Original subtitles

Downloaded from YTS.MX

Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX

Congratulations, Mr. President.

Johnson: Just the beginning, Bob.

Man: Sir! Mr. President!

Over here, please! Thank you!

She is pretty.

- Having a good time, George? - Great night, Mr. President.

- What a night. - Johnson: You bet, George.

Mr. Johnson!

Thank you, sir! Mrs. Johnson!

Man: Get him, girls. Get him.

Senator Dirksen, the president would be delighted

if you'd join him in the Oval Office after the ball.

I will.

One thing I can say about the Great Society--

it sure is crowded.

Up all night writing this one, Dick?

Uh, this is one speech I'll gladly disavow.

Got a clipping here.

Quotes my honorable defeated opponent,

Senator Goldwater.

Calls my secretary of defense "an IBM machine with legs."

Outrageous!

Now, I stand here tonight to tell you

that I regard Bob McNamara here

as not only one of the smartest,

but one of the most humane men I know.

Yeah. Over here.

Man: Goldwater's history!

And that goes for all my blue-ribbon men

you see here tonight.

Yep.

Never in our history has there been

such an abundance of brains and talent.

Why, I've got three or four Rhodes scholars,

four or five graduates of Harvard,

a couple from Yale.

And, why, there's even one here tonight

from Southwest Texas State Teachers College.

And don't you know, that one rules the roost.

♪ The eyes of Texas are upon you ♪

♪ All the livelong day ♪

♪ The eyes of Texas are upon you ♪

♪ You cannot get away ♪

♪ Do not think you can escape them ♪

♪ At night or early in the morn ♪

♪ The eyes of Texas are upon you ♪

♪ Till Gabriel blows his horn... ♪

Hey! Thank you.

( singing and cheering continue )

Watch broken, Jack?

- Timing it. - Timing what?

The applause. He'll ask.

♪ The eyes of Texas are upon you ♪

♪ Till Gabriel blows his horn. ♪

Johnson on TV: In a land of great wealth,

families must not live in hopeless poverty.

In a land rich in harvest,

children just must not go hungry.

In a land of healing miracles,

neighbors must not suffer and die unattended.

In a great land of learning and scholars,

young people must be taught to read and write.

Dirksen: A bit more volume, please, Mr. President?

I want to hear every brilliant word

that Dick Goodwin wrote for your marvelous speech.

Goodwin? Who told you Goodwin wrote that speech?

A dozen people work on my speeches.

Nobody more than I do.

Why, Jack here's been writing

some of my best stuff for seven years.

My penance for marrying away his last secretary,

but thank you for the credit, Mr. President.

- Good night, Jack. - Good night, Mr. President.

- Good night, Senator. - Good night, Jack.

Johnson on TV: ...with the resources I have had,

I have vigilantly fought against it.

- Goodwin wrote maybe a word or two. - Mm-hmm.

"Great" being one, "Society" the other?

- Smart son of a bitch got that out of a book.

Now, listen to me, Ev.

And listen well. You're a good friend.

I don't want to see you retire prematurely.

But as this reception plainly shows you,

the American people ain't gonna stand

for you fellas on the other side of the aisle

dragging your feet on any of my programs.

Now, FDR passed a handful of bills

in his first hundred days.

I'm gonna pass a bucketful--

poverty, education, health care.

And I'm gonna finish what I started on civil rights, too.

I'm telling you, Jim Crow put a collar on more smart men

sure as they were sentenced to an Illinois chain gang.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. I take offense, sir.

We are most humane to our condemned.

The Great Society is my beautiful woman, Ev,

and I'm taking her by the arm.

And as the greatest Republican leader of this century,

Everett Dirksen is gonna take her by the other

and help me escort that lady home.

Yes.

And knowing what is likely thence to ensue, Mr. President,

that is where I shall take my leave.

Lyndon? I apologize for interrupting.

I thought perhaps you'd like some sandwiches from the kitchen.

Mrs. Johnson, my most abject apology.

I have kept your husband far too long

on this most festive occasion.

No.

Mr. President,

a heartfelt congratulations, sir.

Adieu.

- Good night. - Good night.

Johnson on TV: If we fail now,

then we will have forgotten in abundance

- what we learned in hardship.

Democracy rests on faith,

freedom asks more than it gives,

and the judgment of God...

It was a wonderful speech.

Full of such hope and promise.

Dick Goodwin asked what I thought,

and I told him it was a magnificent job.

And you delivered it so very well.

- Thank you, honey. - Yes, you did.

Thank you.

9:00 p.m. unless you hear from me.

- Morning. How are you? - How are you, sir?

- Is that for me? Thank you. - Yes, sir.

- Good morning. - Good morning.

Morning.

Good morning, Mr. Secretary.

What have we got here? A crisis in every capital?

Uh, just one.

- This is one cable? - Not quite.

Here's the rest of it.

McNamara: The situation in Vietnam is continuing to deteriorate.

We've been able to keep the noise level down since your campaign,

but my guess is you'll be faced with a tough decision soon.

How soon?

There are 19 million older folks who can't see a doctor.

33 million under the poverty line.

I can't have Congress distracted.

Now, how soon, Bob?

Very soon, Mr. President.

I hate to have to report this to you,

but Max Taylor says here that Vietcong enlistment

is increasing rapidly

and that Saigon can't continue much longer

to provide security for our advisors down there

and fight an insurgency at the same time.

Why not? How many men does South Vietnam have out there fighting?

200,000. VC have about 34,000.

Well, how the hell can 34,000 lick 200,000?

Well, historically, a 10:1 ratio minimum

is required for a guerilla situation,

and there's no way that South Vietnam can achieve that on their own.

Now, we've kept our powder dry

through the elections and the holidays,

waiting for some stability in the south,

waiting for the cycle of coups to end,

during which we've had five killed in the attack at Bien Hoa,

two at our Saigon officers quarters,

and scores wounded with no retaliation from us whatsoever.

Now, Wheeler, the other chiefs, Westmoreland,

are fit to be tied, as you know,

and now this from Ambassador Taylor.

You might send Mac Bundy to Saigon, have a talk with him.

I'd make another trip myself,

but I'm in the middle of the defense budget right now.

I don't want to see the word "Vietnam" in that damn budget.

Well...

you know I'd do that if I could.

In fact, it's becoming increasingly difficult to conceal--

Bob, all I want to know is this.

What's it gonna take to get Ho Chi Minh to quit?

That's all I want to know.

Mr. President, it's clear to me now

that the answer is sustained military action in the air.

And if that doesn't work,

on the ground.

This is the decision you are going to have to face, Mr. President,

and as I said, very soon, I'm afraid.

Keep me up to date, Bob.

- Turn that thing off. - Yes, sir.

This Medicare speech is shit.

Cut out the gobbledygook and sex it up.

Maybe Goodwin ought to take a crack at it.

Goodwin's got three months of assignments.

Oh, I just put the last of those on your desk, Mr. President.

I'd be glad to look it over if you'd like me to.

All right.

Put the music to it, Dick.

Jack, I want you to tell him

to stop taking credit for every goddamn word I say.

- Absolutely, Mr. President. - All right.

Come on, dog. Up you go.

- Schedule me a haircut. - Surely.

And see if you can get Clark Clifford here for dinner.

Lady Bird: Converting from Protestant to Catholic is a big step.

Actually, Lyndon took it better than I did.

I was quite surprised.

Well, both you and Daddy changed your religions.

From one Protestant denomination to another.

It was a matter of convenience and schooling.

Well, I don't think religion should be a matter of convenience.

And this is a private matter, Luci.

You're finishing up at Texas, aren't you, Lynda?

- Next year, ma'am. - She's dating George Hamilton, you know?

- The actor? - Yeah.

- With the tan? - And your sister may consider that a private matter, too.

- Oh, Mother, you must be joking.

Come on now, damn it. What's the reason this time?

I don't have the qualifications to be CIA director.

I decide the qualifications.

You had all the qualifications to be attorney general, didn't you?

To succeed Bobby Kennedy.

Yeah, and here I am stuck with a friend of his-- Katzenbach.

- He's excellent. - Aw, well, look.

All right, you told me your interest was foreign affairs.

Well, that's where I need your help-- foreign affairs.

What is CIA but foreign affairs?

I think my skills would better serve you

in foreign policy, Mr. President,

not foreign intrigue.

I hear you billed a million dollars last year.

First lawyer in the country to do that.

- True? - Well, that's what 5% came to.

Well, hell, then you can afford to take a hiatus

from all this moneymaking,

come serve your president.

I don't think you need an attorney, old friend,

I think you need a magician.

- Magician? - Yeah.

Someone who can make a small corner of Southeast Asia disappear.

President Kennedy did not lose South Vietnam

and I'm not gonna lose South Vietnam.

I kept all these people on.

They assured me he was determined to stick it out.

Now, that little son of a bitch Bobby's just hovering to swoop down

and reclaim the mantle if I fail.

He'll hang me from my left ball,

Goldwater'll hang me from my right.

That is complete nonsense.

You humiliated Goldwater in the election.

The entire right wing is in disarray.

Bobby is a freshman senator with no record.

His brother was a no-record senator, too, wasn't he?

- And he came out of nowhere.

Luci: Daddy?

Would you like some dessert or are you on your diet?

Now, you save some for me, honey, if it's good.

- How about you, Mr. Clifford? - No, thank you, dear.

No, he's not getting anything.

Now,

Jack Kennedy put 16,000 advisors in there.

I put in another eight.

We've got 24,000 now,

teaching them people how to shoot and fly planes.

We got patrols and covert operations.

We got an alphabet soup of aid programs,

a lot of which I'd like to have right here.

And none of it's working because of all this coup shit.

It's like building bricks with no mortar down there.

There's nothing real to hang it on.

Now, Ho Chi Minh knows this,

and he's gonna keep his people attacking till there's nothing left.

Now, if we call it quits and continue as we are,

South Vietnam, maybe the whole of Southeast Asia, goes Communist.

Now, even George Ball admits that.

Everybody else thinks we ought to up the ante.

Bombing?

Look at this.

Bunch of sheds just outside Hanoi.

And they call that a military target?

There's a school right up the street.

Poles built it for 'em.

Hell, Clark, I could build them a thousand damn schools.

I'd like you to start to follow the situation down there.

Read some of these reports they keep throwing at me.

I just don't know what to believe anymore.

Biggest damn mess.

You'd be on the outside. You could take a fresh look.

I'll do everything I can to help.

Yeah, except come work for me.

Hey, what about the Supreme Court?

What if a seat opens up?

I'm an advocate. I'm not a judge.

Hell, Clark, you're a hick lawyer from Missouri.

Well, I may be a hick lawyer from Missouri,

but as you yourself pointed out,

I haven't made Missouri wages for a long, long time.

You know, I ran saying I was for peace.

Now, sure as hell they're telling me I gotta do

what I said I wasn't gonna do,

what Goldwater was gonna do.

Luci's converting to Catholicism.

Big decision for a young girl.

He told me.

He said when the press gets hold of it,

they'll make it sound as if she did it as a tribute to the Kennedys.

Oh.

I swear, I think he was only half joking.

Clark?

Oh.

Hello?

I'm sorry, he's asleep.

He's just gotten over pneumonia.

I'd rather not wake him.

I-- I know.

- Is it possible-- - Marg?

Sorry, Bob. Must be pretty damn bad to keep you at home.

Let's just call it the Hanoi flu.

What the hell's going on here?

General. II Corps Headquarters at Pleiku.

Vietcong cut through the wire.

Blew up our advisors' barracks, planes, choppers on the runway.

- In Camp Holloway... - Casualty report.

...more of the same.

Advisors' compound next door.

VC got in with mortars and grenade launchers.

There are eight dead, 120-plus wounded,

six choppers, one transport destroyed,

other aircraft severely damaged.

Colonel: Mr. Secretary?

The National Security Advisor's in Saigon, is he not?

