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- Original file by zfeet -
- Resynced by Ornlu Wolfjarl -
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HELICOPTER PILOT: This is 2-3 arriving.
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We have them in sight and we're
engaging at present time.
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MAN: Roger.
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RON FERRIZZI: Helicopters
are phenomenal machines.
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You could float in the air.
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You can be like God.
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I flew below 500 feet.
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Above 500 feet was a kill zone.
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You better be below 200
feet, the lower the better.
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My job was to get shot at.
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My job was to draw enemy fire.
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I was a duck, a decoy.
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I got shot at a lot.
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I engaged the enemy a lot.
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(voice on helicopter radio)
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(gunfire)
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You're screaming as loud as you
can to try to cover up the sound
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of the incoming bullets
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because when they pass by your ear
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you could hear the popping sound.
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You don't hear the gunshot.
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That a 50-caliber just opened up on you,
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shooting a half-inch piece
of lead flying at you...
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And the aircraft was... vroom!
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You're flying, you're 90
degrees the other way
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and you're-you're shooting yourself down
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because the rotor blades
are right in front of you
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and you're trying to keep
the gun from jamming
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because you're running around like this.
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And if your gun jams, you're done.
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NARRATOR: Vietnam was the
first real helicopter war.
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Helicopter pilots flew more
than 36 million sorties.
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Their crews scattered propaganda
leaflets over the enemy
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and poured lethal fire
into their positions;
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carried troops and supplies
and artillery into battle;
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and lifted the wounded off
the battlefield so swiftly
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that most reached a field
hospital within 15 minutes.
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Ron Ferrizzi, a policeman's son
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from the Swampoodle neighborhood
of North Philadelphia,
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got to Vietnam in November of 1967.
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He was a crew chief in a scout helicopter
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with the 1st Air Cavalry,
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flying out of Landing Zone
Two-Bits in the Central Highlands.
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One day, after returning
from a combat mission,
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he was approached by a journalist.
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FERRIZZI: And there was this...
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there was a beautiful woman.
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You know, round eye woman...
statuesque, round eye woman
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with nice hair and she looked pretty.
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Wow!
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She said, "Can I ask you
a couple of questions?
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"What was it like out there?
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"How does it feel that a
50-caliber just opened up
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shooting a half-inch piece of lead at you?"
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When you... it's hard to describe.
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It's shitty.
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I mean, isn't it... isn't
it apparent what it's like?
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You want to know what it's like?
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Go look at it.
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Go out there.
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Go see the bodies.
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I was ready to whack her.
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I wanted to blast her.
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I was ready to... whoa!
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"You want to know what it's like?
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"Boom! There it is.
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"I'll give it to you right now!
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"You want to feel it? You want to see it?
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"I'll give it to you if
that's what you want.
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Is that what you want?"
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I don't want to tell you what it's like
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because I don't want to remember it.
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That's the insanity that it brings out.
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(Big Brother and the Holding
Company playing "Summertime")
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LYNDON JOHNSON: The enemy has been
defeated in battle after battle.
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He continues to hope that
America's will to persevere
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can be broken.
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Well, he is wrong.
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JANIS JOPLIN: d Summer...
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NARRATOR: 1968 would prove
to be a watershed year
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in the history of the Vietnam
War and the United States.
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As the year began,
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there were 485,600
American troops in Vietnam
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and American leaders promised
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that victory was finally in sight,
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that there really was "light
at the end of the tunnel."
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JOPLIN: d Don't you cry...
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NARRATOR: But then, North Vietnam
would mount a massive offensive
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that would result in a
terrible defeat for them,
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that in the long run would
turn out to have been
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a still-greater victory.
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America itself would be
convulsed by assassinations
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and battles in the streets
over the war and civil rights.
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An American president,
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a master politician used
to getting things done,
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would continue to find
himself besieged by problems
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he could not solve.
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JOPLIN: d You're gonna rise...
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NARRATOR: Robert Kennedy, the
brother of the slain president
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who had escalated American
presence in Vietnam,
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wrote an editorial that year
that seemed to speak for many.
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"Mere anarchy is loosed
upon the world," he said,
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quoting the poet William Butler Yeats.
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"Things fall apart; the
center cannot hold."
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JOPLIN: d No, no, no, don't you cry
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d Cry.
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General Westmoreland, when you said
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that you'd never been more encouraged
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in the four years that you
have been in Vietnam,
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some critics, on the other hand,
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have never been more discouraged.
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I wonder if you could detail
one or two or three things
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that cause you to be so encouraged.
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I could quote a number
of meaningful statistics
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such as the roads that are being opened,
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increasing number of enemy
that have been killed
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and other statistical information,
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which suggests that we are making progress
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and we are winning.
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And I find an attitude of
confidence and growing optimism.
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It prevails all over the country.
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And, to me, this is the
most significant evidence
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I can give you that constant,
real progress is being made.
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00:07:21,765 --> 00:07:25,232
(man speaking Vietnamese)
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NARRATOR: On the evening
of January 1, 1968,
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Ho Chi Minh broadcast a
poem over Radio Hanoi.
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NARRATOR: Communist
commanders took this to mean
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that the ultimate battle,
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the General Offensive and General Uprising
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they had been planning for
months, was imminent.
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Party First Secretary Le Duan,
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who had insisted on the offensive
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and had purged those opposed,
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00:08:02,700 --> 00:08:06,399
believed it would finally bring
about an end to the war.
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00:08:06,500 --> 00:08:10,865
Viet Cong units supported
by North Vietnamese troops
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were to simultaneously
attack cities and bases
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all over the South.
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Le Duan promised those troops
that when the fighting started,
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the people of South Vietnam would rise up
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and overthrow the Saigon government,
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just as the Vietnamese had
risen up against the Japanese
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in August of 1945.
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With Saigon defeated, the
Americans would have no choice
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but to withdraw from Vietnam.
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The surprise attacks would
begin at the end of the month,
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at the start of the Lunar New
Year celebration called Tet.
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NARRATOR: The Viet Cong
were already infiltrating
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00:09:04,865 --> 00:09:07,665
scores of cities and towns.
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00:09:07,765 --> 00:09:10,832
Tens of thousands of
North Vietnamese troops
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00:09:10,932 --> 00:09:14,265
were now in place in South Vietnam.
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Tons of smuggled Chinese
and Soviet-made weapons
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had been spirited towards
intended targets in sampans
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and flower carts and false-bottomed trucks,
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and then buried in paddy fields
and garbage dumps and cemeteries
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until the moment came for
them to be retrieved.
