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These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:01,566 --> 00:00:03,000 ANNOUNCER: MAJOR SUPPORT FOR "THE VIETNAM WAR" 2 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:06,500 WAS PROVIDED BY MEMBERS OF THE BETTER ANGELS SOCIETY, 3 00:00:06,500 --> 00:00:10,465 INCLUDING JONATHAN AND JEANNIE LAVINE, 4 00:00:10,465 --> 00:00:13,365 DIANE AND HAL BRIERLEY, 5 00:00:13,365 --> 00:00:15,766 AMY AND DAVID ABRAMS, 6 00:00:15,766 --> 00:00:18,265 JOHN AND CATHERINE DEBS, 7 00:00:18,265 --> 00:00:21,166 THE FULLERTON FAMILY CHARITABLE FUND, 8 00:00:21,166 --> 00:00:23,233 THE MONTRONE FAMILY, 9 00:00:23,233 --> 00:00:25,565 LYNDA AND STEWART RESNICK, 10 00:00:25,565 --> 00:00:28,332 THE PERRY AND DONNA GOLKIN FAMILY FOUNDATION, 11 00:00:28,332 --> 00:00:29,332 THE LYNCH FOUNDATION, 12 00:00:29,332 --> 00:00:32,200 THE ROGER AND ROSEMARY ENRICO FOUNDATION, 13 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:35,633 AND BY THESE ADDITIONAL FUNDERS. 14 00:00:35,633 --> 00:00:37,533 MAJOR FUNDING WAS ALSO PROVIDED 15 00:00:37,533 --> 00:00:39,265 BY DAVID H. KOCH... 16 00:00:41,566 --> 00:00:43,765 THE BLAVATNIK FAMILY FOUNDATION... 17 00:00:46,100 --> 00:00:48,533 THE PARK FOUNDATION, 18 00:00:48,533 --> 00:00:50,700 THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES, 19 00:00:50,700 --> 00:00:52,899 THE PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS, 20 00:00:52,899 --> 00:00:55,566 THE JOHN S. AND JAMES L. KNIGHT FOUNDATION, 21 00:00:55,566 --> 00:00:58,332 THE ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION, 22 00:00:58,332 --> 00:01:01,000 THE ARTHUR VINING DAVIS FOUNDATIONS, 23 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:03,200 THE FORD FOUNDATION JUSTFILMS, 24 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:04,400 BY THE CORPORATION 25 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:05,632 FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING, 26 00:01:05,632 --> 00:01:07,599 AND BY VIEWERS LIKE YOU. 27 00:01:07,599 --> 00:01:08,733 THANK YOU. 28 00:01:13,266 --> 00:01:15,400 ANNOUNCER: BANK OF AMERICA PROUDLY SUPPORTS 29 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:20,299 KEN BURNS' AND LYNN NOVICK'S FILM "THE VIETNAM WAR" 30 00:01:20,299 --> 00:01:22,700 BECAUSE FOSTERING DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES 31 00:01:22,700 --> 00:01:25,299 AND CIVIL DISCOURSE AROUND IMPORTANT ISSUES 32 00:01:25,299 --> 00:01:27,599 FURTHERS PROGRESS, EQUALITY, 33 00:01:27,599 --> 00:01:29,599 AND A MORE CONNECTED SOCIETY. 34 00:01:34,066 --> 00:01:38,099 GO TO BANKOFAMERICA.COM/ BETTERCONNECTED TO LEARN MORE. 35 00:01:49,332 --> 00:01:51,233 ♪ 36 00:01:54,265 --> 00:01:56,599 ...you got through! Did you pass Chee on the road? 37 00:01:56,700 --> 00:01:58,066 No. Where are the children? 38 00:01:58,165 --> 00:01:59,765 Kansas found a shelter for them. 39 00:01:59,865 --> 00:02:01,665 Get down, everybody! 40 00:02:04,665 --> 00:02:07,432 JOAN FUREY: My older sister and I one time 41 00:02:07,533 --> 00:02:11,599 uh, we're watching the movie So Proudly We Ha il on TV. 42 00:02:11,699 --> 00:02:13,066 Listen, we still have a few minutes! 43 00:02:13,165 --> 00:02:14,966 FUREY: That's a story about the nurses 44 00:02:15,066 --> 00:02:19,865 who were trapped on Bataan and Corregidor during World War II. 45 00:02:19,966 --> 00:02:21,966 (explosion) 46 00:02:22,066 --> 00:02:25,699 It was the first, probably, time in my life that... 47 00:02:25,800 --> 00:02:27,633 I, uh... 48 00:02:27,733 --> 00:02:31,865 I realized that women could do brave and courageous things. 49 00:02:31,966 --> 00:02:34,500 It wasn't just something men could do. 50 00:02:34,599 --> 00:02:36,900 (helicopter blades whirring) 51 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:40,033 ♪ 52 00:02:40,133 --> 00:02:43,000 NARRATOR: Second Lieutenant Joan Furey 53 00:02:43,099 --> 00:02:47,900 had wanted to be a nurse ever since she was a small child. 54 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:49,733 She attended nursing school, 55 00:02:49,832 --> 00:02:53,133 and, when a high school classmate was killed during Tet, 56 00:02:53,233 --> 00:02:57,500 joined the Army to do what she could for the wounded. 57 00:02:58,932 --> 00:03:02,699 Furey was assigned to the 71st Evacuation Hospital 58 00:03:02,800 --> 00:03:06,466 at Pleiku, in the heart of the Central Highlands. 59 00:03:08,066 --> 00:03:11,633 Nothing had prepared her for what she saw and did 60 00:03:11,733 --> 00:03:14,000 over the next 12 months. 61 00:03:14,099 --> 00:03:15,633 (indistinct chatter) 62 00:03:16,765 --> 00:03:17,966 (grunts) 63 00:03:18,066 --> 00:03:20,233 Wounded men were choppered in 64 00:03:20,332 --> 00:03:23,000 at all times of the day and night. 65 00:03:23,099 --> 00:03:26,066 So were Viet Cong and NVA soldiers, 66 00:03:26,165 --> 00:03:29,133 who sometimes spat at the medical personnel 67 00:03:29,233 --> 00:03:32,900 trying to save their limbs or lives. 68 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:36,066 (explosions) 69 00:03:36,165 --> 00:03:38,699 Whenever the hospital came under mortar fire, 70 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:42,400 Furey stayed with the most seriously wounded men 71 00:03:42,500 --> 00:03:43,733 in the ICU. 72 00:03:43,832 --> 00:03:45,566 (distant explosions) 73 00:03:45,665 --> 00:03:47,066 We had flak vests and helmets, 74 00:03:47,165 --> 00:03:48,932 and we crawled around on the floor. 75 00:03:49,033 --> 00:03:50,432 (explosion, clattering, men shouting) 76 00:03:50,533 --> 00:03:51,699 I mean, you really, 77 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:53,665 you just could not leave them unattended. 78 00:03:53,765 --> 00:03:55,199 (explosion) 79 00:03:55,300 --> 00:03:58,566 We just kind of had to swallow your own fear. 80 00:04:00,099 --> 00:04:02,900 NARRATOR: A triage officer made the grim decisions 81 00:04:03,000 --> 00:04:05,066 as to who might be saved 82 00:04:05,165 --> 00:04:08,566 and those for whom there was no hope. 83 00:04:08,665 --> 00:04:11,633 FUREY: One of the things that initially was so difficult 84 00:04:11,733 --> 00:04:14,566 was what we called "expected" patients. 85 00:04:14,665 --> 00:04:17,266 And these were patients that would be brought in 86 00:04:17,365 --> 00:04:19,800 from the battlefield and it was determined 87 00:04:19,899 --> 00:04:22,500 they had no chance to survive. 88 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:25,199 But they weren't dead yet. 89 00:04:26,332 --> 00:04:27,665 They brought in a... 90 00:04:27,766 --> 00:04:31,065 a young soldier who had a head injury, 91 00:04:31,165 --> 00:04:34,632 and they said, "He's expected." 92 00:04:34,733 --> 00:04:37,000 I kind of freaked out, uh, 93 00:04:37,100 --> 00:04:40,165 and I decided that, no, they were wrong, 94 00:04:40,266 --> 00:04:43,332 and I was gonna take care of this patient. 95 00:04:43,432 --> 00:04:45,932 I told the corpsman to get me blood. 96 00:04:46,033 --> 00:04:47,699 And he's saying, "Well, Lieutenant, 97 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:49,566 the patient is expected." 98 00:04:49,665 --> 00:04:51,566 I said, "Get me blood." 99 00:04:51,665 --> 00:04:54,600 So, I take off the dressing, and... 100 00:04:54,699 --> 00:04:58,233 the whole back of his head had been gone. 101 00:04:58,332 --> 00:04:59,865 When that happened, 102 00:04:59,966 --> 00:05:03,266 all the blood I had been giving him came out. 103 00:05:03,365 --> 00:05:07,632 A friend of mine who came over just walked me out of there. 104 00:05:07,733 --> 00:05:11,300 And a few minutes later, you walk right back in... 105 00:05:13,266 --> 00:05:15,233 ...and you get back to doing it. 106 00:05:18,665 --> 00:05:20,565 (amplified heartbeat) 107 00:05:22,432 --> 00:05:27,199 ("Dazed and Confused" by Led Zeppelin playing) 108 00:05:38,766 --> 00:05:40,800 ♪ Been dazed and confused 109 00:05:40,899 --> 00:05:42,832 ♪ For so long, it's not true... ♪ 110 00:05:42,932 --> 00:05:45,832 NARRATOR: Richard Nixon had taken office as president 111 00:05:45,932 --> 00:05:48,966 in January of 1969, 112 00:05:49,066 --> 00:05:51,300 pledged to restore law and order 113 00:05:51,399 --> 00:05:53,632 and end the war with honor. 114 00:05:53,733 --> 00:05:55,899 (gunfire) Things were calmer at home, 115 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:58,899 but in Vietnam, peace was no closer. 116 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:02,565 ("Dazed and Confused" continues) 117 00:06:02,665 --> 00:06:06,065 American soldiers still died pursuing guerrillas 118 00:06:06,165 --> 00:06:09,000 who appeared and disappeared like phantoms. 119 00:06:10,199 --> 00:06:13,165 Americans still died capturing hills 120 00:06:13,266 --> 00:06:16,565 only to give them up and have to take them back again. 121 00:06:16,665 --> 00:06:20,832 Men and materiel were still flowing into the south 122 00:06:20,932 --> 00:06:24,466 despite the controversial bombing of Cambodia. 123 00:06:24,565 --> 00:06:28,165 Through it all, Hanoi remained immovable. 124 00:06:28,266 --> 00:06:31,199 The communists insisted there could be no peace 125 00:06:31,300 --> 00:06:35,000 until the Saigon government was replaced 126 00:06:35,100 --> 00:06:39,500 and the United States withdrew from Vietnam. 127 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:43,533 Meanwhile, the American public was losing patience. 128 00:06:43,632 --> 00:06:45,332 ♪ 129 00:06:50,766 --> 00:06:52,500 (men shouting) 130 00:06:52,600 --> 00:06:54,500 (gunfire fades) 131 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:59,432 Privately, Nixon knew that military victory was impossible, 132 00:06:59,533 --> 00:07:01,132 that things would have to be settled 133 00:07:01,233 --> 00:07:04,432 at the bargaining table in Paris. 134 00:07:04,533 --> 00:07:05,865 He had to find a way 135 00:07:05,966 --> 00:07:08,233 to extricate Americans from Vietnam 136 00:07:08,333 --> 00:07:10,399 without seeming to surrender. 137 00:07:10,500 --> 00:07:12,365 Nixon also believed 138 00:07:12,466 --> 00:07:15,333 his reputation as an implacable anti-communist 139 00:07:15,432 --> 00:07:18,300 could work to his advantage with Hanoi. 140 00:07:18,399 --> 00:07:20,733 "We'll just slip the word to them," he said, 141 00:07:20,832 --> 00:07:24,699 "you know, 'Nixon's obsessed about communism. 142 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:27,065 "'We can't restrain him when he's angry, 143 00:07:27,165 --> 00:07:30,000 "and he has his hand on the nuclear button,' 144 00:07:30,100 --> 00:07:33,266 "and Ho Chi Minh will be in Paris in two days 145 00:07:33,365 --> 00:07:36,266 begging for peace." 146 00:07:36,365 --> 00:07:40,399 But Ho Chi Minh was old and ailing now. 147 00:07:40,500 --> 00:07:42,566 And Le Duan and the other men 148 00:07:42,665 --> 00:07:45,733 who had been calling the shots in Hanoi for years 149 00:07:45,832 --> 00:07:48,300 had no intention of giving up their goal 150 00:07:48,399 --> 00:07:52,066 of uniting their country under communist control. 151 00:07:52,165 --> 00:07:54,233 ("While My Guitar Gently Weeps" by the Beatles playing) 152 00:07:54,332 --> 00:07:57,865 Richard Nixon, having promised a swift end to the war, 153 00:07:57,966 --> 00:08:01,165 would, like all the presidents who came before him, 154 00:08:01,266 --> 00:08:03,500 end up widening it. 155 00:08:03,600 --> 00:08:07,199 In the process, he would re-ignite opposition to the war 156 00:08:07,300 --> 00:08:08,966 on American campuses 157 00:08:09,065 --> 00:08:12,600 that threatened to tear the country apart again. 158 00:08:12,699 --> 00:08:16,165 ♪ I look at you all 159 00:08:16,266 --> 00:08:19,832 ♪ See the love there that's sleeping ♪ 160 00:08:19,932 --> 00:08:22,165 (crowd clamoring) 161 00:08:22,266 --> 00:08:24,665 ♪ While my guitar 162 00:08:24,766 --> 00:08:26,699 ♪ Gently weeps 163 00:08:29,733 --> 00:08:32,600 ♪ I look at the floor... 164 00:08:32,700 --> 00:08:34,665 MERRILL McPEAK: The late '60s 165 00:08:34,765 --> 00:08:38,865 were a kind of confluence of several rivulets. 166 00:08:38,966 --> 00:08:40,798 BEATLES: ♪ Still my guitar... 167 00:08:40,899 --> 00:08:43,832 McPEAK: There was the antiwar movement itself... 168 00:08:43,932 --> 00:08:46,966 ♪ 169 00:08:47,066 --> 00:08:51,799 ...the whole movement towards racial equality, 170 00:08:51,899 --> 00:08:54,365 the environment... 171 00:08:54,466 --> 00:08:57,265 the role of women. 172 00:08:57,365 --> 00:08:59,765 And the anthems for that counterculture 173 00:08:59,865 --> 00:09:04,365 were provided by the most brilliant rock-and-roll music 174 00:09:04,466 --> 00:09:06,399 that you can imagine. 175 00:09:06,500 --> 00:09:08,265 BEATLES: ♪ And I notice... 176 00:09:08,365 --> 00:09:12,666 I don't know how we could exist today as a country 177 00:09:12,765 --> 00:09:16,832 without that experience. 178 00:09:16,932 --> 00:09:19,966 With all of its warts and ups and downs, 179 00:09:20,066 --> 00:09:23,732 that produced the America we have today, 180 00:09:23,832 --> 00:09:25,399 and we are better for it. 181 00:09:25,500 --> 00:09:27,332 (gunfire) ♪ Surely be learning... 182 00:09:27,432 --> 00:09:29,365 McPEAK: And I felt that way in Vietnam. 183 00:09:29,466 --> 00:09:31,232 ♪ Still my guitar... 184 00:09:31,332 --> 00:09:33,865 McPEAK: I turned the volume up on all that stuff. 185 00:09:35,966 --> 00:09:39,500 That represented what I was trying to defend. 186 00:09:39,600 --> 00:09:42,466 ♪ 187 00:09:42,566 --> 00:09:45,865 (gunfire, artillery fire, shouting) 188 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:52,000 (explosion) 189 00:09:53,832 --> 00:09:56,265 ♪ Oh, oh 190 00:09:56,365 --> 00:09:59,265 (fading): ♪ Ooh, ooh, oh, oh... 191 00:10:02,932 --> 00:10:04,666 HAL KUSHNER: I never prayed 192 00:10:04,765 --> 00:10:07,332 the whole time I was in the P.O.W. camp, 193 00:10:07,432 --> 00:10:10,265 but I had, like, a mantra. 194 00:10:10,365 --> 00:10:12,633 Every night when I went to sleep, 195 00:10:12,732 --> 00:10:15,832 after a certain point, I would say, 196 00:10:15,932 --> 00:10:20,133 "I'll be here when the morning comes." 197 00:10:20,232 --> 00:10:22,432 And I felt if I could just live one more day, 198 00:10:22,533 --> 00:10:25,899 then I could live one more day, and then one more day. 199 00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:28,799 NARRATOR: At the peace talks in Paris, 200 00:10:28,899 --> 00:10:33,365 the Nixon administration had introduced a new demand-- 201 00:10:33,466 --> 00:10:35,500 U.S. troops would not withdraw 202 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:38,865 until all American prisoners had come home 203 00:10:38,966 --> 00:10:41,533 and Hanoi had provided a strict accounting 204 00:10:41,633 --> 00:10:43,899 of those missing in action. 205 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:47,365 No one knew how many prisoners there were. 206 00:10:47,466 --> 00:10:51,399 Most were airmen held in or around Hanoi, 207 00:10:51,500 --> 00:10:54,200 but a handful of others, like Hal Kushner, 208 00:10:54,299 --> 00:10:57,732 were struggling to survive in makeshift jungle camps 209 00:10:57,832 --> 00:11:00,500 in South Vietnam. 210 00:11:00,600 --> 00:11:04,232 Hanoi would not reveal the names of the men they held, 211 00:11:04,332 --> 00:11:08,232 because they still insisted they were not prisoners of war, 212 00:11:08,332 --> 00:11:10,432 but war criminals. 213 00:11:10,533 --> 00:11:13,765 They subjected many to brutal torture, 214 00:11:13,865 --> 00:11:15,966 extracted "confessions," 215 00:11:16,066 --> 00:11:18,232 and refused to permit inspections 216 00:11:18,332 --> 00:11:21,265 by the International Red Cross. 217 00:11:21,365 --> 00:11:25,432 The Johnson administration had generally downplayed the issue, 218 00:11:25,533 --> 00:11:29,500 hoping quiet diplomacy might bring the men home. 219 00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:31,200 The Nixon administration 220 00:11:31,299 --> 00:11:34,100 launched a "go public" campaign instead, 221 00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:36,799 meant to put the plight of American prisoners 222 00:11:36,899 --> 00:11:38,966 and those missing in action 223 00:11:39,066 --> 00:11:41,066 at the center of things. 224 00:11:41,165 --> 00:11:43,265 It also provided a rebuke 225 00:11:43,365 --> 00:11:45,432 to those in the antiwar movement 226 00:11:45,533 --> 00:11:47,600 who seemed more sympathetic 227 00:11:47,700 --> 00:11:50,832 to North Vietnamese civilians who had been bombed 228 00:11:50,932 --> 00:11:52,600 than they were to U.S. airmen 229 00:11:52,700 --> 00:11:56,232 who had been shot down doing that bombing. 230 00:11:56,332 --> 00:12:00,832 Sybil Stockdale, whose husband, Commander James Stockdale, 231 00:12:00,932 --> 00:12:03,700 was the highest-ranking prisoner in Hanoi, 232 00:12:03,799 --> 00:12:06,100 formed the National League of Families 233 00:12:06,200 --> 00:12:09,600 of Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia, 234 00:12:09,700 --> 00:12:12,332 and led delegations of wives to Paris 235 00:12:12,432 --> 00:12:15,832 to confront North Vietnamese negotiators. 236 00:12:15,932 --> 00:12:20,533 Five million Americans began wearing tin or copper bracelets 237 00:12:20,633 --> 00:12:23,166 engraved with a missing man's name 238 00:12:23,265 --> 00:12:25,666 and date of loss. 239 00:12:25,765 --> 00:12:29,932 More than 50 million P.O.W./M.I.A. bumper stickers 240 00:12:30,033 --> 00:12:33,633 would be sold over the next four years. 241 00:12:33,732 --> 00:12:36,066 Despite what their jailers had told them, 242 00:12:36,165 --> 00:12:40,365 the prisoners had not been forgotten by their country. 243 00:12:40,466 --> 00:12:42,865 Eventually, one journalist wrote, 244 00:12:42,966 --> 00:12:45,133 many "people began to speak 245 00:12:45,232 --> 00:12:49,299 "as though the North Vietnamese had kidnapped 400 Americans 246 00:12:49,399 --> 00:12:53,832 and the United States had gone to war to retrieve them." 247 00:12:53,932 --> 00:12:58,399 At the same time, the Saigon government of Nguyen Van Thieu 248 00:12:58,500 --> 00:13:01,799 was holding prisoners of its own. 249 00:13:01,899 --> 00:13:03,732 There would eventually be 250 00:13:03,832 --> 00:13:07,600 some 40,000 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers 251 00:13:07,700 --> 00:13:09,633 in four crowded camps. 