Didn't the CIA say Hanoi would connect Bundy's visit

with a decision on bombing?

Vietcong agents in Saigon government probably leaked it out.

And knowing this, knowing this,

look what they did, Bob.

They blew up 128 people

just to thumb their noses at us.

Now what the hell are we gonna do about it?

McNamara: Number 33, the North Vietnamese barracks at Dong Hoi

just over the border in North Vietnam.

About 6,000 troops based there.

An isolated facility with minimal civilian support.

What are our expected casualties?

3,600 troops, roughly 40 civilians.

How'd you come up with these numbers?

Wheeler: Sir, we take the approach,

look at the blast pattern,

the size of the blast, demographics.

Mr. President, it's as sophisticated an analysis as I've seen,

unprecedented in aerial warfare.

But Ho Chi Minh's not gonna turn tail overnight.

Saigon's gonna take a shellacking for anything we do.

And if they go in now, it'll be like sending in

a widow woman to slap Jack Dempsey.

Sir, we doubt Hanoi will slap back.

Didn't MacArthur say the same thing

when a million Chinese poured into Korea?

What does State think of this?

The risk of inaction means more aggression.

Ambassador Taylor concurs.

He's meeting with Saigon's leaders now.

Should be calling the Situation Room momentarily.

They'll put him through to me.

Mr. President, if I might.

I was in charge of bombing surveys during World War II,

and bombing never wins a war.

Rather than erode the enemy's will, it strengthens it.

We've seen this time and time again-- in the Blitz, Berlin.

The Blitz in Berlin never would have happened

if we didn't lay down to Hitler in Munich.

And if we lay down now, it'll be the same thing again--

an open invitation to more of their aggression.

Mr. President, what we're proposing with Rolling Thunder

is a strictly limited program of sustained retaliation,

moving northward only if Vietcong activity persists.

But it will persist, Bob.

We'll be bombing their cities before we know it.

Now, do we expect Russia to sit still for that? Or China?

Comparisons with Korea 15 years ago

are flimsy at best, Mr. President.

Ball: You are absolutely right. China has atomic weapons now.

They tested their first bomb four months ago.

It was no dud.

We have no idea what will set them off.

I-I don't understand.

Why is this?

Man: North Vietnam has secret treaties

with the Chi-Coms, Mr. President.

We don't know what the flash points are in their intervention.

We can take China out in 17 minutes.

They'd be crazy to take us on.

I agree, Bus, but why assume they're as rational as we are?

Mr. President, 400 Americans have died in Vietnam.

And now eight more in these atrocities.

There has to be a response to this aggression.

Mr. President, the Air Force

will be launching strikes from the Da Nang airfield,

and that base will become a more attractive target to the Vietcong.

General Westmoreland is requesting a Hawk missile battalion.

- Is he asking for troops? - No, no troops.

Saigon will be responsible for base defense.

But if the Vietcong activity intensifies

despite these measures, they may need some help.

But it will intensify, Bob.

This is precisely my point, Mr. President.

- Rusk: Yes?

Woman on intercom: Mr. Secretary, Saigon. Ambassador Taylor.

Put him through.

Max, we're all here with the president. Go ahead.

Taylor: Mr. President, gentlemen.

Saigon has agreed to the commencement of air strikes.

They say their army's ready for any counterattack from the north.

All right, Max. Thank you.

George...

your concerns are mine as well, as you know.

But we're nowhere near the point you suggest.

Now, many here agree there's a good chance

that Ho Chi Minh will quit if we start making him pay.

Now, is there anyone here who does not agree with this?

I'm concerned about the press.

They're gonna view this as a change in policy.

There is no change in policy!

But we haven't struck back since the Tonkin Gulf affair six months ago.

That's right. That's why I asked Congress for the power.

They gave me the power, and I'm using it.

But we're taking it slow.

I'm not going to Hanoi.

And I'm signing off on every target.

You're not gonna bomb the smallest outhouse without checking with me.

You understand, General?

We understand, Mr. President.

All right, Bob. You better get going.

Now, anything else?

McNamara's voice: From Robert S. McNamara to Admiral U.S. Grant Sharp,

Commander of Pacific Forces, Honolulu.

This is an execution order.

During daylight hours, 7 February, 1965, Saigon time,

conduct the following coordinated attack:

Number 33, Dong Hoi barracks.

- Good evening, Mr. President. - Planes back?

Carriers weren't on station when the order went out, sir.

The operation has been delayed.

- Delayed? - About 90 minutes, sir.

We should have word shortly.

Stand at ease.

Well, what happened?

It's monsoon season there, sir.

Well, are they going or aren't they going?

You find out what the hell's going on and you call me!

Get the White House operator to put you through.

- You want me to wake you, sir? - You won't wake me!

- Why are you up? - Worried for you.

Those planes should've been back hours ago.

What's that?

It's a letter from a friend, complaining about junkyards.

She says here,

"They're all up and down the highway now.

Through Dallas to San Antone, Houston"--

Right on the highway, or away where people can't see?

No, right along the road, defiling the countryside

through Waxahachie and Hillboro

and lovely San Marcos where you went to school.

Oh, love, don't.

Love.

Yes, Mr. President.

What are you doing about junkyards on the highways?

- What? - Junkyards!

Well, I'm sending something over to your office right now.

You jump in your car in your jammies,

you might even beat it.

- Yes?

I spoke with Honolulu. They're cabling now.

Planes are back.

The primary was hit.

All the planes, they all get back?

No, sir. I'm afraid we did lose one plane.

- What about the pilot? - He went down at sea.

Search and rescue is looking for him now,

but I'm afraid it's not looking very good.

I'm sorry, sir.

All right. Thank you, Bob.

Good night, Mr. President.

Man: Yes, Mr. President?

Lyndon.

Oh, I'm-- I'm sorry.

Put this on Moyers' desk.

Yes, sir.

Honey?

We lost a pilot.

Sweetheart.

Oh, sweetheart.

- Oh, I'm so sorry. - That's all right.

This isn't about junkyards, is it?

Shit, what time is it?

I told Sandra I'd be home before 1:00.

She didn't call.

That's not a good sign.

Hmm. How about you?

You coming or going?

He wants company.

We started bombing North Vietnam tonight.

Christ.

Are they talking about combat troops?

No. Not yet, no.

Christ, I don't know what to tell the press.

We are backing into a war here, for Christ's sake.

And it's a war he campaigned against.

But now he talks like he's putting a paddle to Ho Chi Minh's behind.

Well, Johnson's a deal-maker.

He's the best politician this country's ever seen.

He'll find a way out of this.

Sure. He'll just get old Uncle Ho down to the ranch,

serve him up some tasty barbecue

and then offer him a dam.

Or a federal judgeship.

- Hello, Mr. President. Ahem. - Good evening, Mr. President.

Congratulations on getting that education bill out of committee.

Well, it hasn't passed yet, has it?

I want all you up there on the Hill,

day and night, getting me those yeas.

What is this? Tapioca pudding?

Yes, sir.

Would you like it?

Ah, now, voting rights.

That's the meat in the coconut.

Where do we stand?

At last tally, we are short 50 congressmen.

- But the Senate-- - Start with the House. Give me their names.

You want me to read the roll, Mr. President?

All 435?

From Abbitt of Virginia to Zablocki of Wisconsin.

- Go. - Uh...

Um...

Abbitt, Virginia, nay.

Abernethy, Mississippi, nay.

Where do you think you're going?

Home.

The hell you are. You're gonna relieve him when he gives out.

Adair, Indiana, nay.

Adams, Washington, yea.

Addabbo, New York, yea.

Albert, Oklahoma, yea.

Boys, it doesn't look like

we're gonna be able to get voting rights through.

- Not this session.

Well, I must say, I don't understand, Mr. President.

Only a month ago in your State of the Union message, you made it perfect--

Johnson: Reverend King, I have been to the well,

and the well has provided.

I got the votes on Medicare,

aid to education--

all these benefit the poor and disenfranchised,

and you know who that is.

Please don't misunderstand.

We're very grateful, Mr. President.

Attorney General Katzenbach here has written

a beautiful piece of legislation.

You think I wanna carry that around in my ass pocket?

You see, it's this--

this problem I got in Southeast Asia,

the Vietnamese.

To them Southerners up on the Hill,

what are they but another bunch of colored people?

And I go up there crawling for more aid, as I must for Vietnam.

"Mr. President," old Wilbur Mills will say,

"you're gonna have to raise taxes,

declare war, call up the reserves.

And by the way, that's gonna cost you your War on Poverty,

your voting rights for Negroes."

Just like World War II killed the New Deal,

well, there ain't gonna be World War III, I promise you.

I'm gonna nip this in the bud. I am.

And as soon as I do,

I'll send that bill up and more, I promise you.

There will be no delay.

Well, Mr. President,

we're going to be down in Selma,

marching for the vote,

and we expect you'll take notice

as to what we do down there.

Man on TV: During preparations for Martin Luther King's

second attempt to march to Montgomery,

four white men beat to death a Boston clergyman,

one of the 1,500 marchers.

The slain reverend, James Reeb,

had come to Selma in solidarity with Negroes

attempting to register to vote.

- Uh-huh. - Amidst growing concern about increasing

racial violence in Alabama,

Governor George Wallace is reportedly preparing a trip

to Washington, DC, to see the president.

Meanwhile, demonstrations continue in front of the White House.

Protestors: We demand justice!

Call them off!

Well, we didn't organize it, Mr. President.

Call them off! Get out there, both of you!

Call them off!

- Daddy? - Why are you up?

Those goddamn agitators wake you?

No, I heard you yelling.

Oh, sorry, honey.

King on TV: ...how it can't be done.

It's still strange to us, though,

how millions of dollars can be spent every day

to hold troops in South Vietnam,

and our country cannot protect the rights of Negroes

in Selma and Marion, Alabama.

He's outrageous!

Now, now, now! Everything's gotta be now!

What, they want the whole goddamn world with a fence around it?

I just gave standby authorization

to federalize the Alabama Guard.

We just need your order.

You have to do it, Mr. President.

Wallace won't protect those marchers.

You want me to send troops into Alabama?

Lose Stennis, Dirksen, Russell,

every conservative vote I got hanging on a thread of spittle?

It'll be Reconstruction all over again.

Your friend Bobby Kennedy could have given me that advice!

Wallace on TV: Martin Luther King and his group of pro-Communists

have instigated these demonstrations

by lawless nigger mobs in Birmingham.

But the law-abiding citizens of both races there

are fed up with this rioting and disruption

led by so-called clergymen

and their Communist-inspired followers!

I am therefore sending 250 state troopers into that city,

supported by 500 other law officers of this state.

I will meet our enemies face-to-face.

I will not surrender!

Mr. President, Wallace is only coming up here

in order to placate you.

He wants things to get so bad down there

that you have to put the troops in.

Then he'll lambaste you for invading his sovereign state,

and that's how he'll save himself.

Goddamn runty little bastard!

I want his pecker in my pocket.

The thing we have to do-- we have to get him to ask for the troops,

to say he wants rights, he wants peace,

but he just can't control his own people.

Make it his failure. That's what we have to do.

Man on TV: In an interview today, Governor Wallace denies

that Alabama state troopers and sheriff's deputies used unnecessary force

in routing Negro marchers in Selma.

Johnson: Call the speaker.

Tell him I want to address Congress

on television.

That goddamn bill is going up now.

- Man: One more, Governor Wallace.

A little closer.

- Thank you.

All right, thank you. Sit down, Governor.

Over here. That's it.

Over there-- whoa, right in the corner.

The corner, Governor. That's it.

Now, Governor, you wanted to see me?

Uh, yes, Mr. President.

I want to thank you for agreeing to see me--

- Goddamn demonstrators!

Keeping Lady Bird up, disturbing my daughters' rest.

Turn that thing off!

Subversives, most of em.

- Communist Party's behind the whole thing. - You know what I'd do?

I'd send some of them Secret Service boys

out there with itching powder.