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00:10:04,932 --> 00:10:07,466
NARRATOR: More than
10,000 American military
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00:10:07,566 --> 00:10:10,033
and civilian intelligence
officers were at work
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00:10:10,133 --> 00:10:12,365
in South Vietnam,
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and here and there, hints
of what was to come
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filtered up the chain of command.
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Enemy units were moving
around in inexplicable ways;
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captured enemy reports
described coming attacks
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on different cities;
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00:10:27,265 --> 00:10:31,100
11 agents were caught
in the city of Qui Nhon
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00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:35,166
carrying prerecorded tapes
calling on the local people
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00:10:35,265 --> 00:10:38,399
to rise up against the Saigon government.
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All of these things were saying to us,
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"Something's going to happen."
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But we don't know exactly what.
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NARRATOR: General
Westmoreland thought he knew.
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"I believe that the enemy will attempt
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a country-wide show of
strength just prior to Tet,"
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he cabled Washington, "with Khe
Sanh being the main event."
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("Voodoo Chile" by the Jimi
Hendrix Experience playing)
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Some 30,000 North Vietnamese
troops had gathered
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00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:08,033
near Khe Sanh, the westernmost
strongpoint below the DMZ
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00:11:08,133 --> 00:11:11,899
that was being held by just 6,000 Marines.
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00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:15,232
Westmoreland believed North
Vietnam wanted to isolate
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00:11:15,332 --> 00:11:18,332
and annihilate the U.S. forces there,
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00:11:18,432 --> 00:11:22,700
just as the Viet Minh had done
to the French at Dien Bien Phu
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00:11:22,799 --> 00:11:24,899
14 years earlier.
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00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:29,133
Enemy attacks elsewhere,
Westmoreland was sure,
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00:11:29,232 --> 00:11:31,466
would only be a diversion.
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00:11:31,566 --> 00:11:36,232
One American general, Frederick C.
Weyand, was not so sure.
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00:11:36,332 --> 00:11:40,100
He was able to persuade
Westmoreland to let him pull
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00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:43,033
half his troops back from
the Cambodian border
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00:11:43,133 --> 00:11:49,133
to take up defensive positions
outside Saigon just in case.
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00:11:49,232 --> 00:11:51,633
ROBERT GORALSKI: This is an
underground bunker at Khe Sanh,
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one of two cement havens left
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00:11:53,633 --> 00:11:55,000
from the earlier days of the war
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when the Special Forces held this base.
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It is dark, dank, dreary.
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You feel something in the
air, about the buildup.
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00:12:05,700 --> 00:12:07,066
I don't know, you could...
196
00:12:07,165 --> 00:12:10,000
you could almost feel them
working around you at night.
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00:12:10,100 --> 00:12:11,399
Who?
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00:12:11,500 --> 00:12:13,399
Uh, the NVA.
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00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:17,000
NARRATOR: On January 21,
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00:12:17,100 --> 00:12:20,166
the North Vietnamese
began shelling Khe Sanh.
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00:12:20,265 --> 00:12:22,000
(mortar shrieks)
202
00:12:22,100 --> 00:12:24,365
(explosions, shouting)
203
00:13:02,432 --> 00:13:09,832
("You Keep Me Hangin' On"
by Vanilla Fudge playing)
204
00:13:18,500 --> 00:13:21,932
(song continues, gunfire, men shouting)
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00:13:25,966 --> 00:13:29,533
NARRATOR: When he learned
of the attack on Khe Sanh,
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00:13:29,633 --> 00:13:32,666
Lyndon Johnson made the
Joint Chiefs sign a pledge
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00:13:32,765 --> 00:13:34,765
that the base would never fall.
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00:13:34,865 --> 00:13:39,033
"I don't want any damn
'Dinbinphoo, '" he said.
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00:13:39,133 --> 00:13:43,299
The president had a scale-model
of the battlefield installed
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00:13:43,399 --> 00:13:46,700
in the White House so that he
could follow the fighting there
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00:13:46,799 --> 00:13:49,033
hour by hour.
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00:13:49,133 --> 00:13:51,066
("You Keep Me Hangin' On" continues)
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00:13:51,165 --> 00:13:56,732
NARRATOR: But Westmoreland's and
Johnson's basic assumption was wrong.
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00:13:56,832 --> 00:13:59,500
Khe Sanh was the sideshow;
215
00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:03,600
the attacks on cities and towns
that were about to begin
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00:14:03,700 --> 00:14:07,732
throughout South Vietnam
would be the main event.
217
00:14:13,432 --> 00:14:16,700
But First Secretary Le
Duan's basic assumptions
218
00:14:16,799 --> 00:14:19,932
were about to be tested, too.
219
00:14:20,033 --> 00:14:22,299
For the coming offensive to succeed,
220
00:14:22,399 --> 00:14:26,799
the South Vietnamese Army, the
ARVN, would have to collapse,
221
00:14:26,899 --> 00:14:28,865
and the people of the South
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00:14:28,966 --> 00:14:31,666
would have to join the revolution.
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00:14:54,899 --> 00:14:58,799
NARRATOR: "All our thinking was
focused on finishing off the enemy,"
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00:14:58,899 --> 00:15:01,566
one North Vietnamese general remembered.
225
00:15:01,665 --> 00:15:06,232
"We were intoxicated by that thought."
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00:15:32,833 --> 00:15:35,766
MORTON DEAN: Okay, we've got our
three wounded Gis on board.
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00:15:35,865 --> 00:15:38,965
At least one of them is hit pretty bad.
228
00:15:39,066 --> 00:15:42,566
Medic's got a busy, busy
few minutes ahead of him
229
00:15:42,665 --> 00:15:44,299
before we get back.
230
00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:48,133
NARRATOR: As the date for the
Tet Offensive approached,
231
00:15:48,232 --> 00:15:50,932
the war continued for the
hundreds of thousands
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00:15:51,032 --> 00:15:54,232
of Americans in country.
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00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:58,732
HAL KUSHNER: I did see the reality of war,
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00:15:58,833 --> 00:16:02,599
a real education for a young doctor.
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00:16:04,799 --> 00:16:09,000
The war seemed to be going very
well from our point of view.
236
00:16:11,133 --> 00:16:15,732
The war seemed to be going
just fine, thank you.
237
00:16:15,833 --> 00:16:20,566
NARRATOR: Captain Hal Kushner was
a 26-year-old recent graduate
238
00:16:20,665 --> 00:16:24,165
of medical school from Danville, Virginia.
239
00:16:24,266 --> 00:16:26,133
The father of a three-year-old girl,
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00:16:26,232 --> 00:16:28,432
with another baby on the way,
241
00:16:28,532 --> 00:16:30,865
he had volunteered to serve in Vietnam
242
00:16:30,965 --> 00:16:36,099
and became a flight surgeon
with the 1st Air Cavalry.
