01:07:26,100 --> 01:07:27,666
against the Buddhists.
1015
01:07:29,432 --> 01:07:34,666
Then, a few minutes after
midnight on August 21, 1963,
1016
01:07:34,765 --> 01:07:38,233
with Nolting gone and Henry
Cabot Lodge's arrival
1017
01:07:38,332 --> 01:07:41,865
still one day away, Diem
cut the phone lines
1018
01:07:41,966 --> 01:07:45,300
of all the senior American
officials in Saigon
1019
01:07:45,399 --> 01:07:48,932
and sent hundreds of his Special Forces
1020
01:07:49,033 --> 01:07:52,832
storming into Buddhist
pagodas in Saigon, Hue,
1021
01:07:52,932 --> 01:07:56,132
and several other South Vietnamese cities.
1022
01:07:56,233 --> 01:07:59,000
Some 1,400 monks and nuns,
1023
01:07:59,100 --> 01:08:04,699
students and ordinary citizens
were rounded up and taken away.
1024
01:08:12,533 --> 01:08:16,966
Martial law was imposed, public
meetings were forbidden,
1025
01:08:17,065 --> 01:08:21,466
troops were authorized to shoot
anyone found on the streets
1026
01:08:21,565 --> 01:08:23,199
after 9:00.
1027
01:08:23,300 --> 01:08:26,600
PETER ROBERTS: Tanks
guard a pagoda in Saigon
1028
01:08:26,699 --> 01:08:29,365
during South Vietnam's
bafflingly complicated crisis
1029
01:08:29,466 --> 01:08:32,466
that has the government of
President Ngo Dinh Diem,
1030
01:08:32,565 --> 01:08:36,300
students, and Buddhists, and
the United States government
1031
01:08:36,399 --> 01:08:40,000
all trying to guess one
another's next move.
1032
01:08:40,100 --> 01:08:43,899
NARRATOR: When college students
protested in support of the monks,
1033
01:08:44,000 --> 01:08:47,533
Diem closed Vietnam's universities.
1034
01:08:47,632 --> 01:08:51,399
High school students then
poured into the streets.
1035
01:08:51,500 --> 01:08:54,065
He shut down all the high schools
1036
01:08:54,166 --> 01:08:55,332
and the grammar schools, too,
1037
01:08:55,432 --> 01:08:58,666
and arrested thousands of school children,
1038
01:08:58,765 --> 01:09:01,632
including the sons and
daughters of officials
1039
01:09:01,733 --> 01:09:03,699
in his own government.
1040
01:09:03,800 --> 01:09:06,865
PHAN QUANG TUE: I participated
in the demonstrations.
1041
01:09:06,966 --> 01:09:13,832
I strongly believed that that
government has to be overthrown
1042
01:09:13,932 --> 01:09:16,033
because it's a dictator government.
1043
01:09:16,132 --> 01:09:18,100
We couldn't stand it anymore
1044
01:09:18,199 --> 01:09:21,865
and this is an opportunity
to rise against it.
1045
01:09:21,966 --> 01:09:25,932
NARRATOR: Phan Quang Tue was
a law student that summer.
1046
01:09:26,033 --> 01:09:29,932
His father was a prominent
nationalist whom Diem had jailed
1047
01:09:30,033 --> 01:09:33,265
for calling for greater democracy.
1048
01:09:33,365 --> 01:09:36,865
PHAN QUANG TUE: I was and
I'm still a Catholic,
1049
01:09:36,966 --> 01:09:39,199
not a very good Catholic.
1050
01:09:39,300 --> 01:09:41,132
I don't practice religiously.
1051
01:09:41,233 --> 01:09:43,132
But I'm a Catholic.
1052
01:09:44,632 --> 01:09:46,065
I was rightly arrested
1053
01:09:46,166 --> 01:09:49,233
because I did participate in demonstration.
1054
01:09:49,332 --> 01:09:52,233
And I was interrogated
1055
01:09:52,332 --> 01:09:55,399
and briefly tortured, beaten a little bit.
1056
01:09:59,699 --> 01:10:02,500
HERLIHY: Henry Cabot Lodge
took over as U.S. ambassador
1057
01:10:02,600 --> 01:10:04,065
in the midst of the turmoil.
1058
01:10:04,166 --> 01:10:05,576
And he has reported to have demanded
1059
01:10:05,600 --> 01:10:07,765
that President Diem's brother Nhu be ousted
1060
01:10:07,865 --> 01:10:10,233
or U.S. aid to Vietnam will be cut.