Ha! Sprinkle it on the back of some of their necks.

They'd drop them signs they're carrying,

scratch themselves raw.

That's a great idea.

I'm gonna get my people on that.

Better than that, Governor, we ought to go out there.

We got all of those television cameras.

You see those television cameras they've got out there?

Yes, sir.

Why don't we go out there and we turn them cameras around,

and we'll announce that you decided

to register every Negro in Alabama?

Mr. President, as much as I'd--

Nick, give me one of them there Constitutions.

Yes, sir.

Nick's got the Constitutions.

Hey, thank you, Nick.

Now, Governor,

I'm sure that somewhere in here

it says that Negroes have the right to vote.

Uh, yes, Mr. President,

and-- and they have the right to vote in Alabama.

But it's the county registrars.

They-- they-- under Alabama law,

they independent, and I don't have the power.

George.

Now don't you shit me about who's got the power in Alabama.

- Well, Mr. President-- - Now come on, Governor.

You're a persuasive man.

Hell, I was watching you this morning on all three networks.

You were attacking me.

I wasn't attacking you, Mr. President.

- I was attacking the idea-- - Idea. Hell, you were attacking me, George.

And I'll tell ya, you're so damn persuasive, I nearly changed my mind.

You have marvelous powers of persuasion,

don't you, Governor?

Governor Wallace,

you and I shouldn't be sitting here

thinking about 1965.

We ought to be thinking about 1995,

when you and I will be long in our graves.

Now, you've got a lot of poor people down there in Alabama,

a lot of ignorant people.

People who need jobs, people who need a future.

You can do a lot for 'em.

In 1995, Governor, what do you want left behind?

You want a great big marble monument saying

"George Wallace, he built,

he protected the weak, the poor,

the impoverished people of this great state"?

Or do you want a little piece of scrawny pine

laying there in the harsh, caliche soil saying

"George Wallace, he hated"?

I'm sorry, Governor.

I interrupted you.

Now, you wanted to tell me something?

Mr. President, I, uh--

I've had the opportunity to reevaluate.

And, uh, I think that...

I just may not be able to get things under control

without some... assistance.

Governor, I'll give you any assistance

that's mine to provide.

Now, what specific measures would you suggest?

The president and I have spoken,

and I have assured him that I abhor brutality.

And in my eternal commitment to law and order,

I will do whatever it takes

to maintain the peace.

Man: Mr. Speaker,

the President of the United States!

I speak tonight for the dignity of men

and the destiny of democracy.

There is no Negro problem.

There is no southern problem.

There is no northern problem.

There is only an American problem.

There is no cause for pride

in what has happened in Selma.

The cries of pain

and the hymns and protests of oppressed people

have summoned into convocation

all the majesty of this great government.

Our mission is at once the oldest

and most basic of this country--

to right wrong, to do justice,

to serve man.

This Wednesday, I will send you a law

which will eliminate illegal barriers

to the most basic American right--

the right to vote.

Many of the issues of civil rights

are very complex and most difficult.

About this, there can and should be no argument,

for outside this chamber

is the outraged conscience of a nation

and the harsh judgment of history.

The cause of the American Negro

to secure for himself

the full blessings of American life

must be our cause.

Because, really,

it is all of us who must overcome

the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice.

And we shall overcome.

Dick, 93 million on TV. It's a record.

- Congratulations, Dick. - Thanks.

Johnson: Hey, Dick! Dick! Oh, come over here.

Switchboard is jammed.

Haven't had this many calls since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Huh, good to know they don't only call to complain.

- Hey, Dick, sit down, sit down.

That was old Dick Russell.

Says I'm a low-down cur and a turncoat,

but he wants me to know that's the best speech

he ever saw any president give,

and that goes back to Lincoln!

Mr. President, Dr. King.

Oh, Dr.-- oh, Reverend King.

That's kind of you to call.

Did you know I was on TV tonight?

Oh. Oh, you saw it. Yeah, mm-hmm.

Okay, good. All right.

All right. Yeah. Bye.

You've got Arthur Krim on line three, sir.

Oh, no, no. Not-- no, I can't--

- No, no. No. - Sir.

You know, boys,

I'm reminded tonight

of Texas Hill Country in the spring.

Oh, Lyndon, your guests are far too weary

to appreciate your poetry.

Now let me tell you boys about the Hill Country in the spring.

- ( chuckles ) Good night! - You see-- oh, no.

- Good night, all. - Good night, Mrs. Johnson.

- Good night. Luci. - Now, in the spring--

Luci, come with me.

- Good night. - Good night.

- Good night, Mrs. Johnson. - Good night.

In the spring,

in the Hill Country,

the sun is up earlier and the ground gets warmer,

and you can see the steam rising

and the sap dripping.

And in his pen, there's my prize bull.

Now, he is the biggest...

...best-hung bull in Hill Country.

Well, in the spring,

that bull gets a hankering for them cows,

and he starts pawing the ground

and getting restless.

So I open up the pen,

and he goes down the hill

with his pecker hanging hard and swinging.

Well, those cows get so goddamn excited,

they get more and more moist to receive him,

and their asses just start quivering.

They start quivering over-- every one of 'em is quivering!

And as that bull struts into their pasture-- whoa!

Boys, ha ha, we had 'em quivering tonight!

Man on TV: Arriving in naval transports, United States Marines

storm the beach in Da Nang, Vietnam, in full battle gear.

These are the first U.S. ground troops

to step foot on Asian soil since the Korean War.

They were greeted by some lovely local ladies.

The Pentagon says that their mission is a defensive one--

to protect the U.S. air base from enemy attack

so Operation Rolling Thunder can roll on.

Speaking with reporters, President Johnson emphasized

that these 3,500 Marines will free up

the South Vietnamese troops now guarding the base

to go out and fight Vietcong.

Reports from the field, however, indicate that Saigon forces

may be no match for full Vietcong regiments.

Recently, in one of the heaviest attacks of the war so far,

the Vietcong inflicted major casualties

in Quang Nam Province.

Unofficial sources say that many South Vietnamese army units

are near collapse.

- Oh, my, oh, my.

- Mr. President. - Mr. President.

No, no, sit down. Sit down, boys.

I heard you fellas were talking over dinner.

- Can I get you a plate of food, Mr. President? - No, thank you.

- A drink? - No.

Why?

Why do they want war with us?

To Ho Chi Minh and the North Vietnamese,

this is just a continuation of the war with the French

and the Japanese and the Chinese

a thousand years before that.

We never should have allowed the French

to reclaim their colonies in '45,

but we needed them allied with us against the Soviets,

and that was their price.

Will we end up like the French?

A great power cutting and running

from a bunch of little men in black pajamas,

tucking our tail in defeat?

France didn't have the firepower we have.

But the bombing seems to have no effect.

Well, it appears now that it won't stop them,

but it has slowed down their resupply.

Hanoi's starting to send down large units,

and the more of their men we can tie up with repairing roads and bridges,

the fewer they can spare to fight the south.

What do we have there now?

Well, we've got the 3rd Marines at Da Nang,

Phu Bai, Chu Lai, the 173rd Airborne at Vung Tau

for base defense and support of the South Vietnamese units.

13 battalions in all.

Never mind battalions. How many boys?

51,000 troops, Mr. President.

And Westmoreland wants how many?

184,000.

And the authority to launch offensive operations

under his own command.

The South Vietnamese are useless, Mr. President.

They've lost four battalions in the last month.

Desertions are at record levels.

They're losing, and they're losing fast.

I know they're losing!

I don't need a Phi Beta Kappa key to know they're losing!

Anyone smart enough to pour piss out of a boot

knows they're losing!

How many casualties you think we'll take?

We could reach 500 a month by the end of the year

if Hanoi hasn't quit by then.

500 a month?

You tell Westmoreland he's got the authority.

Tell him to get out there and kill Vietcong.

Do whatever he has to do to hold them off.

Then you and Wheeler go and see him

and nail him down on what he needs to get this thing over with.

Then damn it, let's get it over with!

Kid was setting fuses on the goddamn bridge.

Do you believe it?

I was five minutes away.

And that potshot, last time I was here, he missed me by a mile.

Jesus, you'd think they'd put their best sniper on the job.

I wish I could tell you

they were representative of the enemy, Mr. Secretary.

My strategy for the war is divided into three phases.

In Phase One,

employing the 184,000-man level now being considered,

we would halt the losing trend by the end of 1965.

In Phase Two,

for which an additional 100,000 troops would be needed,

allied forces would gain the initiative by June 30, 1966.

Pacification activities would be expanded,

aimed at winning the hearts and minds

of South Vietnamese peasantry.

If the Communists do not then give up,

Phase Three of our strategy would kick in,

the win phase, which would begin on July 1st, 1966,

and conclude by December 31st, 1967--

the defeat of remaining enemy forces and base areas.

Additional reinforcements will be needed for this phase,

following which allied forces will begin to be withdrawn.

General, that's a marvelous plan,

but excessively abstract.

I want to see your numbers.

I want to see the percentage of the country you now control

and the percentage you intend to control

with these 200,000 additional men.

I want to see rates of infiltration and interdiction,

force ratios in each of the tactical corps zones

and enemy casualties in battles fought

and in projected battles against these added forces.

Woman on phone: Mr. Clifford? The president on line one.

Old friend, I need you here.

Ball: Whatever resources are lost through bombing or capture,

China and Russia will make up with resupply,

encouraging a friendly game of "I'm more revolutionary than thou."

Our intervention will give them a cause over which to unite

when it is in our interest to deepen the breach between them.

But wouldn't we lose credibility throughout the world

if we give up as you propose?

Wouldn't this be an irreparable blow, George?

A worse blow, Mr. President,

would be that the mightiest power in the world

is unable to defeat one of the most backward.

With the 71 battalions, with Westy's plan,

this war is winnable.

I say we go in and we get the job done.

But can we get the job done?

What if they put their stack in?

What makes you think if we put in the numbers you're suggesting

that Ho Chi Minh won't match us man for man?

This means greater bodies of men, Mr. President,

which will allow us to cream them.

Their firepower against ours.

Why does anyone think that they will accommodate us

by fighting our kind of war?

Their tactics are terror and sniping.

They have better access to intelligence.

Why is this?

It's because the South Vietnamese government

is heavily infiltrated with Vietcong agents, Mr. President.

What other road can we go?

Negotiations, stopping the bombing?

These make us look weak, with cup in hand.

Better to lose now than after committing 200,000 men.

I disagree.

We have to make a stand here.

And if we fail, it could be chalked up to any number of things.

Corruption amongst Saigon's leaders, for instance.

Then we can get out.

But this government will have stood up to the Communists.

But we won't get out, Bob.

We will double our bets and get massacred in the rice paddies.

So-- so what's your advice, George?

Cut and run?

Mr. President...

no great captain in history

ever hesitated to make a tactical withdrawal

when conditions were unfavorable to him.

Does anyone else here agree with what George is saying?

I've asked Clark Clifford to join us.

Clark, do you have any comments at this time?

I-- I have a question for General Wheeler.

Wheeler: Yes, sir.

- Good morning, General. - Good morning.

If the president proceeds with this plan,

what, in your view, would constitute a victory?

Wheeler: What is the definition of victory in this contest?

Yes.

A military victory in the traditional sense

is not what we are seeking.

To eliminate every last Vietcong guerilla

could require as many as half a million men

and five years--

No one's considering those kind of numbers, no one.

Wheeler: Our objective is to reach a stalemate

whereby we are attriting the enemy

faster than he can replace his losses.

This is the so-called crossover point.

And how many men will this require?

Wheeler: A substantially smaller number,

depending on how the North Vietnamese respond.

Well, might they respond by sending in, say,

100,000 troops?

Wheeler: We regard this as unlikely.

Clifford: Well, this is less than half the men they have under arms.

Wheeler: Well, it's certainly possible.

They already have 50,000 men down there.