243
00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:37,900
KUSHNER: And I was supposed to give
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00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:40,865
a lecture on the dangers of
night flying, ironically.
245
00:16:40,965 --> 00:16:41,965
And I did.
246
00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:45,465
We had terrible weather that night.
247
00:16:45,566 --> 00:16:49,365
And it was dark and it was
rainy and it was windy.
248
00:16:49,465 --> 00:16:50,700
As we were flying
249
00:16:50,799 --> 00:16:54,133
I saw that we had drifted
west of the highway.
250
00:16:54,232 --> 00:16:57,432
And I knew that was wrong.
251
00:16:57,532 --> 00:16:59,432
NARRATOR: In the fog and rain,
252
00:16:59,532 --> 00:17:03,432
Kushner's helicopter
slammed into a mountain.
253
00:17:06,165 --> 00:17:08,099
KUSHNER: And the next thing I knew
254
00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:11,165
I was hanging upside down
in a burning helicopter.
255
00:17:11,266 --> 00:17:14,165
Major Porcella was dead.
256
00:17:14,266 --> 00:17:16,865
I just jumped away from the helicopter,
257
00:17:16,965 --> 00:17:21,133
and it just went whoosh,
and it just burned up.
258
00:17:21,232 --> 00:17:24,099
There was an M60 machine
gun on the helicopter
259
00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:28,333
and the rounds had... cooking
off and it was exploding.
260
00:17:28,432 --> 00:17:32,266
And one or several of the rounds
went through my shoulder,
261
00:17:32,365 --> 00:17:33,532
my left shoulder.
262
00:17:35,465 --> 00:17:38,799
On the ground I saw
Warrant Officer Bedworth.
263
00:17:38,900 --> 00:17:41,965
And he was hurt very badly.
264
00:17:42,066 --> 00:17:47,000
I took some branches and splinted his leg.
265
00:17:47,099 --> 00:17:53,532
So the rule is you wait with the
aircraft until you get rescued.
266
00:17:53,633 --> 00:17:55,099
And we just sat there.
267
00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:57,732
So we waited one day.
268
00:17:57,833 --> 00:17:59,599
We waited two days.
269
00:17:59,700 --> 00:18:03,032
We had no food or water.
270
00:18:03,133 --> 00:18:06,833
On the morning of the
third day, Bedworth died.
271
00:18:06,932 --> 00:18:09,833
And he just slipped away.
272
00:18:09,932 --> 00:18:11,432
It was very, very sad.
273
00:18:13,133 --> 00:18:17,000
And I thought that my best
choice was to leave the aircraft
274
00:18:17,099 --> 00:18:19,500
and try to go down the mountain.
275
00:18:19,599 --> 00:18:22,333
NARRATOR: It took the
wounded Kushner four hours
276
00:18:22,432 --> 00:18:25,099
to stagger down the hill.
277
00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:28,665
When he finally reached level
ground, he looked back up
278
00:18:28,766 --> 00:18:33,099
and saw two American helicopters
hovering above the crash site.
279
00:18:34,465 --> 00:18:37,432
Their pilots did not see him.
280
00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:43,640
KUSHNER: And I saw this peasant
working in a rice paddy.
281
00:18:43,732 --> 00:18:45,766
And he saw me.
282
00:18:45,865 --> 00:18:49,500
And I had captain's bars and a
Caduceus, a medical symbol,
283
00:18:49,599 --> 00:18:51,400
on my collar.
284
00:18:51,500 --> 00:18:54,266
And he said (speaking Vietnamese).
285
00:18:54,365 --> 00:18:56,400
Captain, doctor.
286
00:18:56,500 --> 00:19:02,400
He took me about another mile to
a little hooch, a little house,
287
00:19:02,500 --> 00:19:05,400
and he sat me down on the front of it
288
00:19:05,500 --> 00:19:08,732
and he brought out a can of condensed milk.
289
00:19:08,833 --> 00:19:11,299
And as I was eating the stuff...
290
00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:14,333
it was just the best stuff I've
ever eaten in my whole life...
291
00:19:14,432 --> 00:19:19,266
I hear another person say,
"(repeating Vietnamese phrase).
292
00:19:19,365 --> 00:19:21,799
"Surrender, no kill."
293
00:19:21,900 --> 00:19:25,232
There was a squad of Viet Cong there.
294
00:19:25,333 --> 00:19:27,932
And I put my one arm up.
295
00:19:28,032 --> 00:19:31,900
And he shot me with an M2 carbine.
296
00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:34,000
And I think he was more nervous than I was.
297
00:19:34,099 --> 00:19:37,633
And he shot me right where
the M60 had shot me.
298
00:19:37,732 --> 00:19:40,833
And it went right through my
neck and came out the back.
299
00:19:40,932 --> 00:19:45,400
And they tied my arms very
tightly in commo wire.
300
00:19:45,500 --> 00:19:49,266
He went through my wallet and he
took my Geneva Convention card,
301
00:19:49,365 --> 00:19:51,566
which was white with a red cross.
302
00:19:51,665 --> 00:19:53,066
And he tore it up.
303
00:19:53,165 --> 00:19:58,833
And he said, in English, "No P.O.W.
304
00:19:58,932 --> 00:20:00,865
Criminal. Criminal."
305
00:20:00,965 --> 00:20:04,432
So then they took my boots.
306
00:20:04,532 --> 00:20:07,965
And we started marching.
307
00:20:08,066 --> 00:20:10,400
And then we walked for a month.
308
00:20:12,599 --> 00:20:17,099
30 days, almost always at night.
309
00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:20,665
And my feet were just lacerated.
310
00:20:20,766 --> 00:20:24,099
I didn't think I could possibly survive.
311
00:20:53,165 --> 00:20:54,799
NARRATOR: By January 30,
312
00:20:54,900 --> 00:20:59,932
an informal 36-hour truce
for Tet was in effect.
313
00:21:00,032 --> 00:21:04,665
Thousands of ARVN troops had
gone home for the holiday.
314
00:21:07,165 --> 00:21:09,000
The enemy had not.
315
00:21:36,432 --> 00:21:39,766
NARRATOR: That same day,
Marine Corporal Roger Harris
316
00:21:39,865 --> 00:21:43,165
was scheduled to fly out of Vietnam.
317
00:21:43,266 --> 00:21:46,200
His 13-month tour was over.
318
00:21:46,299 --> 00:21:49,532
But he and his unit were
still hunkered down
319
00:21:49,633 --> 00:21:55,299
under constant shelling at Camp
Carroll, just south of the DMZ.