1061
01:10:13,600 --> 01:10:15,500
NARRATOR: In the wake of the pagoda raids,
1062
01:10:15,600 --> 01:10:17,966
a small group of South Vietnamese generals
1063
01:10:18,065 --> 01:10:21,632
contacted the CIA in Saigon.
1064
01:10:21,733 --> 01:10:25,166
Diem's brother Nhu was
now largely in control
1065
01:10:25,265 --> 01:10:27,233
of the government, they said.
1066
01:10:27,332 --> 01:10:31,966
What would Washington's reaction
be if they mounted a coup?
1067
01:10:32,065 --> 01:10:35,065
President Kennedy and his senior advisors
1068
01:10:35,166 --> 01:10:39,966
happened to be out of town,
so Roger Hilsman, Jr.,
1069
01:10:40,065 --> 01:10:43,533
assistant secretary of state
for Far Eastern affairs
1070
01:10:43,632 --> 01:10:45,932
and a critic of the Diem regime,
1071
01:10:46,033 --> 01:10:50,065
took it upon himself to draft
a cable with new instructions
1072
01:10:50,166 --> 01:10:53,000
for Ambassador Lodge.
1073
01:10:53,100 --> 01:10:56,966
The U.S. government could no
longer tolerate a situation
1074
01:10:57,065 --> 01:11:01,233
in which power lay in Nhu's hands, it said.
1075
01:11:01,332 --> 01:11:04,565
Diem should be given a chance
to rid himself of his brother.
1076
01:11:06,000 --> 01:11:09,533
If he refused, Lodge was
to tell the generals,
1077
01:11:09,632 --> 01:11:13,132
"then we must face the
possibility that Diem himself
1078
01:11:13,233 --> 01:11:17,000
cannot be preserved."
1079
01:11:17,100 --> 01:11:20,733
The president was vacationing
at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.
1080
01:11:20,832 --> 01:11:24,699
Undersecretary of State George
Ball read part of the cable
1081
01:11:24,800 --> 01:11:27,865
to him over the phone.
1082
01:11:27,966 --> 01:11:30,132
Since the early 1950s,
1083
01:11:30,233 --> 01:11:31,875
the United States government had encouraged
1084
01:11:31,899 --> 01:11:38,132
and even orchestrated other Cold
War coups in Iran, Guatemala,
1085
01:11:38,233 --> 01:11:42,632
the Congo, and elsewhere.
1086
01:11:42,733 --> 01:11:46,565
Kennedy decided to approve Hilsman's cable
1087
01:11:46,666 --> 01:11:49,800
in part because he thought his top advisors
1088
01:11:49,899 --> 01:11:51,932
had already endorsed it.
1089
01:11:52,033 --> 01:11:54,832
They had not.
1090
01:11:54,932 --> 01:12:00,033
And somehow, because of a cable
that came out from Washington,
1091
01:12:00,132 --> 01:12:03,432
Lodge decided that the only
solution was to get rid
1092
01:12:03,533 --> 01:12:07,233
of not just Ngo Dinh Nhu, the bad brother,
1093
01:12:07,332 --> 01:12:09,765
but also of Diem himself.
1094
01:12:09,865 --> 01:12:11,932
And that started us on this whole business
1095
01:12:12,033 --> 01:12:14,800
of promoting a coup.
1096
01:12:14,899 --> 01:12:18,265
And it was not a good idea.
1097
01:12:18,365 --> 01:12:21,132
I just had a feeling of impending disaster.
1098
01:12:22,332 --> 01:12:24,932
NARRATOR: On September 2, 1963,
1099
01:12:25,033 --> 01:12:28,666
Labor Day, Walter Cronkite of CBS News
1100
01:12:28,765 --> 01:12:31,265
interviewed President Kennedy.
1101
01:12:31,365 --> 01:12:35,365
The president used the
opportunity to deliver a message
1102
01:12:35,466 --> 01:12:37,233
to President Diem.
1103
01:12:37,332 --> 01:12:41,065
Mr. President, the only hot war
we've got running at the moment
1104
01:12:41,166 --> 01:12:43,632
is of course the one in Vietnam,
1105
01:12:43,733 --> 01:12:46,565
and we've got our difficulties
there, quite obviously.
1106
01:12:46,666 --> 01:12:51,166
I don't think that unless
a greater effort is made
1107
01:12:51,265 --> 01:12:53,132
by the government to win popular support
1108
01:12:53,233 --> 01:12:54,600
that the war can be won out there.