252 00:13:09,732 --> 00:13:13,666 Another 200,000 South Vietnamese civilians 253 00:13:13,765 --> 00:13:17,666 would also be held, many without trial. 254 00:13:19,332 --> 00:13:21,666 NGUYEN TAI: 255 00:14:38,899 --> 00:14:41,899 JAMES GILLAM: There are certain rules to tunnel warfare. 256 00:14:44,133 --> 00:14:46,832 Don't turn on the light 257 00:14:46,932 --> 00:14:50,000 unless you're really, really, really sure you're alone. 258 00:14:50,100 --> 00:14:53,700 Use your senses. 259 00:14:53,799 --> 00:14:56,899 Do your first killing as quietly as you can. 260 00:14:57,000 --> 00:14:59,066 That means don't shoot. 261 00:15:00,365 --> 00:15:03,133 I chased somebody into a tunnel, 262 00:15:03,232 --> 00:15:08,500 met them at a bend in the corner, in the dark. 263 00:15:08,600 --> 00:15:10,100 I thought I was alone 264 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:13,399 and then I smelled their breath. 265 00:15:13,500 --> 00:15:19,500 And we had a wrestling match in the dark. 266 00:15:19,600 --> 00:15:21,966 And I got the upper hand 267 00:15:22,066 --> 00:15:25,299 and crushed this person's trachea, 268 00:15:25,399 --> 00:15:28,033 held him down while he died... 269 00:15:29,666 --> 00:15:31,566 ...and then got out. 270 00:15:34,299 --> 00:15:37,000 I beat and strangled someone to death 271 00:15:37,100 --> 00:15:38,899 in a tunnel 272 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:40,966 in the dark. 273 00:15:41,066 --> 00:15:42,665 Um... 274 00:15:42,765 --> 00:15:45,200 But that wasn't the only casualty. 275 00:15:45,299 --> 00:15:49,633 The other casualty was the civilized version of me. 276 00:15:58,466 --> 00:16:00,633 (gunfire) 277 00:16:06,466 --> 00:16:08,232 (gunfire continuing) 278 00:16:08,332 --> 00:16:10,066 (shouting) 279 00:16:10,166 --> 00:16:13,066 NARRATOR: April 1969 280 00:16:13,166 --> 00:16:16,133 marked the high point of American military commitment 281 00:16:16,232 --> 00:16:17,666 to South Vietnam. 282 00:16:17,765 --> 00:16:25,133 543,482 men and women were now in country, 283 00:16:25,232 --> 00:16:29,265 and tens of thousands more were stationed 284 00:16:29,365 --> 00:16:32,299 at airbases and aboard ships beyond its borders. 285 00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:38,265 40,794 had died. 286 00:16:38,365 --> 00:16:43,299 And more than $70 billion had been spent. 287 00:16:43,399 --> 00:16:46,899 (explosion in distance) 288 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:49,399 That spring, a new battle 289 00:16:49,500 --> 00:16:51,600 caught the attention of the American public, 290 00:16:51,700 --> 00:16:56,399 a struggle to take still another numbered hill-- 291 00:16:56,500 --> 00:17:00,133 Hill 937 on military maps. 292 00:17:00,232 --> 00:17:02,200 CHET HUNTLEY: For nine days, 293 00:17:02,299 --> 00:17:04,165 American and South Vietnamese troops have been trying 294 00:17:04,266 --> 00:17:06,200 to take a mountain near the Laotian border, 295 00:17:06,299 --> 00:17:09,133 and ten times they have been thrown back. 296 00:17:09,232 --> 00:17:10,500 (booming, shouting) 297 00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:14,465 (gunfire) 298 00:17:24,532 --> 00:17:26,732 (shouting over radio) 299 00:17:33,633 --> 00:17:36,232 The casualties have been so high-- 300 00:17:36,333 --> 00:17:39,599 50 Americans and 250 North Vietnamese killed-- 301 00:17:39,700 --> 00:17:42,333 that the mountain has come to be known as "Hamburger Hill." 302 00:17:42,432 --> 00:17:46,066 Today, another 600 allied troops were thrown into the battle. 303 00:17:46,165 --> 00:17:48,732 (helicopter blades whirring) 304 00:17:48,833 --> 00:17:51,200 (gunfire) 305 00:17:51,299 --> 00:17:54,000 (explosion, screaming) 306 00:17:57,865 --> 00:18:00,165 NARRATOR: A weary G.I. told a reporter 307 00:18:00,266 --> 00:18:02,365 that his battalion commander 308 00:18:02,465 --> 00:18:07,333 "won't stop until he kills every damn one of us." 309 00:18:07,432 --> 00:18:08,732 (explosion, gunfire) 310 00:18:13,700 --> 00:18:15,965 After 11 days of fighting, 311 00:18:16,066 --> 00:18:18,766 the Battle for Hamburger Hill ended. 312 00:18:20,232 --> 00:18:22,932 56 Americans died. 313 00:18:23,032 --> 00:18:27,333 420 more were wounded. 314 00:18:27,432 --> 00:18:30,965 A week later, the Americans abandoned the hill, 315 00:18:31,066 --> 00:18:33,965 just as they had abandoned so many other hills 316 00:18:34,066 --> 00:18:38,599 they had taken at great cost over the years in Vietnam. 317 00:18:40,732 --> 00:18:43,633 General, could you explain for us again the strategy involved 318 00:18:43,732 --> 00:18:46,732 in the decision to withdraw American troops 319 00:18:46,833 --> 00:18:50,032 after they had taken Hill 937, or Hamburger Hill? 320 00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:56,099 No piece of ground, as such, 321 00:18:56,200 --> 00:18:58,599 is important to us. 322 00:18:58,700 --> 00:19:00,432 HUNTLEY: In the United States Senate, 323 00:19:00,532 --> 00:19:02,333 Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts delivered 324 00:19:02,432 --> 00:19:04,232 a brief speech criticizing what he called 325 00:19:04,333 --> 00:19:07,266 a "senseless and irresponsible military pride 326 00:19:07,365 --> 00:19:09,766 "in which American men are sent to their deaths 327 00:19:09,865 --> 00:19:12,599 in pointless battles like this one for Hamburger Hill." 328 00:19:12,700 --> 00:19:14,799 Kennedy called upon President Nixon 329 00:19:14,900 --> 00:19:17,032 to issue new orders to commanders in Vietnam 330 00:19:17,133 --> 00:19:18,665 to halt such actions 331 00:19:18,766 --> 00:19:20,566 and he charged that they contradict 332 00:19:20,665 --> 00:19:22,000 the president's stated intentions 333 00:19:22,099 --> 00:19:23,799 of seeking a negotiated peace. 334 00:19:26,633 --> 00:19:29,900 NARRATOR: There had been more deadly weeks during the war, 335 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:34,365 costlier battles, larger numbers of casualties. 336 00:19:34,465 --> 00:19:40,665 But more and more Americans seemed to have had enough. 337 00:19:40,766 --> 00:19:43,133 The following month, Li fe magazine 338 00:19:43,232 --> 00:19:45,266 published the names and photographs 339 00:19:45,365 --> 00:19:48,165 of all 242 Americans 340 00:19:48,266 --> 00:19:52,133 who had died in combat in just one week. 341 00:19:52,232 --> 00:19:56,066 For the first time, in a national publication, 342 00:19:56,165 --> 00:20:00,032 casualty statistics came with human faces. 343 00:20:02,932 --> 00:20:05,665 The only way they could measure success in Vietnam 344 00:20:05,766 --> 00:20:07,865 was, was was kill ratios-- 345 00:20:07,965 --> 00:20:10,133 how many of them versus how many of us. 346 00:20:10,232 --> 00:20:12,400 Well, the only thing that's important 347 00:20:12,500 --> 00:20:14,799 to the American people is the "us." 348 00:20:14,900 --> 00:20:18,465 You know, if there's three us dead, that's the number. 349 00:20:18,566 --> 00:20:21,700 Not 30, you know, Vietnamese dead. 350 00:20:21,799 --> 00:20:24,865 And, so, politically, an attrition strategy 351 00:20:24,965 --> 00:20:27,133 just can't last very long. 352 00:20:27,232 --> 00:20:28,665 We don't care what the ratio is, 353 00:20:28,766 --> 00:20:29,932 we just want the absolute number 354 00:20:30,032 --> 00:20:32,665 of how many American kids died. 355 00:20:32,766 --> 00:20:36,032 NARRATOR: A Gallup poll now found that most Americans 356 00:20:36,133 --> 00:20:39,900 believed Vietnam had been a mistake. 357 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:42,965 Richard Nixon knew he needed to signal to the public 358 00:20:43,066 --> 00:20:45,299 that an end was in sight. 359 00:20:47,165 --> 00:20:50,633 The National Security Council had warned Nixon 360 00:20:50,732 --> 00:20:52,766 that the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 361 00:20:52,865 --> 00:20:55,532 the secretaries of state and defense, 362 00:20:55,633 --> 00:21:00,566 the C.I.A., and the U.S. Embassy in Saigon 363 00:21:00,665 --> 00:21:03,732 all privately agreed that without U.S. combat troops, 364 00:21:03,833 --> 00:21:05,432 the South Vietnamese 365 00:21:05,532 --> 00:21:10,099 "cannot now, or in the foreseeable future, 366 00:21:10,200 --> 00:21:12,299 "stand up to both Viet Cong 367 00:21:12,400 --> 00:21:16,032 and sizeable North Vietnamese forces." 368 00:21:16,133 --> 00:21:18,066 Nonetheless, 369 00:21:18,165 --> 00:21:21,232 Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird said, 370 00:21:21,333 --> 00:21:24,766 the war was now to be "Vietnamized." 371 00:21:24,865 --> 00:21:28,500 Saigon's troops would gradually take over responsibility 372 00:21:28,599 --> 00:21:31,133 for engaging the enemy. 373 00:21:31,232 --> 00:21:34,333 It would be General Creighton Abrams' task 374 00:21:34,432 --> 00:21:36,700 to ready the ARVN for that role, 375 00:21:36,799 --> 00:21:39,500 and to make sure that American casualties 376 00:21:39,599 --> 00:21:41,732 were held down in the interim. 377 00:21:41,833 --> 00:21:45,200 ("The Letter" by The Box Tops starts playing) 378 00:21:45,299 --> 00:21:50,500 Meanwhile, American troops would start to go home. 379 00:21:50,599 --> 00:21:53,432 ♪ Gimme a ticket for an aeroplane ♪ 380 00:21:53,532 --> 00:21:55,799 ♪ Ain't got time to take a fast train ♪ 381 00:21:55,900 --> 00:21:57,465 DUONG VAN MAI ELLIOTT: When Nixon came in 382 00:21:57,566 --> 00:22:01,400 and he announced the phase withdrawal, 383 00:22:01,500 --> 00:22:03,932 turning over the fighting to the Vietnamese, 384 00:22:04,032 --> 00:22:06,465 which was something the French had tried before. 385 00:22:06,566 --> 00:22:08,333 They call itjaunissement-- 386 00:22:08,432 --> 00:22:11,700 yellowizing the war. 387 00:22:11,799 --> 00:22:17,833 We knew that the Vietnamese Army was not up to fighting this war. 388 00:22:17,932 --> 00:22:20,400 If they couldn't do it with the Americans, 389 00:22:20,500 --> 00:22:23,566 how were they going to do it without the Americans? 390 00:22:23,665 --> 00:22:26,732 ♪ Lonely days are gone 391 00:22:26,833 --> 00:22:29,665 NARRATOR: Although Washington planned to vastly increase 392 00:22:29,766 --> 00:22:32,633 military support of the South Vietnamese Army, 393 00:22:32,732 --> 00:22:35,932 General Abrams knew that Vietnamization alone 394 00:22:36,032 --> 00:22:38,333 could never defeat the enemy. 395 00:22:38,432 --> 00:22:40,865 But he had his orders. 396 00:22:40,965 --> 00:22:43,633 McPEAK: The reason I was ordered home early 397 00:22:43,732 --> 00:22:45,566 was because Nixon... President Nixon 398 00:22:45,665 --> 00:22:49,032 announced the policy of Vietnamization. 399 00:22:49,133 --> 00:22:53,232 Now, Vietnamization was a lie, 400 00:22:53,333 --> 00:22:57,200 but it had an element of truth in it. 401 00:22:57,299 --> 00:22:59,566 We were leaving, okay? 402 00:22:59,665 --> 00:23:01,566 And that sealed the South's fate. 403 00:23:01,665 --> 00:23:03,066 I knew it. 404 00:23:03,165 --> 00:23:06,099 And I think anybody who was conscious 405 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:07,932 and could see what was going on 406 00:23:08,032 --> 00:23:09,232 knew it. 407 00:23:09,333 --> 00:23:11,833 NARRATOR: Nixon then flew to Midway Island 408 00:23:11,932 --> 00:23:15,500 to meet with South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu. 409 00:23:15,599 --> 00:23:18,700 He had not dared invite Thieu to Washington 410 00:23:18,799 --> 00:23:21,700 for fear of sparking mass demonstrations. 411 00:23:21,799 --> 00:23:23,165 ♪ Lonely days are gone 412 00:23:23,266 --> 00:23:25,365 President Thieu informed me 413 00:23:25,465 --> 00:23:29,266 that the progress of the training program 414 00:23:29,365 --> 00:23:30,965 and the equipping program 415 00:23:31,066 --> 00:23:33,266 for South Vietnamese forces 416 00:23:33,365 --> 00:23:38,400 had been so successful, uh, that he could now recommend 417 00:23:38,500 --> 00:23:41,799 that the United States begin to replace 418 00:23:41,900 --> 00:23:46,200 U.S. combat forces with Vietnamese forces. 419 00:23:46,299 --> 00:23:48,932 (speaking Vietnamese) 420 00:23:51,500 --> 00:23:53,900 NARRATOR: Thieu had said no such thing 421 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:56,532 but felt he had to go along. 422 00:23:56,633 --> 00:23:59,333 "There is nothing I can do," he told a friend. 423 00:23:59,432 --> 00:24:01,833 "Just as we could do nothing about it 424 00:24:01,932 --> 00:24:04,532 "when Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson 425 00:24:04,633 --> 00:24:07,599 decided to come in." 426 00:24:07,700 --> 00:24:10,665 "We were clearly on the way out of Vietnam," 427 00:24:10,766 --> 00:24:13,900 National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger remembered, 428 00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:16,732 "by negotiation if possible, 429 00:24:16,833 --> 00:24:20,633 by unilateral withdrawal if necessary." 430 00:24:20,732 --> 00:24:23,665 He and the president were redefining 431 00:24:23,766 --> 00:24:26,633 what victory would look like. 432 00:24:26,732 --> 00:24:29,665 TOM VALLELY: Nixon and Kissinger... 433 00:24:29,766 --> 00:24:31,732 They... 434 00:24:31,833 --> 00:24:34,099 Their job is to clean up. 435 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:35,799 They're, they're... 436 00:24:35,900 --> 00:24:37,833 The war's over, okay? 437 00:24:37,932 --> 00:24:41,400 When Nixon and Kissinger, when they come, they're... 438 00:24:41,500 --> 00:24:42,865 they're not gonna win the war. 439 00:24:42,965 --> 00:24:45,299 ("Taps" playing) So they develop 440 00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:47,066 a secret strategy. 441 00:24:47,165 --> 00:24:51,099 They surrender without saying they surrendered. 442 00:24:53,566 --> 00:24:56,766 This is not a bad strategy, this is the only strategy. 443 00:24:56,865 --> 00:25:00,700 ("Circle for a Landing" by Three Dog Night starts playing) 444 00:25:00,799 --> 00:25:03,266 (indistinct announcement over P.A.) 445 00:25:05,099 --> 00:25:08,633 NARRATOR: As American soldiers began leaving South Vietnam, 446 00:25:08,732 --> 00:25:11,932 American weaponry and materiel poured in. 447 00:25:13,500 --> 00:25:15,599 ♪ Circle for a landing 448 00:25:15,700 --> 00:25:17,900 ♪ Get your feet back on the ground ♪ 449 00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:21,000 More than a million M16 rifles, 450 00:25:21,099 --> 00:25:27,032 40,000 grenade launchers, thousands of wheeled vehicles-- 451 00:25:27,133 --> 00:25:28,766 so many, one congressman complained, 452 00:25:28,865 --> 00:25:31,965 that it seemed as if the United States taxpayer 453 00:25:32,066 --> 00:25:36,266 was being asked to "put every South Vietnamese soldier 454 00:25:36,365 --> 00:25:38,766 behind the wheel." 455 00:25:38,865 --> 00:25:41,032 NEIL SHEEHAN: It didn't make any sense, of course, 456 00:25:41,133 --> 00:25:44,032 because we tried that in 1962 and '63. 457 00:25:44,133 --> 00:25:45,932 The people hadn't changed. 458 00:25:46,032 --> 00:25:47,732 They were just giving 'em more furniture. 459 00:25:49,932 --> 00:25:52,932 NGUYEN THOI BUNG: 460 00:26:10,799 --> 00:26:14,633 NARRATOR: South Vietnamese armed forces were expanded 461 00:26:14,732 --> 00:26:19,000 from 850,000 men to over a million. 462 00:26:19,099 --> 00:26:21,032 But nothing could alter the fact 463 00:26:21,133 --> 00:26:22,599 that rampant corruption 464 00:26:22,700 --> 00:26:26,133 continually eroded their effectiveness. 465 00:26:26,232 --> 00:26:28,333 DON WEBSTER: The way it works is this: 466 00:26:28,432 --> 00:26:30,799 a man makes a deal with his commanding officer, 467 00:26:30,900 --> 00:26:33,532 perhaps to pay the officer his full salary. 468 00:26:33,633 --> 00:26:36,599 In exchange, you never have to show up for duty, 469 00:26:36,700 --> 00:26:39,165 except perhaps once a week at the ceremony. 470 00:26:39,266 --> 00:26:41,299 So while you're theoretically in the Army, 471 00:26:41,400 --> 00:26:43,799 you can hold a full-time civilian job. 472 00:26:45,066 --> 00:26:48,000 LAM QUANG THI: 473 00:27:00,833 --> 00:27:03,900 (gunfire) 474 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:07,599 NARRATOR: Many ARVN units did fight well. 475 00:27:10,665 --> 00:27:12,700 They had borne the brunt of the fighting 476 00:27:12,799 --> 00:27:14,232 during the Tet Offensive, 477 00:27:14,333 --> 00:27:17,165 and, by the middle of 1969, 478 00:27:17,266 --> 00:27:21,865 90,000 of them had been killed in combat. 479 00:27:21,965 --> 00:27:27,365 Their bravery was often overlooked by Americans. 480 00:27:27,465 --> 00:27:31,032 VALLELY: We were disdainful of them. 481 00:27:31,133 --> 00:27:34,099 We overstated their incompetence 482 00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:37,932 because we wanted to overstate our importance. 483 00:27:38,032 --> 00:27:39,865 (booming in distance) 484 00:27:39,965 --> 00:27:43,099 (men shouting, gunfire) 485 00:27:49,965 --> 00:27:55,133 Part of going to war in Vietnam I, I enjoyed. 486 00:27:55,232 --> 00:28:00,000 If you survive it, it's, it's quite thrilling. 487 00:28:00,099 --> 00:28:03,066 It's the history of the world. 488 00:28:04,532 --> 00:28:05,932 It's hard to survive. 489 00:28:06,032 --> 00:28:07,965 I mean, in, where I was, survival is an issue. 490 00:28:08,066 --> 00:28:12,165 I would have loved to have been in the National Guard. 491 00:28:14,365 --> 00:28:15,665 Period. 492 00:28:15,766 --> 00:28:17,200 ("Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence Clearwater Revival playing) 493 00:28:17,299 --> 00:28:20,099 I knew the core issue 494 00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:23,032 of what was acceptable in war and what wasn't. 495 00:28:23,133 --> 00:28:24,432 I knew that. 496 00:28:24,532 --> 00:28:27,299 I didn't need to get that from the Marine Corps. 497 00:28:27,400 --> 00:28:30,766 I got that from Sunday school. 