320
00:21:57,165 --> 00:21:59,000
HARRIS: Well, once I had
my orders, you know,
321
00:21:59,099 --> 00:22:01,365
I said goodbye to all my friends.
322
00:22:01,465 --> 00:22:04,665
And then I went over to the landing zone.
323
00:22:04,766 --> 00:22:07,700
So when the helicopters come in,
324
00:22:07,799 --> 00:22:10,665
I put the body bags on the helicopter.
325
00:22:10,766 --> 00:22:12,965
And I got on with the bodies.
326
00:22:15,099 --> 00:22:17,665
We landed in Dong Ha, which
was division headquarters.
327
00:22:17,766 --> 00:22:21,200
And we got about 200
meters from the airstrip,
328
00:22:21,299 --> 00:22:23,799
the airstrip started getting hit.
329
00:22:26,232 --> 00:22:29,665
I'm just thinking personally
that God realizes
330
00:22:29,766 --> 00:22:32,400
that he made a mistake because
some of the guys that got killed
331
00:22:32,500 --> 00:22:35,432
that were with me were good
Christians that never had sex,
332
00:22:35,532 --> 00:22:37,333
didn't swear, you know.
333
00:22:37,432 --> 00:22:40,200
And, you know, I had been this sinner.
334
00:22:40,299 --> 00:22:43,200
And I'm thinking God
realized he made a mistake.
335
00:22:43,299 --> 00:22:46,365
He killed the Christians and I got away.
336
00:22:46,465 --> 00:22:48,766
And so now Death is following me.
337
00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:52,120
And they told us that in another hour or so
338
00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:53,766
a plane was going to come in.
339
00:22:53,865 --> 00:22:57,266
When it came in, then the
artillery started coming in.
340
00:22:57,365 --> 00:23:00,066
And we jumped on and took off.
341
00:23:02,165 --> 00:23:04,099
And it landed in Danang.
342
00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:07,032
And then the sun came up and
we went to the airstrip
343
00:23:07,133 --> 00:23:08,133
and we boarded airplanes.
344
00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:09,932
And we were sitting there.
345
00:23:10,032 --> 00:23:13,165
Everybody's giving each other
pounds and slapping five.
346
00:23:13,266 --> 00:23:14,732
We made it.
347
00:23:14,833 --> 00:23:16,365
And then all of a sudden...
348
00:23:16,465 --> 00:23:19,566
(imitates whistles and explosions)
349
00:23:19,665 --> 00:23:25,633
Danang airstrip starts getting
hit, artillery's coming in.
350
00:23:25,732 --> 00:23:29,665
And I'm thinking, "It's
all coming after me."
351
00:23:29,766 --> 00:23:32,465
It's all about me, you know.
352
00:23:32,566 --> 00:23:35,266
God doesn't want me to make it out of here.
353
00:23:36,900 --> 00:23:42,000
NARRATOR: In the early morning
hours of January 31, 1968,
354
00:23:42,099 --> 00:23:46,665
84,000 Viet Cong and North
Vietnamese troops attacked
355
00:23:46,766 --> 00:23:51,333
36 of South Vietnam's
44 provincial capitals,
356
00:23:51,432 --> 00:23:54,633
dozens of American and ARVN military bases
357
00:23:54,732 --> 00:23:57,833
and the six largest cities in the country,
358
00:23:57,932 --> 00:24:01,165
including Hue, Danang, and Saigon.
359
00:24:01,266 --> 00:24:02,766
(automatic gunfire)
360
00:24:02,865 --> 00:24:05,165
Their goal, their commanders told them,
361
00:24:05,266 --> 00:24:08,732
was to "crack the sky and shake the earth."
362
00:24:13,099 --> 00:24:16,833
(shouting, explosions)
363
00:24:20,599 --> 00:24:25,165
In Saigon, General Westmoreland
mistook the first explosions
364
00:24:25,266 --> 00:24:26,932
as holiday firecrackers.
365
00:24:30,833 --> 00:24:34,333
His deputy commander, General
Creighton W. Abrams,
366
00:24:34,432 --> 00:24:38,833
was asleep, and his aides
did not bother to wake him.
367
00:24:38,932 --> 00:24:43,266
Not a single top commander was
present at "Pentagon East,"
368
00:24:43,365 --> 00:24:46,932
the sprawling MACV headquarters
at Tan Son Nhut Air Base
369
00:24:47,032 --> 00:24:49,200
on the outskirts of Saigon,
370
00:24:49,299 --> 00:24:53,232
when mortars and rockets
began cratering the runways.
371
00:25:17,833 --> 00:25:19,266
It's moving.
372
00:25:33,833 --> 00:25:38,333
NARRATOR: Viet Cong soldiers spread
out to attack specific targets
373
00:25:38,432 --> 00:25:40,133
in and around the capital.
374
00:25:40,232 --> 00:25:45,099
The war had come to the streets of Saigon.
375
00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:49,165
Had General Weyand not
insisted on stationing troops
376
00:25:49,266 --> 00:25:50,500
around the city,
377
00:25:50,599 --> 00:25:54,633
Saigon itself would have
been in far greater danger.
378
00:25:57,566 --> 00:26:00,432
DUONG VAN MAI ELLIOTT: We heard gunfire
379
00:26:00,532 --> 00:26:04,400
and our first reaction was,
"Must be another coup d'A�tat."
380
00:26:04,500 --> 00:26:05,865
(gunfire)
381
00:26:05,965 --> 00:26:10,266
And then we heard that the
Viet Cong had attacked Saigon
382
00:26:10,365 --> 00:26:11,833
and were still attacking.
383
00:26:11,932 --> 00:26:15,965
It came as a total shock
because we always thought
384
00:26:16,066 --> 00:26:21,066
Saigon was safe, the safest
place in all of South Vietnam.
385
00:26:26,066 --> 00:26:28,532
NARRATOR: One Viet Cong squad made it
386
00:26:28,633 --> 00:26:30,400
all the way to the Presidential Palace,
387
00:26:30,500 --> 00:26:33,700
but was stopped by South Vietnamese tanks.
388
00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:40,333
The survivors holed up in a
building across the street
389
00:26:40,432 --> 00:26:44,665
and were shot by ARVN
troops and American MPs.
390
00:26:48,365 --> 00:26:55,032
All over Saigon, nothing was
going according to plan.
391
00:26:55,133 --> 00:26:59,599
Viet Cong units were taking
heavy losses from U.S. troops
392
00:26:59,700 --> 00:27:02,833
and determined South Vietnamese forces.