1109
01:12:54,699 --> 01:12:56,565
In the final analysis, it's their war.
1110
01:12:56,666 --> 01:13:00,533
Hasn't every indication from Saigon been
1111
01:13:00,632 --> 01:13:02,666
that President Diem has no intention
1112
01:13:02,765 --> 01:13:03,666
of changing his pattern?
1113
01:13:03,765 --> 01:13:04,666
If he doesn't change it,
1114
01:13:04,765 --> 01:13:06,600
of course, that's his decision.
1115
01:13:06,699 --> 01:13:08,699
He has been there ten years and, as I say,
1116
01:13:08,800 --> 01:13:10,065
he has carried this burden
1117
01:13:10,166 --> 01:13:11,576
when he has been counted out
on a number of occasions.
1118
01:13:11,600 --> 01:13:12,600
Our best judgment is
1119
01:13:12,699 --> 01:13:15,199
that he can't be successful in this basis.
1120
01:13:15,300 --> 01:13:17,865
But I don't agree with those
who say we should withdraw.
1121
01:13:17,966 --> 01:13:19,166
That would be a great mistake.
1122
01:13:19,233 --> 01:13:20,500
That'd be a great mistake.
1123
01:13:20,600 --> 01:13:22,520
I know people don't like
Americans to be engaged
1124
01:13:22,565 --> 01:13:23,605
in this kind of an effort.
1125
01:13:23,666 --> 01:13:26,033
47 Americans have been killed.
1126
01:13:26,132 --> 01:13:28,033
We're in a very
1127
01:13:28,132 --> 01:13:30,899
desperate struggle against
the communist system.
1128
01:13:31,000 --> 01:13:34,233
And I don't want Asia to pass
into the control of the Chinese.
1129
01:13:34,332 --> 01:13:36,466
Do you think that this
government still has time
1130
01:13:36,565 --> 01:13:39,000
to-to regain the support of the people?
1131
01:13:39,100 --> 01:13:41,533
I do.
1132
01:13:41,632 --> 01:13:44,332
With changes in policy and
perhaps in personnel,
1133
01:13:44,432 --> 01:13:45,865
I think it can.
1134
01:13:45,966 --> 01:13:49,233
If it doesn't make those changes,
1135
01:13:49,332 --> 01:13:51,533
I would think that the
chances of winning it
1136
01:13:51,632 --> 01:13:53,300
would not be very good.
1137
01:13:55,033 --> 01:13:57,832
NARRATOR: Despite the cable,
Kennedy and his advisors
1138
01:13:57,932 --> 01:14:01,265
were sharply divided about a coup.
1139
01:14:01,365 --> 01:14:06,632
Robert McNamara, Maxwell Taylor,
Vice President Lyndon Johnson,
1140
01:14:06,733 --> 01:14:11,065
and the head of the CIA
all cautioned against it,
1141
01:14:11,166 --> 01:14:14,565
because, while none of them
especially admired Diem,
1142
01:14:14,666 --> 01:14:19,233
they did not believe there
was any viable alternative.
1143
01:14:19,332 --> 01:14:22,300
GREGG: Fritz Nolting was called in.
1144
01:14:22,399 --> 01:14:24,832
And he said, "As difficult
as they are to deal with,
1145
01:14:24,932 --> 01:14:29,865
"there is nobody with the
guts and sangfroid in Vietnam
1146
01:14:29,966 --> 01:14:31,666
"of Diem and his brother Nhu.
1147
01:14:31,765 --> 01:14:35,132
"And if we let them go we will be saddled
1148
01:14:35,233 --> 01:14:39,100
by a descending cycle
of mediocre generals."
1149
01:14:39,199 --> 01:14:41,166
And he was absolutely correct.
1150
01:14:42,832 --> 01:14:45,666
NARRATOR: But several State
Department officials believed
1151
01:14:45,765 --> 01:14:50,500
that without fresh leadership,
South Vietnam could not survive.
1152
01:14:50,600 --> 01:14:53,865
The debate intensified.
1153
01:14:55,033 --> 01:14:56,899
"My God," the president said,
1154
01:14:57,000 --> 01:15:00,332
"my administration is coming apart."
1155
01:15:00,432 --> 01:15:03,765
In the end, Kennedy instructed Lodge
1156
01:15:03,865 --> 01:15:06,166
to tell the renegade generals
1157
01:15:06,265 --> 01:15:08,565
that while the United States does not wish
1158
01:15:08,666 --> 01:15:12,733
to stimulate a coup, it would
not thwart one either.
