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Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:02,930 --> 00:00:05,260 CROWD (chanting): No more war! No more war! 2 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:08,930 No more war! No more war! 3 00:00:09,030 --> 00:00:10,600 No more war! No more war! 4 00:00:10,690 --> 00:00:12,030 ("Get Together" by the Youngbloods playing) 5 00:00:12,130 --> 00:00:15,500 No more war! No more war! 6 00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:18,360 No more war! No more war! 7 00:00:18,460 --> 00:00:19,560 No more war! 8 00:00:19,660 --> 00:00:23,230 CROWD (chanting): U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! 9 00:00:23,330 --> 00:00:26,460 YOUNGBLOODS: ♪ Love is but a song to sing 10 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:30,190 ♪ Fear's the way we die 11 00:00:30,290 --> 00:00:32,290 (crowds shouting, clamoring) 12 00:00:35,060 --> 00:00:38,360 ♪ You can make the mountains ring ♪ 13 00:00:38,460 --> 00:00:41,400 ♪ Or make the angels cry 14 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:45,500 (shouting continues) 15 00:00:45,600 --> 00:00:47,760 ♪ Come on, people, now 16 00:00:47,860 --> 00:00:49,400 ♪ Smile on your brother 17 00:00:49,500 --> 00:00:51,230 ♪ Everybody get together 18 00:00:51,330 --> 00:00:55,230 ♪ Try to love one another right now ♪ 19 00:00:58,460 --> 00:01:00,360 KARL MARLANTES: My brother picked me up 20 00:01:00,460 --> 00:01:03,600 at Travis Air Force Base. 21 00:01:03,690 --> 00:01:05,790 And I remember he had a Valiant, 22 00:01:05,900 --> 00:01:07,760 an old beat-up Valiant. 23 00:01:07,860 --> 00:01:09,160 And we met inside the terminal. 24 00:01:09,260 --> 00:01:10,860 And I was so happy to see him. 25 00:01:10,960 --> 00:01:12,160 I just love my brother. 26 00:01:12,260 --> 00:01:13,760 (crowd shouting in distance) 27 00:01:13,860 --> 00:01:15,860 He said, "Now, I don't want you to get upset, 28 00:01:15,960 --> 00:01:17,730 "but we're probably gonna get some trouble 29 00:01:17,830 --> 00:01:21,290 when we go outside." 30 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:23,730 And I went, "Trouble? I just got back from Vietnam. 31 00:01:23,830 --> 00:01:25,260 What are you talking about?" 32 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:27,290 I mean, I knew that there was unrest. 33 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:29,160 YOUNGBLOODS: ♪ If you hear the song I sing 34 00:01:29,260 --> 00:01:32,900 MARLANTES: But when we got in his car to drive away from the terminal, 35 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,860 we had to wind our way through protesters 36 00:01:36,960 --> 00:01:40,260 that were pounding on the car with the ends of their signs 37 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:42,360 and were snarling at me 38 00:01:42,460 --> 00:01:45,860 and pounding on the window and shouting obscenities at me. 39 00:01:47,030 --> 00:01:49,500 That was my welcome home to America. 40 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:51,290 (shouting continues) 41 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:53,130 I was just stunned. 42 00:01:53,230 --> 00:01:54,560 YOUNGBLOODS: ♪ Come on, people, now 43 00:01:54,660 --> 00:01:57,030 I have never felt... 44 00:01:57,130 --> 00:02:00,600 any anger toward people that were war protesters. 45 00:02:00,690 --> 00:02:04,230 It's a legitimate political stance. 46 00:02:04,330 --> 00:02:08,460 For people that descended into that, I... 47 00:02:08,560 --> 00:02:12,160 I-I think that they were really wrong. 48 00:02:12,260 --> 00:02:14,660 YOUNGBLOODS: ♪ Try to love one another right now ♪ 49 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:18,260 It was this-this heartbreak of why are you doing this? 50 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:20,960 I mean, you don't know who I am. 51 00:02:21,060 --> 00:02:23,830 And it happened over and over. 52 00:02:23,930 --> 00:02:25,830 YOUNGBLOODS: ♪ Everybody get together 53 00:02:25,930 --> 00:02:29,560 ♪ Try to love one another right now ♪ 54 00:02:29,660 --> 00:02:32,130 ♪ Right now 55 00:02:32,230 --> 00:02:36,130 ♪ Right now. 56 00:02:42,260 --> 00:02:43,530 (siren wailing) 57 00:02:43,630 --> 00:02:45,700 NARRATOR: In the spring of 1970, 58 00:02:45,790 --> 00:02:49,060 despite the uproar over the invasion of Cambodia 59 00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:52,130 and the killing of four students at Kent State, 60 00:02:52,230 --> 00:02:54,960 President Nixon's hold on what he called 61 00:02:55,060 --> 00:02:58,860 "the great silent majority" seemed secure. 62 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:02,630 A Gallup poll showed that most Americans 63 00:03:02,730 --> 00:03:05,430 blamed the students, not the national guardsmen, 64 00:03:05,530 --> 00:03:06,600 for what had happened. 65 00:03:06,700 --> 00:03:09,760 (shouting, clamoring) 66 00:03:09,860 --> 00:03:13,060 At an antiwar demonstration in Manhattan, 67 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,160 hundreds of construction workers in hard hats 68 00:03:16,260 --> 00:03:18,530 attacked protestors, 69 00:03:18,630 --> 00:03:21,430 sending 70 to the hospital. 70 00:03:24,260 --> 00:03:27,060 And when workers marched on City Hall 71 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:29,060 a few days later, 72 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:32,260 Nixon wrote the president of their union 73 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:34,260 to say how pleased he was 74 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:35,860 "to see the tremendous outpouring 75 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:38,160 "of support for our country 76 00:03:38,260 --> 00:03:42,760 demonstrated in your orderly and most heartening rally." 77 00:03:42,860 --> 00:03:44,630 How do you feel about the construction workers 78 00:03:44,730 --> 00:03:46,560 who attacked the, uh, demonstrators last Friday? 79 00:03:46,660 --> 00:03:48,830 Don't say attacked. Don't say attacked. 80 00:03:48,930 --> 00:03:50,460 They were provoked. 81 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:52,400 They were provoked, man. 82 00:03:52,490 --> 00:03:53,790 We work for a living. 83 00:03:53,900 --> 00:03:55,960 Every day we get up, we're out there in the cold, 84 00:03:56,060 --> 00:03:57,060 the rain, the snow, right? 85 00:03:57,160 --> 00:03:59,130 We got to have these dirty s... 86 00:03:59,230 --> 00:04:01,490 Forget about it, I don't want to talk about it, man. 87 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:03,860 Anybody that can take a Viet Cong flag and fly it 88 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:07,200 and wave it and bring it up this avenue 89 00:04:07,290 --> 00:04:10,160 and get away with it-- and get away with it-- 90 00:04:10,260 --> 00:04:12,460 that's unpatriotic to me. 91 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:17,100 NARRATOR: When American troops withdrew from Cambodia 92 00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:18,760 at the end of June, 93 00:04:18,860 --> 00:04:21,030 the White House reported that they had killed 94 00:04:21,130 --> 00:04:24,960 11,349 enemy troops, 95 00:04:25,060 --> 00:04:27,560 captured 22,000 weapons 96 00:04:27,660 --> 00:04:34,290 and had destroyed 11,688 bunkers and buildings. 97 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:37,460 But after so many years of fighting, 98 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:40,960 more and more Americans were tired of the war, 99 00:04:41,060 --> 00:04:43,360 wanted to get out of Southeast Asia, 100 00:04:43,460 --> 00:04:48,290 and did not want the president to expand the conflict further. 101 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:51,290 Among their representatives in Congress, 102 00:04:51,400 --> 00:04:54,960 antiwar sentiment had steadily grown. 103 00:04:55,060 --> 00:04:57,990 As the president searched for a face-saving way 104 00:04:58,100 --> 00:05:00,960 to end the war, he continued to withdraw troops. 105 00:05:01,060 --> 00:05:02,630 CROWD (chanting): U.S.A.! U.S.A.! 106 00:05:02,730 --> 00:05:06,490 But even as American casualty figures fell, 107 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:10,260 the gulf between Americans at home widened, 108 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:12,930 tearing communities, neighborhoods, 109 00:05:13,030 --> 00:05:15,460 even families apart. 110 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:18,630 CROWD (chanting): No more war! No more war! 111 00:05:18,730 --> 00:05:20,360 Nixon was convinced-- 112 00:05:20,460 --> 00:05:22,600 just as Lyndon Johnson had been-- 113 00:05:22,700 --> 00:05:25,100 that the antiwar movement was somehow 114 00:05:25,200 --> 00:05:27,230 being directed from Hanoi, 115 00:05:27,330 --> 00:05:30,030 Beijing and Moscow. 116 00:05:30,130 --> 00:05:32,560 "Within the iron gates of the White House 117 00:05:32,660 --> 00:05:35,160 a siege mentality was settling in," 118 00:05:35,260 --> 00:05:37,860 a Nixon aide remembered. 119 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:41,360 "It was now us against them. 120 00:05:41,460 --> 00:05:44,560 "Gradually, as we drew the circle closer around us, 121 00:05:44,660 --> 00:05:48,230 the ranks of them began to swell." 122 00:05:48,330 --> 00:05:51,600 (crowd chattering) 123 00:05:51,700 --> 00:05:55,030 PHIL GIOIA: I think the Vietnam War drove a stake 124 00:05:55,130 --> 00:05:58,530 right into the heart of America. 125 00:05:58,630 --> 00:06:00,460 It polarized the country 126 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:03,130 as it had probably never been polarized 127 00:06:03,230 --> 00:06:04,830 since before the Civil War. 128 00:06:04,930 --> 00:06:07,200 And unfortunately, we've never moved 129 00:06:07,290 --> 00:06:09,160 really far away from that. 130 00:06:09,260 --> 00:06:11,860 And we never recovered. 131 00:06:11,960 --> 00:06:13,860 CROWD: No more war! No more war! 132 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:16,030 CROWD: U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! 133 00:06:16,130 --> 00:06:17,960 CROWD: 134 00:06:18,060 --> 00:06:20,790 No more war! No more war! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! 135 00:06:20,900 --> 00:06:23,400 U.S.A.! U.S.A.! No more war! No more war! 136 00:06:23,490 --> 00:06:27,230 No more war! No more war! No more war! 137 00:06:27,330 --> 00:06:30,130 (chanting stops) 138 00:06:30,230 --> 00:06:32,700 ♪ 139 00:06:34,330 --> 00:06:35,960 DAVID FROST: Thank you very much, indeed, 140 00:06:36,060 --> 00:06:38,030 and welcome to this, uh, special, 141 00:06:38,130 --> 00:06:40,490 very special edition ofThe David Frost Show. 142 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:44,400 The vice president himself wanted to debate with students, 143 00:06:44,490 --> 00:06:48,260 and we suggested a format in which he might like to do so. 144 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:50,800 Welcome Eva Jefferson from Northwestern, 145 00:06:50,890 --> 00:06:53,490 who testified before the Scranton Commission 146 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:56,600 on Campus Unrest and is majoring in political science. 147 00:06:56,700 --> 00:06:58,160 Is that right? Right. 148 00:06:58,260 --> 00:07:00,130 NARRATOR: Eva Jefferson, 149 00:07:00,230 --> 00:07:02,730 whose father had served in Vietnam, 150 00:07:02,830 --> 00:07:04,630 was now the student body president 151 00:07:04,730 --> 00:07:07,030 at Northwestern University. 152 00:07:07,130 --> 00:07:08,730 After Kent State, 153 00:07:08,830 --> 00:07:11,830 she had forcefully stopped angry protestors 154 00:07:11,930 --> 00:07:15,730 from burning down the ROTC building at her school, 155 00:07:15,830 --> 00:07:19,730 and later testified before a presidential commission 156 00:07:19,830 --> 00:07:23,730 looking into the causes of student unrest. 157 00:07:23,830 --> 00:07:26,630 She had warned then that some students 158 00:07:26,730 --> 00:07:28,560 were becoming so frustrated 159 00:07:28,660 --> 00:07:30,560 that they felt they had no choice 160 00:07:30,660 --> 00:07:33,860 but to engage in violence. 161 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:36,230 And right now it's a privilege to welcome 162 00:07:36,330 --> 00:07:38,030 the vice president of the United States, 163 00:07:38,130 --> 00:07:40,300 Spiro T. Agnew. 164 00:07:40,390 --> 00:07:43,730 (audience applauding) 165 00:07:43,830 --> 00:07:45,230 AGNEW: Let me 166 00:07:45,330 --> 00:07:48,260 take brief exception to one thing you've said, 167 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:49,600 that the only way to get the attention 168 00:07:49,700 --> 00:07:51,700 of the society is to bomb buildings. 169 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:53,630 What I attempted to do 170 00:07:53,730 --> 00:07:55,600 before the Scranton Committee was to explain 171 00:07:55,700 --> 00:07:58,260 what could motivate someone to blow up a building. 172 00:07:58,360 --> 00:08:01,230 I did not say I endorse this, and if you read my testimony 173 00:08:01,330 --> 00:08:03,800 quite carefully, you'll know that I didn't. 174 00:08:03,890 --> 00:08:06,630 And it's this type of-of just picking up on what, 175 00:08:06,730 --> 00:08:09,530 allegedly, I said instead of really studying what I said 176 00:08:09,630 --> 00:08:11,100 that-that really disturbs me. 177 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:12,760 (quietly): May I respond? Because you're making people 178 00:08:12,860 --> 00:08:15,030 afraid of their own children. 179 00:08:15,130 --> 00:08:17,130 Yet they're your children, they're my parents' children, 180 00:08:17,230 --> 00:08:18,430 they're the children of this country. 181 00:08:18,530 --> 00:08:20,530 Yet you're making people afraid of them. 182 00:08:20,630 --> 00:08:22,560 And I think this is the greatest disservice. 183 00:08:22,660 --> 00:08:25,260 There's an honest difference of agreement on issues, 184 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:27,830 but-but when you make people afraid of each other, 185 00:08:27,930 --> 00:08:30,800 you-you isolate people, and maybe this is your goal, 186 00:08:30,890 --> 00:08:32,100 but I think this is... 187 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:34,060 this could only have a disastrous effect 188 00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:36,300 on the country. (applause) 189 00:08:36,390 --> 00:08:39,230 Let me say first that isolating people 190 00:08:39,330 --> 00:08:40,430 is not my goal. 191 00:08:40,530 --> 00:08:43,360 If that were true I wouldn't be here tonight. 192 00:08:43,460 --> 00:08:45,390 And let me take exception to that 193 00:08:45,490 --> 00:08:48,360 oft-repeated rationale that, uh, 194 00:08:48,460 --> 00:08:50,800 violence is the only way to get results. 195 00:08:50,890 --> 00:08:53,390 I was trying to explain to you the rationale of some students 196 00:08:53,490 --> 00:08:54,660 who are openly revolutionary. 197 00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:57,030 You're not listening to what I'm saying. 198 00:08:57,130 --> 00:08:59,490 I'm-I'm really distressed. Just what are... what are you advocating? 199 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:01,530 EVA JEFFERSON PATERSON: They were trying to politically 200 00:09:01,630 --> 00:09:03,930 benefit from making us out to be 201 00:09:04,030 --> 00:09:07,560 these scary, horrible, violent people. 202 00:09:07,660 --> 00:09:10,230 We weren't. We were against the war. 203 00:09:10,330 --> 00:09:11,700 We thought the war was wrong. 204 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:13,130 We thought we were lied to. 205 00:09:13,230 --> 00:09:14,800 And we were in the streets. 206 00:09:14,890 --> 00:09:18,760 America has always had a rich tradition of protests. 207 00:09:18,860 --> 00:09:22,360 We were founded by protesting England. 208 00:09:22,460 --> 00:09:24,700 So to make people afraid of their kids, 209 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:26,860 I think, was wrong, but that's what they were about. 210 00:09:26,960 --> 00:09:29,130 They were fearmongers. 211 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:37,074 Advertise your product or brand here contact www.OpenSubtitles.org today 212 00:09:41,630 --> 00:09:44,360 BAO NINH: 213 00:10:11,390 --> 00:10:13,930 PHAN QUANG TUE: It was fratricide. 214 00:10:14,030 --> 00:10:16,430 You can say, "Well, but-but they are communist." 215 00:10:16,530 --> 00:10:18,760 Okay, they're communist. 216 00:10:18,860 --> 00:10:21,530 "They are the worst Vietnamese in the entire world. 217 00:10:21,630 --> 00:10:23,460 We were the good Vietnamese." 218 00:10:23,560 --> 00:10:26,330 But let's face Vietnamese killing Vietnamese. 219 00:10:26,430 --> 00:10:28,560 How-how do you deny that? 220 00:10:31,630 --> 00:10:33,330 If you don't call that fratricide, 221 00:10:33,430 --> 00:10:37,060 what do you call that? 222 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:38,600 What do you... how do we... 223 00:10:38,700 --> 00:10:40,630 I explain that to-to my children? 224 00:10:45,460 --> 00:10:47,360 NARRATOR: The Cambodian incursion had 225 00:10:47,460 --> 00:10:50,730 at least temporarily reduced the flow of North Vietnamese 226 00:10:50,830 --> 00:10:54,530 men and supplies through that country, 227 00:10:54,630 --> 00:10:56,600 but they were still streaming down 228 00:10:56,700 --> 00:10:59,430 the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. 229 00:10:59,530 --> 00:11:02,330 The White House wanted them stopped. 