498 00:28:30,865 --> 00:28:33,766 NARRATOR: Thomas John Vallely was born in Boston, 499 00:28:33,865 --> 00:28:35,232 the son of a judge, 500 00:28:35,333 --> 00:28:38,200 and brought up in the suburb of Newton. 501 00:28:38,299 --> 00:28:43,700 Undiagnosed dyslexia kept him from doing well in school. 502 00:28:43,799 --> 00:28:45,833 By 1969, 503 00:28:45,932 --> 00:28:49,599 Vallely was a radio operator in the Marine Corps, 504 00:28:49,700 --> 00:28:52,732 part of a massive search-and-destroy mission 505 00:28:52,833 --> 00:28:57,000 in Quang Nam Province in the northern part of South Vietnam. 506 00:28:57,099 --> 00:28:58,700 (men shouting, gunfire) 507 00:28:58,799 --> 00:29:00,432 On August 13, 508 00:29:00,532 --> 00:29:02,299 his company was ambushed 509 00:29:02,400 --> 00:29:05,900 and came under heavy machine gun fire. 510 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:07,400 (gunfire) 511 00:29:13,299 --> 00:29:17,432 VALLELY: It was a "grab 'em by the belt" type of situation. 512 00:29:17,532 --> 00:29:20,432 And we lost a lot of people. 513 00:29:21,965 --> 00:29:23,299 So did they. 514 00:29:25,133 --> 00:29:27,200 Lot of people laying around. 515 00:29:27,299 --> 00:29:29,732 (gunfire, explosion) 516 00:29:29,833 --> 00:29:32,099 NARRATOR: Vallely radioed for reinforcements. 517 00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:35,732 Then he picked up a rifle and ammunition 518 00:29:35,833 --> 00:29:38,232 from a wounded Marine, 519 00:29:38,333 --> 00:29:40,365 and, firing as he went, took up a position 520 00:29:40,465 --> 00:29:43,299 just ten feet from an enemy machine gun. 521 00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:48,900 He hurled a smoke grenade to mark their position. 522 00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:52,900 And then, as enemy fire swept back and forth 523 00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:55,165 across the field, 524 00:29:55,266 --> 00:29:56,833 he moved from Marine to Marine, 525 00:29:56,932 --> 00:29:58,566 pointing out targets among the trees 526 00:29:58,665 --> 00:30:01,432 and encouraging his comrades. 527 00:30:07,432 --> 00:30:10,333 For his conspicuous gallantry, 528 00:30:10,432 --> 00:30:14,200 Tom Vallely was awarded the Silver Star. 529 00:30:14,299 --> 00:30:16,532 VALLELY: You want to tell your grandchildren 530 00:30:16,633 --> 00:30:19,766 it has a lot to do with courage, 531 00:30:19,865 --> 00:30:23,365 uh, but it, it's really quite reactive. 532 00:30:23,465 --> 00:30:25,766 It's survival. 533 00:30:25,865 --> 00:30:27,965 Either you're... 534 00:30:28,066 --> 00:30:30,566 It's, it's... 535 00:30:30,665 --> 00:30:33,000 There's no choice here. 536 00:30:33,099 --> 00:30:37,133 You react or you're not gonna have grandchildren. 537 00:30:39,965 --> 00:30:41,200 COUNTRY JOE McDONALD: Give me an "F"! 538 00:30:41,299 --> 00:30:42,200 CROWD: "F"! 539 00:30:42,299 --> 00:30:43,532 McDONALD: Give me a "U"! 540 00:30:43,633 --> 00:30:44,532 CROWD: "U"! 541 00:30:44,633 --> 00:30:45,732 McDONALD: Give me a "C"! 542 00:30:45,833 --> 00:30:47,700 "C"! Give me a "K"! 543 00:30:47,799 --> 00:30:48,700 "K"! 544 00:30:48,799 --> 00:30:50,032 What's that spell?! 545 00:30:50,133 --> 00:30:52,032 NARRATOR: Two days after the battle 546 00:30:52,133 --> 00:30:54,299 in which Tom Vallely distinguished himself, 547 00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:56,099 and while half a million Americans 548 00:30:56,200 --> 00:30:58,500 were still in Vietnam, 549 00:30:58,599 --> 00:31:00,500 half a million Americans gathered 550 00:31:00,599 --> 00:31:03,465 on a dairy farm in upstate New York 551 00:31:03,566 --> 00:31:06,766 for a music festival: Woodstock. 552 00:31:06,865 --> 00:31:09,200 ♪ Way down yonder in Vietnam 553 00:31:09,299 --> 00:31:11,400 ♪ Put down your books and pick up a gun ♪ 554 00:31:11,500 --> 00:31:12,665 ♪ We're gonna have a whole lot of fun ♪ 555 00:31:12,766 --> 00:31:17,266 ♪ And it's one, two, three, what are we fighting for? ♪ 556 00:31:17,365 --> 00:31:19,700 ♪ Don't ask me, I don't give a damn ♪ 557 00:31:19,799 --> 00:31:22,165 ♪ The next stop is Vietnam 558 00:31:22,266 --> 00:31:24,432 ♪ And it's five, six, seven 559 00:31:24,532 --> 00:31:26,665 ♪ Open up the pearly gates 560 00:31:26,766 --> 00:31:29,833 ♪ Well, there ain't no time to wonder why, whoopee ♪ 561 00:31:29,932 --> 00:31:31,932 ♪ We're all gonna die 562 00:31:32,032 --> 00:31:35,165 ("Soul Sacrifice" by Santana playing) 563 00:31:57,700 --> 00:31:59,032 ♪ 564 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:26,232 (song ends, crowd cheering) 565 00:32:26,333 --> 00:32:30,566 MAN: Ladies and gentlemen, Santana! 566 00:32:30,665 --> 00:32:33,400 You've been told once, you've been told twice. 567 00:32:33,500 --> 00:32:35,066 That's all-- spread it out! 568 00:32:35,165 --> 00:32:37,066 ("Time of the Season" by the Zombies playing) 569 00:32:37,165 --> 00:32:38,465 ♪ What's your name? 570 00:32:38,566 --> 00:32:40,633 GILLAM: This guy from Arkansas 571 00:32:40,732 --> 00:32:45,032 told me he would not carry the radio for me. 572 00:32:45,133 --> 00:32:50,099 He said, "I will not follow you like Cheetah follows Tarzan. 573 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:52,333 It's not gonna happen, Sarge." 574 00:32:52,432 --> 00:32:57,165 And I thought, "Oh, this is gonna be a really long year." 575 00:32:57,266 --> 00:32:59,333 I've got people down there sweeping, 576 00:32:59,432 --> 00:33:00,732 so get 'em down there. 577 00:33:00,833 --> 00:33:02,500 ♪ It's the time 578 00:33:02,599 --> 00:33:05,766 GILLAM: He evolved a little bit. 579 00:33:05,865 --> 00:33:08,566 You know, he, he kind of got the idea 580 00:33:08,665 --> 00:33:11,732 that the enemy's bullets are colorblind. 581 00:33:11,833 --> 00:33:15,133 They would shoot anybody, not just me. 582 00:33:17,700 --> 00:33:21,432 NARRATOR: African-Americans had served in every American war 583 00:33:21,532 --> 00:33:23,932 since the revolution. 584 00:33:24,032 --> 00:33:26,400 In the early years of the Vietnam War, 585 00:33:26,500 --> 00:33:28,865 they suffered a disproportionate number 586 00:33:28,965 --> 00:33:30,865 of combat deaths. 587 00:33:30,965 --> 00:33:34,133 When civil rights leaders complained, 588 00:33:34,232 --> 00:33:37,066 the Defense Department made a concerted effort 589 00:33:37,165 --> 00:33:39,232 to right that balance, 590 00:33:39,333 --> 00:33:42,833 and by 1969, it had succeeded. 591 00:33:42,932 --> 00:33:44,833 But behind the lines, 592 00:33:44,932 --> 00:33:48,566 African-American soldiers were still treated differently 593 00:33:48,665 --> 00:33:50,932 from their white counterparts. 594 00:33:51,032 --> 00:33:52,932 ("Respect" by Otis Redding playing) 595 00:34:01,766 --> 00:34:03,932 SOLDIER: And here there's all, all these beast motherfuckers 596 00:34:04,032 --> 00:34:05,165 walking around here with their hair 597 00:34:05,266 --> 00:34:07,732 looking like goddamn girls, 598 00:34:07,833 --> 00:34:09,065 and we can't wear our hair 599 00:34:09,166 --> 00:34:10,800 motherfucking three inches long. 600 00:34:10,900 --> 00:34:13,166 The motherfucking regulation is three inches. 601 00:34:13,266 --> 00:34:15,932 And most of the brothers can wear a afro, 602 00:34:16,032 --> 00:34:17,865 the hair gonna be motherfucking two inches. 603 00:34:17,965 --> 00:34:19,599 And why we got to get our hair cut? 604 00:34:19,699 --> 00:34:21,099 That's what I want to know. 605 00:34:21,199 --> 00:34:23,099 ♪ Yeah, man, ooh, yeah 606 00:34:23,199 --> 00:34:26,065 WAYNE SMITH: Vietnam was a microcosm. 607 00:34:26,166 --> 00:34:27,932 Everything that was happening in America 608 00:34:28,032 --> 00:34:29,800 was happening in Vietnam, really, 609 00:34:29,900 --> 00:34:31,965 in one way, shape, or form. 610 00:34:32,065 --> 00:34:33,900 In the rear, 611 00:34:34,000 --> 00:34:37,500 there were Confederate flags flying. 612 00:34:37,599 --> 00:34:40,666 SOLDIER 2: I mean, of all things to have over here, man, 613 00:34:40,766 --> 00:34:43,000 why a Confederate flag? 614 00:34:43,099 --> 00:34:45,266 As a matter of fact, I think there ought to be 615 00:34:45,365 --> 00:34:49,333 some goddamn law to fucking outlaw them goddamn flags, man. 616 00:34:49,432 --> 00:34:53,565 The fucking Confederacy is gone, man. 617 00:34:53,666 --> 00:34:56,065 SMITH: When one is in an environment 618 00:34:56,166 --> 00:35:00,800 where everyone has a gun, automatic weapon, 619 00:35:00,900 --> 00:35:03,599 I'll be goddamned if someone's gonna call me a nigger 620 00:35:03,699 --> 00:35:05,666 or give me a bullshit order. 621 00:35:05,766 --> 00:35:09,666 I mean, that was the attitude, to risk my life for what? 622 00:35:09,766 --> 00:35:11,199 REDDING: ♪ Sweeter than honey 623 00:35:11,300 --> 00:35:14,199 ROGER HARRIS: There was all kind of craziness happening, 624 00:35:14,300 --> 00:35:17,532 because white people were still calling, you know, us niggers, 625 00:35:17,632 --> 00:35:20,532 and then there were some black people calling us Uncle Toms. 626 00:35:20,632 --> 00:35:22,065 There were the antiwar folks 627 00:35:22,166 --> 00:35:24,400 who were calling us baby killers, say... 628 00:35:24,500 --> 00:35:26,400 You know, you can say what you want, but you can say it 629 00:35:26,500 --> 00:35:28,132 from over there because if you get in range, 630 00:35:28,233 --> 00:35:32,032 you're gonna get serious damage done to you. 631 00:35:32,132 --> 00:35:33,699 Say what you want from a distance, 632 00:35:33,800 --> 00:35:35,865 but if you get close to me, I'm gonna rip your throat out. 633 00:35:35,965 --> 00:35:37,532 You know? 634 00:35:37,632 --> 00:35:41,199 JUAN RAMIREZ: But when we walked outside that wire, 635 00:35:41,300 --> 00:35:44,233 we went out into the bush, we were tight. 636 00:35:44,333 --> 00:35:46,565 Even with our differences. 637 00:35:46,666 --> 00:35:48,733 Maybe we had threatened each other, 638 00:35:48,833 --> 00:35:51,900 we'd had a fight back in the base, 639 00:35:52,000 --> 00:35:54,666 but when we were out there, you know, 640 00:35:54,766 --> 00:35:58,333 we, we were a, a fighting unit. 641 00:35:59,800 --> 00:36:03,699 And it's almost like an identity crisis. 642 00:36:03,800 --> 00:36:07,800 I was born here, and my parents were born here. 643 00:36:07,900 --> 00:36:10,132 I felt, in a way, 644 00:36:10,233 --> 00:36:13,300 more American than Mexican. 645 00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:14,965 MAN: ...hand and repeat after me... 646 00:36:15,065 --> 00:36:19,365 NARRATOR: The U.S. military did not officially count Hispanics, 647 00:36:19,465 --> 00:36:24,099 but an estimated 170,000 would serve in Vietnam 648 00:36:24,199 --> 00:36:28,233 and more than 3,000 lost their lives. 649 00:36:28,333 --> 00:36:30,900 Like their fathers and grandfathers, 650 00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:35,032 many saw military service as both a patriotic duty 651 00:36:35,132 --> 00:36:37,900 and an opportunity to advance their standing 652 00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:40,500 in the United States. 653 00:36:40,599 --> 00:36:43,699 But as casualties mounted 654 00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:45,833 and with a burgeoning Chicano identity movement 655 00:36:45,932 --> 00:36:48,365 among farm workers and college students, 656 00:36:48,465 --> 00:36:53,132 anti-war sentiment in Hispanic communities grew. 657 00:36:53,233 --> 00:36:56,865 We're protesting against the discriminatory draft laws 658 00:36:56,965 --> 00:36:59,032 that give deferments 659 00:36:59,132 --> 00:37:02,365 to all the Anglo middle-class people of this country 660 00:37:02,465 --> 00:37:05,465 and make the heaviest burdens of the war 661 00:37:05,565 --> 00:37:08,632 fall on the poor, fall on theMexicano. 662 00:37:08,733 --> 00:37:11,000 RAMIREZ: I had learned 663 00:37:11,099 --> 00:37:15,000 about my sister and my mother's antiwar activities 664 00:37:15,099 --> 00:37:17,000 while I was still in Vietnam. 665 00:37:17,099 --> 00:37:19,266 In fact, my sister wrote and said, 666 00:37:19,365 --> 00:37:21,800 "I hope you're okay with this." 667 00:37:21,900 --> 00:37:23,532 And she was honest with me. 668 00:37:23,632 --> 00:37:25,532 She told me what they were doing. 669 00:37:25,632 --> 00:37:28,766 She says, "I'm doing it for you, 'cause I want you to come home." 670 00:37:28,865 --> 00:37:30,699 (indistinct chanting) 671 00:37:35,932 --> 00:37:37,000 (TV clicks on) 672 00:37:37,099 --> 00:37:40,333 In line with our policy of taking a stand 673 00:37:40,432 --> 00:37:42,166 on the pressing issues of the day, 674 00:37:42,266 --> 00:37:45,166 we now present another in our continuing series of editorials. 675 00:37:45,266 --> 00:37:46,132 The subject: 676 00:37:46,233 --> 00:37:49,132 are our draft laws unfair? 677 00:37:49,233 --> 00:37:51,300 Here again, speaking for our program, 678 00:37:51,400 --> 00:37:53,965 is Mr. Patrick Paulsen, vice president. 679 00:37:54,065 --> 00:37:55,699 (applause) 680 00:37:55,800 --> 00:37:58,099 Now, we don't claim the draft is perfect, 681 00:37:58,199 --> 00:38:00,266 and we do have a constructive proposal 682 00:38:00,365 --> 00:38:02,465 for a workable alternative. 683 00:38:02,565 --> 00:38:04,599 We propose a draft lottery 684 00:38:04,699 --> 00:38:07,065 in which the names of all eligible males 685 00:38:07,166 --> 00:38:08,733 will be put into a hat, 686 00:38:08,833 --> 00:38:12,400 and the men will be drafted according to their head sizes. 687 00:38:12,500 --> 00:38:16,032 The tiny heads will go into the military service 688 00:38:16,132 --> 00:38:20,465 and the fat heads will go into government. 689 00:38:20,565 --> 00:38:22,465 SOLDIER (on radio): Roger, 3-1 is on his way. 690 00:38:22,565 --> 00:38:25,199 SOLDIER (over radio): 5-8-1. 691 00:38:25,300 --> 00:38:29,333 VINCENT OKAMOTO: A 19-year-old high school dropout says, 692 00:38:29,432 --> 00:38:32,199 "Why are we here?" 693 00:38:32,300 --> 00:38:34,065 And the, the standard response, 694 00:38:34,166 --> 00:38:36,099 at least on an official level, was, 695 00:38:36,199 --> 00:38:39,065 to prevent international communism 696 00:38:39,166 --> 00:38:42,065 from conquering the world. 697 00:38:42,166 --> 00:38:45,965 The men say, "Hey, that, that's bullshit." 698 00:38:48,266 --> 00:38:49,800 So the other reason put forth, 699 00:38:49,900 --> 00:38:51,932 at least in the latter days of the war, 700 00:38:52,032 --> 00:38:54,400 was to maintain America's international credibility 701 00:38:54,500 --> 00:38:57,065 with our allies, and our enemies. 702 00:38:57,166 --> 00:39:01,300 Uh, no 19, 20-year-old kid wants to die to maintain 703 00:39:01,400 --> 00:39:04,599 the credibility of Lyndon Johnson or Richard Nixon. 704 00:39:04,699 --> 00:39:08,099 And so, within a relatively short time, 705 00:39:08,199 --> 00:39:10,333 the guys were saying, 706 00:39:10,432 --> 00:39:13,199 "Look, we shouldn't be here, but we are. 707 00:39:13,300 --> 00:39:15,199 "So my only function in life 708 00:39:15,300 --> 00:39:18,465 "is to try and keep you alive, buddy, 709 00:39:18,565 --> 00:39:21,632 "and to keep my precious ass from being killed. 710 00:39:21,733 --> 00:39:25,400 And then to go home and forget about this." 711 00:39:27,833 --> 00:39:30,432 SOLDIER: The grunts, uh, 712 00:39:30,532 --> 00:39:33,666 don't always do what the captain says, you know. 713 00:39:33,766 --> 00:39:37,233 We got, uh-- the captain will stay back, 714 00:39:37,333 --> 00:39:39,233 he'll tell the platoon or something 715 00:39:39,333 --> 00:39:42,032 to go out so many hundred meters, you know. 716 00:39:42,132 --> 00:39:43,865 We don't do it. 717 00:39:43,965 --> 00:39:45,766 We only go as far as we get out of sight, 718 00:39:45,865 --> 00:39:47,300 sit down, and come back in. 719 00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:49,233 JOHN PILGER: What happens to an unpopular officer 720 00:39:49,333 --> 00:39:51,365 out in the field? 721 00:39:51,465 --> 00:39:54,400 Mostly unpopular officers, from what I've heard, 722 00:39:54,500 --> 00:39:57,132 if they, if they mess with a grunt too much, 723 00:39:57,233 --> 00:40:00,099 they get shot at. 724 00:40:00,199 --> 00:40:03,599 NARRATOR: It had always been a part of war. 725 00:40:03,699 --> 00:40:06,733 In Vietnam, it was called "fragging," 726 00:40:06,833 --> 00:40:11,065 after the fragmentation grenades most often used. 727 00:40:11,166 --> 00:40:16,233 Beginning in the summer of 1969, 728 00:40:16,333 --> 00:40:20,199 as thousands of American troops began going home, 729 00:40:20,300 --> 00:40:23,865 the number of reports of the murder or attempted murder 730 00:40:23,965 --> 00:40:26,000 by enlisted men of their superiors 731 00:40:26,099 --> 00:40:29,132 increased alarmingly. 732 00:40:29,233 --> 00:40:34,266 The Army would investigate nearly 800 cases. 733 00:40:34,365 --> 00:40:36,333 Most took place far from the fighting, 734 00:40:36,432 --> 00:40:39,132 usually the violent outcome of arguments over race 735 00:40:39,233 --> 00:40:41,400 or women or drugs 736 00:40:41,500 --> 00:40:44,500 rather than the war itself. 737 00:40:44,599 --> 00:40:47,166 But there were exceptions. 738 00:40:47,266 --> 00:40:49,233 OKAMOTO: It's a totally different army 739 00:40:49,333 --> 00:40:53,166 than what we sent to Vietnam in 1965. 740 00:40:53,266 --> 00:40:57,300 And the new lieutenant comes in, all gung-ho for body count. 741 00:40:57,400 --> 00:41:00,932 He wants contact, he goes crazy, and says, 742 00:41:01,032 --> 00:41:03,333 "I want a volunteer for this." 743 00:41:03,432 --> 00:41:06,032 (rapid gunfire) 744 00:41:06,132 --> 00:41:11,865 That new gung-ho officer was a clear and present danger 745 00:41:11,965 --> 00:41:15,666 to the life and limb of the grunts. 746 00:41:15,766 --> 00:41:18,333 They'd have subtle hints, like a little note saying, 747 00:41:18,432 --> 00:41:21,065 "We're gonna kill your ass if you keep this up." 748 00:41:21,166 --> 00:41:24,132 Or instead of a fragmentation grenade, 749 00:41:24,233 --> 00:41:27,965 they may throw a smoke grenade in an officer's hooch or bunker. 