393
00:27:11,900 --> 00:27:14,633
(shouting)
394
00:27:44,766 --> 00:27:47,133
(indistinct chatter on radio)
395
00:28:00,599 --> 00:28:02,500
("The Blue Danube" playing on radio)
396
00:28:02,599 --> 00:28:04,476
DON WEBSTER: This is the main
Vietnamese language radio station
397
00:28:04,500 --> 00:28:05,766
in Saigon.
398
00:28:05,865 --> 00:28:08,900
And right now there are an
undisclosed number of VC inside
399
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:10,133
occupying the station.
400
00:28:10,232 --> 00:28:12,833
NARRATOR: The Viet Cong managed to seize
401
00:28:12,932 --> 00:28:15,665
South Vietnam's national radio station
402
00:28:15,766 --> 00:28:19,732
and prepared to broadcast a
taped message from Ho Chi Minh
403
00:28:19,833 --> 00:28:22,965
calling upon the people to rise up.
404
00:28:24,365 --> 00:28:27,566
But a technician radioed
to the transmitting tower
405
00:28:27,665 --> 00:28:31,400
to cut them off and
broadcast Viennese waltzes
406
00:28:31,500 --> 00:28:33,865
and Beatles songs instead.
407
00:28:33,965 --> 00:28:36,465
("Tomorrow Never Knows"
by the Beatles playing)
408
00:28:36,566 --> 00:28:42,133
d Turn off your mind, relax,
and float downstream d
409
00:28:42,232 --> 00:28:45,532
d It is not dying
410
00:28:45,633 --> 00:28:50,465
d It is not dying
411
00:28:50,566 --> 00:28:57,333
d But listen to the
color of your dreams d
412
00:28:57,432 --> 00:29:05,432
d It is not living, it is not living d
413
00:29:06,133 --> 00:29:07,766
(song continues)
414
00:29:15,700 --> 00:29:20,465
NARRATOR: The Saigon suburb of
Bien Hoa was under attack, too.
415
00:29:20,566 --> 00:29:24,165
Enemy forces were assaulting
both the airbase there
416
00:29:24,266 --> 00:29:25,799
and Long Binh,
417
00:29:25,900 --> 00:29:30,000
the largest American
installation in Vietnam.
418
00:29:32,532 --> 00:29:38,000
BRADY: There were VC moving on
the house, moving everywhere.
419
00:29:38,099 --> 00:29:42,266
A lot of shooting, a lot
of confusion going on.
420
00:29:42,365 --> 00:29:45,032
And we were shooting out the window.
421
00:29:45,133 --> 00:29:47,900
And my wife was reloading.
422
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:50,500
When we ran out of ammunition, we'd sli...
423
00:29:50,599 --> 00:29:54,266
slide the magazine down the tiles
424
00:29:54,365 --> 00:29:56,165
and she was down there at the other end
425
00:29:56,266 --> 00:29:58,865
filling 'em up and sliding 'em back.
426
00:30:00,900 --> 00:30:03,700
NARRATOR: Viet Cong commandos
managed to slip through the wire
427
00:30:03,799 --> 00:30:08,133
at Long Binh and blow up
a huge ammunition dump.
428
00:30:08,232 --> 00:30:11,865
A mushroom cloud rose above the airfield,
429
00:30:11,965 --> 00:30:14,566
so vast that some of the
Americans thought there had been
430
00:30:14,665 --> 00:30:16,700
a nuclear explosion.
431
00:30:16,799 --> 00:30:20,266
The blast blew off the
door of Brady's building.
432
00:30:22,865 --> 00:30:27,000
BRADY: They went up against
the wire in Long Binh
433
00:30:27,099 --> 00:30:28,865
and paid a frightful price.
434
00:30:30,700 --> 00:30:32,799
There were just layers of bodies.
435
00:30:32,900 --> 00:30:35,432
The Americans just cut them down.
436
00:30:38,032 --> 00:30:39,200
Hi, this is Johnny Carson.
437
00:30:39,299 --> 00:30:40,809
As you know, this is the
usual starting time
438
00:30:40,833 --> 00:30:42,133
for theTonight Show.
439
00:30:42,232 --> 00:30:45,900
But because of the critical
war situation in Vietnam,
440
00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:49,099
especially around Saigon,
NBC, for the next 15 minutes,
441
00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:52,165
is going to bring you a special
news program via satellite.
442
00:30:52,266 --> 00:30:54,133
Just after midnight their time,
443
00:30:54,232 --> 00:30:57,000
a band of Viet Cong raiders
blew up a power installation
444
00:30:57,099 --> 00:30:59,299
and attacked two police stations in Saigon.
445
00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:02,032
It all amounts to the most ambitious series
446
00:31:02,133 --> 00:31:03,965
of communist attacks yet mounted,
447
00:31:04,066 --> 00:31:06,732
spreading violence into at
least ten provincial capitals,
448
00:31:06,833 --> 00:31:09,633
plus American air bases and
civilian installations
449
00:31:09,732 --> 00:31:11,799
stretching the entire
length of the country.
450
00:31:11,900 --> 00:31:14,766
None had greater psychological impact
451
00:31:14,865 --> 00:31:17,465
than the assault on the
American embassy in Saigon.
452
00:31:20,732 --> 00:31:23,066
NARRATOR: In the first few
hours of the fighting,
453
00:31:23,165 --> 00:31:27,099
19 specially trained commandos
had blasted their way
454
00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:31,732
into the sprawling compound
of the United States embassy.
455
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:37,465
DON NORTH: There's a... there's a
rush, they're rushing the embassy.
456
00:31:37,566 --> 00:31:39,865
That's fire coming from the
other side of the street now,
457
00:31:39,965 --> 00:31:41,200
outside the embassy.
458
00:31:41,299 --> 00:31:42,865
They're exchanging across the street.
459
00:31:42,965 --> 00:31:44,766
You can see the tracer bullets going past.
460
00:31:44,865 --> 00:31:47,000
(explosions, gunfire, shouting)
461
00:31:47,099 --> 00:31:49,299
That's outside the embassy.
462
00:31:52,799 --> 00:31:54,732
MAN (on radio): Uh, this is Waco, roger.
463
00:31:54,833 --> 00:31:57,365
Uh, can you get in the gates now?
464
00:31:57,465 --> 00:31:59,341
Are the gates open and can
you take a force in there
465
00:31:59,365 --> 00:32:01,333
and clean out that embassy right now?
466
00:32:01,432 --> 00:32:03,400
(shouting)
467
00:32:17,099 --> 00:32:19,566
NORTH: Apparently the Viet Cong
are trapped in the basement
468
00:32:19,665 --> 00:32:23,900
of this side building,
an incredible situation.