230 00:11:02,430 --> 00:11:05,990 But this time, South Vietnamese troops 231 00:11:06,100 --> 00:11:08,700 would have to try to do the job alone. 232 00:11:08,800 --> 00:11:13,730 By the end of 1970, both houses of Congress 233 00:11:13,830 --> 00:11:16,600 had barred all U.S. ground personnel, 234 00:11:16,700 --> 00:11:19,760 even advisors and special forces, 235 00:11:19,860 --> 00:11:21,760 from crossing the border. 236 00:11:21,860 --> 00:11:25,660 On February 8, 1971, 237 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:30,060 17,000 ARVN troops began moving into Laos 238 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:32,930 to destroy the enemy's jungle bases 239 00:11:33,030 --> 00:11:36,700 and to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail. 240 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:41,200 The Americans could only provide air support. 241 00:11:41,300 --> 00:11:45,200 Nixon and his National Security Advisor, 242 00:11:45,300 --> 00:11:48,390 Henry Kissinger, believed that a successful operation 243 00:11:48,490 --> 00:11:50,630 would boost morale in Saigon 244 00:11:50,730 --> 00:11:54,130 and prove to Hanoi and the American public 245 00:11:54,230 --> 00:11:58,130 that the ARVN could fight and win on their own, 246 00:11:58,230 --> 00:12:02,230 that Vietnamization could work. 247 00:12:02,330 --> 00:12:06,430 Their target was the North Vietnamese logistics hub, 248 00:12:06,530 --> 00:12:09,800 the abandoned town of Tchepone. 249 00:12:09,890 --> 00:12:11,960 U.S. intelligence 250 00:12:12,060 --> 00:12:13,860 believed there were no more 251 00:12:13,960 --> 00:12:18,390 than 22,000 North Vietnamese troops in the area. 252 00:12:18,490 --> 00:12:22,530 But there would eventually turn out to be 60,000, 253 00:12:22,630 --> 00:12:26,360 and their commanders knew there was only one route 254 00:12:26,460 --> 00:12:29,560 the ARVN was likely to take. 255 00:12:29,660 --> 00:12:32,560 Harry Hue, who had been fighting the communists 256 00:12:32,660 --> 00:12:36,200 for eight years, was in the invasion force. 257 00:12:37,200 --> 00:12:39,160 HUE (speaking English): 258 00:13:03,430 --> 00:13:06,330 (explosion) 259 00:13:06,430 --> 00:13:10,030 NARRATOR: Although individual ARVN units fought bravely, 260 00:13:10,130 --> 00:13:12,600 the invasion was a failure. 261 00:13:30,260 --> 00:13:33,930 Almost half of the 17,000 South Vietnamese 262 00:13:34,030 --> 00:13:35,460 who entered Laos 263 00:13:35,560 --> 00:13:38,700 would be killed, wounded or captured. 264 00:13:40,300 --> 00:13:43,660 HUE: 265 00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:18,200 BAO NINH: 266 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:41,430 NARRATOR: In late March, 267 00:14:41,530 --> 00:14:43,200 as the surviving ARVN forces 268 00:14:43,300 --> 00:14:44,860 straggled back across the border 269 00:14:44,960 --> 00:14:47,100 into South Vietnam, 270 00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:51,030 crowds of weeping women, children and old men-- 271 00:14:51,130 --> 00:14:54,160 dressed in white, the color of mourning-- 272 00:14:54,260 --> 00:14:57,760 begged for news of the soldiers who were missing. 273 00:14:57,860 --> 00:15:02,230 In Vietnam, the dead must receive proper burial 274 00:15:02,330 --> 00:15:06,160 so that their restless souls can have peace, 275 00:15:06,260 --> 00:15:08,260 and their families needed to know 276 00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:09,930 the time of their deaths 277 00:15:10,030 --> 00:15:13,060 so that they could honor them each year. 278 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:17,600 Even before the invasion was over, 279 00:15:17,690 --> 00:15:20,100 President Nixon had told an aide, 280 00:15:20,190 --> 00:15:22,260 "We must claim victory, 281 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:24,830 whatever the outcome." 282 00:15:59,130 --> 00:16:01,330 Consequently, tonight, 283 00:16:01,430 --> 00:16:05,630 I can report that Vietnamization has succeeded. 284 00:16:05,730 --> 00:16:07,930 Because of the increased strength 285 00:16:08,030 --> 00:16:09,390 of the South Vietnamese, 286 00:16:09,500 --> 00:16:12,030 because of the success of the Cambodian operation, 287 00:16:12,130 --> 00:16:13,330 because of the achievements 288 00:16:13,430 --> 00:16:16,430 of the South Vietnamese operation in Laos, 289 00:16:16,530 --> 00:16:18,060 I am announcing an increase 290 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:20,430 in the rate of American withdrawals. 291 00:16:20,530 --> 00:16:22,930 We have it in our power to leave Vietnam 292 00:16:23,030 --> 00:16:25,160 in a way that offers a brave people 293 00:16:25,260 --> 00:16:27,890 a realistic hope of freedom. 294 00:16:28,000 --> 00:16:29,300 We have it in our power 295 00:16:29,390 --> 00:16:31,560 to prove to our friends in the world 296 00:16:31,660 --> 00:16:34,430 that America's sense of responsibility 297 00:16:34,530 --> 00:16:37,890 remains the world's greatest single hope of peace. 298 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:42,300 And generations in the future 299 00:16:42,390 --> 00:16:45,800 will look back at this difficult, 300 00:16:45,890 --> 00:16:49,560 trying time in America's history, 301 00:16:49,660 --> 00:16:52,160 and they will be proud 302 00:16:52,260 --> 00:16:55,460 that we demonstrated 303 00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:58,130 that we had the courage 304 00:16:58,230 --> 00:17:01,600 and the character of a great people. 305 00:17:01,690 --> 00:17:02,560 OPERATOR: Dr. Kissinger, sir. 306 00:17:02,660 --> 00:17:04,160 NIXON: Yeah. 307 00:17:04,260 --> 00:17:05,160 KISSINGER: Mr. President? 308 00:17:05,260 --> 00:17:06,330 NIXON: Yeah. Hi, Henry. 309 00:17:06,430 --> 00:17:07,800 KISSINGER: This was the best speech you've delivered 310 00:17:07,890 --> 00:17:09,000 since you've been in office. 311 00:17:09,100 --> 00:17:10,100 NIXON: Yeah. 312 00:17:10,190 --> 00:17:12,560 I'll tell you one thing, this was, uh... 313 00:17:12,660 --> 00:17:14,760 This little speech was a work of art. 314 00:17:14,860 --> 00:17:17,500 I mean, I-I know a little something about speechwriting. 315 00:17:17,600 --> 00:17:19,800 And it was no act, because no actor could do it. 316 00:17:19,890 --> 00:17:21,830 No actor in Hollywood could have done that that well. 317 00:17:21,930 --> 00:17:23,230 KISSINGER: It's the best... 318 00:17:23,330 --> 00:17:24,530 NIXON: I thought that was done well, didn't you think? 319 00:17:24,630 --> 00:17:25,930 KISSINGER: First of all, no actor could have written it, 320 00:17:26,030 --> 00:17:27,230 to begin with. 321 00:17:27,330 --> 00:17:28,960 You couldn't have done it unless you had meant it. 322 00:17:29,060 --> 00:17:30,300 NIXON: Yeah. 323 00:17:30,390 --> 00:17:32,660 And if it doesn't work, I don't care. 324 00:17:32,760 --> 00:17:34,890 I mean, right now, if it doesn't work... 325 00:17:35,000 --> 00:17:36,000 Then let me say, though, 326 00:17:36,100 --> 00:17:37,360 I'm going to find out soon, 327 00:17:37,460 --> 00:17:38,690 and then I'm going to turn right 328 00:17:38,800 --> 00:17:40,390 so goddamn hard it'll make your head spin. 329 00:17:40,500 --> 00:17:42,000 We'll bomb those bastards right out of the... 330 00:17:42,100 --> 00:17:44,930 off the earth. I really mean it. 331 00:17:45,030 --> 00:17:48,030 ("We Gotta Get Out of This Place" by the Animals playing) 332 00:17:52,230 --> 00:17:56,530 ♪ In this dirty old part of the city ♪ 333 00:17:56,630 --> 00:18:01,060 ♪ Where the sun refuse to shine ♪ 334 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:04,330 ♪ People tell me there ain't no use in trying ♪ 335 00:18:09,100 --> 00:18:10,800 Do you belong to the same generation 336 00:18:10,890 --> 00:18:12,060 that is protesting at home? 337 00:18:12,160 --> 00:18:13,330 Do you feel as if you belong 338 00:18:13,430 --> 00:18:15,030 to those people? Very much. 339 00:18:15,130 --> 00:18:16,330 You do? Very much. 340 00:18:16,430 --> 00:18:18,690 I wish they'd get us out of here, I really do. 341 00:18:18,800 --> 00:18:21,890 ♪ We gotta get out of this place ♪ 342 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:25,860 ♪ If it's the last thing we ever do ♪ 343 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:29,100 ♪ We gotta get out of this place ♪ 344 00:18:29,190 --> 00:18:30,830 ♪ Girl, there's a better life 345 00:18:30,930 --> 00:18:34,100 JAMES GILLAM: Almost all of us were draftees. 346 00:18:34,190 --> 00:18:37,100 None of us cared a damn about the war. 347 00:18:37,190 --> 00:18:39,800 We just didn't want to get blown up. 348 00:18:39,890 --> 00:18:41,890 We just didn't want to die in the jungle, 349 00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:44,390 holding your guts in. 350 00:18:44,500 --> 00:18:49,960 So the idea is do six months, maybe eight months, 351 00:18:50,060 --> 00:18:55,300 get an R&R, take a deep breath and try to finish up, 352 00:18:55,390 --> 00:18:59,130 try to do something that would get you sent to base camp. 353 00:18:59,230 --> 00:19:03,060 Just don't die because you're not gonna win. 354 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:05,230 ANIMALS: ♪ We gotta get out of this place ♪ 355 00:19:05,330 --> 00:19:08,730 ♪ If it's the last thing we ever do ♪ 356 00:19:08,830 --> 00:19:11,000 REPORTER: Chess is the most serious contest 357 00:19:11,100 --> 00:19:12,800 Glen Hindley will engage in, 358 00:19:12,890 --> 00:19:15,730 for he has not fired a shot in his nine months 359 00:19:15,830 --> 00:19:17,330 in the field with Charlie Company. 360 00:19:17,430 --> 00:19:19,100 HINDLEY: Well, I haven't shot anybody yet. 361 00:19:19,190 --> 00:19:20,890 I don't plan on it. 362 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:22,960 I haven't fired my gun since I been here, 363 00:19:23,060 --> 00:19:25,100 and I like it that way. 364 00:19:25,190 --> 00:19:27,300 REPORTER: How can you get away with that? 365 00:19:27,390 --> 00:19:28,890 Just don't fire it. 366 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:30,300 I plan to go across the... 367 00:19:30,390 --> 00:19:31,660 across country when I get back 368 00:19:31,760 --> 00:19:33,630 because I'll see the people I know over here, 369 00:19:33,730 --> 00:19:35,930 plus I'll be able to talk to a lot of other people, 370 00:19:36,030 --> 00:19:38,100 maybe convince them that killing for peace 371 00:19:38,190 --> 00:19:39,390 just doesn't make sense. 372 00:19:39,500 --> 00:19:42,530 ANIMALS: ♪ We gotta get out of this place ♪ 373 00:19:42,630 --> 00:19:47,690 ♪ If it's the last thing we ever do ♪ 374 00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:49,600 ♪ We gotta get out of this place. ♪ 375 00:19:49,690 --> 00:19:51,760 NARRATOR: "The morale, discipline, and battleworthiness 376 00:19:51,860 --> 00:19:55,760 of the U.S. Armed Forces," a retired Marine colonel wrote 377 00:19:55,860 --> 00:19:58,160 in the spring of 1971, 378 00:19:58,260 --> 00:20:01,500 "are lower and worse than at any time, 379 00:20:01,600 --> 00:20:05,800 possibly in the history of the United States." 380 00:20:05,890 --> 00:20:08,030 An official report had found 381 00:20:08,130 --> 00:20:11,130 that one out of four enlisted men in Vietnam 382 00:20:11,230 --> 00:20:14,100 had used marijuana regularly-- 383 00:20:14,190 --> 00:20:16,800 but almost never in combat. 384 00:20:16,890 --> 00:20:19,160 SOLDIER: There's, uh, drugs everywhere. 385 00:20:19,260 --> 00:20:20,460 Really, you could, uh... 386 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:23,030 Well, within... within ten minutes in country, 387 00:20:23,130 --> 00:20:25,300 I-I had people approaching me selling scag. 388 00:20:25,390 --> 00:20:26,630 INTERVIEWER: What's scag? 389 00:20:26,730 --> 00:20:27,860 It's heroin. 390 00:20:27,960 --> 00:20:30,890 NARRATOR: Heroin was cheap, 391 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:33,560 pure, and everywhere. 392 00:20:33,660 --> 00:20:36,230 The Pentagon would eventually acknowledge 393 00:20:36,330 --> 00:20:40,030 that 40,000 American troops had been addicted to it. 394 00:20:40,130 --> 00:20:43,300 ANIMALS: ♪ We gotta get out of this place ♪ 395 00:20:43,390 --> 00:20:46,830 ♪ If it's the last thing we ever do ♪ 396 00:20:46,930 --> 00:20:49,130 ♪ We gotta get out of this place ♪ 397 00:20:49,230 --> 00:20:52,530 ♪ Girl, there's a better life 398 00:20:52,630 --> 00:20:53,730 (coughs) 399 00:20:53,830 --> 00:20:56,300 ♪ For me and you 400 00:20:56,390 --> 00:20:58,300 ♪ Ooh, baby 401 00:20:58,390 --> 00:21:02,260 "The rearguard of a once 500,000-man army," 402 00:21:02,360 --> 00:21:03,630 an officer wrote, 403 00:21:03,730 --> 00:21:07,500 "is numbly extricating itself from a nightmare war 404 00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:10,730 "the armed forces feel they had foisted on them 405 00:21:10,830 --> 00:21:14,300 "by bright civilians who are now back on campus 406 00:21:14,390 --> 00:21:19,030 writing books about the folly of it all." 407 00:21:19,130 --> 00:21:21,760 Even General Creighton Abrams, 408 00:21:21,860 --> 00:21:25,000 commander of military operations in Vietnam, 409 00:21:25,100 --> 00:21:26,890 now admitted privately, 410 00:21:27,000 --> 00:21:30,230 "I need to get this army home to save it." 411 00:21:30,330 --> 00:21:31,760 ANIMALS: ♪ I know it, too, baby 412 00:21:31,860 --> 00:21:33,800 ♪ Oh, yeah. 413 00:21:43,130 --> 00:21:45,500 The telegrams and letters coming into this courthouse 414 00:21:45,600 --> 00:21:47,760 are from all parts of the country. 415 00:21:47,860 --> 00:21:50,690 From Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a man writes, 416 00:21:50,800 --> 00:21:53,330 "Congratulations to the Calley jurors. 417 00:21:53,430 --> 00:21:55,630 "A courageous and fair decision. 418 00:21:55,730 --> 00:21:57,760 Justice still exists." 419 00:21:57,860 --> 00:22:02,760 NARRATOR: On March 29, 1971, 420 00:22:02,860 --> 00:22:04,690 at Fort Benning, Georgia, 421 00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:07,830 a military court found Lieutenant William Calley-- 422 00:22:07,930 --> 00:22:10,160 and only Lieutenant Calley-- 423 00:22:10,260 --> 00:22:12,830 guilty of murdering Vietnamese civilians 424 00:22:12,930 --> 00:22:15,930 at My Lai back in 1968. 425 00:22:18,860 --> 00:22:23,160 He was sentenced to life imprisonment at hard labor. 426 00:22:23,260 --> 00:22:25,890 The commander of Calley's division, 427 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:28,060 General Samuel Koster, 428 00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:30,960 who had watched some of the slaughter from a helicopter 429 00:22:31,060 --> 00:22:33,960 and done nothing to stop it, was now the superintendent 430 00:22:34,060 --> 00:22:37,260 of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. 431 00:22:37,360 --> 00:22:41,160 He was forced to resign. 432 00:22:41,260 --> 00:22:44,260 The other 23 officers and men 433 00:22:44,360 --> 00:22:46,630 who had been indicted were either acquitted 434 00:22:46,730 --> 00:22:49,390 or had their cases dismissed. 435 00:22:49,500 --> 00:22:52,930 The Calley verdict proved as controversial 436 00:22:53,030 --> 00:22:55,230 as the war itself. 437 00:22:55,330 --> 00:22:57,390 TROTTA: A lady in Cheyenne, Wyoming, says, 438 00:22:57,500 --> 00:22:59,760 "What the jury has done to Lieutenant Calley 439 00:22:59,860 --> 00:23:01,960 "is a disgrace to this nation. 440 00:23:02,060 --> 00:23:03,930 "The enemy is the enemy, 441 00:23:04,030 --> 00:23:06,730 the enemy is the enemy." 442 00:23:06,830 --> 00:23:09,060 From Bellefontaine, Ohio, a doctor says, 443 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:11,830 "Let us not condemn Lieutenant Calley 444 00:23:11,930 --> 00:23:14,230 "when it is the character of the war 445 00:23:14,330 --> 00:23:16,960 which is at fault for such slaughters as My Lai." 446 00:23:17,060 --> 00:23:20,300 What is your initial reaction to this verdict, sir? 447 00:23:20,390 --> 00:23:22,560 I thought he would be found not guilty. 448 00:23:22,660 --> 00:23:24,530 'Cause you send in a man into combat, 449 00:23:24,630 --> 00:23:26,930 you train him to be a... a killer, 450 00:23:27,030 --> 00:23:29,190 and then, when he does, why then, 451 00:23:29,300 --> 00:23:31,130 uh, you prosecute him? 452 00:23:33,030 --> 00:23:36,690 NARRATOR: Some believed everyone involved should have gone to jail; 453 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:39,860 others believed that Calley had been made a scapegoat 454 00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:43,730 for the criminal misdeeds of his superiors. 455 00:23:43,830 --> 00:23:47,690 And still others felt a systemic failure of leadership 456 00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:50,060 had occurred in a chain of command 457 00:23:50,160 --> 00:23:54,800 that stretched all the way up to the commander in chief. 458 00:23:57,360 --> 00:23:59,130 According to a Gallup poll, 459 00:23:59,230 --> 00:24:04,430 79% of the American public disagreed with the verdict. 460 00:24:04,530 --> 00:24:07,930 Nixon decided to intervene. 461 00:24:10,300 --> 00:24:13,730 Calley spent just three days behind bars. 462 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:17,560 The president ordered him transferred 463 00:24:17,660 --> 00:24:19,800 from federal prison to house arrest 464 00:24:19,890 --> 00:24:22,060 at Fort Benning, pending appeal. 465 00:24:22,160 --> 00:24:24,160 MAN: Okay, I'm gonna walk back from each side. 466 00:24:24,260 --> 00:24:26,360 NARRATOR: Captain Aubrey Daniel, 467 00:24:26,460 --> 00:24:29,000 who had successfully prosecuted Calley, 468 00:24:29,100 --> 00:24:32,260 wrote Nixon, accusing him of compromising 469 00:24:32,360 --> 00:24:34,930 "such a fundamental moral principle 470 00:24:35,030 --> 00:24:37,430 "as the inherent unlawfulness 471 00:24:37,530 --> 00:24:40,630 of the murder of innocent persons." 