Clifford: And to achieve the ten-to-one superiority,

which I understand is barely adequate

for conventional forces in a guerilla situation,

how many troops would be required

to meet this possible threat?

As I said, this would be unlikely.

One million troops, is that not correct, General?

You see?

We would need one million men in Vietnam.

Excuse me. Clark.

I can't tell you how grateful I am

to finally have an ally at the barricades.

Well, it's just what makes sense, George.

Not to Bob McNamara, but to me.

A million men was straight out of your memo of October last year.

An impressively persuasive document, in my opinion.

- All 67 pages of it? - Well...

I haven't shown much restraint on the subject, it's true.

If he brought you in, it must be because I'm like

an old broken record now.

Well, then there'd be two of us.

Scratchy and irritating as hell.

Good day, George.

Yeah?

The VISTA volunteers are here for the pictures, Mr. President.

Tell 'em I'll be out in a minute.

And tell Valenti I wanna see him right after.

I called Marge as soon as I heard you were safe.

Cowards.

I really appreciated that. She was pretty shaken up.

- Well... - She hates when I go over there.

Well, I hate sending you.

The whole thing stinks to high heaven.

What did you want to tell me in private?

I've managed to keep these Vietnam expenditures

under wraps as you requested,

but if you decide to move forward with this,

it's going to be impossible to keep up the guise indefinitely,

and I strongly believe you should present this bill to the American people.

No, absolutely not.

Mr. President, I can't continue to hide these kinds of figures.

Phase One of Westmoreland's program alone

is going to run us $12 billion.

12 billion?

I can't ask Congress for $12 billion!

- Mr. President-- - Bob, it'll be unshirted hell if I go to the Hill

asking for that kind of money.

I'll never get another thing out of 'em again.

Now, how much can you trim off that?

Bob, I've got my ox in a ditch here.

Now, what can you do for me?

If we continue to use the maximum transfer authority from other areas,

I could probably cut these figures in half,

but we'd still need a big appropriation

to carry us through this year.

But Westmoreland says if we put the men in,

there's a chance they'll quit by year's end, right?

Well, that's certainly what we all hope,

but we can't count on West--

Just do the number counting, will you, Bob?

Yeah. Get it as low as you can.

One more.

All right. All right. Thank you, thank you.

Jack, I need a statement for next week.

I'm not sure yet if I'm gonna use it, but I need it ready.

All right, Mr. President.

You know, Jack, I want war like I want polio.

The shooting, the bombing--

goes against every bone in my body.

You know that better than almost anyone.

These young people here, that's what I'm all about.

That was me, in Cotulla,

teaching Mexican kids living in hovels,

treated worse than you'd treat a dog.

But here I'd start a billion-dollar bank for 'em

in Southeast Asia, free money,

and Ho Chi Minh wants no part of it.

I could have turned that place into the Tennessee Valley.

I read he said he's willing to fight for 20 years.

I know what he says, I know what I say,

and I know what I must do despite what I say.

Damn it!

I want to leave the footprint of America in Vietnam.

Schools, dams, hospitals.

Bomb craters, that'll be our footprint.

That's what they'll remember me for.

Not for health care or civil rights or education.

No, sir. It'll be Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnam.

20 bills I'm trying to get out of committee,

and 12 out of 18 working hours every day,

my head's stuck up that raggedy-ass little fourth-rate country

that doesn't even have the fight to save itself.

You get with McNamara.

You know what it's got to say.

And tell Busby or Goodwin to put the music to it, Jack.

Why are you up?

You needn't ask me that each time.

Eh.

Tried not to wake you.

Got the ringer so low, I can't hear it.

Got the flashlight.

Maybe you ought to sleep in that other room you set up.

What happened to that prime rib from the Medicare meeting?

Is that what you want?

There's a nice chicken left over from the Education lunch.

Johnson: I saw 'em put it away.

Oh, darling, you've been so good about your diet,

- but I don't see any point in the middle of the night-- - I don't care about that now.

Another heart attack might be the answer to my problems.

All right, you stop that kind of talk, please.

I worry enough about your health.

I'll fix something for you if you sit down.

- All right. - Come on.

All right.

I'm sorry, honey.

Luci met a boy.

When she went on that Chicago trip with you last week.

What do you mean, she met a boy?

Why didn't I know about this?

That day she went to Milwaukee

and visited the William Feldsteins.

- Ah. - Mm-hmm.

She visited Beth Jenkins at Marquette,

and Beth had some friends over,

all the students there,

and among them was this... boy.

Patrick Nugent is his name.

He's Catholic.

So Luci will only date boys who are Catholic now.

And she calls him "Paddy."

- Thank you. - So I am paying attention.

"He's just tons, Mother."

She said to me that's the new expression.

Tons. Move your elbow.

Thank you.

Now, you like the chicken?

You remarked on it.

I didn't know of it.

You might have shown it to me this morning.

- And woken you again? - Oh...

Like a jackass in a hailstorm.

I guess I'll just have to hunker up and take it.

I feel like I'm going down in a plane.

I can crash with it and burn up

or jump and die.

Where we were when I came in,

I'd-- I'd trade back to that.

I'd trade back to the damn vice presidency

to get out of this mess.

Bill on phone: Clark, the president would like you and your wife

to join him at Camp David this weekend.

Clark on phone: Oh, thank you, Bill. Thank the president.

We'd love to, but we have a prior engagement.

Bill: Clark, is there any way you can make it?

He's working on an escalation speech.

Clark: Has he made up his mind?

Bill: I say yes, but he's asking for you.

Clark: And who else will be there?

Bill: Bob McNamara.

Hi, Bob.

Mr. and Mrs. McNamara, I'd like you to meet my friend, Pat Nugent.

It's an honor to meet you, sir.

A pleasure. My wife Marg.

- Afternoon, ma'am. - Nice to meet you.

Air National Guard? Where are you stationed?

I'll be at Andrews with the 113th, sir,

but down to San Antonio first for basic.

Uh-huh. Lackland Air Force Base, sure.

Used to call it Kelly back in '42

when I was going around helping to build an Air Force in this country.

You know, we only had a handful of planes

when the Japanese attacked us, spread all over the country.

- Is that right? - Yeah.

And Hap Arnold knew the name of every one of 'em.

I've got some Hap Arnold stories for you.

Yeah. Hey.

Uh, sorry.

We'll leave everything till tomorrow.

We'll talk in the morning.

- I look forward to it. - Come on in.

Hey, how are you?

Let the best minds of our administration

start looking for a way out

and stop looking for a way to win this unwinnable war,

because it is my considered opinion

that continuing on that path will lead us to catastrophe.

Any unbiased jury would give you your verdict, Clark,

no question.

But?

But if it's true what Moyers says,

that Lyndon's in McNamara's pocket...

McNamara has such sway in there.

Truman took your advice over George Marshall's,

for heaven's sakes.

Kennedy, too.

Yeah, but Lyndon is another kettle of fish.

Give him a new vision, Clark.

He'll hear you.

Johnson: Rinaldo, leave it there.

So, these are the numbers.

Now, you will not be held accountable

for anything that has happened up to this point.

In fact, you will be admired for the noble attempt

you have made to honor your predecessor's commitment,

a commitment that has been exploited by that corrupt

and self-destructive regime in South Vietnam.

The bombing might have worked, but it hasn't.

And to make it work,

you would have to resort to unconscionable measures

that would make you a hero to those in this country you disdain

and a criminal to those you have sought

all your life to assist, the young and the poor,

who are the ones who will have to fight this war.

This-- this is not the last inning

in the struggle against Communism.

We must pick those spots

where the stakes are highest for us

and where we hold the cards that'll give us

the greatest opportunity to prevail.

Ho Chi Minh told the French-- he said,

"You will kill ten of my men,

and I will kill only one of yours,

but in the end, it is you who will tire."

And they did.

And 11 years ago, at Dien Bien Phu,

they just couldn't do it anymore.

The North Vietnamese lost 500,000

in their war against the French, and they did not tire,

and they will not tire now.

Not after you commit 100,000, not after you commit 500,000.

And if you do not win decisively after a big buildup,

it will be a huge catastrophe.

It will destroy the American people's faith in you

and the Democratic Party

and their government for years to come.

Now, you have always stressed the economic

and social dimensions of world problems.

And in this you are unrivaled.

You have a unique opportunity here

to address this problem, economically and socially.

Not by war, not by killing people,

but by helping them here and there.

This is a year of minimum political risk for you, Mr. President.

You were elected by the largest landslide in our history.

The reactionary elements of this society will not soon recover.

I foresee little erosion of your prestige and power

if we cut our losses and get out of Vietnam.

But I foresee nothing but disaster

for you and this country if we don't.

If we escalate this war,

I believe it will ruin us.

And I believe it will ruin you

and all the great good you have sought to do.

Shit.

It's a hot one already.

You wish you were back in Texas, Mr. President?

Fellas, right now I'd rather be on the moon.

Okay, Bob.

Mr. President, Clark has suggested

that the stakes aren't there in Vietnam.

This is damn shocking.

Here are the stakes.

Number one: national security.

If we back down in Vietnam,

it will only be a matter of time

before we have to go in someplace else.

Two: the commitments we've made and the price of breaking them.

And three: our prestige before the world.

Could the stakes be any higher?

To elaborate on point one,

if we withdraw, Laos, Cambodia,

Thailand, Burma will fall,

but the ripple effect will be far greater,

with Communist agitation increasing in Africa, India, even Japan.

We will have to give up some bases.

Pakistan will move closer to China.

Point two.

Our pledge is a pillar of peace in the world,

and if we break it,

our allies will lose faith in us.

And three, because we have so persistently

and publicly committed ourselves

to preventing a Communist takeover in South Vietnam,

our failure to see that commitment through

will be profoundly devastating to our prestige.

This is why I recommend the following--

one: put the men in.

Westmoreland's plan is sound.

Every quantitative measurement shows we can win.

Two: call up the reserves and extend tours of duty.

And three: expand the bombing.

In the north, remove restrictions on bridge and rail lines,

mine the harbors.

Expand Rolling Thunder from 2,500 to 4,000 sorties a month.

In the south, tactical air strikes

must be supplemented by increased B-52 bombing of VC base areas.

Now, to elaborate...

Clark.

Clark, I think you scored some terrific points in there.

I'm so glad you were arguing the other side.

Bob...

you believe what you've said to the president?

You're certain we can win?

Well, I sure hope there's no mistake

in my confidence on the president's part.

No, that's not what I'm asking.

Clark, I've seen the charts, I've run the numbers.

Everything else is...

soft, speculation.

I had dinner with President Kennedy

just after the Missile Crisis.

And he told me that if it had not been for you,

keeping your head, facing down the chiefs,

thinking clearly,

we might not be alive today.

Now, there were no charts and numbers then,

just judgment.

You're telling me that it is your judgment

that this is the best course of action for this country,

for this president?

I can only give my best advice.

That's what I did for Jack Kennedy.

It's what I'm doing now.

I'll see you at dinner, Clark.

You want to stop somewhere and talk about it?

I'm all talked out, honey.

I've done nothing but talk.

At some point, the talking's gotta end.

God help us when the talking ends.

Lyndon. Oh.

A hundred PhDs among 'em, 10,000 IQ points,

and I can't get an answer I can sit with.

And if it turns bad,

they'll say this wouldn't have happened under Jack Kennedy!

No, sir! 'Cause he could do no wrong!

He leaves a thousand on the beach in Cuba,

and his numbers go up!

Lyndon.

Now-- oh.

Lyndon, now, come on, honey.

What do you think of crashing through that damn gate

and driving back to Texas?

Now you know you'd get no argument from me.

You hate it that much?

Have you ever considered the shoes I've had to fill?

She didn't die with him.

Oh, he didn't die.

He's more alive than ever.

'Cause his half-size brother with one and a half his brains

and a tenth of his scruples ate his heart out

and took in his spirit

as sure as he was out of some Injun story.

And me?