750 00:41:28,065 --> 00:41:32,032 And if they didn't correct their behavior and outlook, 751 00:41:32,132 --> 00:41:35,532 yeah, they would frag them. 752 00:41:35,632 --> 00:41:39,300 I saw it happen in a very, uh, strange way. 753 00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:47,500 We were in a base and a Marine started running towards me. 754 00:41:47,599 --> 00:41:49,666 I didn't realize that what he... 755 00:41:49,766 --> 00:41:51,900 what he was doing back in the dark over there 756 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:54,166 was actually throw a hand grenade 757 00:41:54,266 --> 00:41:57,733 underneath the space that is underneath a hooch. 758 00:41:57,833 --> 00:41:59,132 (explosion) 759 00:41:59,233 --> 00:42:01,599 And when it exploded, I went, "Holy shit." 760 00:42:01,699 --> 00:42:05,032 And I knew right away what he had done. 761 00:42:05,132 --> 00:42:08,400 And he was an African-American Marine. 762 00:42:08,500 --> 00:42:10,400 African-Americans were treated 763 00:42:10,500 --> 00:42:12,865 with disrespect by their superiors. 764 00:42:12,965 --> 00:42:16,800 This was not uncommon. 765 00:42:16,900 --> 00:42:21,800 So in a ways, as bad as this sounds, 766 00:42:21,900 --> 00:42:24,300 maybe that guy had it coming to him. 767 00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:25,865 I don't know. 768 00:42:29,099 --> 00:42:31,865 In Paris, the 29th session of the so-called peace talks 769 00:42:31,965 --> 00:42:32,865 took place. 770 00:42:32,965 --> 00:42:34,766 There was no progress. 771 00:42:34,865 --> 00:42:38,199 In Vietnam, it was announced that 139 Americans 772 00:42:38,300 --> 00:42:39,800 lost their lives last week, 773 00:42:39,900 --> 00:42:42,500 bringing total deaths in our longest war... 774 00:42:42,599 --> 00:42:45,500 NARRATOR: The four-way peace talks in Paris 775 00:42:45,599 --> 00:42:48,166 continued to go nowhere. 776 00:42:48,266 --> 00:42:51,900 To break the logjam, Nixon directed Henry Kissinger 777 00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:54,666 to begin secret talks, 778 00:42:54,766 --> 00:42:57,400 the first in a series of clandestine meetings 779 00:42:57,500 --> 00:43:00,266 with the North Vietnamese alone. 780 00:43:00,365 --> 00:43:02,666 They first met in an apartment building 781 00:43:02,766 --> 00:43:04,800 on the Rue de Rivoli. 782 00:43:04,900 --> 00:43:07,833 The Viet Cong and the South Vietnamese government 783 00:43:07,932 --> 00:43:10,632 were not included. 784 00:43:10,733 --> 00:43:13,666 Hanoi remained immovable. 785 00:43:13,766 --> 00:43:17,532 They would not even admit they had troops in South Vietnam, 786 00:43:17,632 --> 00:43:21,532 let alone discuss withdrawing them. 787 00:43:21,632 --> 00:43:23,400 Now Kissinger warned 788 00:43:23,500 --> 00:43:26,699 that if there were no change in their position by November 1, 789 00:43:26,800 --> 00:43:28,733 the one-year anniversary 790 00:43:28,833 --> 00:43:31,166 of President Johnson's bombing halt, 791 00:43:31,266 --> 00:43:32,900 President Nixon 792 00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:35,900 would "consider steps of grave consequence." 793 00:43:48,500 --> 00:43:52,000 September 2, 1969, 794 00:43:52,099 --> 00:43:54,333 was the 24th anniversary 795 00:43:54,432 --> 00:43:58,233 of Ho Chi Minh's declaration of Vietnamese independence 796 00:43:58,333 --> 00:44:00,766 in Hanoi's Ba Dinh Square. 797 00:44:02,766 --> 00:44:07,565 At 9:45 that morning, Ho died. 798 00:44:07,666 --> 00:44:12,300 He was said to be 79, but like so much about him, 799 00:44:12,400 --> 00:44:17,699 the precise date of his birth was shrouded in mystery. 800 00:44:17,800 --> 00:44:20,400 He had been "Uncle Ho" for decades, 801 00:44:20,500 --> 00:44:23,800 the living embodiment of the struggle against the Japanese, 802 00:44:23,900 --> 00:44:26,800 the French, the Saigon government, 803 00:44:26,900 --> 00:44:29,733 and then the Americans. 804 00:44:29,833 --> 00:44:31,766 ♪ 805 00:44:31,865 --> 00:44:34,632 In a speech to the National Assembly, 806 00:44:34,733 --> 00:44:39,166 Le Duan, the First Secretary of the Communist Party, 807 00:44:39,266 --> 00:44:40,565 who had been the architect 808 00:44:40,666 --> 00:44:43,233 of North Vietnamese military policy 809 00:44:43,333 --> 00:44:44,599 for a decade, 810 00:44:44,699 --> 00:44:48,766 promised to fulfill what he said was Ho's vision: 811 00:44:48,865 --> 00:44:54,733 the reunification of the country on communist terms. 812 00:44:56,300 --> 00:44:58,965 Nothing had changed. 813 00:44:59,065 --> 00:45:00,833 ROBERT FRISHMAN: Hanoi has given the false impression 814 00:45:00,932 --> 00:45:04,233 that all is wine and roses and it isn't so. 815 00:45:04,333 --> 00:45:06,699 NARRATOR: The same day Ho Chi Minh died, 816 00:45:06,800 --> 00:45:09,365 an unusual press conference was held 817 00:45:09,465 --> 00:45:12,365 at the Bethesda Naval Medical Center. 818 00:45:12,465 --> 00:45:15,132 Two ailing prisoners of war, 819 00:45:15,233 --> 00:45:18,699 Robert Frishman and Douglas Hegdahl, 820 00:45:18,800 --> 00:45:21,065 who had recently been released by the North Vietnamese, 821 00:45:21,166 --> 00:45:23,300 spoke in public for the first time 822 00:45:23,400 --> 00:45:25,199 about the severe treatment 823 00:45:25,300 --> 00:45:28,666 they and their fellow prisoners had received. 824 00:45:28,766 --> 00:45:31,233 I don't think solitary confinement, 825 00:45:31,333 --> 00:45:35,032 forced statements, living in a cage for three years, 826 00:45:35,132 --> 00:45:38,965 being put in straps, not being allowed to sleep or eat, 827 00:45:39,065 --> 00:45:42,532 removal of fingernails, being hung from a ceiling, 828 00:45:42,632 --> 00:45:44,900 having an infected arm which was almost lost, 829 00:45:45,000 --> 00:45:47,233 not receiving medical care, 830 00:45:47,333 --> 00:45:49,565 being dragged along the ground with a broken leg, 831 00:45:49,666 --> 00:45:52,599 or not allowing exchange of mail to prisoners of war 832 00:45:52,699 --> 00:45:54,032 are humane. 833 00:45:54,132 --> 00:45:58,333 NARRATOR: Douglas Hegdahl was quiet, self-effacing, 834 00:45:58,432 --> 00:46:01,065 and so apparently clueless, 835 00:46:01,166 --> 00:46:03,233 his North Vietnamese guards 836 00:46:03,333 --> 00:46:06,065 had called him the "stupid one." 837 00:46:06,166 --> 00:46:07,632 But once released, 838 00:46:07,733 --> 00:46:10,900 he was a gold mine of information. 839 00:46:11,000 --> 00:46:14,900 He had memorized the names of more than 200 prisoners 840 00:46:15,000 --> 00:46:18,632 to the tune of "Old McDonald Had a Farm." 841 00:46:18,733 --> 00:46:21,565 Thanks to him, scores of American families 842 00:46:21,666 --> 00:46:23,766 would find out for the first time 843 00:46:23,865 --> 00:46:29,032 that their sons and husbands and fathers were still alive. 844 00:46:29,132 --> 00:46:32,565 Within a few days of the press conference, 845 00:46:32,666 --> 00:46:36,432 Hanoi's treatment of the prisoners began to improve. 846 00:46:36,532 --> 00:46:40,400 "A lot less brutality," one captive remembered, 847 00:46:40,500 --> 00:46:43,032 "and larger bowls of rice." 848 00:46:45,632 --> 00:46:47,800 (explosion) 849 00:46:47,900 --> 00:46:49,465 (men yelling) 850 00:46:49,565 --> 00:46:51,465 (rapid gunfire) 851 00:46:57,833 --> 00:46:59,166 DEVALLIER: All right, who's wounded? 852 00:46:59,266 --> 00:47:01,965 All right, give me some cover! 853 00:47:02,065 --> 00:47:04,733 RICHARD THRELKELD: Devallier is the lone medic in the platoon. 854 00:47:04,833 --> 00:47:06,000 He's scared, 855 00:47:06,099 --> 00:47:08,432 scared from the moment he gets out of the chopper 856 00:47:08,532 --> 00:47:09,965 to the moment it picks him up. 857 00:47:10,065 --> 00:47:12,965 Scared that someday he's going to get killed 858 00:47:13,065 --> 00:47:16,032 picking up a wounded buddy. 859 00:47:16,132 --> 00:47:18,032 (rapid gunfire, men yelling) 860 00:47:19,766 --> 00:47:21,965 WAYNE SMITH: I was the replacement 861 00:47:22,065 --> 00:47:25,666 for a medic who had been killed. 862 00:47:25,766 --> 00:47:29,333 First time out, we were assigned to do a patrol. 863 00:47:29,432 --> 00:47:32,766 MAN: Remember to stop the bleeding! 864 00:47:32,865 --> 00:47:38,465 SMITH: And we stumbled actually into an ambush. 865 00:47:38,565 --> 00:47:41,199 (explosion) 866 00:47:41,300 --> 00:47:44,666 And it was incredibly terrifying. 867 00:47:44,766 --> 00:47:47,065 Guys were screaming and yelling. 868 00:47:47,166 --> 00:47:49,465 There was shooting everywhere. 869 00:47:49,565 --> 00:47:53,532 That first firefight, I remember praying to God, 870 00:47:53,632 --> 00:47:59,766 if He got me through this that I would make a difference. 871 00:47:59,865 --> 00:48:04,233 That I really would make a difference. 872 00:48:04,333 --> 00:48:07,400 MEDIC: Sometimes their lives depend on you, I mean; 873 00:48:07,500 --> 00:48:10,432 you hold it in your hands, as a medic. 874 00:48:10,532 --> 00:48:13,400 It's just hard to say but right then, 875 00:48:13,500 --> 00:48:15,733 you hold life and death in your hand. 876 00:48:15,833 --> 00:48:19,532 NARRATOR: In Vietnam, medics and navy corpsmen 877 00:48:19,632 --> 00:48:22,065 accompanied infantry units on patrols, 878 00:48:22,166 --> 00:48:24,032 search and destroy missions, 879 00:48:24,132 --> 00:48:27,632 and large-scale combat operations. 880 00:48:27,733 --> 00:48:31,500 Nearly 2,000 would lose their lives. 881 00:48:31,599 --> 00:48:33,432 (helicopter whirring) 882 00:48:35,199 --> 00:48:37,766 Unlike in previous wars, 883 00:48:37,865 --> 00:48:41,166 many medics in Vietnam chose to carry weapons, 884 00:48:41,266 --> 00:48:43,666 and when the shooting started, 885 00:48:43,766 --> 00:48:46,465 were willing to use them to protect themselves 886 00:48:46,565 --> 00:48:49,500 and their wounded comrades. 887 00:48:49,599 --> 00:48:53,000 SMITH: I carried an M16, 888 00:48:53,099 --> 00:48:56,132 but I did not know if I could kill. 889 00:48:56,233 --> 00:48:59,833 Part of being a medic was to save lives. 890 00:48:59,932 --> 00:49:06,233 I wondered, if the scenario presented itself, would I? 891 00:49:06,333 --> 00:49:10,965 I did participate in shooting at the enemy. 892 00:49:11,065 --> 00:49:13,500 We killed a lot of people. 893 00:49:13,599 --> 00:49:16,865 I feel that responsibility. 894 00:49:18,300 --> 00:49:21,166 I feel blood on my hands. 895 00:49:26,532 --> 00:49:31,132 When you kill someone for your country, 896 00:49:31,233 --> 00:49:34,099 all things change. 897 00:49:35,733 --> 00:49:37,099 ("Come Ye" by Nina Simone playing) 898 00:49:37,199 --> 00:49:39,632 ♪ Come ye 899 00:49:42,032 --> 00:49:45,432 ♪ Ye who would have peace... 900 00:49:45,532 --> 00:49:46,932 SAM BROWN: We believed it's possible 901 00:49:47,032 --> 00:49:49,166 to create a substantial majority in this country 902 00:49:49,266 --> 00:49:50,865 for withdrawal from Vietnam, 903 00:49:50,965 --> 00:49:52,733 and that's what we're about in the long run. 904 00:49:52,833 --> 00:49:54,699 In November, we'll be back again, 905 00:49:54,800 --> 00:49:56,300 in December, we'll be back again. 906 00:49:56,400 --> 00:49:58,266 And we intend to build the movement, 907 00:49:58,365 --> 00:50:00,666 which will make it imperative 908 00:50:00,766 --> 00:50:03,032 that the United States withdraw from Vietnam. 909 00:50:03,132 --> 00:50:06,000 REPORTER: The organizers of the moratorium do not aim 910 00:50:06,099 --> 00:50:08,733 at confrontation or scuffles with the police. 911 00:50:08,833 --> 00:50:11,800 Instead, they want to involve the most people possible 912 00:50:11,900 --> 00:50:14,833 in some gesture of protest, however modest, 913 00:50:14,932 --> 00:50:18,465 so as to show the administration that a large bloc of Americans 914 00:50:18,565 --> 00:50:21,065 care not about winning or losing the war, 915 00:50:21,166 --> 00:50:23,365 but only about ending it. 916 00:50:23,465 --> 00:50:26,699 ♪ Ye who have no fear 917 00:50:26,800 --> 00:50:27,965 Thank you. 918 00:50:28,065 --> 00:50:30,300 NIXON: Now, I understand 919 00:50:30,400 --> 00:50:32,599 that there has been and continues to be 920 00:50:32,699 --> 00:50:35,532 opposition to the war in Vietnam on the campuses 921 00:50:35,632 --> 00:50:38,532 and also in the nation. 922 00:50:38,632 --> 00:50:39,666 Uh, we expect it. 923 00:50:39,766 --> 00:50:41,666 However, under no circumstances 924 00:50:41,766 --> 00:50:44,932 will I be affected whatever by it. 925 00:50:45,032 --> 00:50:48,932 NARRATOR: Hoping to undercut support for the moratorium, 926 00:50:49,032 --> 00:50:51,233 Nixon canceled the draft calls 927 00:50:51,333 --> 00:50:55,099 for the months of November and December 1969. 928 00:50:55,199 --> 00:50:58,500 And he instituted a random lottery system 929 00:50:58,599 --> 00:51:01,432 based on the date of a young man's birth, 930 00:51:01,532 --> 00:51:04,432 intended to treat rich and poor alike 931 00:51:04,532 --> 00:51:08,199 and do away with unfair deferments. 932 00:51:08,300 --> 00:51:11,800 It was good policy and a brilliant political maneuver. 933 00:51:11,900 --> 00:51:13,199 (siren wails) 934 00:51:13,300 --> 00:51:14,666 On the line, brothers and sisters. 935 00:51:14,766 --> 00:51:16,166 On the line now. 936 00:51:16,266 --> 00:51:17,833 ("Subterranean Homesick Blues" by Bob Dylan playing) 937 00:51:17,932 --> 00:51:20,065 NARRATOR: As people across the country organized 938 00:51:20,166 --> 00:51:22,000 for the peaceful moratorium, 939 00:51:22,099 --> 00:51:24,065 members of a radical faction 940 00:51:24,166 --> 00:51:26,900 of the Students for a Democratic Society-- 941 00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:28,199 the "Weathermen"-- 942 00:51:28,300 --> 00:51:29,400 took more direct action. 943 00:51:29,500 --> 00:51:30,800 ♪ The man in a trench coat 944 00:51:30,900 --> 00:51:33,500 NARRATOR: Less interested in ending the war 945 00:51:33,599 --> 00:51:36,099 than in sparking a violent revolution, 946 00:51:36,199 --> 00:51:40,932 they staged what they called four "Days of Rage" in Chicago. 947 00:51:41,032 --> 00:51:43,099 DYLAN: ♪ You better duck down the alleyway ♪ 948 00:51:43,199 --> 00:51:46,266 MAN: We no longer simply resist the pigs. 949 00:51:46,365 --> 00:51:48,333 We no longer trap ourselves 950 00:51:48,432 --> 00:51:49,965 so that the only possible motion 951 00:51:50,065 --> 00:51:52,132 is in response to pig attacks. 952 00:51:52,233 --> 00:51:54,465 We have gone on the offensive. 953 00:51:54,565 --> 00:51:56,465 It is we who call the shots now. 954 00:51:56,565 --> 00:51:58,733 NARRATOR: "Kill all the rich people," 955 00:51:58,833 --> 00:52:00,065 one of their leaders said. 956 00:52:00,166 --> 00:52:03,199 "Break up their cars and apartments. 957 00:52:03,300 --> 00:52:05,432 "Bring the revolution home. 958 00:52:05,532 --> 00:52:07,065 "Kill your parents. 959 00:52:07,166 --> 00:52:10,333 That's really where it's at." 960 00:52:10,432 --> 00:52:12,333 MAN: Weathermen takes its name from a line 961 00:52:12,432 --> 00:52:14,099 in a Bob Dylan song which says, 962 00:52:14,199 --> 00:52:15,932 "You don't need a weatherman 963 00:52:16,032 --> 00:52:17,465 to know the way the wind blows." 964 00:52:17,565 --> 00:52:19,099 DYLAN: ♪ Wash the plain clothes 965 00:52:19,199 --> 00:52:20,599 ♪ You don't need a weatherman 966 00:52:20,699 --> 00:52:24,333 ♪ To know which way the wind blows ♪ 967 00:52:24,432 --> 00:52:26,733 NARRATOR: The Weathermen assumed 968 00:52:26,833 --> 00:52:29,500 thousands would rally to their cause. 969 00:52:29,599 --> 00:52:32,565 Only 600 did. 970 00:52:32,666 --> 00:52:36,166 They blew up a statue honoring slain policemen, 971 00:52:36,266 --> 00:52:39,500 ran through the streets wielding chains and pipes, 972 00:52:39,599 --> 00:52:41,733 smashing windows and windshields 973 00:52:41,833 --> 00:52:45,365 and charging police barriers. 974 00:52:45,465 --> 00:52:47,132 Six were shot. 975 00:52:47,233 --> 00:52:50,032 250 were jailed. 976 00:52:50,132 --> 00:52:53,365 75 policemen were injured; 977 00:52:53,465 --> 00:52:56,532 a city attorney was paralyzed for life. 978 00:52:56,632 --> 00:52:58,599 (siren wails) 979 00:52:58,699 --> 00:53:02,166 The Black Panthers denounced the Weathermen 980 00:53:02,266 --> 00:53:05,266 as "anarchistic, opportunistic... 981 00:53:05,365 --> 00:53:08,865 Custeristic." 982 00:53:08,965 --> 00:53:12,032 BILL ZIMMERMAN: Probably 1969 was the year 983 00:53:12,132 --> 00:53:14,300 in which most of us were more alienated 984 00:53:14,400 --> 00:53:18,233 and felt more like revolutionaries. 985 00:53:18,333 --> 00:53:23,000 And it led to a lot of crazy responses. 986 00:53:23,099 --> 00:53:26,965 I wanted the country to undergo a radical transformation, 987 00:53:27,065 --> 00:53:29,965 a redistribution of wealth and power. 988 00:53:30,065 --> 00:53:32,266 But to try to bring that about 989 00:53:32,365 --> 00:53:35,099 through armed struggle in the United States 990 00:53:35,199 --> 00:53:37,166 was insane. 991 00:53:37,266 --> 00:53:39,632 These were all infantile fantasies 992 00:53:39,733 --> 00:53:42,532 that people came to out of the frustration 993 00:53:42,632 --> 00:53:45,266 of not having a workable strategy 994 00:53:45,365 --> 00:53:48,699 for ending the war. 995 00:53:48,800 --> 00:53:50,300 REPORTER: What do you think people ought to do, governor, 996 00:53:50,400 --> 00:53:52,233 who are genuinely opposed to the war 997 00:53:52,333 --> 00:53:54,500 but not in favor of the Viet Cong? 998 00:53:54,599 --> 00:53:58,932 Well, I think that we have had... experiences before 999 00:53:59,032 --> 00:54:01,599 of people who have been opposed to wars, 1000 00:54:01,699 --> 00:54:04,565 and I think they deal through their own representatives, 1001 00:54:04,666 --> 00:54:07,065 and it's dealt with in government channels. 