472 00:24:40,730 --> 00:24:43,130 A military appeals court 473 00:24:43,230 --> 00:24:46,960 eventually reduced Calley's term to 20 years, 474 00:24:47,060 --> 00:24:49,930 the secretary of the army cut it to ten, 475 00:24:50,030 --> 00:24:52,500 and after just three-and-a-half years 476 00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:55,530 under house arrest, he was paroled. 477 00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:02,160 TIM O'BRIEN: Who's responsible? 478 00:25:04,430 --> 00:25:08,730 The human beings who did this... 479 00:25:08,830 --> 00:25:12,260 These are war crimes. 480 00:25:12,360 --> 00:25:16,300 The individual human beings who put a rifle muzzle 481 00:25:16,390 --> 00:25:17,460 up against a baby's head 482 00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:20,890 and shot the brains out of that baby-- 483 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,760 nothing happened to them. 484 00:25:23,860 --> 00:25:26,130 Nothing! 485 00:25:33,530 --> 00:25:37,330 HAL KUSHNER: And we walked up the Ho Chi Minh Trail. 486 00:25:39,500 --> 00:25:42,260 And they said we walked 900 kilometers-- 487 00:25:42,360 --> 00:25:48,000 540 miles in 57 days. 488 00:25:48,100 --> 00:25:51,860 And we met all these people going both ways. 489 00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:55,430 We met civilians coming south. 490 00:25:55,530 --> 00:25:58,260 We met soldiers going north and south. 491 00:25:58,360 --> 00:26:01,560 We met people humping artillery rounds. 492 00:26:01,660 --> 00:26:02,930 We met a... 493 00:26:03,030 --> 00:26:04,890 I remember a whole unit, 494 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:06,930 a company-size unit, of women. 495 00:26:09,330 --> 00:26:12,300 On the way, in one of these villages, 496 00:26:12,390 --> 00:26:15,890 I stole a uniform. 497 00:26:17,460 --> 00:26:19,190 Just khaki pants and khaki shirt. 498 00:26:19,300 --> 00:26:20,530 And I stole it. 499 00:26:20,630 --> 00:26:24,030 And I folded it up and I put it in my pack. 500 00:26:24,130 --> 00:26:27,360 NARRATOR: By early 1971, 501 00:26:27,460 --> 00:26:29,330 army doctor Hal Kushner 502 00:26:29,430 --> 00:26:31,190 had been a prisoner of the Viet Cong 503 00:26:31,300 --> 00:26:34,630 in South Vietnam for more than three years. 504 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:40,300 He had survived ill treatment and a host of illnesses, 505 00:26:40,390 --> 00:26:43,690 and he had buried 13 of his fellow captives, 506 00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:45,630 who had died of starvation 507 00:26:45,730 --> 00:26:49,260 and sickness and despair. 508 00:26:49,360 --> 00:26:53,160 Now, he and the other survivors from his camp 509 00:26:53,260 --> 00:26:56,890 were being moved all the way to North Vietnam. 510 00:26:59,330 --> 00:27:00,930 Kushner and his companions 511 00:27:01,030 --> 00:27:03,390 eventually reached the city of Vinh, 512 00:27:03,500 --> 00:27:06,190 where they boarded a train to Hanoi. 513 00:27:06,300 --> 00:27:08,330 KUSHNER: And I put on this fresh uniform, 514 00:27:08,430 --> 00:27:10,190 and when I got off the train 515 00:27:10,300 --> 00:27:14,000 I was met with this officer in a jeep. 516 00:27:14,100 --> 00:27:15,690 And he just looked at me and he said, 517 00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:16,890 "You're an officer, aren't you? 518 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:19,130 You come here." 519 00:27:19,230 --> 00:27:21,500 And he just... I felt very proud that I looked good 520 00:27:21,600 --> 00:27:23,500 when I came off that train. 521 00:27:29,890 --> 00:27:33,190 NARRATOR: Kushner joined hundreds of American captives 522 00:27:33,300 --> 00:27:35,800 who were scattered among five prisons 523 00:27:35,890 --> 00:27:39,000 in and around Hanoi. 524 00:27:39,100 --> 00:27:41,660 KUSHNER: We hadn't been there long when the word came down 525 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:44,500 from the American senior ranking officer 526 00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:48,890 that nobody would go home unless everybody went home. 527 00:27:49,000 --> 00:27:51,960 That nobody would cooperate with the Vietnamese. 528 00:27:52,060 --> 00:27:54,000 (indistinct voice on radio) 529 00:27:57,360 --> 00:28:00,930 But we heard him on the camp radio once... 530 00:28:01,030 --> 00:28:02,930 (radio transmission continuing) 531 00:28:03,030 --> 00:28:05,960 ...telling us that we should cooperate. 532 00:28:08,190 --> 00:28:11,000 And it was obvious, from his voice and his inflection, 533 00:28:11,100 --> 00:28:13,130 that he had been tortured and beaten 534 00:28:13,230 --> 00:28:16,130 and was being made to say that. 535 00:28:16,230 --> 00:28:18,300 And that's what they did. 536 00:28:18,390 --> 00:28:22,800 NARRATOR: Eventually, Kushner, like most of the prisoners, 537 00:28:22,890 --> 00:28:25,600 would be forced to record a statement 538 00:28:25,690 --> 00:28:27,630 against the war. 539 00:28:28,860 --> 00:28:30,390 (light clicks on) 540 00:28:33,190 --> 00:28:35,730 KUSHNER (on recording): 541 00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:03,530 KUSHNER: They wanted propaganda statements 542 00:29:03,630 --> 00:29:05,190 to say the war was criminal, 543 00:29:05,300 --> 00:29:07,800 to say that we were criminals. 544 00:29:07,890 --> 00:29:10,100 And they used our weakness against us. 545 00:29:10,190 --> 00:29:11,600 (light clicks off) 546 00:29:11,690 --> 00:29:14,660 ("Gimme Shelter" by the Rolling Stones playing) 547 00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:18,560 CROWD (chanting): No more war! No more war! No more war! 548 00:29:18,660 --> 00:29:22,430 No more war! No more war! 549 00:29:22,530 --> 00:29:24,530 JOHN MUSGRAVE: The first time in our history 550 00:29:24,630 --> 00:29:27,100 that veterans came home from a war and said-- 551 00:29:27,190 --> 00:29:28,630 while the war is still going on-- 552 00:29:28,730 --> 00:29:31,730 and said, "This war's got to stop." 553 00:29:31,830 --> 00:29:34,690 And the American people 554 00:29:34,800 --> 00:29:37,130 might not listen to a bunch of long-haired hippie kids. 555 00:29:37,230 --> 00:29:39,060 What do they know? 556 00:29:39,160 --> 00:29:41,930 But the working class, the great "silent majority"-- 557 00:29:42,030 --> 00:29:44,460 Richard Nixon always talked about his "silent majority" 558 00:29:44,560 --> 00:29:47,060 that would back him by being silent-- 559 00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:49,630 we were their kids. 560 00:29:49,730 --> 00:29:52,360 And it finally dawned on me-- 561 00:29:52,460 --> 00:29:54,530 and this was a long, painful process-- 562 00:29:54,630 --> 00:29:57,500 that... that I wasn't helping anybody 563 00:29:57,600 --> 00:30:00,690 by keeping my mouth shut. 564 00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:03,960 NARRATOR: Less than three weeks after Lieutenant Calley 565 00:30:04,060 --> 00:30:06,730 was found guilty, some 2,000 members 566 00:30:06,830 --> 00:30:08,760 of an organization called 567 00:30:08,860 --> 00:30:11,330 Vietnam Veterans Against the War 568 00:30:11,430 --> 00:30:16,190 and their followers descended upon Washington, D.C. 569 00:30:16,300 --> 00:30:20,230 MICK JAGGER: ♪ Ooh, storm is threatening 570 00:30:20,330 --> 00:30:23,800 ♪ My very life today 571 00:30:23,890 --> 00:30:28,830 ♪ If I don't get some shelter 572 00:30:28,930 --> 00:30:32,330 ♪ Oh, yeah, I'm gonna fade away ♪ 573 00:30:32,430 --> 00:30:35,930 ♪ War, children 574 00:30:36,030 --> 00:30:38,460 ♪ It's just a shot away 575 00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:40,560 ♪ It's just a shot away ♪ 576 00:30:40,660 --> 00:30:44,000 ♪ War, children 577 00:30:44,100 --> 00:30:45,930 ♪ It's just a shot away 578 00:30:46,030 --> 00:30:49,600 ♪ It's just a shot away. ♪ 579 00:30:49,690 --> 00:30:53,130 VVAW was a-a... it was great therapy. 580 00:30:53,230 --> 00:30:55,300 We were working it out ourselves. 581 00:30:55,390 --> 00:30:57,660 Vets taking care of vets. 582 00:30:57,760 --> 00:30:59,460 We were generals in our own right. 583 00:30:59,560 --> 00:31:01,100 And we didn't join anything. 584 00:31:01,190 --> 00:31:02,760 We became something. 585 00:31:02,860 --> 00:31:04,960 And that, yes, I was a Marine, 586 00:31:05,060 --> 00:31:06,800 but I was first and foremost 587 00:31:06,890 --> 00:31:09,160 a citizen of the United States of America. 588 00:31:09,260 --> 00:31:13,030 And being a citizen, I had certain responsibilities. 589 00:31:13,130 --> 00:31:16,190 And the largest of those responsibilities 590 00:31:16,300 --> 00:31:19,600 is standing up to your government and saying "no" 591 00:31:19,690 --> 00:31:21,730 when it's doing something that you think 592 00:31:21,830 --> 00:31:24,530 is not in this nation's best interest. 593 00:31:24,630 --> 00:31:29,830 That is the most important job that every citizen has. 594 00:31:29,930 --> 00:31:33,600 ROLLING STONES: ♪ Rape, murder 595 00:31:33,690 --> 00:31:36,830 MUSGRAVE: I served my country as honorably, 596 00:31:36,930 --> 00:31:40,030 when I was in Vietnam Veterans Against the War, 597 00:31:40,130 --> 00:31:43,660 as I did as a United States Marine. 598 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:47,100 And, in fact, I conducted myself as a Marine 599 00:31:47,190 --> 00:31:49,890 the whole time I was in VVAW. 600 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:51,530 I... My-my whole life, 601 00:31:51,630 --> 00:31:54,360 I conduct myself as a Marine. 602 00:31:54,460 --> 00:31:57,800 NARRATOR: Navy Lieutenant John Kerry, 603 00:31:57,890 --> 00:32:01,190 who had commanded a swift boat in the Mekong Delta 604 00:32:01,300 --> 00:32:03,800 and was one of the organization's leaders, 605 00:32:03,890 --> 00:32:05,230 was invited to address 606 00:32:05,330 --> 00:32:07,460 the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 607 00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:10,530 still chaired by J. William Fulbright. 608 00:32:10,630 --> 00:32:12,030 Thank you. 609 00:32:12,130 --> 00:32:15,560 MUSGRAVE: I went up for the presentation. 610 00:32:15,660 --> 00:32:17,860 And it was standing room only. 611 00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:21,760 And I was crammed up against the wall in the very back. 612 00:32:21,860 --> 00:32:24,900 And when John... 613 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:27,790 gave that presentation... (gavel bangs) 614 00:32:27,900 --> 00:32:30,400 ...I felt like he was speaking for all of us. 615 00:32:30,500 --> 00:32:33,860 KERRY: We could come back to this country and we could be quiet. 616 00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:35,460 We could hold our silence. 617 00:32:35,560 --> 00:32:39,030 We could not tell what went on in Vietnam, but we feel, 618 00:32:39,130 --> 00:32:41,960 because of what threatens this country, 619 00:32:42,060 --> 00:32:43,830 we have to speak out. 620 00:32:43,930 --> 00:32:45,760 Millions of men who have been 621 00:32:45,860 --> 00:32:48,930 taught to deal and to trade in violence 622 00:32:49,030 --> 00:32:51,330 and who were given the chance to die 623 00:32:51,430 --> 00:32:53,630 for the biggest nothing in history, 624 00:32:53,730 --> 00:32:57,360 men who have returned with a sense of anger 625 00:32:57,460 --> 00:32:58,860 and a sense of betrayal 626 00:32:58,960 --> 00:33:01,330 which no one has yet grasped. 627 00:33:01,430 --> 00:33:04,060 We rationalized destroying villages 628 00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:05,690 in order to save them. 629 00:33:05,790 --> 00:33:07,860 We saw America lose her sense of morality, 630 00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:10,900 as she accepted very coolly a My Lai 631 00:33:11,000 --> 00:33:13,400 and refused to give up the image of American soldiers 632 00:33:13,500 --> 00:33:16,190 that hand out chocolate bars and chewing gum. 633 00:33:16,290 --> 00:33:18,860 We learnt the meaning of free-fire zones, 634 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:21,460 shoot anything that moves, 635 00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:23,730 and we watched while America placed a cheapness 636 00:33:23,830 --> 00:33:26,000 on the lives of Orientals. 637 00:33:26,100 --> 00:33:30,000 We watched the United States' falsification of body counts-- 638 00:33:30,100 --> 00:33:33,530 in fact, the glorification of body counts. 639 00:33:33,630 --> 00:33:36,190 We watched while men charged up hills 640 00:33:36,290 --> 00:33:39,430 because a general said that hill has to be taken. 641 00:33:39,530 --> 00:33:42,230 And after losing one platoon or two platoons, 642 00:33:42,330 --> 00:33:43,630 they marched away 643 00:33:43,730 --> 00:33:45,630 to leave the hill for the reoccupation 644 00:33:45,730 --> 00:33:48,600 of the North Vietnamese. 645 00:33:48,690 --> 00:33:51,260 And we are asking Americans to think about that. 646 00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:53,530 Because how do you ask a man 647 00:33:53,630 --> 00:33:56,360 to be the last man to die in Vietnam? 648 00:33:56,460 --> 00:34:01,100 How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake? 649 00:34:01,190 --> 00:34:04,230 And so, when, 30 years from now, 650 00:34:04,330 --> 00:34:07,030 our brothers go down the street without a leg, 651 00:34:07,130 --> 00:34:09,690 without an arm or a face, 652 00:34:09,790 --> 00:34:12,430 and small boys ask why, 653 00:34:12,530 --> 00:34:15,290 we will be able to say "Vietnam" 654 00:34:15,400 --> 00:34:18,960 and not mean a filthy, obscene memory 655 00:34:19,060 --> 00:34:24,360 but mean instead the place where America finally turned 656 00:34:24,460 --> 00:34:29,160 and where soldiers like us helped it in the turning. 657 00:34:29,260 --> 00:34:31,000 Thank you. 658 00:34:31,100 --> 00:34:33,030 (cheers and applause) 659 00:34:37,530 --> 00:34:40,430 MUSGRAVE: I thought, "I have never heard 660 00:34:40,530 --> 00:34:43,360 "so... such an incredible speech 661 00:34:43,460 --> 00:34:45,900 that says exactly what I'm feeling." 662 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:49,360 You know? It was extraordinary. 663 00:34:49,460 --> 00:34:51,830 Extraordinary. 664 00:34:51,930 --> 00:34:55,500 NARRATOR: But some veterans remembered a different part 665 00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:57,430 of Kerry's testimony, 666 00:34:57,530 --> 00:35:01,160 testimony in which he repeated accounts of atrocities 667 00:35:01,260 --> 00:35:05,060 he had heard from other American veterans. 668 00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:08,330 KERRY: They told the stories of times 669 00:35:08,430 --> 00:35:13,400 that they had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, 670 00:35:13,500 --> 00:35:17,260 taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals 671 00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:19,060 and turned up the power, 672 00:35:19,160 --> 00:35:22,500 cut off limbs, blown up bodies, 673 00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:25,160 randomly shot at civilians, 674 00:35:25,260 --> 00:35:29,500 razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan... 675 00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:32,030 GIOIA: What I saw in Vietnam was not the soldier 676 00:35:32,130 --> 00:35:34,030 that Mr. Kerry or his colleagues 677 00:35:34,130 --> 00:35:36,160 were describing at that time. 678 00:35:36,260 --> 00:35:38,690 There was no widespread atrocity. 679 00:35:38,790 --> 00:35:40,360 There was... there were a couple of units 680 00:35:40,460 --> 00:35:42,960 that went right off the rails, and we can talk about that. 681 00:35:43,060 --> 00:35:45,690 But they were not out-of-control animals, 682 00:35:45,790 --> 00:35:47,830 which was the way they were portrayed. 683 00:35:47,930 --> 00:35:51,500 And what was even worse was they were alluding to the fact 684 00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:52,900 that you would take ordinary kids 685 00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:55,460 and turn them into these savages, 686 00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:57,060 war criminals, and the... 687 00:35:57,160 --> 00:35:58,530 that the military was doing that. 688 00:35:58,630 --> 00:36:01,190 And it didn't. Didn't happen that way. 689 00:36:01,290 --> 00:36:03,660 I'm still very angry about that. 690 00:36:03,760 --> 00:36:05,600 ROLLING STONES: ♪ War, children 691 00:36:05,690 --> 00:36:07,130 NARRATOR: The next day, 692 00:36:07,230 --> 00:36:10,400 700 Vietnam Veterans Against the War 693 00:36:10,500 --> 00:36:12,660 gathered at the Capitol. 694 00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:15,730 MUSGRAVE: We originally intended to put our medals in a body bag 695 00:36:15,830 --> 00:36:18,690 and have them delivered to Congress. 696 00:36:18,790 --> 00:36:22,100 But the Nixon administration erected 697 00:36:22,190 --> 00:36:27,690 this big wire and wood fence on the steps of our Capitol 698 00:36:27,790 --> 00:36:31,330 to keep us out. 699 00:36:31,430 --> 00:36:33,330 To keep out the young men and women 700 00:36:33,430 --> 00:36:36,000 who were fighting that war. 701 00:36:36,100 --> 00:36:38,460 And all that did was piss us off 702 00:36:38,560 --> 00:36:42,460 and give us the greatest photo opportunity 703 00:36:42,560 --> 00:36:45,230 that we could ever have. 704 00:36:45,330 --> 00:36:46,400 Silver Star. STEVE SHAW: Purple Heart. 