469
00:32:30,333 --> 00:32:33,065
Heavy firing, incoming and outgoing.
470
00:32:33,166 --> 00:32:37,233
Don North, ABC News, at the U.S.
embassy, in Saigon.
471
00:32:37,333 --> 00:32:42,532
NARRATOR: All of the intruders were
eventually killed or captured.
472
00:32:43,932 --> 00:32:46,132
NORTH: What a sight.
473
00:32:46,233 --> 00:32:50,400
A small frog hopping
through a pool of blood
474
00:32:50,500 --> 00:32:54,865
that's issuing from the
head of a Viet Cong,
475
00:32:54,965 --> 00:33:00,965
lying on the green grassy
lawn of the U.S. embassy.
476
00:33:23,766 --> 00:33:28,032
NARRATOR: An American Marine
and four Army MPs were killed
477
00:33:28,132 --> 00:33:29,666
at the embassy.
478
00:33:31,365 --> 00:33:33,800
REPORTER: General, how would you assess
479
00:33:33,900 --> 00:33:35,432
yesterday's activities and today's?
480
00:33:35,532 --> 00:33:37,492
What is the enemy doing?
Are these major attacks?
481
00:33:37,565 --> 00:33:39,166
Or... (explosion)
482
00:33:41,065 --> 00:33:46,833
That's E.O.D. setting off a
couple of M-79 duds, I believe.
483
00:33:46,932 --> 00:33:50,699
The enemy, very deceitfully,
484
00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:54,166
has taken advantage of the Tet truce,
485
00:33:54,266 --> 00:34:01,132
in order to, uh... create
maximum consternation.
486
00:34:01,233 --> 00:34:03,599
In my opinion, this is diversionary...
487
00:34:03,699 --> 00:34:07,532
NARRATOR: Early wire service
dispatches reported incorrectly
488
00:34:07,632 --> 00:34:12,199
that the Viet Cong had made
it inside the embassy itself.
489
00:34:12,300 --> 00:34:15,365
REPORTER: Embassy ID cards were
found on some of the Viet Cong.
490
00:34:15,465 --> 00:34:17,932
NARRATOR: And the first
television footage did little
491
00:34:18,032 --> 00:34:22,065
to reassure the American public.
492
00:34:22,166 --> 00:34:23,608
REPORTER: Is Saigon secure right now?
493
00:34:23,632 --> 00:34:26,632
Saigon's secure as far as I know.
494
00:34:26,733 --> 00:34:28,075
There's no more fighting in the streets?
495
00:34:28,099 --> 00:34:29,376
There may be some in the outskirts still.
496
00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:32,233
I'm not sure, don't know.
497
00:34:32,333 --> 00:34:33,699
I'm not sure about that, no.
498
00:34:35,599 --> 00:34:38,365
NARRATOR: Saigon was far from secure.
499
00:34:38,465 --> 00:34:40,365
(shouting)
500
00:34:57,833 --> 00:34:59,833
(no voice)
501
00:35:04,865 --> 00:35:07,833
(distant, echoing gunfire)
502
00:35:07,932 --> 00:35:08,932
(screaming)
503
00:35:09,032 --> 00:35:10,932
Viet Cong assassination squads,
504
00:35:11,032 --> 00:35:15,032
some guided by North Vietnamese spies,
505
00:35:15,132 --> 00:35:19,099
moved through the streets with
orders to kill what they called
506
00:35:19,199 --> 00:35:21,065
"blood" enemies of the people...
507
00:35:21,166 --> 00:35:23,266
(gunfire, screaming)
508
00:35:23,365 --> 00:35:29,132
bureaucrats, intelligence
officers, ARVN commanders,
509
00:35:29,233 --> 00:35:33,599
and ordinary soldiers home on
leave, and their families.
510
00:35:33,699 --> 00:35:37,965
DUONG VAN MAI ELLIOTT: I went
home to visit my parents
511
00:35:38,065 --> 00:35:41,833
and I found them kind of huddled
in their house, the doors shut,
512
00:35:41,932 --> 00:35:44,132
the windows shut, very dark.
513
00:35:44,233 --> 00:35:47,333
They were very afraid because
our house was located
514
00:35:47,432 --> 00:35:49,099
near a slum.
515
00:35:49,199 --> 00:35:52,932
And we always assumed that there
were a lot of Viet Cong agents
516
00:35:53,032 --> 00:35:57,699
living among the poor where
they could hide very easily,
517
00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:00,766
and that they were going to come out
518
00:36:00,865 --> 00:36:03,766
and look for government officials,
519
00:36:03,865 --> 00:36:06,932
military personnel to kill.
520
00:36:07,032 --> 00:36:10,099
So my parents were very afraid.
521
00:36:32,199 --> 00:36:35,900
(gunfight)
522
00:36:48,166 --> 00:36:49,908
NARRATOR: On the second
day of the fighting,
523
00:36:49,932 --> 00:36:53,599
a Viet Cong agent named Nguyen Van Lem
524
00:36:53,699 --> 00:36:56,666
was brought before Nguyen Ngoc Loan,
525
00:36:56,766 --> 00:36:59,965
the head of the South
Vietnamese National Police.
526
00:37:00,065 --> 00:37:04,532
As an AP photographer and
an NBC cameraman watched,
527
00:37:04,632 --> 00:37:08,500
Loan ordered another officer
to shoot the captive.
528
00:37:08,599 --> 00:37:12,465
When he hesitated, Loan
did the job himself.
529
00:37:27,166 --> 00:37:30,365
HOWARD TUCKNER: The Chief of South
Vietnam's National Police Force,
530
00:37:30,465 --> 00:37:34,166
Brigadier General Nguyen Ngoc
Loan, was waiting for him.
531
00:37:54,865 --> 00:37:56,965
JACK HORNER: Good morning, Mr. President.
532
00:37:57,065 --> 00:37:58,699
JOHNSON: Hi, Jack.
533
00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:00,666
Uh, we need guidance this morning, sir.
534
00:38:00,766 --> 00:38:03,333
Guidance? Uh, is that all you want?
535
00:38:03,432 --> 00:38:04,900
Yes, sir. No quotation?
536
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:06,465
That's right. No attribution.
537
00:38:06,565 --> 00:38:07,599
No connection.
538
00:38:07,699 --> 00:38:09,099
Give it absolutely none.
539
00:38:09,199 --> 00:38:10,666
Absolutely none.
540
00:38:10,766 --> 00:38:13,300
Your press is lying like
drunken sailors every day.