1002 00:54:07,166 --> 00:54:09,599 But once the killing starts, 1003 00:54:09,699 --> 00:54:11,565 the very difficult thing then is, 1004 00:54:11,666 --> 00:54:15,500 how do you register these protests 1005 00:54:15,599 --> 00:54:17,565 without lending comfort and aid to the enemy, 1006 00:54:17,666 --> 00:54:19,565 without strengthening his resistance 1007 00:54:19,666 --> 00:54:20,766 and his will to fight 1008 00:54:20,865 --> 00:54:23,400 and thus killing more of our men? 1009 00:54:23,500 --> 00:54:27,599 And most Americans in the past have always respected it. 1010 00:54:27,699 --> 00:54:29,233 You see, the people in this country 1011 00:54:29,333 --> 00:54:31,300 aren't fighting a Vietnam War. 1012 00:54:31,400 --> 00:54:32,800 The government's fighting it. 1013 00:54:32,900 --> 00:54:34,000 Well, the government is, uh, 1014 00:54:34,099 --> 00:54:36,233 the government is the people, supposedly, No. 1015 00:54:36,333 --> 00:54:38,500 but in this instance, it is not. Not anymore, it's not. 1016 00:54:38,599 --> 00:54:40,032 No, I agree with you, it is not. 1017 00:54:40,132 --> 00:54:41,465 Not in this situation, it's not. 1018 00:54:41,565 --> 00:54:43,000 Shouldn't I let my government know 1019 00:54:43,099 --> 00:54:44,233 that I think they're crazy? 1020 00:54:44,333 --> 00:54:45,800 I think they are insane, really. 1021 00:54:45,900 --> 00:54:47,932 This is an insane thing we're doing. 1022 00:54:48,032 --> 00:54:49,500 As a matter of fact, 1023 00:54:49,599 --> 00:54:51,666 Nixon said he will not listen to us 1024 00:54:51,766 --> 00:54:53,365 and that he will not be dictated to 1025 00:54:53,465 --> 00:54:55,266 from the people in the streets. 1026 00:54:55,365 --> 00:54:59,199 The people in the streets are me. 1027 00:54:59,300 --> 00:55:02,233 (chanting "peace now") 1028 00:55:02,333 --> 00:55:06,599 NARRATOR: The moratorium on October 15, 1029 00:55:06,699 --> 00:55:08,199 held all across the country, 1030 00:55:08,300 --> 00:55:11,132 was the largest outpouring of public dissent 1031 00:55:11,233 --> 00:55:12,666 in American history. 1032 00:55:12,766 --> 00:55:16,632 ("Blackbird" by the Beatles playing) 1033 00:55:16,733 --> 00:55:21,432 ♪ Blackbird singing in the dead of night ♪ 1034 00:55:21,532 --> 00:55:26,766 ♪ Take these broken wings and learn to fly ♪ 1035 00:55:26,865 --> 00:55:30,699 ♪ All your life 1036 00:55:30,800 --> 00:55:35,333 ♪ You were only waiting for this moment to arise ♪ 1037 00:55:35,432 --> 00:55:38,166 NARRATOR: It was peaceful, middle-class, 1038 00:55:38,266 --> 00:55:41,266 carefully focused on ending the war. 1039 00:55:41,365 --> 00:55:43,766 "It's nice," one marcher said, 1040 00:55:43,865 --> 00:55:45,599 "to go to a demonstration 1041 00:55:45,699 --> 00:55:50,632 without having to swear allegiance to Chairman Mao." 1042 00:55:50,733 --> 00:55:52,166 ♪ All your life 1043 00:55:52,266 --> 00:55:54,800 FRANK McGEE: Surely this is a day unique in our history. 1044 00:55:54,900 --> 00:55:57,865 Never have so many of our people publicly 1045 00:55:57,965 --> 00:56:00,300 and collectively manifested opposition 1046 00:56:00,400 --> 00:56:03,532 to this country's involvement in a war. 1047 00:56:03,632 --> 00:56:06,565 It is unlikely we will remain unchanged. 1048 00:56:06,666 --> 00:56:09,500 Hundreds and hundreds of thousands 1049 00:56:09,599 --> 00:56:11,699 in cities from New York, with its eight million people, 1050 00:56:11,800 --> 00:56:15,099 to Dubois, Wyoming, with its 800 people, 1051 00:56:15,199 --> 00:56:17,432 have sought to impress upon the president 1052 00:56:17,532 --> 00:56:19,599 their opposition to the war. 1053 00:56:19,699 --> 00:56:22,000 (bell rings) 1054 00:56:22,099 --> 00:56:28,900 CAROL CROCKER: The first large protest march I went to was in Baltimore. 1055 00:56:29,000 --> 00:56:32,500 I'd never been with that many people at one time. 1056 00:56:32,599 --> 00:56:38,666 Just the energy of the crowd itself was tremendous. 1057 00:56:38,766 --> 00:56:41,065 I wondered if everybody was in it 1058 00:56:41,166 --> 00:56:43,132 for the right reasons. 1059 00:56:43,233 --> 00:56:47,865 I wasn't there to drink or smoke pot. 1060 00:56:47,965 --> 00:56:50,199 Not in those situations. 1061 00:56:50,300 --> 00:56:53,833 These, to me, were serious business. 1062 00:56:53,932 --> 00:56:57,400 This was the business of living life. 1063 00:56:57,500 --> 00:56:58,833 This was not a party. 1064 00:56:58,932 --> 00:57:01,666 I didn't just want to be with the crowd. 1065 00:57:01,766 --> 00:57:03,766 I didn't just want to make noise. 1066 00:57:03,865 --> 00:57:05,900 I wanted to make a difference. 1067 00:57:06,000 --> 00:57:10,465 And I in no way wanted to dishonor my brother. 1068 00:57:10,565 --> 00:57:12,099 ♪ For this moment to arrive 1069 00:57:12,199 --> 00:57:14,199 QUINN: For most of the government today, 1070 00:57:14,300 --> 00:57:15,733 it was business as usual. 1071 00:57:15,833 --> 00:57:17,565 But at noon on the Capitol steps, 1072 00:57:17,666 --> 00:57:20,065 a thousand young congressional staff employees 1073 00:57:20,166 --> 00:57:22,800 stood in silence for 45 minutes. 1074 00:57:22,900 --> 00:57:27,465 ♪ Blackbird singing in the dead of night ♪ 1075 00:57:27,565 --> 00:57:30,965 NARRATOR: The children of several of the president's closest aides 1076 00:57:31,065 --> 00:57:32,400 and cabinet members 1077 00:57:32,500 --> 00:57:35,166 took part in the national moratorium. 1078 00:57:35,266 --> 00:57:38,565 Vice President Agnew's 14-year-old daughter 1079 00:57:38,666 --> 00:57:40,300 wanted to march, 1080 00:57:40,400 --> 00:57:41,932 but he wouldn't let her. 1081 00:57:42,032 --> 00:57:44,032 Coretta Scott King, 1082 00:57:44,132 --> 00:57:47,000 the widow of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., 1083 00:57:47,099 --> 00:57:49,833 led thousands of silent demonstrators 1084 00:57:49,932 --> 00:57:53,699 streaming past the White House, where Nixon sat alone, 1085 00:57:53,800 --> 00:57:57,132 writing notes to himself on a yellow pad. 1086 00:57:57,233 --> 00:57:59,132 "Don't get rattled. Don't waver. 1087 00:57:59,233 --> 00:58:01,865 Don't react." 1088 00:58:04,465 --> 00:58:06,266 On November 3, 1089 00:58:06,365 --> 00:58:09,733 the president sought to seize back the initiative. 1090 00:58:09,833 --> 00:58:11,632 Good evening, my fellow Americans. 1091 00:58:11,733 --> 00:58:15,599 NARRATOR: He went on national television and called for patience 1092 00:58:15,699 --> 00:58:18,932 and asked Americans to rally behind him. 1093 00:58:19,032 --> 00:58:20,865 NIXON: To you, 1094 00:58:20,965 --> 00:58:25,233 the great silent majority of my fellow Americans, 1095 00:58:25,333 --> 00:58:27,233 I ask for your support. 1096 00:58:27,333 --> 00:58:30,300 I pledged in my campaign for the presidency 1097 00:58:30,400 --> 00:58:31,865 to end the war 1098 00:58:31,965 --> 00:58:34,932 in a way that we could win the peace. 1099 00:58:35,032 --> 00:58:38,699 The more support I can have from the American people, 1100 00:58:38,800 --> 00:58:40,833 the sooner that pledge can be redeemed; 1101 00:58:40,932 --> 00:58:44,365 for the more divided we are at home, 1102 00:58:44,465 --> 00:58:48,166 the less likely the enemy is to negotiate at Paris. 1103 00:58:48,266 --> 00:58:49,500 ("Okie From Muskogee" by Merle Haggard playing) 1104 00:58:49,599 --> 00:58:51,965 Let us be united for peace. 1105 00:58:52,065 --> 00:58:56,300 ♪ We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee ♪ 1106 00:58:56,400 --> 00:58:58,532 NARRATOR: The speech was a triumph. 1107 00:58:58,632 --> 00:59:02,599 Nixon's approval rate soared to 68%. 1108 00:59:04,900 --> 00:59:07,266 MAN: All that's in the news 1109 00:59:07,365 --> 00:59:09,500 is the fact that the moratoriums are meeting, 1110 00:59:09,599 --> 00:59:11,565 that our country's sick... 1111 00:59:11,666 --> 00:59:13,432 sick of this and sick of that. 1112 00:59:13,532 --> 00:59:16,166 It's young people are all the ones that are standing up. 1113 00:59:16,266 --> 00:59:19,632 And there is a silent majority, which is no longer silent. 1114 00:59:19,733 --> 00:59:22,965 We're the people who are wanting to show 1115 00:59:23,065 --> 00:59:25,965 that man deserves freedom no matter where he is. 1116 00:59:26,065 --> 00:59:28,266 ♪ A place where even squares can have a ball ♪ 1117 00:59:28,365 --> 00:59:30,900 Many brave men died in this country to make it free... 1118 00:59:31,000 --> 00:59:32,599 I believe that. 1119 00:59:32,699 --> 00:59:34,900 and let you... and let you have everything. 1120 00:59:35,000 --> 00:59:38,233 SPIRO AGNEW: Senator Fulbright said some months ago 1121 00:59:38,333 --> 00:59:40,833 that if the Vietnam War went on much longer, 1122 00:59:40,932 --> 00:59:44,766 the best of our young people would be in Canada. 1123 00:59:44,865 --> 00:59:47,733 Indeed, as for these deserters, 1124 00:59:47,833 --> 00:59:51,800 malcontents, radicals, incendiaries, 1125 00:59:51,900 --> 00:59:54,233 the civil and the uncivil disobedience 1126 00:59:54,333 --> 00:59:56,199 among our young, 1127 00:59:56,300 --> 00:59:58,166 SDS, PLP, 1128 00:59:58,266 --> 00:59:59,400 Weatherman one, Weatherman two, 1129 00:59:59,500 --> 01:00:01,699 the Revolutionary Action Movement, 1130 01:00:01,800 --> 01:00:03,900 Panthers, lions, hippies, 1131 01:00:04,000 --> 01:00:06,800 yippies, tigers alike. 1132 01:00:06,900 --> 01:00:09,365 I'd rather swap the whole damn zoo 1133 01:00:09,465 --> 01:00:11,932 for a single platoon of the kind of young Americans 1134 01:00:12,032 --> 01:00:13,333 I saw in Vietnam. 1135 01:00:13,432 --> 01:00:16,300 (applause) 1136 01:00:16,400 --> 01:00:19,599 NARRATOR: "We've got the liberal bastards on the run now," 1137 01:00:19,699 --> 01:00:22,233 Nixon told his aides, 1138 01:00:22,333 --> 01:00:26,465 "and we're going to keep them on the run." 1139 01:00:26,565 --> 01:00:28,333 ("My Son" by Jan Howard playing) 1140 01:00:36,632 --> 01:00:40,865 ♪ My son, my son 1141 01:00:40,965 --> 01:00:42,932 JAN HOWARD: My doorbell rang, 1142 01:00:43,032 --> 01:00:45,199 and it was this guy standing there, 1143 01:00:45,300 --> 01:00:48,465 and he said, "Ms. Howard, we're marching in Memphis 1144 01:00:48,565 --> 01:00:51,400 in protest of the Vietnam War." 1145 01:00:51,500 --> 01:00:53,465 I said, "Really?" 1146 01:00:53,565 --> 01:00:57,000 He said, "And we figured in view of what happened..." 1147 01:00:57,099 --> 01:01:00,266 I said, "Yeah, my son's death." 1148 01:01:00,365 --> 01:01:03,199 He said, "Well, we thought you'd like to join us." 1149 01:01:03,300 --> 01:01:05,565 I said, "One of the reasons he died 1150 01:01:05,666 --> 01:01:07,065 "was so you have the right. 1151 01:01:07,166 --> 01:01:09,932 "In this country, you have a right. 1152 01:01:10,032 --> 01:01:12,099 "Go right ahead and demonstrate. 1153 01:01:12,199 --> 01:01:14,166 Have at it." 1154 01:01:14,266 --> 01:01:16,632 I said, "But no, I won't be joining you." 1155 01:01:16,733 --> 01:01:18,365 I said, "But I'll tell you what. 1156 01:01:18,465 --> 01:01:20,199 "If you ever ring my doorbell again, 1157 01:01:20,300 --> 01:01:23,300 I will blow your damn head off with a .357 Magnum." 1158 01:01:33,632 --> 01:01:35,900 TIM O'BRIEN: Well, I was stationed in Vietnam 1159 01:01:36,000 --> 01:01:39,400 at a province called Quang Ngai. 1160 01:01:39,500 --> 01:01:41,032 Even back during the time of the French, 1161 01:01:41,132 --> 01:01:45,099 it was a very heavily Viet Minh area, 1162 01:01:45,199 --> 01:01:47,666 and, when I arrived, heavily Viet Cong. 1163 01:01:50,333 --> 01:01:53,900 NARRATOR: No province suffered more during the American war 1164 01:01:54,000 --> 01:01:56,365 than the coastal province of Quang Ngai. 1165 01:01:56,465 --> 01:01:58,432 (artillery fire) 1166 01:01:58,532 --> 01:02:03,333 More than 70% of its villages had been shelled by Navy ships, 1167 01:02:03,432 --> 01:02:07,266 bombed, bulldozed, or burned to the ground, 1168 01:02:07,365 --> 01:02:09,733 and more than 40% of its people 1169 01:02:09,833 --> 01:02:12,400 had been forced into refugee camps 1170 01:02:12,500 --> 01:02:15,965 before Tim O'Brien from Worthington, Minnesota, 1171 01:02:16,065 --> 01:02:18,465 got there in 1969. 1172 01:02:20,500 --> 01:02:22,166 O'BRIEN: It was a province that was viewed 1173 01:02:22,266 --> 01:02:24,632 much as I guess many Americans might view, 1174 01:02:24,733 --> 01:02:26,965 you know, sort of redneck America. 1175 01:02:27,065 --> 01:02:30,432 Sort of country bumpkins. 1176 01:02:30,532 --> 01:02:31,833 And they may have been country bumpkins, 1177 01:02:31,932 --> 01:02:34,333 but they were fiercely independent. 1178 01:02:34,432 --> 01:02:37,800 NARRATOR: Private O'Brien served in Alpha Company, 1179 01:02:37,900 --> 01:02:42,500 3rd Platoon, 5th Battalion, 23rd Americal Division, 1180 01:02:42,599 --> 01:02:45,733 headquartered at a landing zone called Gator, 1181 01:02:45,833 --> 01:02:49,099 "30 or 40 acres of almost-America," 1182 01:02:49,199 --> 01:02:50,833 O'Brien remembered, 1183 01:02:50,932 --> 01:02:54,166 with hot showers and cold beer. 1184 01:02:55,865 --> 01:02:57,565 O'BRIEN: There was no sense of mission. 1185 01:02:57,666 --> 01:02:59,199 There was no sense of daily purpose. 1186 01:02:59,300 --> 01:03:01,432 We didn't know why we were in a village 1187 01:03:01,532 --> 01:03:03,666 or what we were supposed to accomplish. 1188 01:03:03,766 --> 01:03:05,932 So we'd kick around jugs of rice 1189 01:03:06,032 --> 01:03:08,900 and search houses and frisk people, 1190 01:03:09,000 --> 01:03:11,333 and not knowing what we were looking for 1191 01:03:11,432 --> 01:03:14,833 and rarely finding anything. 1192 01:03:14,932 --> 01:03:16,166 And somebody might die, 1193 01:03:16,266 --> 01:03:18,065 one of our guys, and somebody might not. 1194 01:03:18,166 --> 01:03:20,532 Then we'd come back to the same village a week later 1195 01:03:20,632 --> 01:03:22,865 or two weeks later, do it all over again. 1196 01:03:22,965 --> 01:03:25,733 It was like chasing ghosts. 1197 01:03:25,833 --> 01:03:28,132 (helicopter blades whirring) 1198 01:03:29,800 --> 01:03:31,599 NARRATOR: An American APC 1199 01:03:31,699 --> 01:03:35,166 accidentally crushed one man from O'Brien's company. 1200 01:03:35,266 --> 01:03:39,465 An enemy grenade skittered off O'Brien's helmet and exploded, 1201 01:03:39,565 --> 01:03:42,965 wounding a G.I. standing a few feet away. 1202 01:03:45,900 --> 01:03:49,900 But mines and booby traps were the greatest menace. 1203 01:03:56,400 --> 01:03:58,900 O'BRIEN: Somewhere around 80% of our casualties 1204 01:03:59,000 --> 01:04:01,465 came from land mines of all sorts. 1205 01:04:03,166 --> 01:04:06,099 In Vietnam, for me, just to get up in the morning 1206 01:04:06,199 --> 01:04:09,400 and look out at the land and think, 1207 01:04:09,500 --> 01:04:12,300 "In a few minutes I'll be walking out there, 1208 01:04:12,400 --> 01:04:15,266 "and will my corpse be there or there? 1209 01:04:15,365 --> 01:04:18,565 Will I lose a leg out there?" 1210 01:04:18,666 --> 01:04:22,900 I'd always thought of courage as charging enemy bunkers 1211 01:04:23,000 --> 01:04:25,266 or standing up under fire. 1212 01:04:25,365 --> 01:04:28,699 But just to walk through Quang Ngai, 1213 01:04:28,800 --> 01:04:31,065 day after day, from village to village, 1214 01:04:31,166 --> 01:04:35,432 and through the paddies and up into the mountains, 1215 01:04:35,532 --> 01:04:39,065 just to make your legs move was an act of courage 1216 01:04:39,166 --> 01:04:41,833 that if, say, you were living in Sioux City, 1217 01:04:41,932 --> 01:04:43,565 it wouldn't be courageous 1218 01:04:43,666 --> 01:04:46,166 to walk to the grocery store or down Main Street, 1219 01:04:46,266 --> 01:04:48,865 you know, just to have your legs go back and forth. 1220 01:04:48,965 --> 01:04:50,599 But in Vietnam, for me, 1221 01:04:50,699 --> 01:04:52,800 just to walk felt incredibly brave. 1222 01:04:52,900 --> 01:04:55,365 I would sometimes look at my legs as I walked, 1223 01:04:55,465 --> 01:04:57,432 thinking, "How am I doing this?" 1224 01:05:00,233 --> 01:05:02,132 BAO NINH: 1225 01:05:29,766 --> 01:05:32,000 NARRATOR: Bao Ninh was 17 1226 01:05:32,099 --> 01:05:34,900 when he was drafted into the North Vietnamese Army 1227 01:05:35,000 --> 01:05:36,099 to fight the Americans, 1228 01:05:36,199 --> 01:05:39,465 just as his father had fought the French. 1229 01:05:39,565 --> 01:05:42,800 His war would take place in the Central Highlands 1230 01:05:42,900 --> 01:05:45,032 of South Vietnam. 1231 01:05:45,132 --> 01:05:47,233 It was American firepower 1232 01:05:47,333 --> 01:05:51,932 that Bao Ninh and his fellow soldiers feared the most. 1233 01:05:52,032 --> 01:05:52,699 (explosion) 1234 01:05:52,800 --> 01:05:54,733 BAO NINH: 1235 01:07:20,132 --> 01:07:21,500 (explosion) 1236 01:08:11,300 --> 01:08:13,699 (birds chirping, squawking) 1237 01:08:17,332 --> 01:08:19,399 NARRATOR: Back in the spring, 1238 01:08:19,500 --> 01:08:22,932 Tim O'Brien's outfit had been sent into an area of operations 1239 01:08:23,033 --> 01:08:25,800 the Americans called "Pinkville," 1240 01:08:25,899 --> 01:08:27,733 clusters of villages 1241 01:08:27,832 --> 01:08:31,199 that included a hamlet they called My Lai. 1242 01:08:33,065 --> 01:08:35,199 O'BRIEN: We hated going there. 1243 01:08:35,300 --> 01:08:38,065 When we'd get the word, "You're headed for Pinkville," 1244 01:08:38,166 --> 01:08:40,100 one guy would say to another, "Somebody's gonna die," 1245 01:08:40,199 --> 01:08:41,533 or, "Somebody's gonna lose a leg." 1246 01:08:41,632 --> 01:08:43,632 We were terrified of the place. 1247 01:08:43,733 --> 01:08:47,166 It was littered with land mines. 1248 01:08:47,265 --> 01:08:49,166 The villagers were... 1249 01:08:49,265 --> 01:08:51,065 The expressions on their faces, 1250 01:08:51,166 --> 01:08:55,466 including the children of, say, six or five years old, 1251 01:08:55,565 --> 01:09:00,733 had a mixture of hostility and terror. 1252 01:09:03,033 --> 01:09:04,500 I can't say many of the villagers 1253 01:09:04,600 --> 01:09:06,632 came with open arms to us, 1254 01:09:06,733 --> 01:09:08,765 but this place was special. 1255 01:09:08,865 --> 01:09:10,865 And I remember talking to fellow soldiers, 1256 01:09:10,966 --> 01:09:13,233 thinking, "What is it with this place?" 1257 01:09:14,600 --> 01:09:16,632 And then about three-quarters of the way 1258 01:09:16,733 --> 01:09:18,365 through my tour in Vietnam, 1259 01:09:18,466 --> 01:09:21,666 the story of the My Lai Massacre broke in the States. 1260 01:09:22,966 --> 01:09:25,966 NARRATOR: On November 12, 1969, 1261 01:09:26,065 --> 01:09:28,600 the Dispatch News Service in Washington 1262 01:09:28,699 --> 01:09:32,733 moved a story by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh. 1263 01:09:34,033 --> 01:09:36,265 It was soon followed by the publication 1264 01:09:36,365 --> 01:09:41,332 of graphic photos taken by Army photographer Ronald Haeberle. 