705 00:36:46,500 --> 00:36:48,630 MAN: Bronze Star. 706 00:36:48,730 --> 00:36:50,460 Cross of Gallantry. SACHS: Distinguished Flying Cross. 707 00:36:50,560 --> 00:36:51,930 And everything else! (cheering) 708 00:36:52,030 --> 00:36:53,730 FERRIZZI: I don't want these fucking medals, man! 709 00:36:53,830 --> 00:36:57,060 The Silver Star, the third highest medal in the country, 710 00:36:57,160 --> 00:36:58,660 it doesn't mean anything! 711 00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:01,060 Bob Smeal died for these medals! 712 00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:03,560 Lieutenant Panamaroff died so I got a medal! 713 00:37:03,660 --> 00:37:06,000 Sergeant Johns died so I got a medal! 714 00:37:06,100 --> 00:37:08,000 I got a Silver Star, a Purple Heart, 715 00:37:08,100 --> 00:37:10,400 Army Commendation Medal, eight Air Medals, 716 00:37:10,500 --> 00:37:11,860 National Defense, 717 00:37:11,960 --> 00:37:13,030 and the rest of this garbage! 718 00:37:13,130 --> 00:37:14,960 It doesn't mean a thing! 719 00:37:15,060 --> 00:37:16,460 (cheering) 720 00:37:16,560 --> 00:37:20,130 JAGGER: ♪ Mm, the flood is threatening 721 00:37:20,230 --> 00:37:21,660 ♪ My very life 722 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:23,860 FERRIZZI: Throwing my medals back was probably harder 723 00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:25,260 than going to the war. 724 00:37:25,360 --> 00:37:27,930 Was actually harder than going and serving in Vietnam. 725 00:37:28,030 --> 00:37:32,460 JAGGER: ♪ Or I'm gonna fade away 726 00:37:32,560 --> 00:37:34,960 FERRIZZI: If this medal is so important, let's make it important. 727 00:37:35,060 --> 00:37:36,660 Here it is. You can have it back. 728 00:37:36,760 --> 00:37:38,790 End the war in Vietnam. 729 00:37:38,900 --> 00:37:40,430 What else is there? 730 00:37:40,530 --> 00:37:41,790 I... There was nothing else. 731 00:37:41,900 --> 00:37:43,290 I wouldn't put 'em on my wall for my son. 732 00:37:43,400 --> 00:37:45,530 I never want... that was the last thing in the world 733 00:37:45,630 --> 00:37:48,230 I would ever want my son to revere. 734 00:37:48,330 --> 00:37:50,560 (indistinct shouting) 735 00:37:50,660 --> 00:37:53,500 TOM VALLELY: It was a difficult decision for me. 736 00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:58,500 I did it out of a disrespectful loyalty. 737 00:37:58,600 --> 00:38:02,530 I was proud of my military service. 738 00:38:02,630 --> 00:38:04,860 And I wanted to say, "You know, I don't think 739 00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:07,660 you guys know that much," the American military. 740 00:38:07,760 --> 00:38:10,760 "You know, I think you should think again 741 00:38:10,860 --> 00:38:12,230 "about this enterprise. 742 00:38:12,330 --> 00:38:14,690 And here you go, pal." 743 00:38:14,790 --> 00:38:16,560 Tim Bagwell from Sacramento, California, 744 00:38:16,660 --> 00:38:19,560 still on active duty, and I say get the hell out. 745 00:38:19,660 --> 00:38:20,630 (cheering) 746 00:38:20,730 --> 00:38:23,360 ("Gimme Shelter" continues) 747 00:38:32,930 --> 00:38:35,290 MUSGRAVE: When we threw our medals away, 748 00:38:35,400 --> 00:38:36,900 that got their attention, 749 00:38:37,000 --> 00:38:39,560 because America values those things. 750 00:38:39,660 --> 00:38:41,000 So do we. 751 00:38:41,100 --> 00:38:43,290 That's why it was so important. 752 00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:46,430 NARRATOR: The police had been ordered not to arrest 753 00:38:46,530 --> 00:38:49,030 any of the veterans, because, 754 00:38:49,130 --> 00:38:51,630 Pat Buchanan, a White House aide, wrote, 755 00:38:51,730 --> 00:38:55,100 they were "being received in a far more sympathetic fashion 756 00:38:55,190 --> 00:38:57,290 "than other demonstrators. 757 00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:01,030 The 'crazies' will be in town soon enough," he continued, 758 00:39:01,130 --> 00:39:03,190 "and if we want a confrontation, 759 00:39:03,290 --> 00:39:05,260 let's have it with them." 760 00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:07,660 He was right. 761 00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:10,000 In the days immediately following 762 00:39:10,100 --> 00:39:11,460 the veterans' protest, 763 00:39:11,560 --> 00:39:13,600 other groups of antiwar activists 764 00:39:13,690 --> 00:39:16,690 moved into the capital. 765 00:39:16,790 --> 00:39:20,460 The most radical called itself the May Day Tribe 766 00:39:20,560 --> 00:39:23,530 and threatened to close the city down. 767 00:39:23,630 --> 00:39:26,860 For three days, they staged hit-and-run raids 768 00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:28,730 throughout Washington-- 769 00:39:28,830 --> 00:39:31,260 blocking bridges and traffic circles, 770 00:39:31,360 --> 00:39:32,690 smashing windows, 771 00:39:32,790 --> 00:39:35,190 hurling rocks, burning cars. 772 00:39:35,290 --> 00:39:36,260 (sirens wailing) 773 00:39:36,360 --> 00:39:37,660 RENNIE DAVIS: If Richard Nixon thought 774 00:39:37,760 --> 00:39:41,060 that this week was something, wait until the next round. 775 00:39:41,160 --> 00:39:43,730 This is only a warm-up of what is going to come. 776 00:39:43,830 --> 00:39:46,560 This is going to continue until the war ends. 777 00:39:46,660 --> 00:39:48,860 NARRATOR: Some 12,000 were arrested-- 778 00:39:48,960 --> 00:39:51,430 7,000 on a single day, 779 00:39:51,530 --> 00:39:55,000 the largest number of arrests in 24 hours 780 00:39:55,100 --> 00:39:57,500 in United States history. 781 00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:00,960 BILL ZIMMERMAN: I realized, coming away from Washington, 782 00:40:01,060 --> 00:40:03,360 that our whole strategy was wrong 783 00:40:03,460 --> 00:40:07,100 and that we were becoming more and more militant 784 00:40:07,190 --> 00:40:09,960 at a time when more and more Americans 785 00:40:10,060 --> 00:40:11,560 were opposing the war 786 00:40:11,660 --> 00:40:14,160 but were turned off by our militancy. 787 00:40:14,260 --> 00:40:17,160 So we were doing exactly the wrong thing. 788 00:40:17,260 --> 00:40:20,730 NARRATOR: The White House was initially pleased. 789 00:40:20,830 --> 00:40:23,900 Public sympathy for the veterans was largely forgotten 790 00:40:24,000 --> 00:40:27,930 in the face of days of battle in the streets. 791 00:40:28,030 --> 00:40:31,060 Polls showed that most Americans approved 792 00:40:31,160 --> 00:40:32,960 of the arrests. 793 00:40:37,130 --> 00:40:40,160 But those same polls also showed 794 00:40:40,260 --> 00:40:42,960 that most Americans no longer believed 795 00:40:43,060 --> 00:40:46,760 they were being told the truth about Vietnam. 796 00:40:51,730 --> 00:40:54,430 MUSGRAVE: When I got home, my... so my dad's pissed off. 797 00:40:54,530 --> 00:40:58,260 'Cause he's-he's a true believer, you know? 798 00:40:59,790 --> 00:41:02,030 He was already receiving threats 799 00:41:02,130 --> 00:41:05,260 because I'd thrown away their medals. 800 00:41:07,030 --> 00:41:10,000 And that pissed my dad off then. 801 00:41:10,100 --> 00:41:12,730 And you would've thought I hadn't done anything wrong. 802 00:41:12,830 --> 00:41:15,860 Because then somebody outside the family was messing with me. 803 00:41:15,960 --> 00:41:18,000 And he said, "Son, don't worry. 804 00:41:18,100 --> 00:41:20,000 "Those were your medals. You paid for 'em. 805 00:41:20,100 --> 00:41:21,400 "You can do anything you want with 'em. 806 00:41:21,500 --> 00:41:23,560 "They want to jack with us, they'll face us both. 807 00:41:23,660 --> 00:41:25,290 We'll-we'll take 'em on in the driveway." 808 00:41:25,400 --> 00:41:28,060 You know? "Yo, Dad." 809 00:41:29,330 --> 00:41:31,260 (applause) 810 00:41:32,960 --> 00:41:35,400 (band playing "Thank Heaven for Little Girls") 811 00:41:35,500 --> 00:41:38,400 NARRATOR: On June 12, 1971, 812 00:41:38,500 --> 00:41:40,730 Richard Nixon's daughter, Tricia, 813 00:41:40,830 --> 00:41:45,360 married Edward Cox in the White House Rose Garden. 814 00:41:45,460 --> 00:41:49,060 The country watched it all on television. 815 00:41:52,500 --> 00:41:55,660 The wedding was still news the next day. 816 00:41:55,760 --> 00:41:59,260 But another story on the front page of theNew York Times 817 00:41:59,360 --> 00:42:02,160 caught the president's attention. 818 00:42:02,260 --> 00:42:05,330 The article, by Neil Sheehan, 819 00:42:05,430 --> 00:42:08,130 was the first report of what came to be called 820 00:42:08,230 --> 00:42:10,000 the Pentagon Papers, 821 00:42:10,100 --> 00:42:13,660 7,000 pages of highly classified documents 822 00:42:13,760 --> 00:42:15,730 and historical narrative, 823 00:42:15,830 --> 00:42:18,060 compiled secretly at the orders 824 00:42:18,160 --> 00:42:21,930 of former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. 825 00:42:22,030 --> 00:42:25,260 He had hoped a study of the decision-making process 826 00:42:25,360 --> 00:42:28,860 that had led the United States to become so deeply involved 827 00:42:28,960 --> 00:42:32,190 in Vietnam would help future policymakers 828 00:42:32,290 --> 00:42:34,900 avoid similar errors. 829 00:42:36,500 --> 00:42:38,530 SHEEHAN: I thought I knew a great deal. 830 00:42:38,630 --> 00:42:40,660 I thought I knew most of what was worth knowing 831 00:42:40,760 --> 00:42:42,000 about the war. 832 00:42:42,100 --> 00:42:45,790 And, suddenly, I didn't. 833 00:42:45,900 --> 00:42:48,860 It wasn't a reporter's version of an event. 834 00:42:48,960 --> 00:42:50,790 It wasthe ir version of an event. 835 00:42:50,900 --> 00:42:53,130 It was their telegrams, their orders, 836 00:42:53,230 --> 00:42:55,060 their memoranda, et cetera. 837 00:43:09,530 --> 00:43:12,600 NARRATOR: The documents proved that American presidents 838 00:43:12,690 --> 00:43:14,530 and their closest advisors 839 00:43:14,630 --> 00:43:16,600 had steered the United States 840 00:43:16,690 --> 00:43:19,400 toward deeper involvement in Vietnam, 841 00:43:19,500 --> 00:43:23,900 despite their own grave doubts about the chances for victory. 842 00:43:32,760 --> 00:43:35,260 They had known that the Saigon government 843 00:43:35,360 --> 00:43:37,760 was weak and incompetent... 844 00:43:45,130 --> 00:43:49,060 ...that the enemy was disciplined and resilient... 845 00:43:55,160 --> 00:43:58,930 ...and that the bombing of the North wasn't working. 846 00:44:06,500 --> 00:44:10,560 Yet, they had routinely lied about all these things 847 00:44:10,660 --> 00:44:13,190 to Congress and the American people. 848 00:44:37,360 --> 00:44:39,030 (sighs) 849 00:44:39,130 --> 00:44:42,060 I certainly don't endorse 850 00:44:42,160 --> 00:44:47,060 anyone releasing top-secret material to the press. 851 00:44:48,760 --> 00:44:52,660 Um, on the other hand, uh... 852 00:44:52,760 --> 00:44:55,900 I was very concerned 853 00:44:56,000 --> 00:44:58,430 about the fact that the, uh, 854 00:44:58,530 --> 00:45:03,790 government was not being up front with the American people 855 00:45:03,900 --> 00:45:07,560 in certain respects with the Vietnam War. 856 00:45:07,660 --> 00:45:10,830 NARRATOR: Two copies of the report had been stored 857 00:45:10,930 --> 00:45:14,260 at the RAND Corporation, a California think tank, 858 00:45:14,360 --> 00:45:16,330 where Daniel Ellsberg, 859 00:45:16,430 --> 00:45:21,130 one of the study's 36 authors, worked as an analyst. 860 00:45:21,230 --> 00:45:24,160 Ellsberg had once supported the war. 861 00:45:24,260 --> 00:45:26,160 He'd served in the Pentagon, 862 00:45:26,260 --> 00:45:28,660 and spent two years working for the State Department 863 00:45:28,760 --> 00:45:30,900 in Vietnam. 864 00:45:31,000 --> 00:45:35,400 But he had come to see the war as profoundly immoral, 865 00:45:35,500 --> 00:45:38,000 and hoped that if Americans understood 866 00:45:38,100 --> 00:45:42,430 how administration after administration had misled them 867 00:45:42,530 --> 00:45:45,000 about what was being done in their name, 868 00:45:45,100 --> 00:45:47,630 they might help bring it to an end. 869 00:45:47,730 --> 00:45:51,460 He and Anthony Russo, another RAND employee, 870 00:45:51,560 --> 00:45:54,960 secretly copied most of the report. 871 00:45:55,060 --> 00:45:59,160 Ellsberg offered it to three leading antiwar senators, 872 00:45:59,260 --> 00:46:03,160 hoping they would be willing to reveal its contents. 873 00:46:03,260 --> 00:46:05,900 None dared do it. 874 00:46:06,000 --> 00:46:09,500 Meanwhile, Neil Sheehan of theNew York Times, 875 00:46:09,600 --> 00:46:13,630 who had been reporting on Vietnam since 1962, 876 00:46:13,730 --> 00:46:17,500 and had already secretly read some of the documents, 877 00:46:17,600 --> 00:46:21,560 asked Ellsberg to show him the whole report. 878 00:46:21,660 --> 00:46:24,690 SHEEHAN: At that point, I was very passionate about the war. 879 00:46:24,790 --> 00:46:28,230 I felt that it was really wrong, 880 00:46:28,330 --> 00:46:30,190 because we were getting a lot of Americans 881 00:46:30,290 --> 00:46:32,530 and a lot of Vietnamese killed for no purpose. 882 00:46:32,630 --> 00:46:36,360 We were gonna lose this war. 883 00:46:36,460 --> 00:46:40,660 And so I vowed to myself when I saw this material 884 00:46:40,760 --> 00:46:42,530 that this is never gonna go back 885 00:46:42,630 --> 00:46:44,190 into a government safe again. 886 00:46:44,290 --> 00:46:45,960 The American public had paid for it 887 00:46:46,060 --> 00:46:48,730 with the lives of their sons and with their treasure, 888 00:46:48,830 --> 00:46:50,530 and it's gonna be published. 889 00:46:50,630 --> 00:46:52,190 NIXON: That piece in theTimes 890 00:46:52,290 --> 00:46:53,500 is, of course, 891 00:46:53,600 --> 00:46:56,660 a massive security leak from the Pentagon, you know. 892 00:46:56,760 --> 00:46:58,460 ROGERS: Yeah. 893 00:46:58,560 --> 00:47:01,600 NIXON: It all relates, of course, to everything up until we came in. 894 00:47:01,690 --> 00:47:03,290 ROGERS: Yeah. 895 00:47:03,400 --> 00:47:05,830 NIXON: And it's, uh, it's ver... it's hard on Johnson, 896 00:47:05,930 --> 00:47:09,260 it's hard on Kennedy, it's hard on Lodge. 897 00:47:09,360 --> 00:47:12,760 NARRATOR: At first, Nixon was not unduly disturbed 898 00:47:12,860 --> 00:47:15,260 by the newspaper's revelations. 899 00:47:15,360 --> 00:47:18,900 They reflected badly on his Democratic predecessors, 900 00:47:19,000 --> 00:47:21,360 not on him. 901 00:47:21,460 --> 00:47:24,660 But Henry Kissinger quickly convinced Nixon 902 00:47:24,760 --> 00:47:26,560 that if theTime s were permitted 903 00:47:26,660 --> 00:47:30,400 to reveal the classified secrets of earlier presidents, 904 00:47:30,500 --> 00:47:35,500 it was only a matter of time until someone leaked his own. 905 00:47:35,600 --> 00:47:39,430 The Justice Department obtained a temporary court order 906 00:47:39,530 --> 00:47:43,100 forbidding theTi mes from publishing further installments 907 00:47:43,190 --> 00:47:46,230 on the grounds of national security. 908 00:47:46,330 --> 00:47:50,030 But soon, both theBoston Globe 909 00:47:50,130 --> 00:47:54,000 and theWashington Pos t were also printing excerpts. 910 00:47:55,630 --> 00:47:58,160 On June 30, 1971, 911 00:47:58,260 --> 00:48:00,930 the United States Supreme Court, 912 00:48:01,030 --> 00:48:03,190 citing the First Amendment, 913 00:48:03,290 --> 00:48:06,860 ruled six to three that theTimes had the right 914 00:48:06,960 --> 00:48:10,430 to publish the stolen documents. 915 00:48:10,530 --> 00:48:12,630 SHEEHAN: And I went down into the basement 916 00:48:12,730 --> 00:48:15,030 to wait for the presses to start to roll, 917 00:48:15,130 --> 00:48:17,730 and they had these huge round reams of paper. 918 00:48:17,830 --> 00:48:18,930 (whirring) 919 00:48:19,030 --> 00:48:20,530 And, finally, the presses started to roll. 920 00:48:20,630 --> 00:48:25,060 And it was just an exquisite moment of vindication 921 00:48:25,160 --> 00:48:27,290 of the freedom of the press in this country 922 00:48:27,400 --> 00:48:29,000 and how important it is. 923 00:48:29,100 --> 00:48:31,060 (rhythmic rattling) 924 00:48:31,160 --> 00:48:33,830 KARL MARLANTES: That changed 925 00:48:33,930 --> 00:48:35,830 our whole attitude toward government. 926 00:48:35,930 --> 00:48:38,290 Up until then, the president wouldn't lie. 927 00:48:38,400 --> 00:48:40,530 After then, they always lie. 928 00:48:40,630 --> 00:48:43,100 NARRATOR: The day the presses began to roll again, 929 00:48:43,190 --> 00:48:46,430 Nixon ordered attorney general John Mitchell 930 00:48:46,530 --> 00:48:50,100 to try to discredit Daniel Ellsberg, who had just 931 00:48:50,190 --> 00:48:52,400 been indicted by a federal grand jury 932 00:48:52,500 --> 00:48:54,660 for theft and conspiracy 933 00:48:54,760 --> 00:48:58,730 under the Espionage Act of 1917. 934 00:49:33,690 --> 00:49:37,900 NARRATOR: Nixon feared Ellsberg possessed more classified documents 935 00:49:38,000 --> 00:49:40,430 that would show that he himself had lied 936 00:49:40,530 --> 00:49:44,290 about the secret bombing of Cambodia and Laos, 937 00:49:44,400 --> 00:49:47,130 and he believed that Ellsberg had had help 938 00:49:47,230 --> 00:49:50,660 and wanted to know the names of his co-conspirators. 939 00:49:50,760 --> 00:49:53,100 The president created a private, 940 00:49:53,190 --> 00:49:56,500 clandestine investigative unit within the White House. 941 00:49:56,600 --> 00:49:59,500 It came to be called "The Plumbers." 942 00:49:59,600 --> 00:50:03,130 John Ehrlichman, one of Nixon's closest aides, 943 00:50:03,230 --> 00:50:06,600 eventually ordered them to burglarize the office 944 00:50:06,690 --> 00:50:09,630 of Ellsberg's Los Angeles psychiatrist 945 00:50:09,730 --> 00:50:11,690 in search of material 946 00:50:11,790 --> 00:50:15,500 with which he could be blackmailed into silence. 