541
00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:18,766
Uh, first thing I wake up this
morning was trying to figure out
542
00:38:18,865 --> 00:38:21,099
after seeing CBS, watching the networks,
543
00:38:21,199 --> 00:38:24,465
reading the morning papers,
was how can we win...
544
00:38:24,565 --> 00:38:27,032
possibly win... and survive as a nation
545
00:38:27,132 --> 00:38:28,965
and have to fight the press's lies.
546
00:38:29,065 --> 00:38:30,365
Yes, sir.
547
00:38:30,465 --> 00:38:31,742
I'm trying to protect my country,
548
00:38:31,766 --> 00:38:33,032
and they're all whipping me.
549
00:38:33,132 --> 00:38:35,833
Not a son of a bitch said
a word about Ho Chi Minh.
550
00:38:35,932 --> 00:38:38,833
They talk about us bombing,
yet these sons of bitches
551
00:38:38,932 --> 00:38:42,199
come in and bomb our embassy and
19 of them try a raid on it.
552
00:38:42,300 --> 00:38:46,532
All 19 get killed and yet
they blame the embassy.
553
00:38:46,632 --> 00:38:47,699
(chuckles)
554
00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:49,599
I don't understand it.
555
00:38:49,699 --> 00:38:52,400
We think we've killed 20,000;
we think we lost 400.
556
00:38:52,500 --> 00:38:56,266
We think that of course
it's bad to lose anybody,
557
00:38:56,365 --> 00:38:58,032
any one of the 400,
558
00:38:58,132 --> 00:39:00,632
but we think that the Good
Lord has been so good to us
559
00:39:00,733 --> 00:39:04,266
that it is a major, dramatic victory.
560
00:39:04,365 --> 00:39:06,000
And I think what would have happened
561
00:39:06,099 --> 00:39:08,199
if I'd lost 20,000 and they'd lost 400?
562
00:39:08,300 --> 00:39:09,166
I ask you that.
563
00:39:09,266 --> 00:39:10,408
Oh, it would've been terrible.
564
00:39:10,432 --> 00:39:11,565
(explosion)
565
00:39:11,666 --> 00:39:15,599
It appears that a mortar
or a rocket shell came in
566
00:39:15,699 --> 00:39:19,965
and, well, there's blood on my pants.
567
00:39:20,065 --> 00:39:22,199
And I guess I'm... I'm hit.
568
00:39:22,300 --> 00:39:25,000
Well, this is the streets of Saigon,
569
00:39:25,099 --> 00:39:28,300
and that's where the war is now.
570
00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:30,032
Howard Tuckner, NBC News.
571
00:39:33,166 --> 00:39:37,233
NARRATOR: The American press
focused almost entirely
572
00:39:37,333 --> 00:39:39,733
on the fighting in Saigon.
573
00:39:39,833 --> 00:39:43,599
But the Tet Offensive was
happening almost everywhere.
574
00:39:45,733 --> 00:39:48,932
Most assaults were being
quickly beaten back by ARVN
575
00:39:49,032 --> 00:39:51,632
and American forces.
576
00:39:51,733 --> 00:39:56,233
Everywhere the enemy was
suffering terrible losses.
577
00:40:08,766 --> 00:40:10,500
(gunfire)
578
00:40:45,233 --> 00:40:49,532
NARRATOR: The Americans called in
massive air and artillery firepower
579
00:40:49,632 --> 00:40:53,900
to dislodge a Viet Cong regiment
from the city of Ben Tre
580
00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:56,300
in the Mekong Delta.
581
00:40:56,400 --> 00:41:01,199
Afterwards, a reporter quoted an
American major as having said,
582
00:41:01,300 --> 00:41:07,965
"It became necessary to
destroy the town to save it."
583
00:41:08,065 --> 00:41:14,500
Right now, the Navy and the Army
boats that also bring supplies
584
00:41:14,599 --> 00:41:18,300
up the Perfume River are having
to undergo heavy small arms
585
00:41:18,400 --> 00:41:20,632
and mortar fire as they
turn the bend in the river
586
00:41:20,733 --> 00:41:22,632
here around Hue itself.
587
00:41:22,733 --> 00:41:25,099
And the landing zone on this
the south side of the river
588
00:41:25,199 --> 00:41:28,365
has been under almost constant
mortar and small arms fire.
589
00:41:28,465 --> 00:41:31,733
And today, at any rate, Hue is cut off.
590
00:41:36,065 --> 00:41:39,266
NARRATOR: The longest, bloodiest
battle of the Tet Offensive
591
00:41:39,365 --> 00:41:41,300
was being fought in the streets
592
00:41:41,400 --> 00:41:44,166
of one of the country's loveliest cities,
593
00:41:44,266 --> 00:41:47,965
the former imperial capital Hue.
594
00:41:48,065 --> 00:41:50,266
(gunfire)
595
00:41:53,400 --> 00:41:56,333
(shouting, gunfire)
596
00:42:04,065 --> 00:42:07,266
The Perfume River divided Hue in two.
597
00:42:07,365 --> 00:42:10,465
The enemy... North Vietnamese regulars
598
00:42:10,565 --> 00:42:12,365
and Viet Cong guerrillas...
599
00:42:12,465 --> 00:42:15,432
had taken over both sides of the city.
600
00:42:15,532 --> 00:42:19,365
Only the American advisers'
compound on the south bank
601
00:42:19,465 --> 00:42:21,965
and the 1st ARVN division headquarters
602
00:42:22,065 --> 00:42:25,300
within the thick-walled
Citadel on the north side
603
00:42:25,400 --> 00:42:27,166
held out against them.
604
00:43:04,432 --> 00:43:08,199
NARRATOR: Marine Corporal Bill
Ehrhart was at the end of his tour
605
00:43:08,300 --> 00:43:10,532
and was preparing to go home.
606
00:43:10,632 --> 00:43:12,733
But when his company was ordered
607
00:43:12,833 --> 00:43:16,465
to relieve the besieged
American compound in Hue,
608
00:43:16,565 --> 00:43:19,733
he chose to go with his comrades.
609
00:43:19,833 --> 00:43:23,800
EHRHART: I had spent 12 months in Vietnam
looking for somebody to shoot at
610
00:43:23,900 --> 00:43:26,766
and there was nobody there.
611
00:43:26,865 --> 00:43:29,833
And then all of a sudden
612
00:43:29,932 --> 00:43:33,365
it seemed like here's
every NVA in the world
613
00:43:33,465 --> 00:43:36,032
trying to kill me and my pals.
614
00:43:36,132 --> 00:43:40,099
It was an entirely different kind of fight.