1159
01:15:14,233 --> 01:15:17,265
The generals laid their plans.
1160
01:15:23,600 --> 01:15:29,199
On November 1, 1963, troops
loyal to the plotters
1161
01:15:29,300 --> 01:15:31,399
seized key installations in Saigon
1162
01:15:31,500 --> 01:15:34,966
and demanded Diem and Nhu surrender.
1163
01:15:37,500 --> 01:15:39,932
REPORTER: The battle for the
city went on for 18 hours
1164
01:15:40,033 --> 01:15:43,265
and most of it was centered
on the presidential palace.
1165
01:15:43,365 --> 01:15:46,832
Just after 6:30 in the morning
Saturday, the shooting ceased.
1166
01:15:55,765 --> 01:16:01,065
NARRATOR: Diem and Nhu escaped,
took sanctuary in a church,
1167
01:16:01,166 --> 01:16:04,132
and agreed to surrender
to the rebels in exchange
1168
01:16:04,233 --> 01:16:07,966
for the promise of safe
passage out of the country.
1169
01:16:08,065 --> 01:16:11,533
They were picked up in an
armored personnel carrier...
1170
01:16:13,632 --> 01:16:17,733
And murdered soon after
they climbed inside.
1171
01:16:22,533 --> 01:16:25,899
Madame Nhu survived the coup.
1172
01:16:26,000 --> 01:16:29,265
She was on a goodwill tour
in the United States.
1173
01:16:34,500 --> 01:16:37,033
PHAN QUANG TUE: The system was
overthrown on November 1.
1174
01:16:37,132 --> 01:16:39,733
I was released November 4.
1175
01:16:39,832 --> 01:16:45,932
And it was the most exciting
moment in the life of Saigon.
1176
01:16:47,765 --> 01:16:53,033
The excitement, you could
feel it in the air.
1177
01:16:53,132 --> 01:16:57,565
DUONG VAN MAl: I was thinking
that, yeah, it's a good thing.
1178
01:16:57,666 --> 01:17:01,300
Diem was making it
impossible to win the war
1179
01:17:01,399 --> 01:17:04,865
because people were so against him
1180
01:17:04,966 --> 01:17:09,466
that the war would be lost
if he stayed in power.
1181
01:17:11,100 --> 01:17:13,166
My father was a bit worried
1182
01:17:13,265 --> 01:17:15,385
because he didn't know who
was going to replace Diem.
1183
01:17:18,166 --> 01:17:20,699
NARRATOR: Ambassador Lodge
reported to Washington
1184
01:17:20,800 --> 01:17:25,332
that "every Vietnamese has a
smile on his face today."
1185
01:17:25,432 --> 01:17:29,033
"The prospects are now for
a shorter war," he said,
1186
01:17:29,132 --> 01:17:32,000
"provided the generals stay together.
1187
01:17:32,100 --> 01:17:34,832
"Certainly officers and soldiers
1188
01:17:34,932 --> 01:17:38,033
who can pull off an operation
like this," he continued,
1189
01:17:38,132 --> 01:17:41,466
"should be able to do very
well on the battlefield
1190
01:17:41,565 --> 01:17:44,033
if their hearts are in it."
1191
01:17:46,800 --> 01:17:49,932
President Kennedy was not so sure.
1192
01:17:50,033 --> 01:17:54,265
He was appalled that Diem
and Nhu had been killed.
1193
01:17:54,365 --> 01:17:57,966
Three days later, he dictated
his own rueful account
1194
01:17:58,065 --> 01:18:02,199
of the coup and his
concerns for the future.
1195
01:18:03,800 --> 01:18:07,600
KENNEDY: Monday, November 4, 1963.
1196
01:18:07,699 --> 01:18:10,632
Over the weekend the coup
in Saigon took place.
1197
01:18:10,733 --> 01:18:13,500
It culminated three months of conversation,
1198
01:18:13,600 --> 01:18:18,765
which divided the government
here and in Saigon.
1199
01:18:18,865 --> 01:18:23,966
I feel that we must bear a good
deal of responsibility for it,
1200
01:18:24,065 --> 01:18:27,000
beginning with our cable of August
1201
01:18:27,100 --> 01:18:29,699
in which we suggested the coup.
1202
01:18:29,800 --> 01:18:32,600
I should not have given my consent to it
1203
01:18:32,699 --> 01:18:34,966
without a roundtable conference.
1204
01:18:37,000 --> 01:18:42,365
I was shocked by the death of Diem and Nhu.