947 00:50:15,600 --> 00:50:19,790 Nixon may have privately feared something else as well. 948 00:50:19,900 --> 00:50:22,690 He was told that the safe at another think tank, 949 00:50:22,790 --> 00:50:26,400 the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., 950 00:50:26,500 --> 00:50:30,560 contained files that might reveal the secret role 951 00:50:30,660 --> 00:50:34,530 his campaign had played in torpedoing the peace talks 952 00:50:34,630 --> 00:50:37,830 on the eve of his election three years earlier, 953 00:50:37,930 --> 00:50:42,530 which President Johnson had then considered treason. 954 00:50:42,630 --> 00:50:46,330 Nixon wanted his "plumbers" to break into Brookings, 955 00:50:46,430 --> 00:50:50,760 crack the safe, and remove the files. 956 00:50:50,860 --> 00:50:53,060 None of it was legal. 957 00:50:53,160 --> 00:50:56,290 Nixon did not care. 958 00:51:27,030 --> 00:51:31,260 NARRATOR: The Brookings break-in would never take place. 959 00:51:31,360 --> 00:51:33,830 The burglars would be unable 960 00:51:33,930 --> 00:51:37,030 to find Ellsberg's file in his doctor's office. 961 00:51:37,130 --> 00:51:40,560 But Nixon's obsession with his enemies 962 00:51:40,660 --> 00:51:44,400 would be the undoing of his presidency. 963 00:51:45,690 --> 00:51:49,160 ("Embryonic Journey" by Jefferson Airplane playing) 964 00:51:53,130 --> 00:51:55,100 (laughter and chatter) 965 00:52:01,660 --> 00:52:03,600 (indistinct voice of man speaking French over microphone) 966 00:52:05,000 --> 00:52:07,260 JACK TODD: Once a month, I have a dream 967 00:52:07,360 --> 00:52:11,900 that I'm... I'm back... I'm back in basic training. 968 00:52:12,000 --> 00:52:13,430 But I'm the age I am now, 969 00:52:13,530 --> 00:52:15,790 which is way too old to be in the military. 970 00:52:15,900 --> 00:52:18,260 But, you know, somehow I've gotten a waiver, 971 00:52:18,360 --> 00:52:19,960 and I'm going through all the training, 972 00:52:20,060 --> 00:52:22,130 and there's some major war going on. 973 00:52:22,230 --> 00:52:25,360 And I'm going to get there, and I'm going to be a hero 974 00:52:25,460 --> 00:52:30,760 and vindicate myself and be taken back by my country. 975 00:52:30,860 --> 00:52:32,690 (car horn honks) 976 00:52:32,790 --> 00:52:37,030 NARRATOR: Jack Todd had crossed into Canada in early 1970, 977 00:52:37,130 --> 00:52:38,860 rather than take part 978 00:52:38,960 --> 00:52:41,600 in what he believed to be a dishonorable war. 979 00:52:44,000 --> 00:52:47,760 He found himself living in a strange underground world 980 00:52:47,860 --> 00:52:49,930 of deserters and draft evaders 981 00:52:50,030 --> 00:52:54,330 and the disaffected Canadians who gathered around them. 982 00:52:54,430 --> 00:52:58,500 In 1971, he was living in Montreal, 983 00:52:58,600 --> 00:53:00,630 restless and often depressed, 984 00:53:00,730 --> 00:53:04,330 increasingly alienated from his country, 985 00:53:04,430 --> 00:53:07,560 but also anxious always for news from home, 986 00:53:07,660 --> 00:53:10,430 and eager to know how his boyhood friends 987 00:53:10,530 --> 00:53:13,560 from Scottsbluff, Nebraska, were doing. 988 00:53:13,660 --> 00:53:16,260 One, named Ron Bales, 989 00:53:16,360 --> 00:53:19,430 had lived just down the street. 990 00:53:19,530 --> 00:53:24,290 And, uh... my mother sent me a letter, um, 991 00:53:24,400 --> 00:53:26,560 and I remember taking the clipping out of it. 992 00:53:26,660 --> 00:53:30,160 I had walked up to Mount Royal in Montreal to read the letter. 993 00:53:30,260 --> 00:53:33,130 And the clipping was from theScottsbluff Star-Herald, 994 00:53:33,230 --> 00:53:36,000 and it was about Ron being killed in Vietnam. 995 00:53:39,230 --> 00:53:42,190 Why? Why? 996 00:53:42,290 --> 00:53:46,260 It was long after we knew how wrong the war was, 997 00:53:46,360 --> 00:53:50,430 and guys like Ron were still dying, you know. 998 00:53:52,260 --> 00:53:54,190 Why? 999 00:53:55,500 --> 00:53:57,830 The government today restricted the use 1000 00:53:57,930 --> 00:54:00,430 of the weed killer 2,4,5-T on the ground 1001 00:54:00,530 --> 00:54:02,430 that the chemical has caused birth defects 1002 00:54:02,530 --> 00:54:05,060 in some laboratory animals. 1003 00:54:06,960 --> 00:54:11,660 NARRATOR: Since 1962, American and South Vietnamese forces 1004 00:54:11,760 --> 00:54:15,130 had sprayed some 20 million gallons of herbicides 1005 00:54:15,230 --> 00:54:19,430 over roughly one quarter of South Vietnam. 1006 00:54:19,530 --> 00:54:22,690 The idea had been to reduce casualties 1007 00:54:22,790 --> 00:54:26,260 by clearing areas around U.S. installations, 1008 00:54:26,360 --> 00:54:30,560 and to deny the enemy crops and forest cover. 1009 00:54:30,660 --> 00:54:34,730 The most frequently used defoliant was Agent Orange, 1010 00:54:34,830 --> 00:54:37,730 which contained 2,4,5-T. 1011 00:54:37,830 --> 00:54:39,900 When environmentalists convinced 1012 00:54:40,000 --> 00:54:43,060 the Nixon administration to ban the weed killer 1013 00:54:43,160 --> 00:54:44,730 on American farms, 1014 00:54:44,830 --> 00:54:47,630 the Pentagon had reluctantly agreed 1015 00:54:47,730 --> 00:54:51,360 to stop using Agent Orange in Vietnam. 1016 00:54:51,460 --> 00:54:56,190 The ecological damage defoliants did was obvious. 1017 00:54:56,290 --> 00:55:00,290 The damage done to soldiers and civilians 1018 00:55:00,400 --> 00:55:04,600 would be the subject of angry debate for decades. 1019 00:55:07,900 --> 00:55:10,790 (crowd shouting in Vietnamese) 1020 00:55:10,900 --> 00:55:13,630 TED KOPPEL: Opposition to the Saigon government 1021 00:55:13,730 --> 00:55:16,060 is not just Viet Cong. 1022 00:55:16,160 --> 00:55:17,660 TUE: How many governments 1023 00:55:17,760 --> 00:55:20,760 actually care for the Vietnamese people? 1024 00:55:20,860 --> 00:55:24,600 KOPPEL: The student antiwar, anti-American movement 1025 00:55:24,690 --> 00:55:27,130 is larger than its small demonstrations indicate. 1026 00:55:27,230 --> 00:55:30,000 TUE: You don't need military aid... 1027 00:55:32,060 --> 00:55:34,460 ...to promote democracy in Vietnam. 1028 00:55:34,560 --> 00:55:37,830 To return to the Vietnamese people 1029 00:55:37,930 --> 00:55:40,260 their right that... 1030 00:55:40,360 --> 00:55:42,530 their right to speak freely. 1031 00:55:42,630 --> 00:55:45,290 You don't need even one penny. 1032 00:55:45,400 --> 00:55:48,500 You don't need to consult the White House, 1033 00:55:48,600 --> 00:55:51,530 you don't need to care about the American media, 1034 00:55:51,630 --> 00:55:54,130 you don't need French, you don't need Chinese, 1035 00:55:54,230 --> 00:55:55,790 you don't need Americans. 1036 00:55:55,900 --> 00:56:00,330 If you really care for Vietnam then you turn back inside. 1037 00:56:00,430 --> 00:56:03,960 NARRATOR: South Vietnamese president Nguyen Van Thieu 1038 00:56:04,060 --> 00:56:06,030 was campaigning for reelection. 1039 00:56:06,130 --> 00:56:08,460 The Americans had insisted on it 1040 00:56:08,560 --> 00:56:11,230 and urged him not to rig the race, 1041 00:56:11,330 --> 00:56:14,330 for fear it would resemble too closely 1042 00:56:14,430 --> 00:56:16,860 the fraudulent communist "elections" 1043 00:56:16,960 --> 00:56:20,360 routinely denounced by the United States. 1044 00:56:20,460 --> 00:56:22,030 But Thieu made sure 1045 00:56:22,130 --> 00:56:25,030 no serious candidates ran against him, 1046 00:56:25,130 --> 00:56:28,900 and claimed to have won 94% of the vote. 1047 00:56:29,000 --> 00:56:32,690 It became known as "the one-man election," 1048 00:56:32,790 --> 00:56:33,960 and added to the ranks 1049 00:56:34,060 --> 00:56:37,060 of what was called the "Third Force": 1050 00:56:37,160 --> 00:56:40,930 South Vietnamese hoping for a negotiated settlement 1051 00:56:41,030 --> 00:56:43,190 and an end to the bloodshed. 1052 00:56:59,930 --> 00:57:02,060 NARRATOR: By the middle of 1971, 1053 00:57:02,160 --> 00:57:05,060 Nixon and Kissinger were looking for a way 1054 00:57:05,160 --> 00:57:08,560 to get all U.S. troops out of Vietnam 1055 00:57:08,660 --> 00:57:11,160 before his re-election campaign began 1056 00:57:11,260 --> 00:57:13,160 the following year, 1057 00:57:13,260 --> 00:57:15,660 but to do so without causing 1058 00:57:15,760 --> 00:57:18,690 Saigon to fall too soon. 1059 00:57:55,500 --> 00:57:57,900 NARRATOR: At the secret talks in Paris, 1060 00:57:58,000 --> 00:58:01,060 Kissinger had offered his North Vietnamese counterpart, 1061 00:58:01,160 --> 00:58:04,360 Le Duc Tho, the most significant concessions 1062 00:58:04,460 --> 00:58:07,430 the United States had yet made: 1063 00:58:07,530 --> 00:58:11,030 North Vietnam could keep its troops in the South-- 1064 00:58:11,130 --> 00:58:13,030 tens of thousands of them. 1065 00:58:13,130 --> 00:58:17,530 And in exchange for the release of American prisoners of war, 1066 00:58:17,630 --> 00:58:19,230 all American troops 1067 00:58:19,330 --> 00:58:22,600 would be withdrawn within seven months. 1068 00:58:24,790 --> 00:58:28,160 Le Duc Tho countered with a new offer of his own: 1069 00:58:28,260 --> 00:58:30,460 Hanoi would release the prisoners 1070 00:58:30,560 --> 00:58:34,360 simultaneously with the departure of U.S. forces. 1071 00:58:34,460 --> 00:58:37,630 But he still insisted that Washington remove 1072 00:58:37,730 --> 00:58:41,190 President Thieu from power. 1073 00:58:41,290 --> 00:58:44,060 Kissinger was encouraged that the North Vietnamese 1074 00:58:44,160 --> 00:58:47,930 seemed, for the first time, to be negotiating seriously. 1075 00:58:48,030 --> 00:58:52,790 He could almost "taste peace," he told a friend. 1076 00:58:52,900 --> 00:58:54,460 Thieu knew nothing 1077 00:58:54,560 --> 00:58:57,690 about the new American concessions to Hanoi. 1078 00:58:57,790 --> 00:59:01,660 He was worried about something else. 1079 00:59:04,790 --> 00:59:06,730 ANNOUNCER: NBC News interrupts regular programming 1080 00:59:06,830 --> 00:59:08,630 to bring you a special report. 1081 00:59:08,730 --> 00:59:11,190 The announcement I shall now read is being issued 1082 00:59:11,290 --> 00:59:15,960 simultaneously in Peking and in the United States. 1083 00:59:16,060 --> 00:59:17,730 NARRATOR: Richard Nixon, 1084 00:59:17,830 --> 00:59:20,930 famous for the ferocity of his anticommunism, 1085 00:59:21,030 --> 00:59:23,560 astonished the world by announcing 1086 00:59:23,660 --> 00:59:27,190 that he was planning to restore relations with China 1087 00:59:27,290 --> 00:59:30,660 that had been severed for more than two decades. 1088 00:59:30,760 --> 00:59:34,400 The United States had gone to war in Vietnam 1089 00:59:34,500 --> 00:59:37,530 in part to block Chinese expansionism. 1090 00:59:37,630 --> 00:59:41,760 What would Nixon's visit mean for Thieu's future 1091 00:59:41,860 --> 00:59:44,100 or for that of his country? 1092 00:59:44,190 --> 00:59:47,360 Thieu was afraid he knew. 1093 00:59:47,460 --> 00:59:50,100 "America has been looking for a new mistress," 1094 00:59:50,190 --> 00:59:51,500 he told an aide, 1095 00:59:51,600 --> 00:59:54,330 "and now Nixon has discovered China. 1096 00:59:54,430 --> 00:59:58,160 "He does not want to have the old mistress around. 1097 00:59:58,260 --> 01:00:02,000 Vietnam has become old and ugly." 1098 01:00:14,690 --> 01:00:18,290 KUSHNER: I believe it was in the fall of 1971. 1099 01:00:20,900 --> 01:00:25,000 And they called us out and they hung a bed sheet 1100 01:00:25,100 --> 01:00:29,760 and they had a projector and they showed us 1101 01:00:29,860 --> 01:00:33,330 color and black and white movies 1102 01:00:33,430 --> 01:00:36,730 of these protests in Washington. 1103 01:00:36,830 --> 01:00:38,760 (shouting) 1104 01:00:41,530 --> 01:00:43,460 And in the same film 1105 01:00:43,560 --> 01:00:45,730 it showed John Kerry. 1106 01:00:45,830 --> 01:00:47,960 And I remember he was very articulate, 1107 01:00:48,060 --> 01:00:50,230 very, very well spoken, 1108 01:00:50,330 --> 01:00:53,290 very fluent 1109 01:00:53,400 --> 01:00:56,000 and a good spokesman 1110 01:00:56,100 --> 01:00:57,500 for his cause. 1111 01:00:57,600 --> 01:00:59,660 Someone has to die so that President Nixon 1112 01:00:59,760 --> 01:01:02,360 won't be-- and these are his words-- 1113 01:01:02,460 --> 01:01:06,190 "the first president to lose a war." 1114 01:01:06,290 --> 01:01:07,460 And I remember very well, 1115 01:01:07,560 --> 01:01:10,100 he's sitting with his fatigue jacket 1116 01:01:10,190 --> 01:01:11,790 and long hair 1117 01:01:11,900 --> 01:01:14,030 and testifying about atrocities 1118 01:01:14,130 --> 01:01:16,060 and war crimes that... 1119 01:01:16,160 --> 01:01:18,160 we perpetrated. 1120 01:01:18,260 --> 01:01:21,230 Cut off limbs, blown up bodies, 1121 01:01:21,330 --> 01:01:23,600 randomly shot at civilians... 1122 01:01:23,690 --> 01:01:25,660 KUSHNER: But I was shocked by what he said. 1123 01:01:25,760 --> 01:01:27,500 And I didn't believe it. 1124 01:01:27,600 --> 01:01:30,960 I didn't believe it at all. 1125 01:01:32,690 --> 01:01:35,560 I mean, I'm sophisticated to know, and I knew then, 1126 01:01:35,660 --> 01:01:38,160 that bad things happen in war and they happen on both sides, 1127 01:01:38,260 --> 01:01:41,900 and I had seen the evidence of the other side too, also. 1128 01:01:42,000 --> 01:01:43,290 And I knew it. 1129 01:01:43,400 --> 01:01:45,630 And... but still, to hear the testimony 1130 01:01:45,730 --> 01:01:50,660 and to hear it used as a weapon 1131 01:01:50,760 --> 01:01:53,290 against our further prosecution of this war 1132 01:01:53,400 --> 01:01:58,230 that we were suffering for was very powerful indeed. 1133 01:01:58,330 --> 01:02:00,960 NARRATOR: A few months later 1134 01:02:01,060 --> 01:02:04,230 Kushner got an even bigger shock. 1135 01:02:04,330 --> 01:02:06,600 VALERIE KUSHNER (on recording): My son has no father. 1136 01:02:06,690 --> 01:02:10,290 This Christmas Day we celebrate the birth of a son to Mary 1137 01:02:10,400 --> 01:02:12,960 and this Christmas Day some other mother's son 1138 01:02:13,060 --> 01:02:15,400 will die in Vietnam. 1139 01:02:15,500 --> 01:02:18,060 That death takes away all that was taught to us 1140 01:02:18,160 --> 01:02:20,730 by Christ's birth. 1141 01:02:20,830 --> 01:02:23,130 KUSHNER: The whole time I was in the South 1142 01:02:23,230 --> 01:02:25,560 I never got one letter, one bit of information. 1143 01:02:25,660 --> 01:02:27,690 When I got to North Vietnam I got no letter, 1144 01:02:27,790 --> 01:02:30,230 no bit of information, nothing. 1145 01:02:30,330 --> 01:02:35,960 Then, I think it may have been Christmas of '71, 1146 01:02:36,060 --> 01:02:40,500 my wife wrote an op-ed piece in theNew York Times. 1147 01:02:40,600 --> 01:02:44,060 She had become politically active. 1148 01:02:44,160 --> 01:02:46,400 NARRATOR: The families of POWs 1149 01:02:46,500 --> 01:02:50,160 overwhelmingly supported the Nixon administration. 1150 01:02:50,260 --> 01:02:53,160 Valerie Kushner did not, 1151 01:02:53,260 --> 01:02:54,900 and the North Vietnamese were quick 1152 01:02:55,000 --> 01:02:58,230 to exploit her antiwar views. 1153 01:02:58,330 --> 01:03:00,160 They broadcast a message 1154 01:03:00,260 --> 01:03:03,190 they had permitted her husband to record for her. 1155 01:03:03,290 --> 01:03:06,000 It was the first time she had heard his voice 1156 01:03:06,100 --> 01:03:08,030 in four years. 1157 01:03:10,360 --> 01:03:13,100 KUSHNER (on recording): I received the glasses, Val, 1158 01:03:13,190 --> 01:03:15,960 and my eyes have improved considerably. 1159 01:03:16,060 --> 01:03:18,690 Please let me know about Brother John. 1160 01:03:18,790 --> 01:03:21,260 He or she is almost four now, 1161 01:03:21,360 --> 01:03:23,930 and he or she is old enough to understand 1162 01:03:24,030 --> 01:03:27,460 where Daddy is and that I love him or her 1163 01:03:27,560 --> 01:03:30,830 immeasurably despite our never meeting. 1164 01:03:30,930 --> 01:03:34,560 I calculate that T-Bird is now in second grade, 1165 01:03:34,660 --> 01:03:36,690 and I know she is doing well. 1166 01:03:36,790 --> 01:03:38,600 She is a grown-up lady now 1167 01:03:38,690 --> 01:03:42,530 and I hope you have plans for piano or ballet lessons soon. 1168 01:03:42,630 --> 01:03:45,130 Happy eighth birthday, dear T-Bird, 1169 01:03:45,230 --> 01:03:46,690 and Merry Christmas. 1170 01:03:46,790 --> 01:03:49,030 When I left you I promised to come home 1171 01:03:49,130 --> 01:03:50,660 before you were five. 1172 01:03:50,760 --> 01:03:54,500 I didn't fulfill that promise, but when I do return, 1173 01:03:54,600 --> 01:03:57,160 I will never leave you again. 1174 01:03:57,260 --> 01:03:59,960 His optimism about the whole situation amazes me. 1175 01:04:00,060 --> 01:04:01,430 I'm just very happy 1176 01:04:01,530 --> 01:04:03,900 that he can't see this morning's newspaper. 1177 01:04:04,000 --> 01:04:06,960 Because I-I don't have the same optimism 1178 01:04:07,060 --> 01:04:08,730 or the same confidence in this government 1179 01:04:08,830 --> 01:04:11,630 that he seems to have. 1180 01:04:15,600 --> 01:04:21,060 NARRATOR: President Nixon's visit to China in February of 1972 1181 01:04:21,160 --> 01:04:23,690 not only alarmed President Thieu, 1182 01:04:23,790 --> 01:04:26,660 it worried Hanoi as well. 1183 01:04:26,760 --> 01:04:29,900 The North Vietnamese remembered how Ho Chi Minh 1184 01:04:30,000 --> 01:04:32,900 had felt betrayed in 1954 1185 01:04:33,000 --> 01:04:35,600 when Moscow and Beijing had compelled them 1186 01:04:35,690 --> 01:04:39,830 to sign the Geneva Accords, dividing Vietnam in two. 1187 01:04:39,930 --> 01:04:43,030 Now, they were concerned that warmer relations 1188 01:04:43,130 --> 01:04:45,400 between the United States and China 1189 01:04:45,500 --> 01:04:49,290 might soon mean less support from Beijing. 