I'll be President What's-His-Name

who came between the two.

The president who lost America's first war.

Oh, shh, shh.

Why must young Americans,

born into a land exultant with hope

and with golden promises,

toil and suffer and sometimes die

in such a remote and distant place as Vietnam?

It is because in the fight for freedom,

the American people have learned

that retreat does not bring safety

and weakness does not bring peace.

If we are driven from the field in Vietnam,

then no nation can ever again

have the same confidence in American promises

or in American protection.

We did not choose to be the guardians at the gate,

but there is no one else.

Nor would surrender in Vietnam bring peace,

because we learned from Hitler at Munich

that success only feeds the appetite of aggression.

I have asked the commanding general,

General Westmoreland,

what more he needs to meet this mounting aggression.

He has told me,

and we will meet his needs.

I have today ordered to Vietnam

the Airmobile Division and certain other forces

which will raise our fighting strength

from 75,000 to 125,000 men almost immediately.

Additional forces will be needed later,

and they will be sent as requested.

Yeah, but how many?

Johnson: Now, I do not find it easy

to send the flower of our youth,

our finest young men into battle.

I think I know how their mothers weep

and their families sorrow.

Mr. Secretary,

Senator Morse has been calling Vietnam "McNamara's War."

What is your reaction?

This is a war of the United States government.

I'm following the president's policy

and working in close cooperation with the secretary of state.

Now, I must say I don't object to it being called McNamara's War.

I think it's a very important war,

one that I'm pleased to be identified with and to do what I can to win it.

Man on radio: Appearing on "Meet the Press" yesterday,

McNamara was asked to comment on Hanoi's claim

that some 10,000 civilians have been killed in the bombing,

including thousands of women and children.

- McNamara: Some loss of innocent life

is unavoidable in an operation such as this.

I can tell you that we are taking

every possible precaution in choosing targets.

The risk of civilian casualties is most assuredly

- one of several factors considered.

McNamara: So what target are you recommending?

It's a cement factory along a major rail line.

General Wheeler feels military value is marginal.

But the monsoon has socked in more valuable targets.

McNamara: What's the output of the facility?

Colonel: It appears to be small, sir, even by their standards.

It couldn't produce enough for them to rely heavily on the output.

McNamara: Let's give it a "C" for military value.

What's your risk analysis?

Colonel: Risk to pilots is close to zero.

There might be some small arms fire,

but recon shows no antiaircraft emplacements.

McNamara: No MIGs in the area?

Colonel: They'll be protecting more valuable targets

and probably won't risk losing them defending this one.

Depending on cloud cover, we may have to come in low enough

to be in range of small arms, but this is a small risk.

McNamara: Give it an "A" for risk to pilots and aircraft.

What's your flash point analysis?

The target is more than 20 miles outside Hanoi,

so there's little risk of provoking China or Russia.

McNamara: Kosygin or Mao won't be down there

touring the factory that day, will they?

This isn't one of Russia or China's friendship projects?

Army Chief of Staff: A gift from the motherland?

Colonel: Well, if I were Ho Chi Minh,

I would have returned this gift.

Of course, catching one of them there

might have been a nice bonus for us.

McNamara: Thanks, but I've already been to the brink

of nuclear annihilation, and I'm not eager to go back.

McNamara: Give it an "A" for flash point risk.

Next. What about civilians?

Colonel: We're clear of residential,

except for one row of hooches behind the facility.

So what are these, houses or storage shacks or what?

Well, we can't be sure. Uh...

Most likely the factory managers

and their families live there.

I'm not too familiar with Southeast Asian home construction, sir.

We can certainly use someone who knows something

about Vietnamese culture around here.

So, what's the outside number of civilians?

Well, four hooches this size, we use six per, so 24.

McNamara: 24 for a target this size? That seems high.

Colonel: That's how we figure it, sir.

McNamara: I mean, that seems a high number to lose

for a target like this.

Give it a "D" for civilian casualties.

Let's see what we've got. C, A, A, D...

Let's give it a solid C-plus and put it before the president.

- All right, what's the-- - Jesus!

There's a guy on the wall at the river entrance!

- Oh, my God. - Hey, wait a minute! Stop!

Don't! Don't!

- Hey, get down from there! - Get off!

Please, please, the baby! Stop! Stop!

Oh, God! Please!

Goodwin: Yes, Mr. President.

Johnson on phone: You wanted to see me?

- Goodwin: Yes, sir. - You can come down now.

Yes, Dick?

Mr. President, as, uh, Bill Moyers told you,

I've been offered a fellowship

at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.

Well, good for you. Ha! That ain't easy to get.

No. No, I'm very fortunate.

Well, don't wait too long to turn them down

so they can call the next guy on the list.

Mr. President, I have already accepted.

No problem. You didn't know you weren't free to go.

Call 'em up. Put me on if they give you any trouble.

What do you mean, I'm not free to go?

I mean you can't go.

I can't get along without you.

That makes you a pretty big fella.

How big a fella are you gonna be with some fellowship?

Well, you got along without me before I came.

You want more money?

I got plenty of money.

I'll arrange a payment from the Johnson Foundation.

Money isn't the issue, Mr. President.

This is something that I want to do.

Well, it ain't gonna be.

So make your call.

Mr. President, I, uh...

I'm very sorry.

Now, Dick, you either stay here with me,

or you go over to the Pentagon

and get yourself a pair of shiny, black boots.

There's a statute. I asked McNamara.

Says we can draft specialists vital to the national interest,

and that's what I'll do.

If you won't serve here,

you know where I can send you.

Will you make me a general?

Oh, you won't want to be a general.

You'll want to be a private, Marine infantry.

That's where the action is.

I know you like to be around the action.

That's why you stayed here so long.

Now, you listen to me, Dick.

You go ahead and take your fellowship.

But your hands are all over this.

You and Moyers and Bundy and everybody else

talking about jumping ship!

But most of all, you!

You put your name all over the Great Society,

but you put the tune to those words of war, too.

And hiding out on some college campus

or anything else you ever do is never gonna change that!

Dismissed!

Man: An entire generation of North Vietnamese

have been born and lived and died

in the pursuit of one thing:

a united Vietnam under Communist rule.

The North Vietnamese

have never known anything but war.

At CIA, we've just completed a study

of their staggering recuperative abilities.

Bridges.

This one was knocked out in a morning raid.

Two hours later, some bamboo planks

across a bunch of wooden canal boats,

and there's foot traffic again.

By 3:00 p.m., it's a pontoon bridge,

strong enough for a fully loaded truck.

A bomb knocks out a rail line,

they call up the bicycle brigades.

500 men and women,

some as old as 70 or 75,

put the cargo on their bikes.

Each one balances up to a 600-pound load across the frame,

they wheel it across a jerry-rigged bridge

to another train waiting to move it on south.

Filling a bomb crater to make a road passable again.

That's as routine to a school kid there

as getting a malt down at the corner shop here.

It's a first date.

They have a brand of cigarettes, Mr. President,

called Dien Bien Phu.

That's their Yorktown, their Waterloo,

where they defeated the French in '54.

Man: Reminders of war

are in the most casual moments of daily life.

In a smoke, Mr. President.

Their heroes,

the kid who was put to death for trying to assassinate

Secretary McNamara last year in Saigon.

There's a song about him.

It's a top ten hit.

And Norman Morrison.

Norman Morrison was the Quaker

who burned himself to death

in front of the Pentagon last month.

A great hero.

Hanoi just issued a postage stamp.

Thank you, John. Thank you, Scott.

Johnson: A great hero.

He almost took his one-year-old daughter with him.

A baby!

It's a miracle she was unharmed.

The man was disturbed.

Three young children are fatherless.

Hero.

So...

what do we do?

Mr. President,

the most strategic targets in North Vietnam

remain intact because Hanoi and Haiphong

continue to be off-limits.

We're not hitting their oil supply, major power plants,

rail links to China.

We're not mining the ports, hitting the dikes--

CIA says hitting the dikes would flood the whole damn country!

Kill the rice crop! Starve 'em to death!

Isn't that right?

Yes, sir.

And I have one more problem for your big computer.

Ask how long it'll take 500,000 angry Americans

to climb that White House wall

and lynch their president

if he does something like that!

This is why the chiefs and I have been urging for months

that we take the next logical step

and destroy their oil reserves.

Nothing stopped 'em yet. Why should that stop 'em?

That oil goes in trucks, Mr. President,

trucks that carry troops and guns and bullets

across the border to kill our men.

They don't need damn trucks!

Weren't you watching?

They got hundred-year-old women hauling crap!

What do you want me to do, kill everybody's grandmother in that place?

Mr. President, Ambassador Dobrynin says

that Moscow would try to bring Hanoi to the table

if we stop the bombing for three or four weeks.

This would be a grave mistake, Mr. President.

They'll send down everything they can.

Westy's against it, Admiral Sharp.

Bob, I know, opposes it and every one of the chiefs.

Look...

the North Vietnamese have nine regiments down there.

We thought they had three.

VC has more than doubled theirs from five to 12,

which is twice our buildup.

And I just feel that we need to do something

before we send another 200,000 men over there.

Yes, Bob. We can try bombing them where it hurts.

The enemy lost over a thousand

in recent fighting, didn't they?

They lost 1,200 in the Ia Drang Valley,

and we lost 300.

But it's clear that they're willing

to take those kinds of casualties,

which is something that we were not counting on.

Some were not counting on.

Bob,

are you now saying

that no matter what we do militarily,

there's no sure victory?

I believe we may have been

overly optimistic about an early end.

China, Russia, although they do not want a general war,

have stepped up their aid.

Clark: Just a moment, gentlemen.

The president undertook this program

because General Westmoreland was confident we could win.

Why are we considering another 200,000

if you now believe victory to be unlikely?

That's my question.

I still believe we can win.

But if there is the slightest chance of obtaining a settlement

without sending over hundreds of thousands more men

and hitting their cities,

I think we should do it.

Right now we are incurring significant casualties.

If the buildup continues,

we may be facing a thousand per month.

And if Hanoi won't talk,

it will only make our position

with the American people stronger,

and they will be more likely to accept these kinds of losses.

Wheeler: We could have a thousand casualties a month

if we do this, Mr. President!

It's my job to protect our troops.

Every truck, every sampan that gets through

means more dead Americans.

They'll send down missiles, antiaircraft guns.

- It'll set us back a year! - Wait a minute now.

Seems to me that if we're this pessimistic,

winning battles yet predicting stalemates

just five months after going in,

we should pause the bombing and see what results.

I'm sorry, George, but I must disagree.

If we pause the bombing and it fails,

the president will be under irresistible pressure

from the right-wing hawks in Congress to bomb Hanoi, to bomb the Red River dikes.

That'll flood the country and create a civilian disaster of such magnitude.

I do not believe that North Vietnam will talk

until they come to the realization

that this will be a stalemate, that they cannot win.

And they're not there.

Their unrelenting buildup in the south

clearly indicates that they believe they can win.

Are you now saying that we have no choice

but to continue to match 'em man for man?

Well, you made that decision, Mr. President.

We are there.

You have convinced the American people that we should be there.

But I see no alternative

but for you to make your best effort to win.

I couldn't believe my ears!

Clifford about-facing, McNamara going soft!

Ha! They're all changing their tune now.

And old George McBundy got with the Soviet ambassador,

got a little vodka in him!

And those Harvard types will believe anything out of a diplomat!

I don't believe for a minute that Moscow wants peace.

You don't have to take his advice if you believe it will fail.

Don't you know anything?

Don't you know if I don't call off the bombing,

the Kennedys will shout from the mountaintops

that the Russians offered a big, fat olive branch

and I snapped it in two?

And now I've missed my chance for peace!

So how's academic life?

Not nearly as challenging.

But I can say I've been getting a lot more sleep.

Well, someone has to deal with these things.

You certainly have the floor space.

That I do. That I do.

You know the guy in that portrait?

James Forrestal.