1265 01:09:42,800 --> 01:09:46,632 The story and the pictures stunned the country. 1266 01:09:46,733 --> 01:09:48,365 HUNTLEY: Charges have been made 1267 01:09:48,466 --> 01:09:51,199 that troops of the Americal Division 1268 01:09:51,300 --> 01:09:54,733 killed as many as 567 South Vietnamese civilians 1269 01:09:54,832 --> 01:09:58,000 during a sweep in March 1968. 1270 01:09:59,265 --> 01:10:01,233 NARRATOR: 20 months earlier, 1271 01:10:01,332 --> 01:10:04,800 on the morning of March 16, 1968, 1272 01:10:04,899 --> 01:10:07,500 105 men from a rifle company 1273 01:10:07,600 --> 01:10:09,765 belonging to the Americal Division, 1274 01:10:09,865 --> 01:10:11,966 and led by Captain Ernest Medina 1275 01:10:12,065 --> 01:10:14,199 and Lieutenant William Calley, 1276 01:10:14,300 --> 01:10:18,399 had been ordered to helicopter into the village of My Lai 4. 1277 01:10:19,733 --> 01:10:22,966 Since arriving in Vietnam, they had lost 28 men 1278 01:10:23,065 --> 01:10:27,932 to mines and booby traps and unseen snipers. 1279 01:10:28,033 --> 01:10:32,832 Two days earlier, a popular squad leader had been killed. 1280 01:10:32,932 --> 01:10:36,600 They had been told a unit of main-force Viet Cong 1281 01:10:36,699 --> 01:10:38,365 was waiting for them, 1282 01:10:38,466 --> 01:10:41,233 and they were eager for revenge. 1283 01:10:42,500 --> 01:10:45,000 But they received no hostile fire, 1284 01:10:45,100 --> 01:10:49,966 encountered no enemy soldiers. 1285 01:10:51,432 --> 01:10:54,733 Instead, over the next four hours, 1286 01:10:54,832 --> 01:10:57,666 Medina, Calley, and their men murdered 1287 01:10:57,765 --> 01:11:05,500 407 defenseless old men, women, children, and infants. 1288 01:11:15,466 --> 01:11:18,132 Many of the women and girls were raped 1289 01:11:18,233 --> 01:11:20,533 before they were shot. 1290 01:11:23,600 --> 01:11:25,899 There would have been still more slaughter 1291 01:11:26,000 --> 01:11:30,166 had a helicopter pilot named Hugh Thompson, Jr., not landed 1292 01:11:30,265 --> 01:11:33,666 between the men and some of their intended targets 1293 01:11:33,765 --> 01:11:37,399 and ordered his crew to open fire on their fellow Americans 1294 01:11:37,500 --> 01:11:40,765 if they did not stop shooting civilians. 1295 01:11:44,000 --> 01:11:47,533 At the same time, just a mile or so away, 1296 01:11:47,632 --> 01:11:52,332 another company murdered 97 more villagers. 1297 01:11:54,332 --> 01:11:57,365 O'BRIEN: And suddenly it was like a window shade going up, 1298 01:11:57,466 --> 01:11:58,899 and then there's light, 1299 01:11:59,000 --> 01:12:01,065 and we understood what had engendered 1300 01:12:01,166 --> 01:12:04,500 this horror in these kids' faces 1301 01:12:04,600 --> 01:12:07,332 and fear and the... and the hatred. 1302 01:12:07,432 --> 01:12:10,966 Hundred and some American soldiers in four hours or so 1303 01:12:11,065 --> 01:12:13,733 butchering innocent people, 1304 01:12:13,832 --> 01:12:15,899 in all kinds of ways-- machine-gunning them 1305 01:12:16,000 --> 01:12:18,300 and throwing them in wells and scalping them 1306 01:12:18,399 --> 01:12:20,265 and killing them in ditches 1307 01:12:20,365 --> 01:12:22,966 and taking a lunch break and then doing it some more. 1308 01:12:24,100 --> 01:12:26,233 Systematic homicide. 1309 01:12:26,332 --> 01:12:27,865 MIKE WALLACE: What kind of people? 1310 01:12:27,966 --> 01:12:28,966 Men, women, children? 1311 01:12:29,065 --> 01:12:30,500 PAUL MEADLO: Men, women, children. 1312 01:12:30,600 --> 01:12:32,300 WALLACE: Babies? MEADLO: Babies. 1313 01:12:32,399 --> 01:12:34,233 Uh, Lieutenant Calley came over and said, 1314 01:12:34,332 --> 01:12:36,233 "You know what to do with them, don't you?" 1315 01:12:36,332 --> 01:12:37,832 And, uh, I said, "Yes." 1316 01:12:37,932 --> 01:12:41,932 So l took it for granted that he just wanted us to watch them. 1317 01:12:42,033 --> 01:12:43,800 And he left and came back 1318 01:12:43,899 --> 01:12:46,466 about ten or... ten or 15 minutes later, 1319 01:12:46,565 --> 01:12:50,800 and said, "How come you ain't, uh, killed them yet?" 1320 01:12:50,899 --> 01:12:52,466 You killed how many at that time? 1321 01:12:52,565 --> 01:12:55,065 Well, I fired my automatic, so, uh... 1322 01:12:55,166 --> 01:12:57,800 you can't, uh... you just spray the area on them, 1323 01:12:57,899 --> 01:13:00,265 so you really can't know how many you killed 1324 01:13:00,365 --> 01:13:03,166 because it comes out so doggone fast. 1325 01:13:03,265 --> 01:13:07,500 So I, I might've killed about, uh, ten or 15 of them. 1326 01:13:08,632 --> 01:13:10,132 Men, women, and children? 1327 01:13:10,233 --> 01:13:11,800 Men, women, and children. 1328 01:13:11,899 --> 01:13:13,966 And babies? And babies. 1329 01:13:15,432 --> 01:13:17,332 Why did I do it? 1330 01:13:17,432 --> 01:13:20,233 Because I felt like I was ordered to do it. 1331 01:13:20,332 --> 01:13:22,899 And it seemed like, uh... 1332 01:13:25,600 --> 01:13:29,533 Well, at the time, I felt like I was doing the right thing. 1333 01:13:29,632 --> 01:13:31,533 I really did. 1334 01:13:31,632 --> 01:13:34,699 Because, uh, like I said, I lost buddies, 1335 01:13:34,800 --> 01:13:36,699 I lost... I lost a good... 1336 01:13:36,800 --> 01:13:41,166 damn good buddy-- Bobby Wilson-- 1337 01:13:41,265 --> 01:13:44,932 and it was on my conscience, and it was on... 1338 01:13:45,033 --> 01:13:47,000 So after I done it, I felt good. 1339 01:13:47,100 --> 01:13:51,332 But later on that day, it was getting to me. 1340 01:13:51,432 --> 01:13:54,500 It's so hard, I think, for a good many Americans 1341 01:13:54,600 --> 01:13:57,632 to understand that young, capable, 1342 01:13:57,733 --> 01:14:01,000 brave American boys 1343 01:14:01,100 --> 01:14:04,033 could line up 1344 01:14:04,132 --> 01:14:08,733 old men, women, children, and babies 1345 01:14:08,832 --> 01:14:11,565 and shoot them down in cold blood. 1346 01:14:16,300 --> 01:14:18,533 How do you explain that? 1347 01:14:18,632 --> 01:14:20,565 I wouldn't know. 1348 01:14:26,500 --> 01:14:28,399 (low, distant chatter) 1349 01:14:30,666 --> 01:14:34,733 NARRATOR: The killing of civilians has happened in every war. 1350 01:14:34,832 --> 01:14:39,132 In Vietnam, it was not policy or routine, 1351 01:14:39,233 --> 01:14:41,865 but it was not an aberration, either. 1352 01:14:43,432 --> 01:14:48,332 Still, the scale and deliberateness and intimacy 1353 01:14:48,432 --> 01:14:50,565 of what happened at My Lai 1354 01:14:50,666 --> 01:14:51,966 was different. 1355 01:14:52,065 --> 01:14:53,699 SHEEHAN: It was different 1356 01:14:53,800 --> 01:14:56,533 because they were killing Vietnamese point-blank 1357 01:14:56,632 --> 01:14:58,000 with rifles and grenades. 1358 01:14:58,100 --> 01:15:00,432 They were murdering them directly. 1359 01:15:00,533 --> 01:15:02,800 They weren't doing it with bombs and artillery. 1360 01:15:02,899 --> 01:15:04,332 If they'd been doing it with bombs and artillery, 1361 01:15:04,432 --> 01:15:05,500 nobody would have said a word, 1362 01:15:05,600 --> 01:15:06,600 because it was going on all the time. 1363 01:15:08,033 --> 01:15:09,332 NARRATOR: Not every soldier 1364 01:15:09,432 --> 01:15:11,166 participated in the killings that day. 1365 01:15:11,265 --> 01:15:14,800 Some led villagers away to safety. 1366 01:15:14,899 --> 01:15:17,666 But a failure of military leadership 1367 01:15:17,765 --> 01:15:20,865 at nearly every level had created the conditions 1368 01:15:20,966 --> 01:15:24,365 that made the massacre possible. 1369 01:15:24,466 --> 01:15:28,699 The My Lai story might have shocked the American public, 1370 01:15:28,800 --> 01:15:31,000 but it was not news to the Army. 1371 01:15:31,100 --> 01:15:34,199 It had occurred almost two years before, 1372 01:15:34,300 --> 01:15:37,365 just after the Tet Offensive. 1373 01:15:37,466 --> 01:15:39,832 Hugh Thompson, the helicopter pilot 1374 01:15:39,932 --> 01:15:42,000 who had tried to stop the massacre, 1375 01:15:42,100 --> 01:15:44,932 reported what he had seen, 1376 01:15:45,033 --> 01:15:46,932 but no one in the chain of command 1377 01:15:47,033 --> 01:15:48,265 was willing to act. 1378 01:15:48,365 --> 01:15:52,000 The slaughter was covered up. 1379 01:15:52,100 --> 01:15:55,865 Later, an ex-corporal named Ronald Ridenhour, 1380 01:15:55,966 --> 01:15:57,632 who had heard about what had happened 1381 01:15:57,733 --> 01:15:59,666 from several men who had been there, 1382 01:15:59,765 --> 01:16:03,233 wrote letters to the president of the United States, 1383 01:16:03,332 --> 01:16:05,132 the secretary of defense, 1384 01:16:05,233 --> 01:16:09,132 and more than two dozen other high-ranking officials. 1385 01:16:09,233 --> 01:16:12,399 STAN ATKINSON: Personally, what decision-making process 1386 01:16:12,500 --> 01:16:15,300 did you go through before you decided to take your action? 1387 01:16:15,399 --> 01:16:19,065 I guess I just wrestled with my own conscience 1388 01:16:19,166 --> 01:16:21,432 to try to decide what action to take. 1389 01:16:21,533 --> 01:16:23,565 I felt that I had to take some action. 1390 01:16:23,666 --> 01:16:25,033 I had to do something. 1391 01:16:25,132 --> 01:16:26,365 I couldn't just... 1392 01:16:26,466 --> 01:16:29,000 just rest with this knowledge for the rest of my life 1393 01:16:29,100 --> 01:16:31,932 that I couldn't... I couldn't live with myself if I did. 1394 01:16:32,033 --> 01:16:34,932 NARRATOR: President Nixon's first reaction 1395 01:16:35,033 --> 01:16:39,166 was to investigate those who reported the slaughter. 1396 01:16:39,265 --> 01:16:41,966 "It's those dirty rotten Jews from New York 1397 01:16:42,065 --> 01:16:43,332 who are behind it," 1398 01:16:43,432 --> 01:16:44,865 he told an aide. 1399 01:16:44,966 --> 01:16:49,300 Eventually, Lieutenant General William R. Peers, 1400 01:16:49,399 --> 01:16:53,233 a veteran of 30 months as a troop commander in Vietnam, 1401 01:16:53,332 --> 01:16:55,033 was assigned to head a panel 1402 01:16:55,132 --> 01:16:57,932 to look into what had really happened. 1403 01:16:58,033 --> 01:17:01,166 Peers found that 30 persons, 1404 01:17:01,265 --> 01:17:03,600 including the division commander, 1405 01:17:03,699 --> 01:17:05,932 General Samuel W. Koster, 1406 01:17:06,033 --> 01:17:08,332 had either committed atrocities 1407 01:17:08,432 --> 01:17:12,399 or had conspired to cover them up. 1408 01:17:16,399 --> 01:17:20,132 Peers had wanted to call My Lai a "massacre." 1409 01:17:20,233 --> 01:17:23,500 His superiors made him use the phrase, 1410 01:17:23,600 --> 01:17:27,632 "a tragedy of major proportions." 1411 01:17:27,733 --> 01:17:33,166 In the end, the Army indicted 25 officers and men, 1412 01:17:33,265 --> 01:17:38,432 including the platoon leader, Lieutenant William Calley. 1413 01:17:41,000 --> 01:17:43,000 VALLELY: Calley's a killer. 1414 01:17:43,100 --> 01:17:45,033 Calley's a murderer 1415 01:17:45,132 --> 01:17:47,399 and a... a sick person. 1416 01:17:49,500 --> 01:17:52,533 I'm not gonna be in any, you know, uh, 1417 01:17:52,632 --> 01:17:55,065 propaganda movie for the United States Marine Corps, 1418 01:17:55,166 --> 01:17:57,100 but we didn't have that guy. 1419 01:17:59,365 --> 01:18:01,865 We had individuals who, who... 1420 01:18:01,966 --> 01:18:03,932 who committed war crimes, of course. 1421 01:18:04,033 --> 01:18:08,000 And, um, you know, I wanted to kill them. 1422 01:18:08,100 --> 01:18:10,600 I sometimes wish I did kill 'em. 1423 01:18:13,432 --> 01:18:17,199 But... I was afraid to kill 'em. 1424 01:18:19,600 --> 01:18:21,533 ♪ Two, one, two, three, four 1425 01:18:21,632 --> 01:18:24,332 ("Give Peace a Chance" by The Plastic Ono Band plays) 1426 01:18:24,432 --> 01:18:26,932 (loud crowd chatter) 1427 01:18:27,033 --> 01:18:28,565 ♪ Everybody's talking about... 1428 01:18:28,666 --> 01:18:31,800 ZIMMERMAN: I never considered the Vietnamese our enemy. 1429 01:18:31,899 --> 01:18:33,500 They had never done anything 1430 01:18:33,600 --> 01:18:36,166 to threaten the security of the United States. 1431 01:18:36,265 --> 01:18:39,000 They were off 10,000 miles away, 1432 01:18:39,100 --> 01:18:40,832 minding their own business, 1433 01:18:40,932 --> 01:18:43,300 and we went there to their country, 1434 01:18:43,399 --> 01:18:44,865 told them what kind of government 1435 01:18:44,966 --> 01:18:47,233 we wanted them to have. 1436 01:18:47,332 --> 01:18:51,533 JAMES WILLBANKS: Well, when I see the war protesters, 1437 01:18:51,632 --> 01:18:53,399 I react on a couple of levels. 1438 01:18:53,500 --> 01:18:56,033 Intellectually, I certainly understand their right 1439 01:18:56,132 --> 01:18:57,832 to the freedom of speech. 1440 01:18:57,932 --> 01:18:59,332 But I will tell you 1441 01:18:59,432 --> 01:19:02,399 that when I see them waving NLF flags, 1442 01:19:02,500 --> 01:19:05,733 the enemy that I and my friends had to fight, 1443 01:19:05,832 --> 01:19:09,033 and some of my friends had to die fighting, 1444 01:19:09,132 --> 01:19:10,765 that doesn't sit very well with me. 1445 01:19:10,865 --> 01:19:14,000 ♪ All we are saying... 1446 01:19:14,100 --> 01:19:17,033 NARRATOR: On November 15, 1969, 1447 01:19:17,132 --> 01:19:19,365 half a million citizens turned out 1448 01:19:19,466 --> 01:19:22,000 against the war in Washington, again. 1449 01:19:22,100 --> 01:19:24,399 ♪ Everybody's talking about revolution... ♪ 1450 01:19:24,500 --> 01:19:27,733 NARRATOR: This time, buses provided an impenetrable wall 1451 01:19:27,832 --> 01:19:30,033 around the White House. 1452 01:19:30,132 --> 01:19:32,500 President Nixon claimed he was too busy 1453 01:19:32,600 --> 01:19:34,666 watching football on television 1454 01:19:34,765 --> 01:19:36,000 to pay attention, 1455 01:19:36,100 --> 01:19:40,533 but he did suggest that Army helicopters might be used 1456 01:19:40,632 --> 01:19:42,533 to blow out the marchers' candles. 1457 01:19:42,632 --> 01:19:44,632 ♪ All we are saying... 1458 01:19:44,733 --> 01:19:46,166 (car horns honking) 1459 01:19:46,265 --> 01:19:48,300 NARRATOR: Hundreds of thousands of others demonstrated 1460 01:19:48,399 --> 01:19:51,899 in San Francisco and New York. 1461 01:19:52,000 --> 01:19:53,632 (indistinct shouting) 1462 01:19:53,733 --> 01:19:56,632 (cheering and whistling, indistinct shouting) 1463 01:19:59,166 --> 01:20:01,533 The most striking antiwar protest 1464 01:20:01,632 --> 01:20:02,865 of this Thanksgiving Day 1465 01:20:02,966 --> 01:20:05,432 occurred not in this country, but in Vietnam, 1466 01:20:05,533 --> 01:20:07,932 though its form was uniquely American. 1467 01:20:08,033 --> 01:20:10,132 About 100 American soldiers 1468 01:20:10,233 --> 01:20:12,632 stationed at a hospital in Pleiku 1469 01:20:12,733 --> 01:20:15,300 refused to eat their traditional turkey dinner. 1470 01:20:15,399 --> 01:20:19,365 They described their fast as a passive protest against the war. 1471 01:20:21,166 --> 01:20:23,600 ("Born Under a Bad Sign" by Booker T. and the M.G.'s plays) 1472 01:20:28,132 --> 01:20:29,800 The Army did what the Army does. 1473 01:20:29,899 --> 01:20:31,365 Every year, you know, for Thanksgiving, 1474 01:20:31,466 --> 01:20:32,632 they make a big deal. 1475 01:20:32,733 --> 01:20:33,832 They're gonna bring in turkey, 1476 01:20:33,932 --> 01:20:35,300 they're gonna bring in mashed potatoes, 1477 01:20:35,399 --> 01:20:37,733 and apple pie and whatever. 1478 01:20:37,832 --> 01:20:39,733 And by this point, I think, 1479 01:20:39,832 --> 01:20:42,765 a lot of us were very, very cynical about the war 1480 01:20:42,865 --> 01:20:44,699 and what was going on. 1481 01:20:44,800 --> 01:20:48,265 But we weren't gonna make a big deal about it. 1482 01:20:48,365 --> 01:20:50,932 We knew there were gonna be TV people there. 1483 01:20:51,033 --> 01:20:54,166 And a couple of the organizers were looking for people to talk. 1484 01:20:54,265 --> 01:20:55,899 They came to me, I said, "No." 1485 01:20:56,000 --> 01:20:58,332 I said, "Look, I'm gonna fast and do my thing." 1486 01:20:58,432 --> 01:21:00,300 I said, "But I, I really don't want 1487 01:21:00,399 --> 01:21:02,800 to be involved with any media thing." 1488 01:21:02,899 --> 01:21:07,300 NARRATOR: That Thanksgiving Day, Lieutenant Furey was on duty 1489 01:21:07,399 --> 01:21:11,466 when one of her patients took a sudden turn for the worse. 1490 01:21:11,565 --> 01:21:14,565 FUREY: Some patients, they just get into your heart. 1491 01:21:14,666 --> 01:21:16,265 And this kid, I think he was 18. 1492 01:21:16,365 --> 01:21:17,800 His name was Timmy. 1493 01:21:17,899 --> 01:21:22,332 It was unlikely he was gonna survive. 1494 01:21:22,432 --> 01:21:25,899 And I just got so angry. 1495 01:21:26,000 --> 01:21:29,432 I just lost it. 1496 01:21:29,533 --> 01:21:31,632 I remember walking out of the O.R., 1497 01:21:31,733 --> 01:21:33,533 I ripped off the gown, and I ripped off the mask, 1498 01:21:33,632 --> 01:21:36,899 I walked outside, I said, "Where are those reporters?" 1499 01:21:50,033 --> 01:21:52,100 I mean, you know, you don't demonstrate against the war 1500 01:21:52,199 --> 01:21:53,332 in a war zone. 1501 01:21:53,432 --> 01:21:56,332 By that time, of course, you, you had the attitude, 1502 01:21:56,432 --> 01:21:58,265 "What are they gonna do? 1503 01:21:58,365 --> 01:22:00,332 Send me to Vietnam?" 1504 01:22:03,800 --> 01:22:07,332 (loud, overlapping chatter and shouting) 1505 01:22:07,432 --> 01:22:10,166 (indistinct chanting) 1506 01:22:10,265 --> 01:22:13,199 JOHN MUSGRAVE: Let's just say that being a Marine combat veteran 1507 01:22:13,300 --> 01:22:17,265 on a college campus in 1969 and 1970-- 1508 01:22:17,365 --> 01:22:19,132 it wasn't a real good thing to be 1509 01:22:19,233 --> 01:22:21,300 if you wanted to get dates and be popular. 1510 01:22:24,065 --> 01:22:27,533 When I came home, it seemed like 1511 01:22:27,632 --> 01:22:30,966 I didn't have anything to give to anybody else. 1512 01:22:34,332 --> 01:22:38,365 NARRATOR: Marine Corporal John Musgrave had very nearly died 1513 01:22:38,466 --> 01:22:43,100 in combat below the DMZ in the autumn of 1967. 