1190 01:04:49,400 --> 01:04:53,230 Nixon was also planning to travel to Moscow 1191 01:04:53,330 --> 01:04:56,790 to meet with Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev, 1192 01:04:56,900 --> 01:04:58,690 seeking to ease tensions 1193 01:04:58,790 --> 01:05:02,600 with North Vietnam's other communist patron. 1194 01:05:02,690 --> 01:05:07,400 Before that summit took place, First Secretary Le Duan, 1195 01:05:07,500 --> 01:05:10,360 the man who headed the Politburo in Hanoi, 1196 01:05:10,460 --> 01:05:13,830 decided to undertake a new kind of offensive. 1197 01:05:13,930 --> 01:05:17,630 It would be conventional warfare this time, 1198 01:05:17,730 --> 01:05:21,600 and on a scale he had never before attempted. 1199 01:05:21,690 --> 01:05:24,500 Le Duan had several goals in mind: 1200 01:05:24,600 --> 01:05:26,930 to strengthen his hand at the peace talks 1201 01:05:27,030 --> 01:05:29,460 by altering the military balance of power 1202 01:05:29,560 --> 01:05:31,130 in South Vietnam, 1203 01:05:31,230 --> 01:05:34,630 to show that the ARVN could not stand on their own, 1204 01:05:34,730 --> 01:05:38,430 and to convince the Soviets and the Chinese 1205 01:05:38,530 --> 01:05:42,400 his revolution was still worth supporting. 1206 01:05:46,530 --> 01:05:50,460 The assault began on March 30, 1972. 1207 01:05:50,560 --> 01:05:54,000 14 North Vietnamese infantry divisions-- 1208 01:05:54,100 --> 01:05:56,730 more than 120,000 men-- 1209 01:05:56,830 --> 01:05:59,330 now, for the first time, 1210 01:05:59,430 --> 01:06:03,360 supported by hundreds of Soviet and Chinese-made tanks 1211 01:06:03,460 --> 01:06:08,530 and other armored vehicles, attacked on three fronts: 1212 01:06:08,630 --> 01:06:12,290 across the demilitarized zone, 1213 01:06:12,400 --> 01:06:16,790 in the Central Highlands 1214 01:06:16,900 --> 01:06:21,360 and west of Saigon. 1215 01:06:21,460 --> 01:06:26,500 Americans would call it "The Easter Offensive." 1216 01:06:26,600 --> 01:06:29,400 To the South Vietnamese, 1217 01:06:29,490 --> 01:06:33,030 it would be remembered as "The Summer of Flames." 1218 01:06:33,130 --> 01:06:36,200 REPORTER: The South Vietnamese Army knew this day was coming: 1219 01:06:36,290 --> 01:06:37,560 the day without Americans. 1220 01:06:37,660 --> 01:06:38,990 It was to be the big test, 1221 01:06:39,100 --> 01:06:40,330 both for them 1222 01:06:40,430 --> 01:06:43,360 and for President Nixon's Vietnamization program. 1223 01:06:43,460 --> 01:06:46,330 The results in so far are not encouraging. 1224 01:06:46,430 --> 01:06:49,400 Whole battalions of the government's third division 1225 01:06:49,490 --> 01:06:51,790 joined the refugees on the road south. 1226 01:06:51,900 --> 01:06:55,730 They had been outnumbered, overpowered, overwhelmed. 1227 01:06:55,830 --> 01:06:58,030 NARRATOR: An entire ARVN regiment 1228 01:06:58,130 --> 01:07:00,330 surrendered at Camp Carroll. 1229 01:07:00,430 --> 01:07:02,200 North Vietnamese troops 1230 01:07:02,290 --> 01:07:05,100 then swiftly overran Quang Tri Province, 1231 01:07:05,200 --> 01:07:10,160 driving tens of thousands of terrified refugees southward. 1232 01:07:10,260 --> 01:07:13,790 They nearly cut South Vietnam in half 1233 01:07:13,900 --> 01:07:16,630 through the Central Highlands 1234 01:07:16,730 --> 01:07:20,930 and drove toward Saigon, hoping to seize large areas 1235 01:07:21,030 --> 01:07:23,960 along the Cambodian border. 1236 01:07:24,060 --> 01:07:26,860 It looked as if it were going to be 1237 01:07:26,960 --> 01:07:29,630 a total defeat for the ARVN. 1238 01:07:29,730 --> 01:07:33,660 There were only 60,000 U.S. military personnel 1239 01:07:33,760 --> 01:07:35,730 left in South Vietnam, 1240 01:07:35,830 --> 01:07:38,830 and very few of them were combat troops. 1241 01:07:41,360 --> 01:07:44,460 Suddenly, the survival of everything Nixon and Kissinger 1242 01:07:44,560 --> 01:07:46,790 had worked for was in peril. 1243 01:07:46,900 --> 01:07:51,230 They had to do something-- and fast. 1244 01:08:13,400 --> 01:08:16,830 NARRATOR: Nixon ordered up Operation Linebacker-- 1245 01:08:16,930 --> 01:08:19,430 massive air attacks 1246 01:08:19,530 --> 01:08:20,930 on the advancing North Vietnamese. 1247 01:08:22,730 --> 01:08:24,830 "The bastards have never been bombed 1248 01:08:24,930 --> 01:08:27,860 "like they're going to be this time," he said. 1249 01:08:31,560 --> 01:08:34,760 The most crucial battle of the Easter Offensive 1250 01:08:34,860 --> 01:08:36,600 was fought at An Loc, 1251 01:08:36,700 --> 01:08:39,260 a city that commanded Route 13, 1252 01:08:39,360 --> 01:08:42,600 a paved highway that led directly to Saigon, 1253 01:08:42,700 --> 01:08:44,990 just 60 miles away. 1254 01:08:47,860 --> 01:08:50,200 North Vietnamese artillery fire 1255 01:08:50,290 --> 01:08:52,230 and a massive infantry and armor attack 1256 01:08:52,330 --> 01:08:54,430 drove the city's ARVN defenders 1257 01:08:54,530 --> 01:08:58,830 into an area less than a mile square. 1258 01:08:58,930 --> 01:09:04,260 Repeated efforts to reinforce and resupply them failed. 1259 01:09:04,360 --> 01:09:07,660 The ARVN bravely held out. 1260 01:09:07,760 --> 01:09:10,200 JAMES WILLBANKS: The number one thing we did 1261 01:09:10,290 --> 01:09:12,900 was coordinate the air strikes. 1262 01:09:12,990 --> 01:09:15,430 General Hollingsworth went to General Abrams 1263 01:09:15,530 --> 01:09:17,630 and begged for all the B-52s he could get, 1264 01:09:17,730 --> 01:09:19,560 and on the 10th and 11th of May, 1265 01:09:19,660 --> 01:09:25,360 he planned a B-52 strike every 50 minutes for 24 hours. 1266 01:09:36,030 --> 01:09:37,260 NARRATOR: In the end, 1267 01:09:37,360 --> 01:09:41,760 American airpower made the difference. 1268 01:09:47,290 --> 01:09:49,960 The North Vietnamese and their armored columns, 1269 01:09:50,060 --> 01:09:51,490 massed in the open, 1270 01:09:51,600 --> 01:09:55,430 proved easy targets for American pilots. 1271 01:09:55,530 --> 01:09:59,490 "This," one American advisor said, 1272 01:09:59,600 --> 01:10:03,560 "was the kind of war we came to fight." 1273 01:10:14,230 --> 01:10:17,200 PHAM LUC: 1274 01:10:55,460 --> 01:10:57,200 (explosion) 1275 01:10:57,290 --> 01:11:00,600 NARRATOR: The North Vietnamese suffered 10,000 casualties 1276 01:11:00,700 --> 01:11:02,430 at An Loc alone 1277 01:11:02,530 --> 01:11:06,660 and lost most of their tanks and heavy artillery. 1278 01:11:06,760 --> 01:11:08,260 (explosions continue) 1279 01:11:10,060 --> 01:11:12,490 WILLBANKS: The bottom line was that all the air power 1280 01:11:12,600 --> 01:11:14,200 in the world would not make a difference 1281 01:11:14,290 --> 01:11:15,630 if the ARVN hadn't stood and fought. 1282 01:11:15,730 --> 01:11:17,160 (people shouting) 1283 01:11:17,260 --> 01:11:20,630 They had held Kon Tum, they had held An Loc, 1284 01:11:20,730 --> 01:11:22,400 they had re-taken Quang Tri. 1285 01:11:22,490 --> 01:11:24,560 They had taken the best that the North Vietnamese 1286 01:11:24,660 --> 01:11:26,290 had to throw at them. 1287 01:11:26,400 --> 01:11:29,630 So I thought if we continue to maintain that support, 1288 01:11:29,730 --> 01:11:30,930 perhaps they had a chance. 1289 01:11:31,030 --> 01:11:34,930 DUONG VAN MAI ELLIOTT: The Easter Offensive, to me, 1290 01:11:35,030 --> 01:11:38,260 showed that the South Vietnamese could fight, 1291 01:11:38,360 --> 01:11:41,330 but only up to a certain point. 1292 01:11:41,430 --> 01:11:44,100 So, my question would be, 1293 01:11:44,200 --> 01:11:46,100 what would happen when the Americans left 1294 01:11:46,200 --> 01:11:48,760 with their B-52s, you know? 1295 01:11:48,860 --> 01:11:50,360 (protestors chanting) 1296 01:11:50,460 --> 01:11:53,530 NARRATOR: Americans may have approved of the renewed use 1297 01:11:53,630 --> 01:11:56,900 of American air power to stop the communist advance 1298 01:11:56,990 --> 01:11:58,360 into the South, 1299 01:11:58,460 --> 01:12:03,030 but Nixon had also ordered American planes to resume 1300 01:12:03,130 --> 01:12:06,330 sustained bombing of North Vietnam, 1301 01:12:06,430 --> 01:12:09,990 which had been halted since the Johnson administration. 1302 01:12:10,100 --> 01:12:13,900 Some saw the new bombing, which vastly exceeded 1303 01:12:13,990 --> 01:12:15,990 all previous campaigns, 1304 01:12:16,100 --> 01:12:20,830 as evidence that a war Nixon had promised was winding down 1305 01:12:20,930 --> 01:12:23,700 was once again being escalated. 1306 01:12:23,790 --> 01:12:27,130 (plane soaring) 1307 01:12:27,230 --> 01:12:28,660 LESLIE GELB: The bombing campaign 1308 01:12:28,760 --> 01:12:30,230 was much more extensive 1309 01:12:30,330 --> 01:12:34,790 than the bombing campaign under Lyndon Johnson. 1310 01:12:34,900 --> 01:12:35,960 And from a standpoint 1311 01:12:36,060 --> 01:12:38,560 of pressuring them to make concessions 1312 01:12:38,660 --> 01:12:40,490 at the negotiating table, 1313 01:12:40,600 --> 01:12:42,960 historically, that's how you did it. 1314 01:12:43,060 --> 01:12:45,290 Only it didn't work with these guys. 1315 01:12:45,400 --> 01:12:47,230 (bombs exploding) 1316 01:12:47,330 --> 01:12:48,990 They took the pounding. 1317 01:12:51,060 --> 01:12:52,860 (men yelling in Vietnamese) 1318 01:12:56,130 --> 01:12:59,730 NARRATOR: Le Minh Khue, who had served four years 1319 01:12:59,830 --> 01:13:03,200 as a Youth Volunteer on the Ho Chi Minh trail, 1320 01:13:03,290 --> 01:13:05,930 was now back home in North Vietnam. 1321 01:13:07,230 --> 01:13:10,430 LE MINH KHUE: 1322 01:13:47,990 --> 01:13:50,900 NARRATOR: Among the thousands of South Vietnamese 1323 01:13:50,990 --> 01:13:53,700 who lost their lives in the Easter Offensive 1324 01:13:53,790 --> 01:13:56,960 was the brother of Phan Quang Tue. 1325 01:13:57,060 --> 01:13:59,600 PHAN QUANG TUE: I had a brother, Tuan. 1326 01:13:59,700 --> 01:14:03,790 And we were raised together. 1327 01:14:03,900 --> 01:14:07,600 He would have been now 67. 1328 01:14:07,700 --> 01:14:10,430 When his plane was shot down 1329 01:14:10,530 --> 01:14:14,600 and later on they weren't able to recover him, 1330 01:14:14,700 --> 01:14:17,260 his body, so he disappeared, 1331 01:14:17,360 --> 01:14:21,730 he was missing in action, he was 26 years old. 1332 01:14:21,830 --> 01:14:25,200 He has his full life ahead of him. 1333 01:14:25,290 --> 01:14:28,290 (voice breaking): Tuan never had a chance to live his life. 1334 01:14:30,400 --> 01:14:34,030 And I can never overcome the feeling, 1335 01:14:34,130 --> 01:14:38,230 as to himself 1336 01:14:38,330 --> 01:14:40,560 and his generation, 1337 01:14:40,660 --> 01:14:43,900 sacrifice their lives for what? 1338 01:14:45,730 --> 01:14:50,060 And the frustrating thing is that even Vietnamese themself 1339 01:14:50,160 --> 01:14:52,100 do not seem to value that loss. 1340 01:14:58,400 --> 01:15:01,400 NIXON: There's only one way to stop the killing. 1341 01:15:01,490 --> 01:15:05,130 That is to keep the weapons of war out of the hands 1342 01:15:05,230 --> 01:15:10,960 of the international outlaws of North Vietnam. 1343 01:15:11,060 --> 01:15:12,290 Throughout the war in Vietnam, 1344 01:15:12,400 --> 01:15:15,160 the United States has exercised a degree of restraint 1345 01:15:15,260 --> 01:15:17,400 unprecedented in the annals of war... 1346 01:15:17,490 --> 01:15:18,990 (planes flying overhead) 1347 01:15:19,100 --> 01:15:21,900 NARRATOR: Le Duan's Easter Offensive, like Tet, 1348 01:15:21,990 --> 01:15:24,230 had been a great gamble. 1349 01:15:24,330 --> 01:15:27,060 So was Nixon's next move. 1350 01:15:27,160 --> 01:15:30,200 The massive North Vietnamese assault had failed, 1351 01:15:30,290 --> 01:15:31,700 the president said, 1352 01:15:31,790 --> 01:15:34,830 but it could never have been mounted in the first place 1353 01:15:34,930 --> 01:15:37,430 without weapons and supplies provided by China 1354 01:15:37,530 --> 01:15:40,100 and the Soviet Union. 1355 01:15:40,200 --> 01:15:44,360 Accordingly, he ordered 11,000 mines laid 1356 01:15:44,460 --> 01:15:47,860 in North Vietnamese waters to block further access 1357 01:15:47,960 --> 01:15:49,630 to Haiphong harbor. 1358 01:15:49,730 --> 01:15:53,460 It was something the Joint Chiefs had been asking for 1359 01:15:53,560 --> 01:15:55,400 for years. 1360 01:15:55,490 --> 01:15:57,630 The scheduled summit with the Soviets 1361 01:15:57,730 --> 01:15:59,430 was just two weeks away, 1362 01:15:59,530 --> 01:16:01,730 and some advisors had urged the president 1363 01:16:01,830 --> 01:16:04,760 not to take any action that directly threatened 1364 01:16:04,860 --> 01:16:08,630 Soviet ships, for fear they would cancel it. 1365 01:16:08,730 --> 01:16:11,330 Nixon thought he had to take the risk. 1366 01:16:11,430 --> 01:16:15,490 And so he spoke directly to Moscow. 1367 01:16:15,600 --> 01:16:19,030 Let us not slide back toward the dark shadows 1368 01:16:19,130 --> 01:16:21,960 of a previous age. 1369 01:16:22,060 --> 01:16:26,730 We do not ask you to sacrifice your principles 1370 01:16:26,830 --> 01:16:28,830 or your friends, 1371 01:16:28,930 --> 01:16:32,260 but neither should you permit Hanoi's intransigence 1372 01:16:32,360 --> 01:16:34,960 to blot out the prospects we together 1373 01:16:35,060 --> 01:16:36,430 have so patiently prepared. 1374 01:16:39,260 --> 01:16:41,990 NARRATOR: Nixon's gamble paid off. 1375 01:16:42,100 --> 01:16:43,660 The Soviets and the Chinese denounced 1376 01:16:43,760 --> 01:16:49,200 the president's action, but then did nothing. 1377 01:16:49,290 --> 01:16:54,360 On May 26, the United States and the Soviet Union signed 1378 01:16:54,460 --> 01:16:58,400 an historic Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, 1379 01:16:58,490 --> 01:17:01,700 the first agreement to limit nuclear armaments 1380 01:17:01,790 --> 01:17:04,160 since the Cold War began. 1381 01:17:04,260 --> 01:17:07,330 For the Soviet Union, for China, 1382 01:17:07,430 --> 01:17:09,790 as well as for the United States, 1383 01:17:09,900 --> 01:17:14,400 Vietnam's significance was steadily receding. 1384 01:17:50,990 --> 01:17:52,760 NIXON: I know. 1385 01:18:16,660 --> 01:18:18,600 (camera shutter clicks) 1386 01:18:20,790 --> 01:18:25,360 NARRATOR: On the morning of June 8, 1972, 1387 01:18:25,460 --> 01:18:29,860 Nick Ut, a 21-year-old South Vietnamese photographer 1388 01:18:29,960 --> 01:18:32,200 working for the Associated Press, 1389 01:18:32,290 --> 01:18:35,730 was accompanying ARVN troops on Highway One, 1390 01:18:35,830 --> 01:18:38,290 moving toward a village called Trang Bang, 1391 01:18:38,400 --> 01:18:41,160 to dislodge North Vietnamese forces 1392 01:18:41,260 --> 01:18:45,030 that had occupied it during the Easter Offensive. 1393 01:18:45,130 --> 01:18:48,290 Ut was beginning to put his cameras away, 1394 01:18:48,400 --> 01:18:50,330 ready to return to Saigon, 1395 01:18:50,430 --> 01:18:55,160 when he saw a South Vietnamese fighter suddenly dip down 1396 01:18:55,260 --> 01:18:57,290 toward the fleeing refugees, 1397 01:18:57,400 --> 01:19:00,290 whom the pilot mistook for the enemy. 1398 01:19:00,400 --> 01:19:04,630 (explosions) 1399 01:19:04,730 --> 01:19:09,530 (camera shutter clicking) 1400 01:19:13,760 --> 01:19:16,990 (speaking English): 1401 01:19:51,200 --> 01:19:52,730 (speaking Vietnamese) 1402 01:20:23,760 --> 01:20:28,790 NARRATOR: Ut drove the badly burned girl, Kim Phuc, 1403 01:20:28,900 --> 01:20:31,130 and several other injured children 1404 01:20:31,230 --> 01:20:33,460 to a hospital in Saigon. 1405 01:20:33,560 --> 01:20:37,930 She had been burned over 30% of her body. 1406 01:20:38,030 --> 01:20:41,260 Then, Ut raced to the AP darkroom 1407 01:20:41,360 --> 01:20:44,760 to find out what he had caught on film. 1408 01:21:02,990 --> 01:21:05,860 NARRATOR: His photo editor in Saigon told him 1409 01:21:05,960 --> 01:21:08,930 they could not send the picture out on the wire, 1410 01:21:09,030 --> 01:21:11,400 because the girl was naked. 1411 01:21:11,490 --> 01:21:13,930 But then Ut's boss, 1412 01:21:14,030 --> 01:21:17,700 the legendary combat photographer Horst Faas, 1413 01:21:17,790 --> 01:21:19,730 saw the pictures. 1414 01:21:20,200 --> 01:21:21,860 UT: 1415 01:21:31,660 --> 01:21:35,560 NARRATOR: Nick Ut's photograph appeared 1416 01:21:35,660 --> 01:21:38,460 on front pages around the world 1417 01:21:38,560 --> 01:21:42,490 and won the Pulitzer Prize. 1418 01:21:42,600 --> 01:21:45,490 For many Americans, 1419 01:21:45,600 --> 01:21:48,830 even many of those who had supported the war, 1420 01:21:48,930 --> 01:21:53,530 the image seemed to signal that enough was enough. 1421 01:21:57,130 --> 01:21:59,490 Kim Phuc would survive. 1422 01:21:59,600 --> 01:22:05,030 She eventually left Vietnam and settled outside Toronto. 1423 01:22:10,490 --> 01:22:14,700 (cheers and applause) 1424 01:22:14,790 --> 01:22:16,860 (rhythmic clapping) 1425 01:22:20,460 --> 01:22:24,460 I introduce Valerie Kushner of Virginia 1426 01:22:24,560 --> 01:22:27,230 to second the nomination of George McGovern. 1427 01:22:27,330 --> 01:22:29,530 (applause and cheering) 1428 01:22:29,630 --> 01:22:33,230 Mr. Chairman, Democrats, 1429 01:22:33,330 --> 01:22:37,790 my participation in this convention is a tribute 1430 01:22:37,900 --> 01:22:41,060 to the reforms instituted by the Democratic Party, 1431 01:22:41,160 --> 01:22:45,100 for I am a woman, and I am under 30. 