That's right.

Truman's secretary of defense.

Guy went absolutely nuts.

When Truman finally got rid of him,

he pinned him with a service medal.

He just stood there mute, his throat clamped.

God knows what demons going through his mind.

A couple days later,

he jumped out of the 16th floor of Bethesda Naval.

Sometimes you can wrestle too much.

Bob,

we both came in with Jack Kennedy.

We were around when this started.

Vietnam started with Eisenhower,

and neither of us were here.

I know, and it was Kennedy who put in all those so-called advisors,

but I can't believe that had he lived,

we'd be in this ditch.

You sound like you've been talking to Bobby.

He's your friend. What's he been telling you?

If you told the president to stop the bombing,

he'd stop it.

We have stopped the bombing, under my recommendation.

You've paused it.

Hanoi knows that you're gonna start up again if they don't agree to talk.

And they have said a hundred times

they won't knuckle under to that.

Now, if you told the president

that you no longer believe the bombing can work--

I never said I believed that.

Bobby says you told him it's not worth a damn.

Well, that's between Bobby and me.

And as far as my influence with the president is concerned,

I think you overestimate my pull.

I don't see how that's possible.

Peace talks.

That's the only way out of this thing now.

You stop the bombing for 30 days.

The brass is ready to hang me.

God, I sure hope Hanoi wants to take the bait because...

I just don't think we're going to be able to beat these people.

So are you going public with your views?

I'm thinking about it.

Well, you are free to do that now, aren't you?

Is that where it happened?

Yep.

Incredible.

Absolutely incredible.

Johnson: For 20 days now,

we and our South Vietnamese allies

have dropped no bombs on North Vietnam.

We seek neither territory nor bases,

economic domination or military alliance in Vietnam.

We fight for the principle of self-determination,

for the people of South Vietnam

to be able to choose their own course,

choose it in free elections without violence,

without terror and without fear.

We have said all this,

and we have asked and hoped,

and we have waited for a response.

None has come.

I believe that we can continue the Great Society

while we fight in Vietnam.

Yet there are those who cry out,

"We must sacrifice."

Well, let us rather ask them,

"Who will they sacrifice?"

Are they gonna sacrifice the children

who seek their learning

or the sick who need medical care

or the families that dwell in squalor

now brightened by the hope of home?

Will they sacrifice opportunity for the distressed,

the beauty of our land and the hope of our poor?

"Vietnam has been fighting for its independence for 4,000 years.

"We have defeated the Mongols three times,

"and despite all of his bluster and all his bombs,

Emperor Johnson is not nearly as terrifying as Genghis Khan."

Ho Chi Minh's statement over Hanoi radio this morning.

37 days.

37 days now.

Not one bomb has fallen.

This is our answer.

This is our answer.

What now, Bob?

Hanoi and Haiphong harbor.

As you can see, they're in very concentrated areas.

The tanks and refineries

are within a short distance of residential sections.

What about the Russian oil ships?

They off-load with a 250-foot floating pipeline.

That's why we're targeting the distribution tanks,

some 1,500 feet from the vessels.

But still quite close to the residential areas.

That's correct.

And I understand that they purposely situate

strategic targets close to neighborhoods.

What about those ships? Can they shoot back?

No, sir. They're unarmed.

But the tanks are protected by surface-to-air missiles.

The Russians sent them down during the bombing pause.

How many planes will we lose?

20 to 25.

- How many casualties? - 50.

50 to 300 is my estimate.

And if the bombs miss,

it could go as high as 12,000,

with 50% of these civilians

and 50% of those killed.

Of course, we don't plan our strikes to miss our targets.

But they do miss sometimes.

And this time you could hit a Russian ship.

And the bomber pilot, it'll be a kid from Johnson City, Texas.

And that'll be the kid that starts World War III.

Thank you very much.

All right.

So what great things will result from this plan?

With no oil,

their entire infiltration effort

will grind to a halt,

from manufacturing to transportation.

Their war-making capability will be destroyed,

and they will have to negotiate.

Dean?

The Chinese and Soviets will step up aid.

And we could lose the support of Canada, Japan,

and the Chinese representation issue at the UN.

If a Russian ship is sunk,

we just don't know.

The Chinese may send in troops.

But as Bus said, this could end it.

What if it doesn't?

What if, by God's grace,

we don't have a million Chinese and nuclear war?

They still won't quit?

What will you be asking me to hit next?

Strategic targets closer to the center of Hanoi.

The Paul Doumer Bridge.

Four major rail lines cross it.

The power plant, industry,

all within five miles of downtown.

Bob,

are you for this?

It might work.

So you're for it.

- Uh, Mr. President. - Walt?

Since taking over for Mac Bundy,

I've had a chance to evaluate our bombing policy,

and, uh, well, I believe that

our continued delay in attacking Hanoi

is causing Russia and China to underestimate our resolve

and that that may actually encourage World War III.

Clark?

As always, I support any measure

that has a chance of ending this.

Anyone else?

George? Nothing to add?

This will not affect North Vietnamese manpower,

which has proved to be limitless.

It will be hard for the Russians and the Chinese to take.

I'm concerned, as always,

about the escalating level of violence,

but maybe this will finally satisfy the hawks in Congress.

If we have to do it, let's do it now.

You know, George,

you remind me of a country schoolteacher.

Asked if he believes the world is flat or round,

he says, "I can teach it either way."

Hmph.

Hmph.

How soon do we go?

( piano playing, people chatting )

It's the same as mine, you know.

I'd just as soon forget about those 13 days.

He had them made at Tiffany's, didn't he?

He gave one to Jackie, too.

She joked it's the only thing he ever gave her from there

that wasn't ordered straight out of their catalog.

A trying time.

You speak as if it's in the past.

What?

The trying time.

Thank you.

Dick. Clark.

...Johnson wasn't much of a poker player,

but he loved the political conversation.

Can a whiskey convert a man, Clark?

Look at 'em.

You know what they remind me of?

A flock of buzzards sitting on a fence

discussing the price of carrion.

Buzzards. George.

You could have had Bundy's job. What was it, Clark?

You haven't socked away enough dough yet?

Oh, that's unbecoming of you, George.

The basement office? What?

You know I'd lose my freedom

to advise him on his presidency

if I took a cabinet post.

George, the president wants to get out of Vietnam

just as much as you do, in principle.

Principle?

There's a word that's been tossed about

more than a dollar whore in a port of call.

How's this for principle:

"150 more killed last week. What a waste."

You know who said that?

No.

McNamara. To me.

For all the principle around here,

we're in one hell of a mess, don't you think?

Look at him.

His wife's got an ulcer, his kid's got an ulcer.

Everybody's got Bob McNamara's ulcer but Bob McNamara.

Sometimes I think it's all just a goddamn academic exercise to him.

George,

you mustn't give up on this, George.

Oh, Christ, Clark!

Marny.

George.

Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Clifford. How are you?

We're fine, dear.

I'd like you to meet Charles Robb.

Clark Clifford.

Anyone who still thinks we ought to be in Vietnam

should take a detour from work and drive by

Arlington Cemetery every day for a week.

I don't think I'd trust anyone

in a policy-making position to do that.

To do what, Bob?

To face the consequences of his counsel?

Who needed a reminder of what war was all about?

A reminder of what?

Our jobs in World War II, in the rear?

I pushed paper just like you, Walt.

We were all too damn smart.

I must've been sitting on my brains, then, up in that B-25.

Two years in prison camps.

That's right. Nick's the only one here who saw combat.

You were probably picking his targets, Walt.

As I remember, we won that war.

Yeah, well, you can tell that to the 50,000

dead men, women, and children of Dresden.

- Dresden-- - Is anyone ready for dinner?

Dresden was bombed for the rail lines.

Dresden was bombed to terrorize the hell out of those people,

which is precisely what our B-52s are doing in Vietnam.

And if this keeps up, in another year,

we'll have dropped more there than on all of Europe.

Isn't that right, Bob?

Let's go inside, darling.

Isn't that what you told me the other day? In private?

Among some other things?

Such as the fact that we've destroyed so much of that country,

they can't even grow enough rice to feed themselves, the rice bowl of the world.

- George. - We've created so many refugees

that if we had the same proportion

out of their homes in this country,

there'd be 30 million people on the streets.

Isn't that right?

Bob? Isn't that what you said?

What was it Tacitus said about the Romans at Carthage?

You have made a desert and call it peace.

If you still can't reach him, then get whosever on call.

We need a doctor here.

Christ, Marny.

I'll be all right. It was the liquor.

Hello.

Mr. Secretary, it's Major Wolfson of the Command Center.

We just got a call from CINCPAC

saying the weather around Hanoi has cleared

and the fighter-bombers are on their way.

Bob, it's me.

McNamara: Mr. President, the operations we discussed

will be going tonight.

They have perfect conditions.

Now-now, Bob,

these-these-these pilots

are said to be the cream.

They're the best the Navy and Air Force have, Mr. President,

and they know you're counting on them.

All right, Bob. Thank you.

I'm going to the Pentagon now.

I'll call as soon as I have word, Mr. President.

Thank you.

Forgive me for ventilating so freely.

I believe that you are only so worried

because you feel foolish

having waited so long to take this action.

If you did it a year ago,

instead of using kid gloves

and giving them an extra month in which to resupply,

it would have followed quite naturally.

But now it seems to you like one step too many.

The problem is, my good sir,

each step has been inches instead of yards.

We have been going to war by inches!

Tiptoeing apologetically

when we should be striding through

with our heads held high like Americans!

Why don't we hear from 'em?!

Yeah. Bob.

McNamara: Mr. President, they had some weather.

You said it was clear!

I'll call you the moment I know anything.

Johnson: Bob...

my life's in your hands here.

Yes, sir.

Our Father...

Our Father...

Our Father...

who art in heaven...

Who art in heaven.

Hallowed be thy name.

Johnson: Hallowed be thy name.

Well, if you admit her,

you could run some tests on her, can't you?

God damn it--

Officer: Mr. Secretary, Exec-com on one.

You can see there that she's in a hell of a lot of pain.

- Thy kingdom come. - Thy kingdom come.

Pastor: Thy will be done.

I'm sorry.

- On earth... - I'm sorry.

- On earth... - On earth...

- As it is in heaven. - As it is in heaven.

- Give us this day... - Give us this day...

- ...our daily bread. - ...our daily bread.

Pastor: And forgive us our trespasses.

Johnson: And forgive us our trespasses.

Pastor: As we forgive those who trespass against us.

As we forgive those who trespass against us.

Pastor: Lead us not into temptation.

Johnson: Lead us not into temptation.

But deliver us from evil.

Deliver us from evil.

Pastor: Amen.

Johnson: Amen.

( voice on walkie-talkie, indistinct )

Go ahead.

Mr. President, I just talked with Honolulu.

All the primaries were hit, and no ships were struck.

Now, we did lose two aircraft to antiair.

No Russian ships?

We didn't hit any Russian ships?

No, but as I say, two pilots are down.

I won't know about civilian causalities until we have the photos.

Now, if the weather holds, we can send the RFs in

to see just what collateral damage--

All right, Bob. Thank you.

Thank you.

Man, on TV: Pentagon sources tell "CBS News"

that General Westmoreland has been granted

even great authority over the use of B-52s

in Vietcong-controlled areas in the south.

With the recent escalation of bombing over North Vietnam

aimed at destroying the heart of the enemy's

urban industrial capacity,

the U.S. clearly wants to force a change

in Hanoi's will to continue the war.

Last year, the rate of Rolling Thunder missions flown

reached 1,500 per week.

Since then the rate of sorties has doubled.

Mr. President, it appears that the air strikes

have had no effect on the enemy's war-making capability.

The attacks were not successful?

Well, while we did destroy nearly 100%

of their oil storage capacity

in our follow-up attacks throughout the summer,

a large portion of their stock was put into barrels

and dispersed in anticipation of our strikes.

They've retained enough to meet ongoing requirements.