1514 01:22:43,199 --> 01:22:46,000 Wounded in the jaw and shoulder, 1515 01:22:46,100 --> 01:22:49,865 his ribs shattered, lung pierced, nerves cut, 1516 01:22:49,966 --> 01:22:54,300 he had spent 17 months in Navy hospitals. 1517 01:22:54,399 --> 01:22:57,432 He was now studying at Baker University 1518 01:22:57,533 --> 01:23:00,300 in Baldwin City, Kansas. 1519 01:23:00,399 --> 01:23:02,699 (indistinct chanting and shouting) 1520 01:23:02,800 --> 01:23:07,199 But wherever he went, the war was never far away. 1521 01:23:09,432 --> 01:23:13,765 MUSGRAVE: And the peace movement, for a while, got real nasty, 1522 01:23:13,865 --> 01:23:15,865 calling veterans baby killers. 1523 01:23:17,932 --> 01:23:19,765 It did more than piss us off. 1524 01:23:19,865 --> 01:23:21,699 It broke our hearts. 1525 01:23:21,800 --> 01:23:24,065 What were they thinking? 1526 01:23:24,166 --> 01:23:29,432 You don't turn your backs on your warriors. 1527 01:23:29,533 --> 01:23:32,065 I didn't trust anybody anymore. 1528 01:23:33,533 --> 01:23:35,765 Just my family. 1529 01:23:35,865 --> 01:23:38,332 NARRATOR: Musgrave was so hurt 1530 01:23:38,432 --> 01:23:40,432 by the way some people treated him 1531 01:23:40,533 --> 01:23:43,865 that he volunteered to return to Vietnam. 1532 01:23:43,966 --> 01:23:47,600 Because of his injuries, the Marines turned him down, 1533 01:23:47,699 --> 01:23:51,632 and asked him to help recruit men instead. 1534 01:23:51,733 --> 01:23:53,666 He did for a time, 1535 01:23:53,765 --> 01:23:56,765 but when students asked him questions about the war 1536 01:23:56,865 --> 01:23:58,632 he couldn't answer, 1537 01:23:58,733 --> 01:23:59,832 he also began to read 1538 01:23:59,932 --> 01:24:04,265 about how and why it was being fought. 1539 01:24:04,365 --> 01:24:08,033 MUSGRAVE: I had friends in country on a second tour, 1540 01:24:08,132 --> 01:24:11,233 and, you know, I, I was still... considered myself a Marine. 1541 01:24:11,332 --> 01:24:14,132 and... and the more I read, 1542 01:24:14,233 --> 01:24:19,466 the less I found to be able to defend our presence there. 1543 01:24:19,565 --> 01:24:23,600 So then, I, I just stopped talking to everybody. 1544 01:24:23,699 --> 01:24:25,733 (dog barking) 1545 01:24:25,832 --> 01:24:29,800 NARRATOR: Musgrave gradually felt as if he were being torn in two. 1546 01:24:29,899 --> 01:24:33,733 And he was still haunted by the memory of those Marines 1547 01:24:33,832 --> 01:24:38,399 who had died while he had lived. 1548 01:24:38,500 --> 01:24:41,632 MUSGRAVE: I was dating my .45 in those years, you know. 1549 01:24:41,733 --> 01:24:44,432 Coming home at night after drinking, 1550 01:24:44,533 --> 01:24:46,565 and pressing it up against my temple, 1551 01:24:46,666 --> 01:24:49,565 or putting it under my chin, 1552 01:24:49,666 --> 01:24:51,966 wondering if this was gonna be the night 1553 01:24:52,065 --> 01:24:54,065 I was gonna have the guts to do it. 1554 01:24:55,800 --> 01:24:57,865 I'd had a round chambered, and I'd taken the safety off. 1555 01:24:57,966 --> 01:25:00,265 Same kind of pistol I carried in Vietnam. 1556 01:25:02,865 --> 01:25:06,199 And I thought, "I'm really gonna do it tonight." 1557 01:25:06,300 --> 01:25:10,100 You know, like, "Whew, I'm really gonna do it," you know. 1558 01:25:10,199 --> 01:25:12,132 And my dogs... I'd let my dogs out. 1559 01:25:12,233 --> 01:25:13,765 I had two dogs. 1560 01:25:13,865 --> 01:25:15,399 And they jumped on the front door 1561 01:25:15,500 --> 01:25:16,800 and scratched on the front door. 1562 01:25:16,899 --> 01:25:18,666 They wanted in. 1563 01:25:18,765 --> 01:25:19,865 And I put the safety back on the pistol 1564 01:25:19,966 --> 01:25:21,733 and set it down and went and let 'em in. 1565 01:25:23,565 --> 01:25:26,233 And they were so open in their love for me 1566 01:25:26,332 --> 01:25:28,000 that I literally said out loud, 1567 01:25:28,100 --> 01:25:33,265 "Whoa, if I really want to do this, I can do this tomorrow." 1568 01:25:33,365 --> 01:25:34,666 And I went back in the room, 1569 01:25:34,765 --> 01:25:36,632 and I put the pistol in the drawer, and... 1570 01:25:36,733 --> 01:25:39,666 and I... I think that was the closest I came. 1571 01:25:39,765 --> 01:25:41,399 I think maybe I would have killed... 1572 01:25:41,500 --> 01:25:43,733 k-k-killed myself that night. 1573 01:25:43,832 --> 01:25:45,199 But something as simple 1574 01:25:45,300 --> 01:25:47,800 as my dogs wanting back in... 1575 01:25:47,899 --> 01:25:51,166 stopped that thought, you know. 1576 01:25:53,899 --> 01:25:56,899 I'm really glad that it didn't happen. 1577 01:25:57,000 --> 01:26:00,233 But at the time, it just made so much sense. 1578 01:26:05,100 --> 01:26:07,033 NARRATOR: Richard Nixon's troop withdrawals 1579 01:26:07,132 --> 01:26:10,332 finally turned Musgrave against the war. 1580 01:26:10,432 --> 01:26:13,166 "If it ain't worth winning," he said, 1581 01:26:13,265 --> 01:26:15,565 "it ain't worth dying for." 1582 01:26:15,666 --> 01:26:18,265 His loyalty to the Marines 1583 01:26:18,365 --> 01:26:21,233 would not yet let him openly say that, 1584 01:26:21,332 --> 01:26:23,800 but he told a campus antiwar meeting 1585 01:26:23,899 --> 01:26:26,733 that they should stop acting as if they didn't give a damn 1586 01:26:26,832 --> 01:26:29,632 about the men who had been asked to fight, 1587 01:26:29,733 --> 01:26:32,065 and received a standing ovation. 1588 01:26:36,300 --> 01:26:38,632 JACK TODD: The turning point for me, I think, 1589 01:26:38,733 --> 01:26:41,733 was one evening I spent with my friend Sonny Walter, 1590 01:26:41,832 --> 01:26:44,365 who had been, uh... just been discharged from the Army, 1591 01:26:44,466 --> 01:26:47,033 and had come home and spent an evening 1592 01:26:47,132 --> 01:26:49,733 before I went in pleading with me not to go. 1593 01:26:49,832 --> 01:26:52,399 He even offered to drive me to Canada. 1594 01:26:52,500 --> 01:26:55,065 He was showing me some horrible pictures of Vietnam 1595 01:26:55,166 --> 01:26:56,899 from his own service there. 1596 01:26:58,800 --> 01:27:00,800 I think everything that happened after it 1597 01:27:00,899 --> 01:27:02,432 had its seeds in that evening. 1598 01:27:02,533 --> 01:27:04,533 ("The Thrill is Gone" by B.B. King playing) 1599 01:27:04,632 --> 01:27:07,932 NARRATOR: While attending the University of Nebraska, 1600 01:27:08,033 --> 01:27:11,832 Jack Todd had undergone Marine officer training, 1601 01:27:11,932 --> 01:27:15,332 but bad knees had forced him to drop out 1602 01:27:15,432 --> 01:27:17,500 and he believed that exempted him 1603 01:27:17,600 --> 01:27:20,166 from having to take part in a war 1604 01:27:20,265 --> 01:27:22,832 he had come to see as immoral. 1605 01:27:22,932 --> 01:27:27,000 He began work as a reporter onThe Miami Herald. 1606 01:27:27,100 --> 01:27:31,733 But in the autumn of 1969 he received a draft notice 1607 01:27:31,832 --> 01:27:34,100 from the Army anyway. 1608 01:27:34,199 --> 01:27:35,565 KING: ♪ The thrill is gone 1609 01:27:35,666 --> 01:27:37,033 TODD: So I went into my physical 1610 01:27:37,132 --> 01:27:39,166 and I showed them my discharge from the Marine Corps 1611 01:27:39,265 --> 01:27:40,966 and I actually remember a sergeant, 1612 01:27:41,065 --> 01:27:42,399 or whoever I was talking to, saying, 1613 01:27:42,500 --> 01:27:44,666 "But, uh, you were discharged from an officer program. 1614 01:27:44,765 --> 01:27:46,233 We're drafting you as a private." 1615 01:27:46,332 --> 01:27:48,399 (electric buzzing) 1616 01:27:48,500 --> 01:27:50,932 NARRATOR: In late November 1969, 1617 01:27:51,033 --> 01:27:55,365 Todd reported for basic training at Fort Lewis, Washington. 1618 01:27:55,466 --> 01:27:57,399 KING: ♪ You know you done me wrong 1619 01:27:57,500 --> 01:27:59,466 TODD: Morale just could not have been worse. 1620 01:27:59,565 --> 01:28:01,432 And-and it seemed to include 1621 01:28:01,533 --> 01:28:04,365 even the sergeants and the officers. 1622 01:28:04,466 --> 01:28:08,365 Nobody wanted to go. Nobody wanted to go. 1623 01:28:08,466 --> 01:28:11,800 America just seemed to have shifted from the Woodstock high 1624 01:28:11,899 --> 01:28:13,000 of the summer to this... 1625 01:28:13,100 --> 01:28:16,265 this sort of bitter Nixonian low. 1626 01:28:16,365 --> 01:28:19,733 NARRATOR: Jack Todd and another member of his unit 1627 01:28:19,832 --> 01:28:22,800 began to talk at night about what it meant 1628 01:28:22,899 --> 01:28:24,466 to be true to one's conscience. 1629 01:28:24,565 --> 01:28:26,466 ("Farewell, Angelina" by Bob Dylan playing) 1630 01:28:28,699 --> 01:28:31,100 Some 170,000 men 1631 01:28:31,199 --> 01:28:33,533 were granted conscientious objector status 1632 01:28:33,632 --> 01:28:36,132 during the Vietnam era. 1633 01:28:36,233 --> 01:28:37,932 But because Jack Todd 1634 01:28:38,033 --> 01:28:40,233 questioned the existence of God, 1635 01:28:40,332 --> 01:28:44,000 that avenue was closed to him. 1636 01:28:44,100 --> 01:28:45,365 There were really two choices. 1637 01:28:45,466 --> 01:28:47,233 It was go to jail or go to Canada. 1638 01:28:47,332 --> 01:28:49,865 And, for me, going to jail was just... 1639 01:28:49,966 --> 01:28:51,865 That one, I couldn't face. 1640 01:28:51,966 --> 01:28:53,865 So I went to Canada. 1641 01:28:53,966 --> 01:28:57,666 DYLAN: ♪ Farewell, Angelina 1642 01:28:57,765 --> 01:29:01,699 ♪ The bells of the crown 1643 01:29:01,800 --> 01:29:03,966 TODD: I remember that last beautiful drive, 1644 01:29:04,065 --> 01:29:06,600 from Seattle to Vancouver, 1645 01:29:06,699 --> 01:29:11,233 all the towering Douglas firs along the road. 1646 01:29:11,332 --> 01:29:13,533 And I remember, after we crossed the border-- 1647 01:29:13,632 --> 01:29:16,132 it was a breeze, they just sort of waved us through-- 1648 01:29:16,233 --> 01:29:18,365 and just looking in the rearview mirror, thinking, 1649 01:29:18,466 --> 01:29:19,733 "Man, there goes my country. 1650 01:29:19,832 --> 01:29:22,865 I'll never see it again." 1651 01:29:22,966 --> 01:29:26,065 DYLAN: ♪ But farewell, Angelina 1652 01:29:26,166 --> 01:29:29,399 ♪ The night is on fire 1653 01:29:29,500 --> 01:29:31,399 ♪ And I must go 1654 01:29:33,800 --> 01:29:36,432 I get called a coward all the time. 1655 01:29:36,533 --> 01:29:39,632 It took me a long time 1656 01:29:39,733 --> 01:29:42,199 not to feel that what I had done 1657 01:29:42,300 --> 01:29:44,899 was-was cowardly, because I still had 1658 01:29:45,000 --> 01:29:48,466 that military ingrained feeling inside. 1659 01:29:50,065 --> 01:29:53,166 That was the bravest thing I ever did. 1660 01:29:53,265 --> 01:29:55,265 It was the bravest thing I ever did. 1661 01:29:58,033 --> 01:30:01,632 NARRATOR: Jack Todd eventually found work as a reporter, 1662 01:30:01,733 --> 01:30:04,733 which allowed him to gain "landed immigrant status," 1663 01:30:04,832 --> 01:30:08,166 a step toward Canadian citizenship. 1664 01:30:08,265 --> 01:30:12,765 Only a quarter of the estimated 30,000 Americans 1665 01:30:12,865 --> 01:30:15,699 who crossed into Canada managed to do so. 1666 01:30:15,800 --> 01:30:18,033 DYLAN: ♪ The sky is erupting 1667 01:30:18,132 --> 01:30:21,832 ♪ And I must go where it is quiet. ♪ 1668 01:30:21,932 --> 01:30:25,132 NARRATOR: At the same time, some 30,000 Canadians 1669 01:30:25,233 --> 01:30:28,699 would volunteer to fight in Vietnam. 1670 01:30:42,199 --> 01:30:43,765 (birds chirping in distance) 1671 01:30:47,533 --> 01:30:50,832 KUSHNER: I thought about... 1672 01:30:50,932 --> 01:30:52,899 my parents and my siblings 1673 01:30:53,000 --> 01:30:56,632 and my wife and my little girl. 1674 01:30:56,733 --> 01:31:00,166 And one of the things that bothered me, is that I... 1675 01:31:00,265 --> 01:31:04,966 I couldn't really remember what they looked like after a while. 1676 01:31:05,065 --> 01:31:07,432 I remembered what their pictures looked like. 1677 01:31:07,533 --> 01:31:11,932 And when I imaged them in my mind's eye 1678 01:31:12,033 --> 01:31:15,500 I would image a picture, a photograph. 1679 01:31:18,166 --> 01:31:19,466 REPORTER: Valerie Kushner arrived on the... 1680 01:31:19,565 --> 01:31:21,666 NARRATOR: Hal Kushner's wife, Valerie, 1681 01:31:21,765 --> 01:31:23,865 had heard virtually nothing of her husband 1682 01:31:23,966 --> 01:31:27,666 since his capture by the Viet Cong in 1967, 1683 01:31:27,765 --> 01:31:30,399 and she had traveled to the Far East 1684 01:31:30,500 --> 01:31:32,865 to try to improve conditions for him. 1685 01:31:32,966 --> 01:31:36,265 I think my period of greatest frustration 1686 01:31:36,365 --> 01:31:39,265 was just before and just after the birth of our son. 1687 01:31:39,365 --> 01:31:41,932 He was born in April of 1968 1688 01:31:42,033 --> 01:31:45,899 and my husband was captured in November of 1967. 1689 01:31:46,000 --> 01:31:49,832 So my husband does not yet know of his birth. 1690 01:31:49,932 --> 01:31:52,100 DON FARMER: With their father gone, the Kushner children 1691 01:31:52,199 --> 01:31:55,300 rely heavily on their mother and their grandparents. 1692 01:31:55,399 --> 01:31:56,865 Young Mike has never seen his father, 1693 01:31:56,966 --> 01:31:59,300 but six-year-old Toni-Jean remembers. 1694 01:31:59,399 --> 01:32:00,932 And the remembrances of Major Kushner 1695 01:32:01,033 --> 01:32:02,699 are everywhere in their house. 1696 01:32:02,800 --> 01:32:04,899 Toni, however, knows only that he's away, 1697 01:32:05,000 --> 01:32:06,632 that he's been captured, that grandfather fills in 1698 01:32:06,733 --> 01:32:08,000 until Dad comes home. 1699 01:32:08,100 --> 01:32:11,966 The Kushners worry, but they do not grieve. 1700 01:32:12,065 --> 01:32:14,033 Don Farmer, ABC News, reporting. 1701 01:32:16,899 --> 01:32:18,800 (siren wailing in distance) 1702 01:32:20,932 --> 01:32:23,033 NARRATOR: In February 1970, 1703 01:32:23,132 --> 01:32:26,265 in a house in an industrial suburb of Paris, 1704 01:32:26,365 --> 01:32:28,865 Henry Kissinger began a new series 1705 01:32:28,966 --> 01:32:32,432 of secret negotiations-- talks so secret 1706 01:32:32,533 --> 01:32:36,699 even the secretary of state was not told about them. 1707 01:32:36,800 --> 01:32:38,832 His negotiating partner 1708 01:32:38,932 --> 01:32:42,666 would be Le Duan's close political ally, Le Duc Tho, 1709 01:32:42,765 --> 01:32:46,300 a veteran of 40 years of revolutionary warfare 1710 01:32:46,399 --> 01:32:50,233 and party intrigue-- shrewd, implacable, 1711 01:32:50,332 --> 01:32:54,033 and openly scornful of Vietnamization. 1712 01:32:54,132 --> 01:32:56,800 If the United States could not win 1713 01:32:56,899 --> 01:33:00,100 with half a million of its own troops, he asked Kissinger, 1714 01:33:00,199 --> 01:33:02,865 "How can you succeed when you let your puppet troops 1715 01:33:02,966 --> 01:33:05,265 do the fighting?" 1716 01:33:05,365 --> 01:33:08,565 The American admitted he had no answer. 1717 01:33:14,332 --> 01:33:16,533 Despite the impasse in Paris, 1718 01:33:16,632 --> 01:33:20,233 Nixon's first year had been a triumph. 1719 01:33:20,332 --> 01:33:26,399 He had withdrawn 115,000 troops from Vietnam. 1720 01:33:27,733 --> 01:33:30,932 American casualty figures were down. 1721 01:33:31,033 --> 01:33:33,600 Reduced draft calls 1722 01:33:33,699 --> 01:33:35,832 and the president's new lottery system 1723 01:33:35,932 --> 01:33:39,000 had blunted some opposition to the war. 1724 01:33:41,865 --> 01:33:44,332 And the violent actions of some revolutionaries 1725 01:33:44,432 --> 01:33:48,033 were tarnishing the antiwar cause itself. 1726 01:33:48,132 --> 01:33:52,000 Between September 1969 and May 1970, 1727 01:33:52,100 --> 01:33:54,699 there would be hundreds of bombings-- 1728 01:33:54,800 --> 01:33:56,632 banks and courthouses, 1729 01:33:56,733 --> 01:33:59,899 induction centers and ROTC buildings. 1730 01:34:00,000 --> 01:34:01,865 ("Psychedelic Shack" by The Temptations starts playing) 1731 01:34:01,966 --> 01:34:03,865 One police officer was killed. 1732 01:34:05,100 --> 01:34:06,500 Three would-be bombers 1733 01:34:06,600 --> 01:34:10,300 accidentally blew themselves up in Greenwich Village. 1734 01:34:10,399 --> 01:34:12,565 TEMPTATIONS: ♪ Well, well 1735 01:34:12,666 --> 01:34:16,600 NANCY BIBERMAN: The antiwar movement split apart. 1736 01:34:16,699 --> 01:34:19,466 And there were people who felt that the only way 1737 01:34:19,565 --> 01:34:23,300 we were ever gonna end the war was by becoming more violent. 1738 01:34:23,399 --> 01:34:26,233 You know, that we had to match violence with violence. 1739 01:34:26,332 --> 01:34:31,065 How that was gonna happen wasn't spoken about openly. 1740 01:34:31,166 --> 01:34:33,800 But there was just this undercurrent. 1741 01:34:33,899 --> 01:34:36,166 This is a plumbing pipe 1742 01:34:36,265 --> 01:34:39,699 completely full of gunpowder. 1743 01:34:39,800 --> 01:34:41,932 TEMPTATIONS: ♪ Music so high you can't get over it ♪ 1744 01:34:42,033 --> 01:34:44,432 NIXON: My fellow Americans, 1745 01:34:44,533 --> 01:34:47,100 we live in an age of anarchy, 1746 01:34:47,199 --> 01:34:49,733 both abroad and at home. 1747 01:34:51,233 --> 01:34:56,199 We see mindless attacks on all the great institutions, 1748 01:34:56,300 --> 01:34:58,666 which have been created by free civilizations 1749 01:34:58,765 --> 01:35:01,432 in the last 500 years. 1750 01:35:02,800 --> 01:35:04,932 Even here in the United States, 1751 01:35:05,033 --> 01:35:08,632 great universities are being systematically destroyed. 1752 01:35:12,666 --> 01:35:15,399 If, when the chips are down, 1753 01:35:15,500 --> 01:35:18,000 the world's most powerful nation, 1754 01:35:18,100 --> 01:35:19,800 the United States of America, 1755 01:35:19,899 --> 01:35:24,765 acts like a pitiful, helpless giant, 1756 01:35:24,865 --> 01:35:28,565 the forces of totalitarianism and anarchy 1757 01:35:28,666 --> 01:35:31,332 will threaten free nations and free institutions 1758 01:35:31,432 --> 01:35:33,000 throughout the world. 1759 01:35:33,100 --> 01:35:37,065 NARRATOR: On April 30, 1970, 1760 01:35:37,166 --> 01:35:38,932 President Nixon shocked the world 1761 01:35:39,033 --> 01:35:42,100 by announcing that he had sent 30,000 American troops 1762 01:35:42,199 --> 01:35:45,832 storming into Cambodia. 