1432 01:22:45,200 --> 01:22:48,760 But I also represent an even smaller minority: 1433 01:22:48,860 --> 01:22:51,600 the wives of Americans who are missing 1434 01:22:51,700 --> 01:22:54,130 or imprisoned in Southeast Asia. 1435 01:22:54,230 --> 01:22:57,760 (cheers and applause) 1436 01:22:57,860 --> 01:23:00,530 NARRATOR: Valerie Kushner, 1437 01:23:00,630 --> 01:23:04,100 hoping to get her husband, Hal, home as soon as possible, 1438 01:23:04,200 --> 01:23:07,130 had become an ardent supporter of the candidacy 1439 01:23:07,230 --> 01:23:10,830 of Senator George McGovern of South Dakota. 1440 01:23:10,930 --> 01:23:14,960 A decorated bomber pilot in World War II, 1441 01:23:15,060 --> 01:23:17,760 McGovern had called for an early end 1442 01:23:17,860 --> 01:23:19,160 to the bombing of the North, 1443 01:23:19,260 --> 01:23:22,360 a halt to Congressional funding for the war, 1444 01:23:22,460 --> 01:23:24,360 and immediate withdrawal 1445 01:23:24,460 --> 01:23:29,030 from Vietnam once the POWs were released. 1446 01:23:29,130 --> 01:23:32,530 I knew that he would bring my husband home. 1447 01:23:32,630 --> 01:23:35,260 (applause) 1448 01:23:36,790 --> 01:23:41,460 But even more important, he will bring America home. 1449 01:23:41,560 --> 01:23:44,530 (applause and cheering) 1450 01:23:44,630 --> 01:23:47,630 And it is for that reason 1451 01:23:47,730 --> 01:23:49,990 that I am proud to second the nomination 1452 01:23:50,100 --> 01:23:54,830 of our next president, Senator George S. McGovern. 1453 01:23:54,930 --> 01:23:57,860 (applause and cheering) 1454 01:24:00,400 --> 01:24:02,630 NARRATOR: By the time her candidate 1455 01:24:02,730 --> 01:24:05,130 finally accepted the nomination, 1456 01:24:05,230 --> 01:24:07,860 it was 2:48 in the morning. 1457 01:24:07,960 --> 01:24:10,900 Most Americans were asleep. 1458 01:24:10,990 --> 01:24:15,830 McGOVERN: During four administrations of both parties, 1459 01:24:15,930 --> 01:24:20,900 a terrible war has been charted behind closed doors. 1460 01:24:20,990 --> 01:24:23,030 (cheers and applause) 1461 01:24:23,130 --> 01:24:25,490 I want those doors opened, 1462 01:24:25,600 --> 01:24:28,600 and I want that war closed. 1463 01:24:28,700 --> 01:24:31,360 (raucous cheers and applause) 1464 01:24:31,460 --> 01:24:32,930 (static) 1465 01:24:33,030 --> 01:24:36,730 NARRATOR: McGovern's campaign quickly collapsed. 1466 01:24:36,830 --> 01:24:40,030 He botched the selection of his running mate, 1467 01:24:40,130 --> 01:24:43,400 and secretly asked an aide in Paris 1468 01:24:43,490 --> 01:24:46,760 to talk with the North Vietnamese about POWs, 1469 01:24:46,860 --> 01:24:51,960 and then denied he'd meddled in the peace process. 1470 01:24:52,060 --> 01:24:54,030 Organized labor, 1471 01:24:54,130 --> 01:24:57,200 traditionally the Democrats' most reliable ally, 1472 01:24:57,290 --> 01:25:00,130 refused to endorse the party's candidate 1473 01:25:00,230 --> 01:25:03,760 for the first time in 20 years. 1474 01:25:03,860 --> 01:25:09,600 McGovern's poll numbers eroded steadily over the summer. 1475 01:25:09,700 --> 01:25:12,630 Still, hoping to find material 1476 01:25:12,730 --> 01:25:15,630 that might be used to smear the opposition, 1477 01:25:15,730 --> 01:25:19,360 Nixon's aides had already authorized the Plumbers 1478 01:25:19,460 --> 01:25:21,660 to make another break-in, 1479 01:25:21,760 --> 01:25:25,400 this time at Democratic National Headquarters 1480 01:25:25,490 --> 01:25:28,290 in the Washington, D.C., apartment complex 1481 01:25:28,400 --> 01:25:31,330 called the Watergate. 1482 01:25:31,430 --> 01:25:33,430 They had been caught. 1483 01:25:33,530 --> 01:25:36,160 JOHN CHANCELLOR: One of the most fascinating and exotic stories 1484 01:25:36,260 --> 01:25:37,960 ever to come out of Washington, D.C., 1485 01:25:38,060 --> 01:25:39,990 is the talk of the Capitol today. 1486 01:25:40,100 --> 01:25:42,060 Five men were arrested early Saturday 1487 01:25:42,160 --> 01:25:44,960 while trying to install eavesdropping equipment 1488 01:25:45,060 --> 01:25:47,160 at the Democratic National Committee. 1489 01:25:47,260 --> 01:25:49,460 And it turns out that one of them has an office 1490 01:25:49,560 --> 01:25:51,830 in the headquarters of the Committee 1491 01:25:51,930 --> 01:25:53,660 for the Re-Election of the President. 1492 01:25:53,760 --> 01:25:57,060 (camera shutter clicking) 1493 01:26:01,900 --> 01:26:03,990 ("Barbarella" by Bob Crewe and Charles Fox playing) 1494 01:26:04,100 --> 01:26:09,630 ♪ It's a wonder, wonder woman ♪ 1495 01:26:09,730 --> 01:26:15,290 ♪ You're so wild and wonderful ♪ 1496 01:26:15,400 --> 01:26:20,360 ♪ 'Cause it seems whenever 1497 01:26:20,460 --> 01:26:22,860 ♪ We're together 1498 01:26:22,960 --> 01:26:24,630 ♪ The planets all... 1499 01:26:24,730 --> 01:26:28,200 JOHN MUSGRAVE: Barbarella-- Jane Fonda was... 1500 01:26:28,290 --> 01:26:32,360 was one of our major fantasies. 1501 01:26:32,460 --> 01:26:36,560 You know? I mean, major fantasies. 1502 01:26:36,660 --> 01:26:39,900 And, uh, we couldn't believe it 1503 01:26:39,990 --> 01:26:44,330 when that fantasy went to North Vietnam. 1504 01:26:44,430 --> 01:26:46,990 She was held to a different standard of conduct 1505 01:26:47,100 --> 01:26:50,960 by being our fantasy, you know, our dream girl. 1506 01:26:51,060 --> 01:26:54,600 It's like our dream girl betrayed us. 1507 01:26:54,700 --> 01:26:55,900 ("Where Have All the Flowers Gone" by Joan Baez playing) 1508 01:26:55,990 --> 01:26:58,060 ♪ Where have all the young men gone? ♪ 1509 01:26:58,160 --> 01:27:02,430 ♪ They are all in uniform 1510 01:27:02,530 --> 01:27:08,030 ♪ When will they ever learn? 1511 01:27:08,130 --> 01:27:12,960 ♪ When will they ever learn? ♪ 1512 01:27:13,060 --> 01:27:14,930 ♪ Where have all... 1513 01:27:15,030 --> 01:27:17,530 NARRATOR: Over the years, a steady stream 1514 01:27:17,630 --> 01:27:21,130 of Americans opposed to the war would visit Hanoi, 1515 01:27:21,230 --> 01:27:24,460 including the folk singer Joan Baez, 1516 01:27:24,560 --> 01:27:28,130 David Dellinger of the War Resisters League, 1517 01:27:28,230 --> 01:27:31,430 the writer Susan Sontag, 1518 01:27:31,530 --> 01:27:35,900 and Tom Hayden of the Indochina Peace Campaign. 1519 01:27:35,990 --> 01:27:39,130 But no visitor made more headlines 1520 01:27:39,230 --> 01:27:41,560 than the actress Jane Fonda. 1521 01:27:41,660 --> 01:27:44,990 During two weeks in the summer of 1972, 1522 01:27:45,100 --> 01:27:49,330 she broadcast at least ten times over Radio Hanoi, 1523 01:27:49,430 --> 01:27:51,790 denouncing American POWs 1524 01:27:51,900 --> 01:27:54,260 for having committed war crimes, 1525 01:27:54,360 --> 01:27:56,860 urging the North Vietnamese to hold out 1526 01:27:56,960 --> 01:28:00,330 against American imperialism. 1527 01:28:00,430 --> 01:28:03,790 Many Americans would never forgive her 1528 01:28:03,900 --> 01:28:07,160 for what she did and said. 1529 01:28:07,260 --> 01:28:09,700 FONDA: According to international law, 1530 01:28:09,790 --> 01:28:12,200 these men are war criminals. 1531 01:28:12,290 --> 01:28:13,760 That's according to law, 1532 01:28:13,860 --> 01:28:15,100 according to the Nuremberg principles, 1533 01:28:15,200 --> 01:28:17,600 according to the Geneva Accord, and others. 1534 01:28:17,700 --> 01:28:20,600 They should be tried in front of a court 1535 01:28:20,700 --> 01:28:23,130 and probably executed for what they did. 1536 01:28:23,230 --> 01:28:26,790 MUSGRAVE: She's taken a lot of heat for what she did. 1537 01:28:26,900 --> 01:28:29,460 And deservedly so. 1538 01:28:29,560 --> 01:28:33,060 She did some things that were terrible. 1539 01:28:33,160 --> 01:28:35,730 And-and, yes, 1540 01:28:35,830 --> 01:28:38,330 we have a right to be pissed off at her. 1541 01:28:38,430 --> 01:28:41,330 But, you know, 1542 01:28:41,430 --> 01:28:44,160 she wasn't the only one. 1543 01:28:44,260 --> 01:28:48,760 She's just the only one we fantasized about. 1544 01:28:49,760 --> 01:28:54,200 (cheers and applause) 1545 01:28:58,960 --> 01:29:01,100 AUDIENCE: Four more years! 1546 01:29:01,200 --> 01:29:04,030 Four more years! Four more years! 1547 01:29:04,130 --> 01:29:06,530 NIXON: We have brought over half a million men home, 1548 01:29:06,630 --> 01:29:08,530 and more will be coming home. 1549 01:29:08,630 --> 01:29:11,660 We have ended America's ground combat role. 1550 01:29:11,760 --> 01:29:14,330 No draftees are being sent to Vietnam. 1551 01:29:14,430 --> 01:29:17,330 We have reduced our casualties by 98%. 1552 01:29:17,430 --> 01:29:19,230 We've gone the extra mile. 1553 01:29:19,330 --> 01:29:22,030 In fact, we've gone tens of thousands of miles 1554 01:29:22,130 --> 01:29:24,530 trying to seek a negotiated settlement of the war. 1555 01:29:24,630 --> 01:29:26,290 (applause) 1556 01:29:26,400 --> 01:29:29,100 There are three things, however, that we have not 1557 01:29:29,200 --> 01:29:31,230 and that we will not offer. 1558 01:29:31,330 --> 01:29:34,430 We will never abandon our prisoners of war. 1559 01:29:34,530 --> 01:29:35,930 (cheers and applause) 1560 01:29:41,790 --> 01:29:43,430 And, second, 1561 01:29:43,530 --> 01:29:47,100 we will not join our enemies 1562 01:29:47,200 --> 01:29:50,700 in imposing a communist government on our ally, 1563 01:29:50,790 --> 01:29:53,130 the 17 million people of South Vietnam. 1564 01:29:53,230 --> 01:29:55,930 (cheers and applause) 1565 01:29:59,260 --> 01:30:01,160 And we will never stain the honor 1566 01:30:01,260 --> 01:30:03,330 of the United States of America. 1567 01:30:03,430 --> 01:30:05,360 (cheers) 1568 01:30:46,360 --> 01:30:49,460 NARRATOR: Back in Paris, Henry Kissinger was determined 1569 01:30:49,560 --> 01:30:53,990 to hammer out a peace agreement before Election Day. 1570 01:30:54,100 --> 01:30:57,360 Now Le Duc Tho made a key concession. 1571 01:30:57,460 --> 01:30:59,660 Hanoi no longer insisted 1572 01:30:59,760 --> 01:31:03,290 that President Thieu had to go. 1573 01:31:03,400 --> 01:31:06,130 JOHN NEGROPONTE: There was somehow this compulsion 1574 01:31:06,230 --> 01:31:09,730 to come to some kind of an agreement. 1575 01:31:09,830 --> 01:31:12,730 I remember Le Duc Tho when he produced the draft agreement 1576 01:31:12,830 --> 01:31:19,060 in October 8 of '72 to Kissinger, saying, 1577 01:31:19,160 --> 01:31:20,460 "You're in a hurry, aren't you? 1578 01:31:20,560 --> 01:31:22,460 You want to do this quickly." 1579 01:31:22,560 --> 01:31:26,130 And-and the response was, "Yes." 1580 01:31:26,230 --> 01:31:29,660 NARRATOR: The two sides soon had a tentative deal, 1581 01:31:29,760 --> 01:31:31,660 a "cease-fire in place" 1582 01:31:31,760 --> 01:31:34,160 to be followed within 60 days 1583 01:31:34,260 --> 01:31:37,160 by a complete withdrawal of U.S. troops 1584 01:31:37,260 --> 01:31:40,760 and the return of all American POWs. 1585 01:31:40,860 --> 01:31:45,030 The United States stopped bombing the North. 1586 01:31:45,130 --> 01:31:50,630 No one had told President Thieu any of the terms. 1587 01:31:52,260 --> 01:31:55,960 The day before Kissinger was to arrive in Saigon to brief him, 1588 01:31:56,060 --> 01:31:59,700 Thieu was handed a document found in an enemy bunker 1589 01:31:59,790 --> 01:32:01,930 in Quang Tin Province. 1590 01:32:02,030 --> 01:32:06,360 It was entitled "General Instructions for Cease-Fire." 1591 01:32:06,460 --> 01:32:11,130 It meant that communist cadres in an isolated province 1592 01:32:11,230 --> 01:32:15,560 of his own country already knew more about what Kissinger 1593 01:32:15,660 --> 01:32:20,600 and Le Duc Tho had agreed to in Paris than he did. 1594 01:32:20,700 --> 01:32:24,030 NEGROPONTE: And imagine being given an agreement 1595 01:32:24,130 --> 01:32:29,490 concerning the fate of your own country and, uh, 1596 01:32:29,600 --> 01:32:31,260 being told that you really don't have 1597 01:32:31,360 --> 01:32:34,930 any input in the matter. 1598 01:32:35,030 --> 01:32:38,490 And, oh, by the way, we didn't even yet have 1599 01:32:38,600 --> 01:32:40,400 the Vietnamese translation, 1600 01:32:40,490 --> 01:32:42,230 because that hadn't been completed. 1601 01:32:42,330 --> 01:32:45,790 And we gave him the English version. 1602 01:32:45,900 --> 01:32:49,130 So, I mean, as a professional diplomat, 1603 01:32:49,230 --> 01:32:52,400 somebody who's been in this business all my life, uh, 1604 01:32:52,490 --> 01:32:55,160 I've got to tell you, that just an awful lot 1605 01:32:55,260 --> 01:32:57,960 of diplomatic rules were broken there. 1606 01:32:58,060 --> 01:33:01,900 NARRATOR: Thieu refused to accept the terms. 1607 01:33:01,990 --> 01:33:05,160 Allowing North Vietnamese troops to remain in the South 1608 01:33:05,260 --> 01:33:08,330 would be the death of his country. 1609 01:33:08,430 --> 01:33:12,600 Nonetheless, after Kissinger returned home 1610 01:33:12,700 --> 01:33:15,130 12 days before the election, 1611 01:33:15,230 --> 01:33:19,400 he told the press, "Peace is at hand." 1612 01:33:19,490 --> 01:33:21,960 ("Tail Dragger" by Link Wray playing) 1613 01:33:25,060 --> 01:33:27,990 On November 7, 1972, 1614 01:33:28,100 --> 01:33:31,160 Richard Nixon won a stunning victory. 1615 01:33:31,260 --> 01:33:35,990 He was reelected with more than 60% of the popular vote-- 1616 01:33:36,100 --> 01:33:41,990 521 electoral votes to McGovern's 17. 1617 01:33:42,100 --> 01:33:45,790 He took every single state except Massachusetts 1618 01:33:45,900 --> 01:33:48,400 and the District of Columbia. 1619 01:33:48,490 --> 01:33:51,600 Now, the president resolved to rid himself 1620 01:33:51,700 --> 01:33:57,260 of Vietnam completely before his second inauguration. 1621 01:33:57,360 --> 01:34:00,130 To calm Thieu's fears of what was to come, 1622 01:34:00,230 --> 01:34:03,060 Nixon launched another massive airlift 1623 01:34:03,160 --> 01:34:05,990 of military equipment to South Vietnam. 1624 01:34:06,100 --> 01:34:09,100 "If we had given this aid to the North Vietnamese," 1625 01:34:09,200 --> 01:34:10,990 one American general said, 1626 01:34:11,100 --> 01:34:15,400 "they could have fought us for the rest of the century." 1627 01:34:15,490 --> 01:34:19,360 The Paris peace talks resumed. 1628 01:34:19,460 --> 01:34:22,730 But then, Le Duc Tho suddenly announced 1629 01:34:22,830 --> 01:34:26,990 he needed to return to Hanoi for consultation. 1630 01:34:27,100 --> 01:34:28,930 NEGROPONTE: We could only conclude that maybe they were 1631 01:34:29,030 --> 01:34:30,490 having some doubts about whether 1632 01:34:30,600 --> 01:34:32,490 they wanted to go through with the agreement, 1633 01:34:32,600 --> 01:34:35,200 because we had sent so many supplies 1634 01:34:35,290 --> 01:34:38,400 to Saigon in the intervening weeks. 1635 01:34:38,490 --> 01:34:41,100 NARRATOR: There turned out to be dissension 1636 01:34:41,200 --> 01:34:43,730 on the communist side as well. 1637 01:34:43,830 --> 01:34:47,290 Hanoi, like Washington, had not bothered to consult 1638 01:34:47,400 --> 01:34:49,530 with its southern comrades. 1639 01:34:49,630 --> 01:34:52,330 It had dropped the two demands that meant the most 1640 01:34:52,430 --> 01:34:56,360 to the Viet Cong-- the removal of Thieu, and the release 1641 01:34:56,460 --> 01:34:59,600 of some 30,000 of their prisoners. 1642 01:34:59,700 --> 01:35:02,660 "Hanoi's message was clear," 1643 01:35:02,760 --> 01:35:05,130 one bitter Viet Cong official said. 1644 01:35:05,230 --> 01:35:09,030 "It cared more about American prisoners of war 1645 01:35:09,130 --> 01:35:11,790 than it did for us." 1646 01:35:11,900 --> 01:35:15,430 Nixon ordered Kissinger to suspend the talks, 1647 01:35:15,530 --> 01:35:18,460 and then he resumed the bombing of North Vietnam 1648 01:35:18,560 --> 01:35:20,730 to further punish Hanoi, 1649 01:35:20,830 --> 01:35:23,660 and to signal to both Hanoi and Saigon 1650 01:35:23,760 --> 01:35:27,330 that the United States might use its airpower 1651 01:35:27,430 --> 01:35:29,600 to defend South Vietnam 1652 01:35:29,700 --> 01:35:34,100 even after a peace agreement was signed. 1653 01:35:35,490 --> 01:35:37,330 On December 18, 1654 01:35:37,430 --> 01:35:40,790 Nixon unleashed round-the-clock air strikes 1655 01:35:40,900 --> 01:35:43,960 that flattened targets around Hanoi and Haiphong. 1656 01:35:44,060 --> 01:35:45,790 (explosions) 1657 01:35:45,900 --> 01:35:49,060 It would be remembered as the Christmas Bombing. 1658 01:35:49,160 --> 01:35:52,490 (bombs exploding, people shouting) 1659 01:35:52,600 --> 01:35:54,360 HAL KUSHNER: And all of a sudden, 1660 01:35:54,460 --> 01:35:56,460 around Christmastime, 1661 01:35:56,560 --> 01:35:58,860 we hear an Arc Light operation, 1662 01:35:58,960 --> 01:36:01,430 B-52s-- bom-bom-bom-bom-bom. 1663 01:36:01,530 --> 01:36:03,400 And it's all around, and it is just exploding. 1664 01:36:03,490 --> 01:36:08,290 And everyone knew they were B-52s. 1665 01:36:08,400 --> 01:36:10,630 And is... in the two years that I was there, 1666 01:36:10,730 --> 01:36:13,400 that was the first time I ever heard a bomb. 1667 01:36:13,490 --> 01:36:14,930 And it was close. 1668 01:36:15,030 --> 01:36:17,290 It was really close. 1669 01:36:17,400 --> 01:36:19,530 It was frightening, but we were still cheering. 1670 01:36:19,630 --> 01:36:23,290 I mean, we were cheering because something was happening. 1671 01:36:23,400 --> 01:36:25,630 (explosions) 1672 01:36:25,730 --> 01:36:27,530 HUY DUC: 1673 01:36:56,400 --> 01:36:57,760 NARRATOR: Around the world, 1674 01:36:57,860 --> 01:37:01,100 antiwar demonstrators returned to the streets. 1675 01:37:01,200 --> 01:37:04,290 The prime minister of Sweden compared the United States 1676 01:37:04,400 --> 01:37:06,030 to Nazi Germany. 1677 01:37:06,130 --> 01:37:08,230 The Pope called the bombing, 1678 01:37:08,330 --> 01:37:11,030 which killed more than 1,600 civilians, 1679 01:37:11,130 --> 01:37:14,230 "the object of daily grief." 