Their buildup is continuing.

And Westmoreland is requesting additional men.

How many?

The Program Three forces will bring us up

to 431,000 by the middle of '67.

What about the bombing?

We're looking at heavier B-52 strikes in the southern DMZ,

and in North Vietnam, targets in the restricted zones.

Downtown Hanoi.

Yes, sir, and Haiphong,

and in the buffer zone with China.

The good news, Mr. President,

is that the naysayers were wrong.

Peking and Moscow stood still,

and they will very likely stand still

even with intensified activity.

Hmm.

Are you recommending some of these new targets for me today?

Yes, I am. You have the evaluation sheets before you.

I have some photographs here.

Number 72: the Van Dien truck depot.

That the one with the school up the street?

As a matter of fact, yes, the Polish Friendship School

across the highway, a half a mile up.

Mr. President, as you may recall,

in order to avoid a tax increase,

we did not budget for the war beyond this fiscal year,

which has cost us 20 billion

as opposed to the 12 billion projected.

We are over by eight billion?

Eight billion?

Mr. President, if you approve these new forces,

constraints on domestic programs

will no longer be avoidable.

It's all in a memo I sent over to you today

along with some recommendations.

Joe.

I want to start working on the State of the Union.

You sit down with Bob and Walt and Fowler.

Yes, Mr. President.

There's to be no mention of the Great Society!

What is it you're looking for?

Undersecretary of state?

I'll change the title to the Holy Roman Emperor, right?

No, this is the best way I can serve your presidency.

And I think Dean Rusk would feel undercut

if you were to fill George Ball's job

with a personal friend of yours.

I don't give a rat's ass what Rusk feels!

I need you in that room, Clark.

I need someone like George with an ability to reason and argue.

A devil's advocate.

George Ball was not playing devil's advocate.

He believes every word he says.

All right.

All right.

Moyers wants the job.

My press man thinks if I make him number two at State,

I'll all of a sudden give a shit what he thinks about Vietnam.

And McNamara. McNamara sends me a paper.

Says we should cap the troops, level off the bombing.

You know what happens if I stop bombing?

Ho Chi Minh runs five more divisions up my ass,

that's what happens!

It was McNamara's program, the whole thing.

Now he's talking up a shitstorm with Bobby.

You don't know that.

I know everything.

I know who's saying what at those fancy Georgetown dinner parties.

I know 'cause I had Hoover put a couple of boys there, too.

I know.

What they say doesn't matter.

You're not helpless in this situation.

Your approval ratings are down.

You need to go out there on the stump and sell the truth.

Westmoreland is now saying

that a Communist military victory is impossible.

You're finally winning in Vietnam.

We're winning, but we're losing.

We're killing 'em, and we're losing.

We're losing because this war goes on and on and on!

I passed twice the number of bills

FDR got through in his first hundred days.

200 in the last two years!

There's never been an era in American history like this,

yet there's so much left to do.

But this war has got to end!

Five years pussyfooting about in that miserable little country.

$2 billion a month!

We could be feeding these people, educating these people!

God damn it! Why won't that son of a bitch let me help him?

Why?

Why won't he lay down his arms

and stop killing off his sons in the flower of their youth?

I do not understand.

I just do not understand.

Mr. President...

Moyers. Get me Moyers.

And get me General Westmoreland on the other line.

Can I help you, Mr. President?

Get your bags packed.

Call the press together. We're going to Vietnam.

Dean?

Are they ours?

I fucking hope so.

( band plays "Hail to the Chief" )

Soldier: Present arms!

Order... hut!

Oh.

Where you from, son?

Louisville, Kentucky, sir.

- Kentucky? - Yes, sir.

Have you reached majority age yet, Corporal?

I was 21 last month, sir.

My mom and my girl sent me a big old chocolate cake, and it came just in time, sir.

- Good. Bill, get 'em out. - Yes, Mr. President.

Well, they've given me the honor, Corporal McCaffrey,

of pinning you with this Purple Heart here.

There.

You'll be home right soon,

and on the first Tuesday of November,

you got a congressional election.

I want you to vote.

Yes, sir.

You'll be able to get to your polling place?

I don't know where it is, but I'll get a ride, sir.

All right.

Make sure you vote now.

Yes, sir.

We're all behind you, sir.

Every one of us.

We won't let you down.

All right, son.

Thank you.

And I won't let you down!

You'll get everything you need.

I thank you. I salute you.

May the good Lord look over you and keep you safe

until you come home and nail that coonskin to the wall.

Three cheers for the president! Hip hip...

Hooray!

- Hip hip... - Hooray!

- Hip hip... - Hooray!

Certainly the bombing of the north

makes the war more costly and more difficult

and more painful for North Vietnam.

It is a harsh punishment indeed.

But we are not in Vietnam to play the part

of an avenging angel pouring death and destruction.

Kennedy, McCarthy

haven't done a thing for this country!

Not a fucking thing!

And look at all I've done!

Kennedy: It should be clear by now that the bombing of the north

cannot bring an end to the war in the south

and that indeed at the present time

it may well be prolonging that war.

Our troops are being killed

by the bullets and the mines of the south.

If by ending the bombing of the north,

we can bring peace to South Vietnam,

we will save the lives of thousands of...

I don't know why you're worried about Kennedy

and your second term.

Because I don't think your health

will survive your first term.

Where you going?

I want to be useful to you.

And I would listen even as you rant and rave,

but I have worked far too hard

and borne far too much to watch you destroy yourself.

Kennedy: ...major political elements of South Vietnam

to participate in their choice of leadership...

The bridge is a major target, and we've never hit it.

The chance of civilian deaths will be almost zero.

I say 100 to 500, possibly more.

Which is it, 500 or zero?

Mr. President, the Stennis Committee is up in arms

over our holding back on these targets.

Bob's testimony is coming up,

and it might take some heat off him

if some of these can be cleared up before his appearance.

I can take the heat without padding my resume

with more bombing missions.

This is a heavily defended target

in a very populated area.

The photos are right here, Mr. President.

McNamara: The photos are meaningless.

The target is heavily defended.

The pilots jettison their bombs

when they're under attack.

Now, I've been asking for two years

why they don't come straight up the river.

That way, if they dump the bombs,

they go in the water and not on the people,

and I still haven't got an answer.

Coming in from the gulf involves an extra turn,

with our backs to those heavy defenses.

If it is so well defended, should we risk the pilots?

Wheeler: Men dying is a relative thing.

The effect of the air campaign is cumulative.

Every blow makes the enemy stretch his resources.

Stretching is a relative thing.

Mr. President, we shouldn't be bombing for punitive reasons,

but there just doesn't seem any point to this anymore!

Hit it!

Hit the goddamn bridge.

What's next?

Rostow: Uh, number 309, sir, the, uh, railcar repair shop.

Marg?

Marg?

Oh, Jesus. Oh, Jesus.

Come to me. Come on.

I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you.

I don't know what I'm gonna do, Marg.

Rostow, the chiefs,

they're gonna drive this thing straight to hell.

- I won't be long. - Okay.

Protestors: One, two, three, four,

we don't want your fucking war!

One, two, three, four,

we don't want your fucking war!

One, two, three, four,

we don't want your fucking war!

One, two, three, four,

we don't want your fucking war!

One, two, three, four,

we don't want your fucking war!

One, two, three, four,

we don't want your fucking war!

One, two, three, four...

Hey, hey, LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?

Hey, hey, LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?

Hey, hey, LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?

Hey, hey, LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?

Officer: All right, take formation, spread out!

Protestors: Stop the war in Vietnam!

Bring the troops home now!

Stop the war in Vietnam!

Bring the troops home now!

Let's go! Let's go! File in, move it up!

Protestors: Hell, no! We won't go!

Hell, no! We won't go!

Hell, no! We won't go!

Hell, no! We won't go!

No rifle is to be loaded without my permission.

I'll have the commanders go down the line again.

Not one bullet, damn it!

Get off me! Let me go!

Let me go! Just let me go!

Look at that.

There he is! There's McNamara!

There's McNamara!

Stennis: Secretary McNamara, on behalf of the subcommittee,

let me thank you for your appearance here today.

I have, from the beginning, and do today,

fully support the objectives of the bombing

to interdict men and supplies

and hinder the enemy's ability to wage war in the south.

In this I am 100% behind the joint chiefs,

Admiral Sharp,

General Westmoreland and his commanders,

as they are fully aware

and as the president is aware.

We are all greatly encouraged to hear that, Mr. Secretary.

You are the last to testify, as you know,

and the overwhelming view

from General Wheeler and the others

is that there has been excessive interference from your office--

If I'd be permitted to finish my statement, Senator Stennis.

There are copies available outside the hearing room.

Our greater objective, however, was, and remains,

to persuade the leaders of North Vietnam

that they cannot prevail.

In this we have been unsuccessful.

This is due to the fact that North Vietnam

can sustain its forces in the south

with a mere 100 tons of supplies a day,

85 of which they can acquire

through corrupt elements in the South Vietnamese government.

Out of 359 targets recommended by the chiefs,

only 57 remain unstruck.

Two are battery plants

manufacturing a total of 600 tons a year,

not enough to fill the corner of a Sears-Roebuck regional warehouse.

Just a moment, Mr. Secretary.

There's a rubber plant producing 30 tires a day.

The service station where I fill my car

could supply the output of this facility.

Hitting these targets will cost us in pilots,

planes and hard cash,

and they will kill more and more civilians.

The military knows this.

They think it's worth it.

I do not.

Stennis: Order!

You know what he did to me out there?

It's like selling your house

and your son takes the buyer aside

and tells him there's leaks in the basement.

Now Hanoi knows we're divided, and they'll never stop.

I've gotta get rid of that son of a bitch.

You can't just get rid of him.

The Republicans will play up the disunity.

Bobby will have a field day.

Bobby's clamoring for him to resign, don't you know,

to go public against me for doing what he advised!

Look, we'll find a job for McNamara

where he won't be able to snipe at you.

I'll help you fill his post with someone you can trust.

I'll do anything I can for you, Mr. President.

But we have a reelection campaign to start,

and you do not have a policy to end this war.

Clark, you'll do anything you can?

They're ready for you, Mr. President.

Yeah. I'll be out in a minute.

Sit down, Bob.

I'm sorry you found out from the "Washington Post."

I'm sure Fowler told you, or the bank people.

Nobody told me anything, Mr. President.

I, uh, mentioned to you in the spring

that I'd been approached by the World Bank,

but I thought if you were going to nominate me,

you would have said something yourself.

Doing fine work there. Humanitarian work.

I know that's of interest to you.

Yes, but only if it's what you want.

If I can no longer be of service--

Service?

Who's been of more service to me than you?

Why, you've served longer than any defense secretary in history.

Look what you've had to shepherd us through.

The Cuban crisis-- two Cuban crisises,

Berlin, Dominican, Middle East.

Hell, ha, that's a tough enough job in peacetime.

And look what you've had to deal with.

Mr. President,

the point is...

I don't have to leave until you want me to leave.

Bob,

Joe Fowler asked me for three nominees.

I said I only got one: McNamara.

There were tears in the treasury secretary's eyes

'cause he was hoping he'd be my choice.

And with tears in his eyes,

he said he had to submit three names to the bank.

I said, "Okay. McNamara, McNamara, and McNamara."

You ask him.

Now, the bank directors vote today,

but it's, uh, it's just a formality.

Now, Bob, I better get over

to Lady Bird's beautification awards.

It's important to her.

Your wife's the same with her reading program, I know.

Yes, although with her condition,

it's been difficult.

No improvement since surgery?

My son, uh...

he has them as well.

You deserve whatever you want from this government.

My obligation is to help you,

and this was within my power to grant you.

People have an obligation to the president,

not the other way around.

"May your selfless service, spent in defending freedom,

"bring even greater rewards

"in the larger work that you now undertake

to promote freedom throughout the world."

Signed, Lyndon B. Johnson, President.