1205
01:18:42,466 --> 01:18:46,500
The way he was killed made
it particularly abhorrent.
1206
01:18:46,600 --> 01:18:49,132
The question now is whether the
generals can stay together
1207
01:18:49,233 --> 01:18:53,000
and build a stable government or
whether public opinion in Saigon
1208
01:18:53,100 --> 01:18:56,765
will turn on this government
as repressive and undemocratic
1209
01:18:56,865 --> 01:18:58,800
in the not-too-distant future.
1210
01:19:03,832 --> 01:19:06,132
NARRATOR: Kennedy would not
live to see the answer
1211
01:19:06,233 --> 01:19:08,733
to the question he had asked.
1212
01:19:08,832 --> 01:19:13,233
He was murdered in Dallas 18 days later.
1213
01:19:13,332 --> 01:19:18,300
There were now 16,000 American
advisors in South Vietnam.
1214
01:19:18,399 --> 01:19:23,733
Their fate and the fate of
that embattled country rested
1215
01:19:23,832 --> 01:19:29,000
with another American president,
Lyndon Baines Johnson.
1216
01:19:46,500 --> 01:19:48,660
SHEEHAN: We thought we were
the exceptions to history,
1217
01:19:48,733 --> 01:19:50,199
we Americans.
1218
01:19:50,300 --> 01:19:52,932
History didn't apply to us.
1219
01:19:53,033 --> 01:19:55,166
We could never fight a bad war.
1220
01:19:55,265 --> 01:19:57,132
We could never represent the wrong cause.
1221
01:19:57,233 --> 01:19:58,365
We were Americans.
1222
01:19:59,565 --> 01:20:00,800
Well, in Vietnam it proved
1223
01:20:00,899 --> 01:20:03,399
that we were not an exception to history.
1224
01:20:22,600 --> 01:20:30,600
? This is a mean old world
to live in all by yourself ?
1225
01:20:36,100 --> 01:20:42,332
? This is a mean old world to live in ?
1226
01:20:42,432 --> 01:20:45,132
? All by yourself
1227
01:20:48,966 --> 01:20:56,000
? This is a mean world to be alone ?
1228
01:20:56,100 --> 01:21:02,033
? Without someone to call your own ?
1229
01:21:02,132 --> 01:21:08,132
? This is a mean old world
to try and live in ?
1230
01:21:08,233 --> 01:21:10,699
? All by yourself
1231
01:21:14,932 --> 01:21:21,033
? I wish I had someone, someone ?
1232
01:21:21,132 --> 01:21:23,365
? Who'd love me true
1233
01:21:27,800 --> 01:21:35,800
? I wish I had someone
who loved me true ?
1234
01:21:40,632 --> 01:21:47,000
? If I had someone who loved me true ?
1235
01:21:47,100 --> 01:21:53,600
? Then I know I wouldn't be so blue ?
1236
01:21:53,699 --> 01:22:00,265
? This is a mean old world
to try and live in ?
1237
01:22:00,365 --> 01:22:02,865
? All by yourself
1238
01:22:05,132 --> 01:22:13,132
? Lord, I find myself dreaming
1239
01:22:13,399 --> 01:22:15,632
? I found a love
1240
01:22:19,033 --> 01:22:26,300
? Sometimes I find myself dreaming ?
1241
01:22:26,399 --> 01:22:29,699
? I found a love
1242
01:22:32,100 --> 01:22:40,000
? Sometimes I dream I've
really found a love ?
1243
01:22:40,100 --> 01:22:46,033
? Someone who loved me
true as the stars above ?
1244
01:22:46,132 --> 01:22:51,600
? For this is a mean old
world to try and live in ?
1245
01:22:51,699 --> 01:22:55,899
? All by yourself.
1246
01:22:59,365 --> 01:23:05,899
Captioned by Media Access Group
at WGBH, access. wgbh. org
1247
01:23:06,966 --> 01:23:08,165
ANNOUNCER: LEARN MORE ABOUT THE FILM
1248
01:23:08,166 --> 01:23:11,032
AND FIND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
AT PBS. ORG/VIETNAMWAR
1249
01:23:11,033 --> 01:23:15,032
AND JOIN THE CONVERSATION
USING HASHTAG VIETNAMWARPBS.
1250
01:23:15,033 --> 01:23:16,499
"THE VIETNAM WAR" IS AVAILABLE
1251
01:23:16,500 --> 01:23:18,165
ON BLU-RAY AND DVD.