1680 01:37:14,330 --> 01:37:18,630 James Reston of theNew York Times pronounced the raids 1681 01:37:18,730 --> 01:37:20,530 "war by tantrum." 1682 01:37:20,630 --> 01:37:25,060 Republican Senator William Saxbe of Ohio said 1683 01:37:25,160 --> 01:37:29,760 the president had taken leave of his senses. 1684 01:37:29,860 --> 01:37:31,400 (gunfire) 1685 01:37:31,490 --> 01:37:35,460 North Vietnam shot down 15 B-52s, 1686 01:37:35,560 --> 01:37:39,830 along with 11 other aircraft. 1687 01:37:39,930 --> 01:37:43,900 93 crewmen were reported missing. 1688 01:37:43,990 --> 01:37:48,660 45 new prisoners of war were locked up in Hanoi, 1689 01:37:48,760 --> 01:37:53,360 one of whom died in captivity. 1690 01:37:53,460 --> 01:37:58,360 Meanwhile, both the Chinese and the Soviets pressed Hanoi 1691 01:37:58,460 --> 01:38:00,960 to resume negotiations. 1692 01:38:01,060 --> 01:38:04,660 "The most important thing is to let the Americans leave," 1693 01:38:04,760 --> 01:38:07,930 Zhou Enlai told a North Vietnamese official. 1694 01:38:08,030 --> 01:38:12,730 "The situation will change in six months or a year." 1695 01:38:14,790 --> 01:38:18,860 On December 26, Hanoi signaled its willingness 1696 01:38:18,960 --> 01:38:21,200 to return to Paris. 1697 01:38:21,290 --> 01:38:25,860 It would take just six days to reach a final agreement. 1698 01:38:25,960 --> 01:38:32,160 NEGROPONTE: We bombed them into accepting our concessions. 1699 01:38:32,260 --> 01:38:36,360 We bombed them into accepting our concessions. 1700 01:38:36,460 --> 01:38:40,200 And I stand by that statement, because, in effect, 1701 01:38:40,290 --> 01:38:46,530 what we did was to carry out this massive bombing campaign 1702 01:38:46,630 --> 01:38:51,430 in order to basically get back to pretty much exactly 1703 01:38:51,530 --> 01:38:55,160 where we were at the end of October in '72. 1704 01:38:57,130 --> 01:39:00,060 NARRATOR: President Thieu still balked at signing on. 1705 01:39:00,160 --> 01:39:02,430 Nixon was adamant. 1706 01:39:02,530 --> 01:39:05,530 Thieu had to go along with what Washington and Hanoi 1707 01:39:05,630 --> 01:39:07,200 had worked out. 1708 01:39:07,290 --> 01:39:09,990 But without informing Congress, 1709 01:39:10,100 --> 01:39:12,990 the president assured Thieu in writing 1710 01:39:13,100 --> 01:39:16,830 that the United States would "respond with full force" 1711 01:39:16,930 --> 01:39:20,530 if the North ever violated the agreement. 1712 01:39:20,630 --> 01:39:24,160 "The Americans really leave me no choice," Thieu said. 1713 01:39:24,260 --> 01:39:28,130 "Either sign or they will cut off aid. 1714 01:39:28,230 --> 01:39:32,330 "On the other hand, we have an absolute guarantee from Nixon 1715 01:39:32,430 --> 01:39:34,630 "to defend the country. 1716 01:39:34,730 --> 01:39:39,200 "I am going to agree to sign and hold him to his word. 1717 01:39:39,290 --> 01:39:42,990 He is an honest man and I am going to trust him." 1718 01:39:51,660 --> 01:39:55,730 On January 22, 1973, 1719 01:39:55,830 --> 01:39:59,730 at his ranch in the Hill Country of Texas, 1720 01:39:59,830 --> 01:40:02,760 Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1721 01:40:02,860 --> 01:40:05,460 the president who had committed the United States 1722 01:40:05,560 --> 01:40:08,430 to a ground war in Vietnam, 1723 01:40:08,530 --> 01:40:12,830 and had seen that war undercut his domestic social programs 1724 01:40:12,930 --> 01:40:15,930 and end his political career, 1725 01:40:16,030 --> 01:40:18,200 died of congestive heart failure. 1726 01:40:23,430 --> 01:40:28,230 The following evening, Richard Nixon spoke to the nation. 1727 01:40:28,330 --> 01:40:30,930 28 years after the United States 1728 01:40:31,030 --> 01:40:33,830 first became involved in Vietnam, 1729 01:40:33,930 --> 01:40:36,790 it was finally getting out. 1730 01:40:36,900 --> 01:40:38,330 NIXON: I have asked for this radio 1731 01:40:38,430 --> 01:40:40,700 and television time tonight 1732 01:40:40,790 --> 01:40:44,260 for the purpose of announcing that we today 1733 01:40:44,360 --> 01:40:47,630 have concluded an agreement to end the war 1734 01:40:47,730 --> 01:40:51,730 and bring peace with honor in Vietnam and in Southeast Asia. 1735 01:40:51,830 --> 01:40:55,230 A cease-fire, internationally supervised, 1736 01:40:55,330 --> 01:40:59,130 will begin at 7:00 p.m. this Saturday, January 27, 1737 01:40:59,230 --> 01:41:00,960 Washington time. 1738 01:41:01,060 --> 01:41:03,060 Within 60 days from this Saturday, 1739 01:41:03,160 --> 01:41:07,400 all Americans held prisoners of war throughout Indochina 1740 01:41:07,490 --> 01:41:09,930 will be released. 1741 01:41:11,700 --> 01:41:16,530 NARRATOR: American prisoners of war, 591 of them, 1742 01:41:16,630 --> 01:41:19,830 were to be released in batches of 40. 1743 01:41:19,930 --> 01:41:22,830 Those who had been in captivity the longest 1744 01:41:22,930 --> 01:41:25,490 were to come home first. 1745 01:41:25,600 --> 01:41:29,530 Today the largest contingents of repatriated prisoners so far, 1746 01:41:29,630 --> 01:41:31,400 60 men, were flown from Clark 1747 01:41:31,490 --> 01:41:33,360 to Travis Air Force Base, California. 1748 01:41:33,460 --> 01:41:35,290 ROGER PETERSON: Today's most dramatic moment came 1749 01:41:35,400 --> 01:41:37,990 when Everett Alvarez made his happy trek down the ramp, 1750 01:41:38,100 --> 01:41:39,200 home at last. 1751 01:41:39,290 --> 01:41:40,630 For almost as long as most Americans 1752 01:41:40,730 --> 01:41:42,200 have been aware of Vietnam, 1753 01:41:42,290 --> 01:41:46,130 Lieutenant Commander Alvarez has been a prisoner in Hanoi. 1754 01:41:46,230 --> 01:41:49,060 He was shot down August 5, 1964, during the first raids flown 1755 01:41:49,160 --> 01:41:52,130 in retaliation for the Tonkin Gulf incident. 1756 01:41:52,230 --> 01:41:54,030 And finally, today, he was home. 1757 01:41:54,130 --> 01:41:56,490 For years and years, 1758 01:41:56,600 --> 01:42:02,830 we dreamed of this day, and we kept faith. 1759 01:42:02,930 --> 01:42:07,630 Faith in God, in our president, 1760 01:42:07,730 --> 01:42:09,290 and in our country. 1761 01:42:09,400 --> 01:42:12,530 ("America the Beautiful" by Ray Charles playing) 1762 01:42:14,330 --> 01:42:18,860 NARRATOR: Hal Kushner's turn came in mid-March. 1763 01:42:18,960 --> 01:42:21,400 CHARLES: ♪ Oh, beautiful 1764 01:42:21,490 --> 01:42:25,530 ♪ For heroes proved 1765 01:42:28,100 --> 01:42:31,900 ♪ In liberating strife 1766 01:42:31,990 --> 01:42:34,530 KUSHNER: And they... then they called our name. 1767 01:42:34,630 --> 01:42:37,160 And I walked out in the sunlight. 1768 01:42:37,260 --> 01:42:40,100 And the first thing I saw was a girl in a miniskirt. 1769 01:42:40,200 --> 01:42:42,860 She was a reporter for one of the news organizations. 1770 01:42:42,960 --> 01:42:44,900 I'd never seen a real-life miniskirt. 1771 01:42:44,990 --> 01:42:50,600 CHARLES: ♪ And mercy more than life 1772 01:42:50,700 --> 01:42:52,960 KUSHNER: And there was a table with the Vietnamese 1773 01:42:53,060 --> 01:42:55,100 and American authorities on one side, 1774 01:42:55,200 --> 01:42:57,700 and there was a brigadier general, Air Force general 1775 01:42:57,790 --> 01:43:00,100 in Class A uniform. 1776 01:43:00,200 --> 01:43:03,360 And he looked magnificent. 1777 01:43:03,460 --> 01:43:06,260 And I looked at him... 1778 01:43:06,360 --> 01:43:08,100 (voice breaking): and he had breadth, 1779 01:43:08,200 --> 01:43:12,200 he had thickness that we didn't have. 1780 01:43:12,290 --> 01:43:15,460 And his hair was... he had on a garrison cap. 1781 01:43:15,560 --> 01:43:18,600 And his hair was plump and moist, 1782 01:43:18,700 --> 01:43:21,200 and our hair was like straw, you know. 1783 01:43:21,290 --> 01:43:23,490 It was dry and we were skinny. 1784 01:43:23,600 --> 01:43:24,530 (clears throat) 1785 01:43:25,930 --> 01:43:27,630 And I went out and I saluted, 1786 01:43:27,730 --> 01:43:30,400 which was a courtesy that had been denied us 1787 01:43:30,490 --> 01:43:33,230 for so many years. 1788 01:43:33,330 --> 01:43:35,730 And he saluted me, and he... 1789 01:43:35,830 --> 01:43:37,790 I shook hands with him and he hugged me, 1790 01:43:37,900 --> 01:43:39,330 he actually hugged me, 1791 01:43:39,430 --> 01:43:43,030 and he said, "Welcome home, Major. 1792 01:43:43,130 --> 01:43:44,730 We're glad to see you, doctor." 1793 01:43:44,830 --> 01:43:47,600 And the tears were streaming down his cheeks. 1794 01:43:47,700 --> 01:43:50,730 And it was just a-a powerful moment. 1795 01:43:50,830 --> 01:43:55,360 CHARLES: ♪ For purple mountains 1796 01:43:55,460 --> 01:43:56,830 ♪ Majesty 1797 01:43:56,930 --> 01:43:59,200 KUSHNER: And then this liaison officer they called 1798 01:43:59,290 --> 01:44:02,760 that came out and got me and escorted me on this C-141. 1799 01:44:02,860 --> 01:44:06,700 It was this beautiful white airplane with a flag. 1800 01:44:06,790 --> 01:44:10,100 (sighs) 1801 01:44:10,200 --> 01:44:15,330 An American flag on the tail and USAF. 1802 01:44:15,430 --> 01:44:17,860 CHARLES: ♪ America 1803 01:44:17,960 --> 01:44:19,290 ♪ You know 1804 01:44:19,400 --> 01:44:23,860 ♪ God done shed his grace on thee ♪ 1805 01:44:23,960 --> 01:44:27,530 KUSHNER: And they had these real cute flight nurses on there. 1806 01:44:27,630 --> 01:44:29,560 They were all tall and blonde and, you know, 1807 01:44:29,660 --> 01:44:31,600 they-they were just gorgeous. 1808 01:44:31,700 --> 01:44:34,030 And we got on this thing and, and she said, 1809 01:44:34,130 --> 01:44:37,130 this nurse-- we sat in these seats and she said, 1810 01:44:37,230 --> 01:44:38,790 "We have anything you want, you know. 1811 01:44:38,900 --> 01:44:39,930 "Do... what do you want?" 1812 01:44:40,030 --> 01:44:42,100 And I-I wanted a Coke with crushed ice 1813 01:44:42,200 --> 01:44:44,330 and some chewing gum. 1814 01:44:44,430 --> 01:44:47,730 CHARLES: ♪ You know, I wish had somebody to help me sing this ♪ 1815 01:44:47,830 --> 01:44:51,790 ♪ America 1816 01:44:51,900 --> 01:44:54,160 ♪ America ♪ America 1817 01:44:54,260 --> 01:44:55,600 ♪ I love you, America 1818 01:44:55,700 --> 01:44:58,330 ♪ God shed ♪ You see 1819 01:44:58,430 --> 01:45:00,600 ♪ My God, he done shed ♪ His grace 1820 01:45:00,700 --> 01:45:03,200 ♪ His grace on thee ♪ On thee 1821 01:45:03,290 --> 01:45:05,490 ♪ And you ought to love him for it ♪ 1822 01:45:05,600 --> 01:45:10,030 ♪ 'Cause he, he, he, he crowned thy good ♪ 1823 01:45:10,130 --> 01:45:11,860 ♪ He told me he would 1824 01:45:11,960 --> 01:45:15,560 ♪ With brotherhood 1825 01:45:15,660 --> 01:45:17,830 ♪ From sea 1826 01:45:17,930 --> 01:45:20,060 ♪ To shining 1827 01:45:20,160 --> 01:45:22,600 ♪ Shining sea ♪ Sea 1828 01:45:22,700 --> 01:45:24,560 ♪ Oh, Lord 1829 01:45:24,660 --> 01:45:25,790 ♪ Oh, Lord! 1830 01:45:25,900 --> 01:45:28,160 ♪ I thank you, Lord 1831 01:45:28,260 --> 01:45:33,790 ♪ Shining sea. 1832 01:45:40,400 --> 01:45:42,330 ("The Lord Is in This Place" by Fairport Convention playing) 1833 01:45:45,990 --> 01:45:49,100 NARRATOR: Within a few days of Hal Kushner's release, 1834 01:45:49,200 --> 01:45:54,100 the last American combat troops would leave Vietnam. 1835 01:45:54,200 --> 01:45:58,930 But they would leave behind many unanswered questions. 1836 01:45:59,030 --> 01:46:03,730 How long could the South Vietnamese government survive? 1837 01:46:03,830 --> 01:46:07,030 What was the value of American promises, 1838 01:46:07,130 --> 01:46:09,960 and American sacrifice? 1839 01:46:10,060 --> 01:46:14,230 And how long would it take for the wounds of war to heal? 1840 01:46:27,330 --> 01:46:29,260 ("What's Going On?" by Marvin Gaye playing) 1841 01:46:30,900 --> 01:46:32,830 (indistinct conversations) 1842 01:46:36,930 --> 01:46:39,460 ♪ Mother, mother 1843 01:46:39,560 --> 01:46:43,630 ♪ There's too many of you crying ♪ 1844 01:46:46,530 --> 01:46:48,660 ♪ Brother, brother, brother 1845 01:46:48,760 --> 01:46:52,760 ♪ There's far too many of you dying ♪ 1846 01:46:54,730 --> 01:46:57,860 ♪ You know we've got to find a way ♪ 1847 01:46:59,660 --> 01:47:02,560 ♪ To bring some loving here today ♪ 1848 01:47:02,660 --> 01:47:05,490 ♪ Yeah 1849 01:47:05,600 --> 01:47:07,200 ♪ Father, father 1850 01:47:09,030 --> 01:47:11,330 ♪ We don't need to escalate 1851 01:47:14,200 --> 01:47:18,360 ♪ You see, war is not the answer ♪ 1852 01:47:18,460 --> 01:47:23,100 ♪ For only love can conquer hate ♪ 1853 01:47:23,200 --> 01:47:26,060 ♪ You know we've got to find a way ♪ 1854 01:47:28,130 --> 01:47:31,330 ♪ To bring some loving here today ♪ 1855 01:47:31,430 --> 01:47:33,830 ♪ Oh 1856 01:47:33,930 --> 01:47:35,960 ♪ Picket lines ♪ Sister 1857 01:47:36,060 --> 01:47:38,360 ♪ And picket signs ♪ Sister 1858 01:47:38,460 --> 01:47:40,130 ♪ Don't punish me ♪ Sister 1859 01:47:40,230 --> 01:47:43,400 ♪ With brutality ♪ Sister 1860 01:47:43,490 --> 01:47:45,330 ♪ Talk to me ♪ Sister 1861 01:47:45,430 --> 01:47:47,360 ♪ So you can see ♪ Sister 1862 01:47:47,460 --> 01:47:49,860 ♪ Oh, what's going on ♪ What's going on 1863 01:47:49,960 --> 01:47:51,930 ♪ What's going on ♪ What's going on 1864 01:47:52,030 --> 01:47:54,290 ♪ Yeah, what's going on ♪ What's going on 1865 01:47:54,400 --> 01:47:56,560 ♪ Ah, what's going on ♪ What's going on 1866 01:47:56,660 --> 01:47:59,430 ♪ Ah ♪ Right on 1867 01:47:59,530 --> 01:48:01,160 ♪ Whoo! Right on, brother 1868 01:48:01,260 --> 01:48:02,630 (indistinct conversations) 1869 01:48:02,730 --> 01:48:04,660 (scatting) 1870 01:48:06,130 --> 01:48:08,230 MAN: Hey, man, what's your name? Whoo! 1871 01:48:08,330 --> 01:48:10,060 ♪ Right on, baby 1872 01:48:10,160 --> 01:48:11,930 Right on. ♪ Right on 1873 01:48:12,030 --> 01:48:14,960 (scatting) 1874 01:48:27,700 --> 01:48:28,930 Whoo! ♪ Whoo 1875 01:48:29,030 --> 01:48:31,790 ♪ Right on, baby 1876 01:48:31,900 --> 01:48:33,830 (scatting) 1877 01:48:46,160 --> 01:48:47,160 Whoo! 1878 01:48:47,260 --> 01:48:48,600 -♪ Right on, baby -(man whooping) 1879 01:48:48,700 --> 01:48:49,660 ♪ Come on 1880 01:48:49,760 --> 01:48:51,060 ♪ Right on 1881 01:48:51,160 --> 01:48:53,100 (singer scatting, man whooping) 1882 01:48:56,290 --> 01:48:59,290 ♪ Whoo! Right on 1883 01:48:59,400 --> 01:49:00,700 ♪ Go slow 1884 01:49:00,790 --> 01:49:02,730 (scatting) 1885 01:49:13,060 --> 01:49:14,330 ANNOUNCER: LEARN MORE ABOUT THE FILM 1886 01:49:14,330 --> 01:49:17,200 AND FIND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES AT PBS.ORG/VIETNAMWAR 1887 01:49:17,200 --> 01:49:21,130 AND JOIN THE CONVERSATION USING HASHTAG VIETNAMWARPBS. 1888 01:49:21,130 --> 01:49:22,600 "THE VIETNAM WAR" IS AVAILABLE 1889 01:49:22,600 --> 01:49:24,260 ON BLU-RAY AND DVD. 1890 01:49:24,260 --> 01:49:25,930 THE COMPANION BOOK, SOUNDTRACK, 1891 01:49:25,930 --> 01:49:27,330 AND ORIGINAL SCORE FROM THE FILM 1892 01:49:27,330 --> 01:49:28,460 ARE ALSO AVAILABLE. 1893 01:49:28,460 --> 01:49:30,560 TO ORDER, VISIT SHOPPBS.ORG 1894 01:49:30,560 --> 01:49:33,030 OR CALL 1-800-PLAY-PBS. 1895 01:49:33,030 --> 01:49:34,460 EPISODES OF THIS SERIES ALSO 1896 01:49:34,460 --> 01:49:35,560 AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD 1897 01:49:35,560 --> 01:49:36,660 FROM iTUNES. 1898 01:49:39,930 --> 01:49:42,060 ANNOUNCER: BANK OF AMERICA PROUDLY SUPPORTS 1899 01:49:42,060 --> 01:49:46,960 KEN BURNS' AND LYNN NOVICK'S FILM "THE VIETNAM WAR" 1900 01:49:46,960 --> 01:49:49,360 BECAUSE FOSTERING DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES 1901 01:49:49,360 --> 01:49:51,960 AND CIVIL DISCOURSE AROUND IMPORTANT ISSUES 1902 01:49:51,960 --> 01:49:54,260 FURTHERS PROGRESS, EQUALITY, 1903 01:49:54,260 --> 01:49:56,260 AND A MORE CONNECTED SOCIETY. 1904 01:50:00,730 --> 01:50:04,760 GO TO BANKOFAMERICA.COM/ BETTERCONNECTED TO LEARN MORE. 1905 01:50:08,230 --> 01:50:09,660 ANNOUNCER: MAJOR SUPPORT FOR "THE VIETNAM WAR" 1906 01:50:09,660 --> 01:50:13,160 WAS PROVIDED BY MEMBERS OF THE BETTER ANGELS SOCIETY, 1907 01:50:13,160 --> 01:50:17,200 INCLUDING JONATHAN AND JEANNIE LAVINE, 1908 01:50:17,200 --> 01:50:20,100 DIANE AND HAL BRIERLEY, 1909 01:50:20,100 --> 01:50:22,490 AMY AND DAVID ABRAMS, 1910 01:50:22,490 --> 01:50:24,990 JOHN AND CATHERINE DEBS, 1911 01:50:24,990 --> 01:50:27,900 THE FULLERTON FAMILY CHARITABLE FUND, 1912 01:50:27,900 --> 01:50:29,960 THE MONTRONE FAMILY, 1913 01:50:29,960 --> 01:50:32,290 LYNDA AND STEWART RESNICK, 1914 01:50:32,290 --> 01:50:35,060 THE PERRY AND DONNA GOLKIN FAMILY FOUNDATION, 1915 01:50:35,060 --> 01:50:36,060 THE LYNCH FOUNDATION, 1916 01:50:36,060 --> 01:50:38,930 THE ROGER AND ROSEMARY ENRICO FOUNDATION, 1917 01:50:38,930 --> 01:50:42,360 AND BY THESE ADDITIONAL FUNDERS. 1918 01:50:42,360 --> 01:50:44,260 MAJOR FUNDING WAS ALSO PROVIDED 1919 01:50:44,260 --> 01:50:45,990 BY DAVID H. KOCH... 1920 01:50:48,290 --> 01:50:50,490 THE BLAVATNIK FAMILY FOUNDATION... 1921 01:50:52,830 --> 01:50:55,260 THE PARK FOUNDATION, 1922 01:50:55,260 --> 01:50:57,430 THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES, 1923 01:50:57,430 --> 01:50:59,630 THE PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS, 1924 01:50:59,630 --> 01:51:02,290 THE JOHN S. AND JAMES L. KNIGHT FOUNDATION, 1925 01:51:02,290 --> 01:51:05,060 THE ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION, 1926 01:51:05,060 --> 01:51:07,660 THE ARTHUR VINING DAVIS FOUNDATIONS, 1927 01:51:07,660 --> 01:51:09,860 THE FORD FOUNDATION JUSTFILMS, 1928 01:51:09,860 --> 01:51:11,060 BY THE CORPORATION 1929 01:51:11,060 --> 01:51:12,290 FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING, 1930 01:51:12,290 --> 01:51:14,330 AND BY VIEWERS LIKE YOU. 1931 01:51:14,330 --> 01:51:15,460 THANK YOU. 1931 01:51:16,305 --> 01:51:22,379 Please rate this subtitle at www.osdb.link/a66tu Help other users to choose the best subtitles 150173

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