This is the Medal of Freedom,

the highest award a president can bestow

upon a citizen of the United States.

I award it now to a loyal, brilliant, good man.

Robert McNamara, the very best we have.

Thank you, Mr. President.

This is an almost impossible situation to respond to.

You're used to impossible situations.

Thank you.

Now, I stand here tonight to tell you

that I regard Bob McNamara here

as not only one of the smartest,

but one of the most humane men I know.

Thank you.

One: Put the men in.

Two: Call up the reserves and extend tours of duty.

And three: expand the bombing.

Mr. President, uh--

I cannot, uh...

...find the words to express what lies in my heart today.

And, uh...

I think I better respond at another time.

Bob.

One question, please!

- Over here! - Mr. Clifford!

Mr. Clifford, does your acceptance

of the job of defense secretary

signal your interest in elected office?

It signals only my desire

to serve a great president and a longtime friend.

I am 61 years old,

and I'm sure this will finish me off.

John.

It's been observed that in your views on Vietnam,

you've changed from dove to hawk.

Which are you?

I am not conscious of falling under

any of those ornithological divisions.

I'll tell you this, he's no ostrich.

I know of no man who will call it as it is

with such candor and judgment as this man, Clark Clifford.

We got a light at the end of the tunnel now!

It's probably a small attack, Mr. President.

The embassy compound's been hit before.

Mr. Secretary, it's not just the embassy.

The palace, legislature, airport, too.

- Secretary Rusk. - Put it on the speakerphone.

Go ahead, Ben.

Ben: Dean, I've got the duty officer at the embassy, Alan Brandt.

Mr. Brandt! Mr. Brandt, can you hear me?

They're standing right outside, Mr. Secretary.

Rusk: Outside of the embassy compound?

Inside.

They blew through the wall. They're at the door.

Rostow, casualty report.

Rusk: Do you have something to defend yourself with, Mr. Brandt?

I'm at the window. They're below me.

They see me. They're looking right at me.

I've got to go. Mr. Secretary.

Small attack?!

These are desperation moves, Mr. President.

We've got them on the run.

It's not just Saigon.

Man, on TV: The Vietcong have launched surprise attacks

on 36 of the 44 provincial capitals of South Vietnam.

From the streets of Hue near the DMZ

to the U.S. embassy compound in Saigon,

the casualty count on both sides has been unprecedented.

The U.S. military says it is successfully

beating back the Vietcong attacks,

but clearly they are paying an enormous price.

The enemy's well-laid plans went afoul.

They tried to ignite a revolution in the south, and they failed.

If this is a failure, God help us when they have a success.

I've given 'em all the men, the planes, the guns,

the bullets he said he needed.

I thought we were winning this thing!

Now Westmoreland says he wants 206,000 more troops!

206,000!

We'll have 750,000 there.

Three-quarters of a million men in Vietnam.

Light at the end of the tunnel.

Hell, we don't even have a tunnel.

We don't even know where the tunnel is!

I want you to get Westmoreland here.

Get your people together and look at this thing.

We'll give 'em the boys if we have to,

but on your recommendation.

You'll wait.

I'll wait, but not for long.

If he needs 'em, what the hell am I supposed to do?

Old friend, get me an answer.

Give us these troops so we can seize the initiative!

But it will just be more of the same!

The enemy's taken 200,000 killed,

and he'll take 200,000 more!

We've lost a tenth that many,

and Americans are rioting in the streets.

They should be cheering.

The Vietcong lost. We were victorious.

That's true, Walt, but remember

they only committed 175,000 men to this offensive,

holding enough back to strike again.

That's right, damn it, and it could happen at any time.

I say put the men in.

There are no more trained men.

We would ship raw troops and train them in the rear.

What rear? There is no rear in Vietnam anymore.

I would hope we've at least learned that from this victory.

With 206,000 more men,

we could go into Laos, Cambodia, North Vietnam

and cut out their supply routes once and for all.

We have never been given that authority!

Excuse me, General.

Dean, you said the enemy committed

175,000 men to the offensive.

That's right, Clark.

And General Westmoreland says that they suffered 45,000 killed,

with a 1-to-3.5 killed-to-wounded ratio.

It's right here in my report.

We beat the pants off them.

Then how in hell do we justify to the public

sending hundreds of thousands more men?

We tell them this.

That we're within inches of victory.

Inches.

45,000 killed, yes, General?

Yes, sir.

And three and a half times that number are out of action?

It's in the report, Clark.

If there's 45,000 dead

and three and a half times that number...

160,000.

157,500 wounded, plus 45,000 dead...

General, according to you and General Westmoreland,

we have killed and wounded 120% of the enemy.

It's becoming more and more evident

that an out-and-out military victory

cannot be achieved with any strategy.

So, these are my recommendations.

One: send Westmoreland only those forces

that will satisfy his immediate needs.

Wheeler has agreed to 22,000

plus the units previously approved

and already scheduled for deployment.

This would stave off immediate defeat

while we move to negotiations.

We realize that the settlement will not be favorable for Saigon,

and they would fight it.

Two: the bombing.

Wheeler, the other chiefs and Walt Rostow

all advocate hitting the remaining targets

in Hanoi and Haiphong

and mining and bombing the harbors.

With the support of everyone else,

I recommend a bombing halt.

I told you, I'm not gonna stop the bombing.

It keeps the lead out of our boys.

There's little evidence to support that, sir,

and the bombing is going to be the single greatest issue

in the presidential campaign.

The perception is evolving out there

that Eugene McCarthy is the peace candidate,

and you are the war candidate.

If McCarthy has a good showing in New Hampshire,

I think Bobby will throw his hat in.

But he can't beat you if you're sitting at the peace table.

Peace table!

Sell out South Vietnam?

This is your advice?

If I could lay a plan to win the war before--

I gotta go on TV in three weeks

and explain all this to the American people!

And you're telling me to cut and run, admit defeat.

That 20,000 American boys have died for nothing!

That 20,000 American mothers weep for nothing!

The situation has changed since Tet.

Yes, it has! Tet was a failure!

The enemy has failed to overrun us.

We are poised to win,

and now it's only you and your people

who are advising against the extra effort it'll take

to turn three years of miserable war into victory!

And I'm telling you there is no victory to be had!

Not without measures that'll tear this country apart

and bring down this administration!

I told you to get out of Vietnam three years ago, Lyndon--

What about two years ago, and one, eh?

You shot down every bombing pause,

backed every troop increase!

Don't you dare!

Excuse me, Mr. President!

My counsel has not deviated one whit!

My every word, then as now,

has been informed solely by my commitment

to preserve your presidency

and establish your place in this country's history!

I should have cleaned house November '63.

Got rid of all of 'em.

McNamara, Bundy, Connally.

Warned me those fucking Kennedy lovers

would be disloyal to me!

All of 'em!

They all may have advised you, Mr. President.

You decided.

Against all your natural instincts.

Against the whole of your life experience.

You decided.

Man, on TV: Senator Eugene McCarthy, a dove on Vietnam,

who was virtually unknown to voters of this state two months ago,

has finished in a virtual tie

with the sitting President of the United States,

Lyndon Johnson.

Since polls taken only a week ago

predicted Johnson would win two-thirds of the vote

and McCarthy only 11%,

the senator's surprisingly high turnout

has shocked the country.

I run because it is now unmistakably clear

that we can change these disastrous, divisive policies

only by changing the men who are now making them.

I run because I am convinced that this country

is on a perilous course

and because I have such strong feelings

about what must be done,

and I feel that I am obliged to do all that I can.

Oh, I was there.

I was there when you told your brother to go into that place.

I was there.

And now I'm paying for it,

day after day after day while you cut me to pieces!

There's blood on your hands, you traitor!

Our troops are being killed

by the bullets and the mines of the south.

If by ending the bombing of the north

we can bring peace to South Vietnam,

then we will save the lives of thousands of our young men

and thousands of Vietnamese.

Yes, Mr. President?

I talked to Mills.

He won't back a war surtax

unless we go on TV and announce deep cuts.

I want you to go up there

and talk to everybody at Ways and Means.

I'm meeting with five of them in the morning, sir.

Take Ackley up with you to back up the numbers.

They don't believe anything out of the White House anymore.

It's a good idea.

Anything else, Mr. President?

I...

Are you all right, Mr. President?

Uh, I'm all right, Joe.

Joe?

Senator Kennedy's speech, who wrote it for him?

This guy Walinsky on his staff's

been writing a lot of his stuff.

I don't know. Maybe Schlesinger, Sorensen.

Goodwin.

I think he was involved, yes.

All right, Joe. Thanks.

Yes, sir.

Dr. King, on TV: I could never again raise my voice

against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos

without having spoken first clearly

to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today:

my own government.

Protestors: How many kids did you kill today?

Hey, hey, LBJ! How many kids did you kill today?

Man, on TV: The largest antiwar demonstration yet

brought hundreds of thousands of protesters

into the streets of American cities.

The radicals say that since peaceful demonstrations won't end the war,

they're ready to move from protest to resistance.

With talk of full-scale rebellion sweeping the country

from college campuses to the inner cities,

the mood is turning ugly,

and there's a dangerous sense

that the nation's political life

is spinning out of control.

For it seems now more certain than ever

that the bloody experience of Vietnam

is to end in a stalemate.

This summer's almost certain standoff

will either end in real give-and-take negotiations

or terrible escalation.

But it is increasingly clear to this reporter

that the only rational way out, then,

will be to negotiate.

Not as victors, but as an honorable people

who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy

and did the best they could.

This is Walter Cronkite. Good night.

Well, say what you think.

All right.

It's tough.

And effective.

But the music in it is sad and sour to the ear.

And I don't know that any speechwriter

could have made it sing.

I got a hundred bills in committee.

They'll never see the light of day.

But I think I can pass a thousand bills.

More education, more health care,

more rights.

But it wouldn't matter.

'Cause it seems nothing I say, no matter how I say it,

could ever bring this country together again.

Then perhaps eloquence of speech

is no longer the answer,

but eloquence of action.

Mr. Secretary.

Would you be kind enough to make sure

that the president sees that this evening?

- Clark. - Lady Bird.

I promised that he'd have those budget figures by the end of the day.

Oh, he's right inside.

No, no, I won't disturb him.

Thank you. Good night.

Uh, Clark.

Uh, Clark, I...

I got the speech here.

I need your help with it.

You know that I'm at your service, Mr. President.

I know, old friend.

Good evening, my fellow Americans.

Tonight, I want to speak to you

of peace in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.

We are prepared to move immediately

towards peace through negotiations.

We are reducing, substantially reducing,

the present level of hostilities,

and we are doing so unilaterally and at once.

Tonight, I have ordered our aircraft and our naval vessels

to make no more attacks on North Vietnam

except in the area north of the demilitarized zone

where the continuing enemy buildup

directly threatens allied forward positions.

The area in which we are stopping our attacks

includes almost 90% of North Vietnam's population

and most of its territory.

Our purpose in this action

is to bring about a reduction

in the level of violence that now exists.

It is to save the lives of brave men

and to save the lives of innocent women and children.

Now, as in the past,

the United States is ready to send its representatives

in any forum at any time

to discuss the means of bringing this ugly war to an end.

There is a division in the American house now.

There is divisiveness among us all tonight.

With America's sons in the fields far away,

with America's future under challenge right here at home,

with our hopes and the world's hopes for peace

in the balance every day,

I do not believe that I should

devote an hour or a day of my time

to any personal partisan causes

or to any duties other than the awesome duties of this office,

the presidency of your country.

Accordingly, I shall not seek,

and I will not accept,

the nomination of my party

for another term as your president.

But let men everywhere know, however,

that a strong and a confident

and a vigilant America stands ready tonight

to seek an honorable peace

and stands ready tonight

to defend an honored cause,

whatever the price, whatever the burden,

whatever the sacrifice that duty may require.

Thank you for listening.

Good night, and God bless you all.