1252
01:23:18,166 --> 01:23:19,831
THE COMPANION BOOK, SOUNDTRACK,
1253
01:23:19,832 --> 01:23:21,232
AND ORIGINAL SCORE FROM THE FILM
1254
01:23:21,233 --> 01:23:22,364
ARE ALSO AVAILABLE.
1255
01:23:22,365 --> 01:23:24,465
TO ORDER, VISIT SHOPPBS. ORG
1256
01:23:24,466 --> 01:23:26,931
OR CALL 1-800-PLAY-PBS.
1257
01:23:26,932 --> 01:23:28,364
EPISODES OF THIS SERIES ALSO
1258
01:23:28,365 --> 01:23:29,465
AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD
1259
01:23:29,466 --> 01:23:30,565
FROM iTUNES.
1260
01:23:33,832 --> 01:23:35,965
ANNOUNCER: BANK OF AMERICA PROUDLY SUPPORTS
1261
01:23:35,966 --> 01:23:40,864
KEN BURNS' AND LYNN NOVICK'S
FILM "THE VIETNAM WAR"
1262
01:23:40,865 --> 01:23:43,264
BECAUSE FOSTERING DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES
1263
01:23:43,265 --> 01:23:45,864
AND CIVIL DISCOURSE AROUND IMPORTANT ISSUES
1264
01:23:45,865 --> 01:23:48,165
FURTHERS PROGRESS, EQUALITY,
1265
01:23:48,166 --> 01:23:50,166
AND A MORE CONNECTED SOCIETY.
1266
01:23:54,632 --> 01:23:58,666
GO TO BANKOFAMERICA. COM/
BETTERCONNECTED TO LEARN MORE.
1267
01:24:02,132 --> 01:24:03,564
ANNOUNCER: MAJOR SUPPORT
FOR "THE VIETNAM WAR"
1268
01:24:03,565 --> 01:24:07,064
WAS PROVIDED BY MEMBERS OF
THE BETTER ANGELS SOCIETY,
1269
01:24:07,065 --> 01:24:11,032
INCLUDING JONATHAN AND JEANNIE LAVINE,
1270
01:24:11,033 --> 01:24:13,999
DIANE AND HAL BRIERLEY,
1271
01:24:14,000 --> 01:24:16,398
AMY AND DAVID ABRAMS,
1272
01:24:16,399 --> 01:24:18,898
JOHN AND CATHERINE DEBS,
1273
01:24:18,899 --> 01:24:21,799
THE FULLERTON FAMILY CHARITABLE FUND,
1274
01:24:21,800 --> 01:24:23,864
THE MONTRONE FAMILY,
1275
01:24:23,865 --> 01:24:26,198
LYNDA AND STEWART RESNICK,
1276
01:24:26,199 --> 01:24:28,965
THE PERRY AND DONNA
GOLKIN FAMILY FOUNDATION,
1277
01:24:28,966 --> 01:24:29,966
THE LYNCH FOUNDATION,
1278
01:24:29,967 --> 01:24:32,831
THE ROGER AND ROSEMARY ENRICO FOUNDATION,
1279
01:24:32,832 --> 01:24:36,264
AND BY THESE ADDITIONAL FUNDERS.
1280
01:24:36,265 --> 01:24:38,165
MAJOR FUNDING WAS ALSO PROVIDED
1281
01:24:38,166 --> 01:24:39,899
BY DAVID H. KOCH...
1282
01:24:42,199 --> 01:24:44,399
THE BLAVATNIK FAMILY FOUNDATION...
1283
01:24:46,733 --> 01:24:49,165
THE PARK FOUNDATION,
1284
01:24:49,166 --> 01:24:51,331
THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES,
1285
01:24:51,332 --> 01:24:53,532
THE PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS,
1286
01:24:53,533 --> 01:24:56,198
THE JOHN S. AND JAMES L. KNIGHT FOUNDATION,
1287
01:24:56,199 --> 01:24:58,965
THE ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION,
1288
01:24:58,966 --> 01:25:01,564
THE ARTHUR VINING DAVIS FOUNDATIONS,
1289
01:25:01,565 --> 01:25:03,764
THE FORD FOUNDATION JUSTFILMS,
1290
01:25:03,765 --> 01:25:04,965
BY THE CORPORATION
1291
01:25:04,966 --> 01:25:06,198
FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING,
1292
01:25:06,199 --> 01:25:08,165
AND BY VIEWERS LIKE YOU.
1293
01:25:08,166 --> 01:25:09,300
THANK YOU.105617
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