1763 01:35:45,932 --> 01:35:49,000 The previous month, Prince Norodom Sihanouk 1764 01:35:49,100 --> 01:35:51,300 had been overthrown in a coup. 1765 01:35:51,399 --> 01:35:53,733 For years, he had allowed the North Vietnamese 1766 01:35:53,832 --> 01:35:56,399 to keep sanctuaries in his country, 1767 01:35:56,500 --> 01:35:58,432 but he had not protested 1768 01:35:58,533 --> 01:36:02,033 when American planes bombed them. 1769 01:36:02,132 --> 01:36:04,733 The new president, Lon Nol, 1770 01:36:04,832 --> 01:36:08,699 was an anticommunist, backed by the United States. 1771 01:36:08,800 --> 01:36:11,100 Nixon now felt he could do 1772 01:36:11,199 --> 01:36:14,832 what American generals had been wanting to do for years-- 1773 01:36:14,932 --> 01:36:18,699 pursue the enemy beyond the borders of South Vietnam. 1774 01:36:20,199 --> 01:36:23,033 The 30,000 American troops 1775 01:36:23,132 --> 01:36:28,300 were joined by 50,000 ARVN soldiers. 1776 01:36:28,399 --> 01:36:30,332 The objective was to attack 1777 01:36:30,432 --> 01:36:33,100 North Vietnamese base camps and supply lines 1778 01:36:33,199 --> 01:36:36,399 and to buy time for the South Vietnamese Army 1779 01:36:36,500 --> 01:36:38,899 as it got ready to fight on its own. 1780 01:36:40,899 --> 01:36:43,166 Nixon told the public 1781 01:36:43,265 --> 01:36:46,832 he had ordered an "incursion," not an "invasion," 1782 01:36:46,932 --> 01:36:51,466 intended only to protect American boys in South Vietnam 1783 01:36:51,565 --> 01:36:55,733 and in response to North Vietnamese "aggression." 1784 01:36:58,632 --> 01:37:02,500 GILLAM: I wasn't worried about political conflict. 1785 01:37:02,600 --> 01:37:05,233 I was worried about, "Am I gonna be alive 1786 01:37:05,332 --> 01:37:06,800 in the next ten minutes?" 1787 01:37:08,399 --> 01:37:11,733 We were on the Western edge of the invasion. 1788 01:37:11,832 --> 01:37:15,100 We went as far as anybody went in Cambodia. 1789 01:37:15,199 --> 01:37:16,365 (gunfire) 1790 01:37:16,466 --> 01:37:17,865 And it was a hot LZ. 1791 01:37:17,966 --> 01:37:22,666 I got holes shot in my backpack. 1792 01:37:22,765 --> 01:37:24,166 I was laying on my face 1793 01:37:24,265 --> 01:37:26,399 and they were shooting holes in my backpack, 1794 01:37:26,500 --> 01:37:29,466 which means they missed my head by maybe four inches. 1795 01:37:31,365 --> 01:37:34,699 I really didn't think I would see the end of that week. 1796 01:37:34,800 --> 01:37:36,966 (gunfire) 1797 01:37:37,065 --> 01:37:38,966 (indistinct chatter on radio) 1798 01:37:41,100 --> 01:37:44,632 NARRATOR: The sight of American troops crossing the border 1799 01:37:44,733 --> 01:37:48,666 into Cambodia reignited the antiwar movement. 1800 01:37:48,765 --> 01:37:49,966 Come on, let's go! 1801 01:37:50,065 --> 01:37:52,166 NARRATOR: If the troops were coming home, 1802 01:37:52,265 --> 01:37:54,300 if the war was winding down, 1803 01:37:54,399 --> 01:37:58,300 why had Nixon decided to widen it? 1804 01:37:58,399 --> 01:38:01,199 How could invading another country 1805 01:38:01,300 --> 01:38:05,166 help bring peace to Southeast Asia? 1806 01:38:05,265 --> 01:38:06,966 HUNTLEY: The reaction on the campuses 1807 01:38:07,065 --> 01:38:08,565 was swift and predictable. 1808 01:38:08,666 --> 01:38:10,265 The students and many of their teachers 1809 01:38:10,365 --> 01:38:11,865 were against the president. 1810 01:38:11,966 --> 01:38:15,132 Princeton students called for a nationwide student strike. 1811 01:38:15,233 --> 01:38:18,932 Antiwar rallies were planned at Harvard, MIT, Indiana, 1812 01:38:19,033 --> 01:38:21,166 Purdue Universities and other colleges. 1813 01:38:26,432 --> 01:38:29,666 NARRATOR: On Monday morning, May 4, 1970, 1814 01:38:29,765 --> 01:38:32,265 some 2,000 students gathered on the commons 1815 01:38:32,365 --> 01:38:36,132 at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. 1816 01:38:36,233 --> 01:38:39,966 Some were simply moving from class to class. 1817 01:38:40,065 --> 01:38:43,466 Others planned to attend a rally called to protest 1818 01:38:43,565 --> 01:38:46,166 Nixon's widening of the war 1819 01:38:46,265 --> 01:38:52,033 and the presence of the Ohio National Guard on campus. 1820 01:38:52,132 --> 01:38:55,166 Governor James Rhodes had called in the guardsmen 1821 01:38:55,265 --> 01:38:56,632 two days earlier 1822 01:38:56,733 --> 01:39:02,199 after a mob set the old wooden ROTC building on fire 1823 01:39:02,300 --> 01:39:04,199 and then prevented the fire department 1824 01:39:04,300 --> 01:39:06,666 from putting out the flames. 1825 01:39:09,632 --> 01:39:13,666 Rhodes had compared protestors to Nazi brownshirts 1826 01:39:13,765 --> 01:39:17,199 and promised to use "every weapon to eradicate 1827 01:39:17,300 --> 01:39:21,533 the worst sort of people we harbor in America." 1828 01:39:21,632 --> 01:39:23,533 (bell clanging) 1829 01:39:26,166 --> 01:39:31,399 The guardsmen's weapons were loaded with live ammunition, 1830 01:39:31,500 --> 01:39:33,233 though no one in the crowd knew it. 1831 01:39:33,332 --> 01:39:36,500 MAN: Why do you have to have a gun?! I don't understand! 1832 01:39:36,600 --> 01:39:39,466 MAN (on megaphone): Leave this area immediately! 1833 01:39:39,565 --> 01:39:43,332 NARRATOR: The students were ordered to disperse. 1834 01:39:43,432 --> 01:39:45,065 They stood their ground. 1835 01:39:45,166 --> 01:39:47,065 (shouting) 1836 01:39:51,166 --> 01:39:54,332 Tear gas scattered some of them. 1837 01:39:54,432 --> 01:39:56,332 (shouting) 1838 01:40:13,600 --> 01:40:17,466 The guardsmen seemed to fall back. 1839 01:40:17,565 --> 01:40:21,666 But then members of Troop G wheeled around and opened fire 1840 01:40:21,765 --> 01:40:25,800 on students gathered in and around a parking lot. 1841 01:40:27,800 --> 01:40:30,600 (distorted gunshots echoing) 1842 01:40:57,265 --> 01:40:59,432 PROTESTOR: Somebody call for an ambulance! 1843 01:40:59,533 --> 01:41:01,100 (others shouting) 1844 01:41:01,199 --> 01:41:04,166 There's people dying down here! Get an ambulance up here! 1845 01:41:04,265 --> 01:41:06,166 (indistinct shouting) 1846 01:41:10,832 --> 01:41:14,199 NARRATOR: 67 rounds in 13 seconds 1847 01:41:14,300 --> 01:41:18,699 killed two young women and two young men... 1848 01:41:21,600 --> 01:41:24,765 Including an ROTC scholarship student 1849 01:41:24,865 --> 01:41:27,332 who had simply been an onlooker. 1850 01:41:33,033 --> 01:41:37,733 SAM HYNES: That dead child on the ground 1851 01:41:37,832 --> 01:41:41,132 was one of ours. 1852 01:41:41,233 --> 01:41:44,533 If we could kill our own students, 1853 01:41:44,632 --> 01:41:49,733 uh, what had happened to our country? 1854 01:41:51,832 --> 01:41:54,699 NARRATOR: Nine more students were wounded, 1855 01:41:54,800 --> 01:41:58,765 one of whom was permanently paralyzed. 1856 01:42:11,132 --> 01:42:15,500 Several hundred angry, grieving students sat down 1857 01:42:15,600 --> 01:42:17,632 and demanded to know why the guardsmen 1858 01:42:17,733 --> 01:42:19,632 had fired on their friends. 1859 01:42:23,132 --> 01:42:25,966 MAN: Sir, you've got a couple hundred students... 1860 01:42:26,065 --> 01:42:27,432 NARRATOR: An officer ordered them 1861 01:42:27,533 --> 01:42:29,300 to "disperse or we will shoot again." 1862 01:42:29,399 --> 01:42:32,300 How long will you give us? You've got five minutes. 1863 01:42:32,399 --> 01:42:35,300 GLENN FRANK: Please listen to me right now! 1864 01:42:35,399 --> 01:42:37,899 NARRATOR: Only the anguished pleas 1865 01:42:38,000 --> 01:42:42,565 of geology professor Glenn Frank averted further tragedy. 1866 01:42:42,666 --> 01:42:44,365 STUDENT: Talk, Dr. Frank. Talk. 1867 01:43:01,899 --> 01:43:05,033 (indistinct voices) 1868 01:43:09,765 --> 01:43:12,600 MIKE HEANEY: That just symbolized for me 1869 01:43:12,699 --> 01:43:16,565 what this war was doing to our culture. 1870 01:43:16,666 --> 01:43:18,432 These were kids on both sides, 1871 01:43:18,533 --> 01:43:21,300 young National Guard boys 1872 01:43:21,399 --> 01:43:24,666 who had very little training and probably scared, 1873 01:43:24,765 --> 01:43:26,899 and not well led 1874 01:43:27,000 --> 01:43:28,765 and-and young men and women on the other side 1875 01:43:28,865 --> 01:43:30,365 protesting the war out there 1876 01:43:30,466 --> 01:43:32,699 for, you know, idealistic reasons. 1877 01:43:32,800 --> 01:43:35,332 And look at what happens 1878 01:43:35,432 --> 01:43:41,466 when we let things get as bad as they got. 1879 01:43:41,565 --> 01:43:43,199 ("Woodstock" by Joni Mitchell playing) 1880 01:43:43,300 --> 01:43:45,865 NARRATOR: According to one national poll, 1881 01:43:45,966 --> 01:43:48,733 58% of the American people 1882 01:43:48,832 --> 01:43:51,666 thought the killings justified. 1883 01:43:54,632 --> 01:43:57,865 The parents of the dead ROTC student 1884 01:43:57,966 --> 01:44:00,600 received a flood of hate mail, 1885 01:44:00,699 --> 01:44:04,065 suggesting that they should be grateful their boy was dead 1886 01:44:04,166 --> 01:44:08,733 since he'd been "just another communist." 1887 01:44:09,865 --> 01:44:13,832 (man speaking indistinctly over megaphone) 1888 01:44:13,932 --> 01:44:17,432 During the days that followed, all across the country, 1889 01:44:17,533 --> 01:44:20,100 more than four million college students 1890 01:44:20,199 --> 01:44:22,100 demonstrated against the war 1891 01:44:22,199 --> 01:44:25,132 and what had happened at Kent State. 1892 01:44:27,666 --> 01:44:31,632 MITCHELL: ♪ I came upon a child of God 1893 01:44:31,733 --> 01:44:36,233 ♪ He was walking along the road ♪ 1894 01:44:36,332 --> 01:44:38,199 ♪ And I asked him 1895 01:44:38,300 --> 01:44:40,500 ♪ Where are you going? 1896 01:44:40,600 --> 01:44:44,466 ♪ And this he told me 1897 01:44:44,565 --> 01:44:49,233 NARRATOR: 448 campuses closed down, 1898 01:44:49,332 --> 01:44:54,899 and the National Guard was called out in 16 states. 1899 01:44:55,000 --> 01:44:56,233 MITCHELL: ♪ Band 1900 01:44:56,332 --> 01:44:58,365 ♪ I'm gonna camp out 1901 01:44:58,466 --> 01:45:02,033 NARRATOR: At Jackson State University in Mississippi, 1902 01:45:02,132 --> 01:45:06,300 state police opened fire on a dormitory. 1903 01:45:06,399 --> 01:45:08,233 Two students died. 1904 01:45:08,332 --> 01:45:11,233 12 more were wounded. 1905 01:45:13,233 --> 01:45:15,265 Jackson State, those were my people. 1906 01:45:15,365 --> 01:45:17,199 Those were black kids. 1907 01:45:17,300 --> 01:45:19,533 And they died. 1908 01:45:19,632 --> 01:45:23,033 MITCHELL: ♪ Back to the garden 1909 01:45:23,132 --> 01:45:25,432 NARRATOR: Army private Tim O'Brien 1910 01:45:25,533 --> 01:45:29,233 was now back home in Minnesota. 1911 01:45:29,332 --> 01:45:32,800 O'BRIEN: There was a huge march 1912 01:45:32,899 --> 01:45:34,699 after the Kent State shootings in St. Paul, 1913 01:45:34,800 --> 01:45:37,065 and I joined the march. 1914 01:45:37,166 --> 01:45:42,332 I just wanted to put my body amidst these 100,000 people, 1915 01:45:42,432 --> 01:45:45,600 that word "no" being uttered by my body, if not by my mouth, 1916 01:45:45,699 --> 01:45:47,100 by just making that march. 1917 01:45:47,199 --> 01:45:50,699 That same march I was doing in Vietnam 1918 01:45:50,800 --> 01:45:53,065 that seemed senseless and purposeless 1919 01:45:53,166 --> 01:45:54,300 and without direction, 1920 01:45:54,399 --> 01:45:57,233 here it felt sensible and purposeful 1921 01:45:57,332 --> 01:46:00,666 and with direction, heading for that state capital 1922 01:46:00,765 --> 01:46:04,065 to say no. 1923 01:46:04,166 --> 01:46:07,365 And, boy, did it feel good. 1924 01:46:07,466 --> 01:46:09,365 (chanting "Peace now") 1925 01:46:12,300 --> 01:46:14,132 NARRATOR: Marine Corporal Bill Ehrhart 1926 01:46:14,233 --> 01:46:16,666 was a student at Swarthmore College 1927 01:46:16,765 --> 01:46:20,832 near his hometown in eastern Pennsylvania. 1928 01:46:20,932 --> 01:46:25,365 EHRHART: And here's this very famous photograph. 1929 01:46:25,466 --> 01:46:28,300 And I just looked at this thing. 1930 01:46:32,565 --> 01:46:34,065 And I came unglued. 1931 01:46:36,332 --> 01:46:39,699 I don't know how long I sat down on the curb, 1932 01:46:39,800 --> 01:46:43,233 and I don't know if I was there for 15 minutes 1933 01:46:43,332 --> 01:46:44,765 or an hour and a half. 1934 01:46:44,865 --> 01:46:47,100 Just had a breakdown. 1935 01:46:47,199 --> 01:46:50,865 Just crying, sobbing uncontrollably. 1936 01:46:50,966 --> 01:46:52,733 All I could think was, "It's not enough to send us 1937 01:46:52,832 --> 01:46:55,166 "halfway around the world to die. 1938 01:46:55,265 --> 01:46:58,033 "Now they're killing us in the streets of our own country. 1939 01:46:58,132 --> 01:46:59,500 I have to do something." 1940 01:47:01,533 --> 01:47:02,666 And I finally... 1941 01:47:02,765 --> 01:47:04,565 whenever I finally cried myself out, 1942 01:47:04,666 --> 01:47:07,132 I got up and I joined the antiwar movement. 1943 01:47:10,399 --> 01:47:14,765 MUSGRAVE: I remember when the kids were killed at Kent State, 1944 01:47:14,865 --> 01:47:17,565 and I thought, 1945 01:47:17,666 --> 01:47:20,832 "My God, we're killing our own children now. 1946 01:47:20,932 --> 01:47:22,666 We've really gone mad." 1947 01:47:22,765 --> 01:47:24,065 And I wasn't... 1948 01:47:24,166 --> 01:47:27,065 That's when I was hiding from things. 1949 01:47:27,166 --> 01:47:29,100 I wasn't in anybody's movement then. 1950 01:47:29,199 --> 01:47:30,865 I was just drinking. 1951 01:47:32,966 --> 01:47:38,300 But that was one of the things that told me 1952 01:47:38,399 --> 01:47:40,699 America needed a wake-up call. 1953 01:47:47,733 --> 01:47:50,865 ("Ohio" by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young playing) 1954 01:48:13,932 --> 01:48:16,765 ♪ Tin soldiers and Nixon's coming ♪ 1955 01:48:16,865 --> 01:48:19,733 ♪ We're finally on our own 1956 01:48:19,832 --> 01:48:23,166 ♪ This summer I hear the drumming ♪ 1957 01:48:23,265 --> 01:48:26,932 ♪ Four dead in Ohio 1958 01:48:27,033 --> 01:48:29,733 ♪ Got to get down to it 1959 01:48:29,832 --> 01:48:33,132 ♪ Soldiers are cutting us down 1960 01:48:33,233 --> 01:48:36,865 ♪ Should have been done long ago ♪ 1961 01:48:39,399 --> 01:48:40,966 ♪ What if you knew her 1962 01:48:41,065 --> 01:48:44,699 ♪ And found her dead on the ground? ♪ 1963 01:48:44,800 --> 01:48:48,899 ♪ How can you run when you know? ♪ 1964 01:48:49,000 --> 01:48:50,899 ♪ 1965 01:49:09,932 --> 01:49:12,332 ♪ La la-la-la, la la la la ♪ 1966 01:49:12,432 --> 01:49:16,199 ♪ La la-la-la, la la la ♪ 1967 01:49:16,300 --> 01:49:19,300 ♪ La la-la-la, la la la la ♪ 1968 01:49:19,399 --> 01:49:22,699 ♪ La la-la-la, la la la ♪ 1969 01:49:22,800 --> 01:49:25,199 ♪ Got to get down to it 1970 01:49:25,300 --> 01:49:28,832 ♪ Soldiers are cutting us down 1971 01:49:28,932 --> 01:49:32,699 ♪ Should have been done long ago ♪ 1972 01:49:35,100 --> 01:49:37,100 ♪ What if you knew her 1973 01:49:37,199 --> 01:49:41,166 ♪ And found her dead on the ground? ♪ 1974 01:49:41,265 --> 01:49:44,899 ♪ How can you run when you know? ♪ 1975 01:49:45,000 --> 01:49:46,899 ♪ 1976 01:50:05,132 --> 01:50:08,000 ♪ Tin soldiers and Nixon's coming ♪ 1977 01:50:08,100 --> 01:50:11,199 ♪ We're finally on our own 1978 01:50:11,300 --> 01:50:14,199 ♪ This summer I hear the drumming ♪ 1979 01:50:14,300 --> 01:50:16,666 ♪ Four dead in Ohio 1980 01:50:16,765 --> 01:50:19,832 ♪ Four dead in Ohio ♪ Four 1981 01:50:19,932 --> 01:50:22,100 ♪ Four dead in Ohio 1982 01:50:22,199 --> 01:50:25,033 ♪ Four ♪ Four dead in Ohio 1983 01:50:25,132 --> 01:50:27,699 ♪ How could they? ♪ Four dead in Ohio 1984 01:50:27,800 --> 01:50:30,899 ♪ How many more? ♪ Four dead in Ohio 1985 01:50:31,000 --> 01:50:35,466 ♪ Why? ♪ Four dead in... 1986 01:50:36,533 --> 01:50:37,733 ANNOUNCER: LEARN MORE ABOUT THE FILM 1987 01:50:37,733 --> 01:50:40,600 AND FIND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES AT PBS.ORG/VIETNAMWAR 1988 01:50:40,600 --> 01:50:44,533 AND JOIN THE CONVERSATION USING HASHTAG VIETNAMWARPBS. 1989 01:50:44,533 --> 01:50:46,000 "THE VIETNAM WAR" IS AVAILABLE 1990 01:50:46,000 --> 01:50:47,666 ON BLU-RAY AND DVD. 1991 01:50:47,666 --> 01:50:49,332 THE COMPANION BOOK, SOUNDTRACK, 1992 01:50:49,332 --> 01:50:50,733 AND ORIGINAL SCORE FROM THE FILM 1993 01:50:50,733 --> 01:50:51,865 ARE ALSO AVAILABLE. 1994 01:50:51,865 --> 01:50:53,966 TO ORDER, VISIT SHOPPBS.ORG 1995 01:50:53,966 --> 01:50:56,432 OR CALL 1-800-PLAY-PBS. 1996 01:50:56,432 --> 01:50:57,865 EPISODES OF THIS SERIES ALSO 1997 01:50:57,865 --> 01:50:58,966 AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD 1998 01:50:58,966 --> 01:51:00,132 FROM iTUNES. 1999 01:51:03,399 --> 01:51:05,533 ANNOUNCER: BANK OF AMERICA PROUDLY SUPPORTS 2000 01:51:05,533 --> 01:51:10,432 KEN BURNS' AND LYNN NOVICK'S FILM "THE VIETNAM WAR" 2001 01:51:10,432 --> 01:51:12,832 BECAUSE FOSTERING DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES 2002 01:51:12,832 --> 01:51:15,432 AND CIVIL DISCOURSE AROUND IMPORTANT ISSUES 2003 01:51:15,432 --> 01:51:17,733 FURTHERS PROGRESS, EQUALITY, 2004 01:51:17,733 --> 01:51:19,733 AND A MORE CONNECTED SOCIETY. 2005 01:51:24,199 --> 01:51:28,233 GO TO BANKOFAMERICA.COM/ BETTERCONNECTED TO LEARN MORE. 2006 01:51:31,699 --> 01:51:33,132 ANNOUNCER: MAJOR SUPPORT FOR "THE VIETNAM WAR" 2007 01:51:33,132 --> 01:51:36,632 WAS PROVIDED BY MEMBERS OF THE BETTER ANGELS SOCIETY, 2008 01:51:36,632 --> 01:51:40,600 INCLUDING JONATHAN AND JEANNIE LAVINE, 2009 01:51:40,600 --> 01:51:43,500 DIANE AND HAL BRIERLEY, 2010 01:51:43,500 --> 01:51:45,899 AMY AND DAVID ABRAMS, 2011 01:51:45,899 --> 01:51:48,399 JOHN AND CATHERINE DEBS, 2012 01:51:48,399 --> 01:51:51,300 THE FULLERTON FAMILY CHARITABLE FUND, 2013 01:51:51,300 --> 01:51:53,365 THE MONTRONE FAMILY, 2014 01:51:53,365 --> 01:51:55,699 LYNDA AND STEWART RESNICK, 2015 01:51:55,699 --> 01:51:58,466 THE PERRY AND DONNA GOLKIN FAMILY FOUNDATION, 2016 01:51:58,466 --> 01:51:59,466 THE LYNCH FOUNDATION, 2017 01:51:59,466 --> 01:52:02,399 THE ROGER AND ROSEMARY ENRICO FOUNDATION, 2018 01:52:02,399 --> 01:52:05,832 AND BY THESE ADDITIONAL FUNDERS. 2019 01:52:05,832 --> 01:52:07,733 MAJOR FUNDING WAS ALSO PROVIDED 2020 01:52:07,733 --> 01:52:09,466 BY DAVID H. 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