615
00:43:49,965 --> 00:43:53,300
NARRATOR: Ehrhart and his
unit endured a bloody ambush,
616
00:43:53,400 --> 00:43:57,032
finally fought their way
through to the MACV compound,
617
00:43:57,132 --> 00:44:01,500
and then began days of
brutal block-by-block battle
618
00:44:01,599 --> 00:44:04,233
to retake the surrounding neighborhoods.
619
00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:07,766
Every house became a battlefield.
620
00:44:18,233 --> 00:44:21,599
"It was exhilarating," Ehrhart remembered.
621
00:44:21,699 --> 00:44:24,833
"I was scared utterly witless,
622
00:44:24,932 --> 00:44:27,365
"but it was the greatest adrenaline high
623
00:44:27,465 --> 00:44:30,032
I'd ever experienced."
624
00:44:31,532 --> 00:44:34,565
EHRHART: It was ugly, ugly fighting.
625
00:44:34,666 --> 00:44:37,932
You literally have to clear
houses a room at a time,
626
00:44:38,032 --> 00:44:40,800
a floor at a time, a house at a time.
627
00:44:40,900 --> 00:44:43,932
And then you go to the next one.
628
00:45:14,532 --> 00:45:16,800
(gunfire)
629
00:45:27,432 --> 00:45:30,632
(soldier yelling instructions
over deafening gunfight)
630
00:45:30,733 --> 00:45:32,699
(gunfight grows louder)
631
00:45:36,932 --> 00:45:38,432
(explosion, then silence)
632
00:45:41,900 --> 00:45:45,400
February 5, I was wounded by a B40 rocket.
633
00:45:47,000 --> 00:45:48,932
I was utterly stone deaf.
634
00:45:52,166 --> 00:45:56,199
Under any other circumstances
I would have been evacuated.
635
00:45:56,300 --> 00:46:00,833
But I could see, I could
walk, and I could shoot.
636
00:46:00,932 --> 00:46:02,132
So I stayed.
637
00:46:07,166 --> 00:46:10,166
(distant, muffled gunfire)
638
00:46:18,733 --> 00:46:22,099
(heartbeat grows louder over muted din)
639
00:46:22,199 --> 00:46:24,500
(explosion, shouting)
640
00:46:31,132 --> 00:46:33,065
NARRATOR: The fighting continued.
641
00:46:35,632 --> 00:46:38,833
(gunshots whizzing, soldiers
cacophonously screaming in pain)
642
00:46:38,932 --> 00:46:43,599
"We had to blow our way through
every wall of every house,"
643
00:46:43,699 --> 00:46:45,199
one Marine remembered.
644
00:46:45,300 --> 00:46:50,666
"It's a shame we had to damage
such a beautiful city."
645
00:46:52,766 --> 00:46:55,333
EHRHART: Of course, all these
civilians have been herded
646
00:46:55,432 --> 00:46:57,266
into the university.
647
00:46:57,365 --> 00:47:00,500
They had all gone there
to get the hell away
648
00:47:00,599 --> 00:47:02,575
from having grenades thrown
in their living rooms.
649
00:47:02,599 --> 00:47:05,132
And one of the guys comes in and says,
650
00:47:05,233 --> 00:47:11,666
"I found this-this girl who will
fuck us all for C rations."
651
00:47:11,766 --> 00:47:13,300
And I'm thinking,
652
00:47:13,400 --> 00:47:15,532
"Wait, we're in the
middle of this big battle
653
00:47:15,632 --> 00:47:18,800
and I'm gonna go and..."
654
00:47:20,465 --> 00:47:26,599
But I'm 19 years old and my
buddies are gonna, and I just...
655
00:47:26,699 --> 00:47:31,233
I demonstrated to myself how
little courage I actually had.
656
00:47:31,333 --> 00:47:36,099
I've lived with it ever
since, but I-I-I did it
657
00:47:36,199 --> 00:47:37,666
because I wasn't gonna say,
658
00:47:37,766 --> 00:47:41,266
"You guys, we shouldn't
do something like this."
659
00:47:41,365 --> 00:47:45,599
Even more than the killings,
660
00:47:45,699 --> 00:47:48,833
the thing I think I'm most ashamed of
661
00:47:48,932 --> 00:47:53,400
when I think back on the
time I spent there.
662
00:47:53,500 --> 00:48:01,099
I think it's because my mother's
a woman, my wife's a woman,
663
00:48:01,199 --> 00:48:04,065
my daughter's a woman.
664
00:48:04,166 --> 00:48:05,800
(sighs)
665
00:48:10,965 --> 00:48:14,599
Somebody gets shot, not a good thing.
666
00:48:14,699 --> 00:48:17,333
You see somebody running away,
667
00:48:17,432 --> 00:48:20,900
I don't know, it could've been a VC.
668
00:48:21,000 --> 00:48:22,666
But that woman?
669
00:48:24,233 --> 00:48:26,666
Nah.
670
00:48:26,766 --> 00:48:29,465
I had every opportunity to say no.
671
00:48:29,565 --> 00:48:32,233
(gunfire)
672
00:48:32,333 --> 00:48:36,565
NARRATOR: The next day, in the
midst of still another firefight,
673
00:48:36,666 --> 00:48:40,065
a lieutenant in a jeep pulled
up in front of the building
674
00:48:40,166 --> 00:48:43,599
from which Ehrhart and five
fellow Marines were firing
675
00:48:43,699 --> 00:48:45,132
at the enemy.
676
00:48:45,233 --> 00:48:48,199
"Come on, Ehrhart!" he shouted.
677
00:48:48,300 --> 00:48:50,166
"Chopper's on the LZ right now.
678
00:48:50,266 --> 00:48:52,865
You want to go home or not?"
679
00:48:55,000 --> 00:48:57,965
From the helicopter that
lifted him up and away
680
00:48:58,065 --> 00:48:59,965
from the ruined, smoking city,
681
00:49:00,065 --> 00:49:02,500
he could see a farmer and his water buffalo
682
00:49:02,599 --> 00:49:04,965
working a flooded field
683
00:49:05,065 --> 00:49:08,900
and women in conical hats
carrying twin baskets
684
00:49:09,000 --> 00:49:14,000
hurrying along between the
paddies as if there were no war.
685
00:49:17,699 --> 00:49:21,632
Back in Hue, the Viet Cong
and North Vietnamese troops
686
00:49:21,733 --> 00:49:25,865
now found themselves
trapped inside the city.
687
00:49:42,932 --> 00:49:43,932
(gunfire)
688
00:49:47,432 --> 00:49:48,833
NARRATOR: It would take two weeks
689
00:49:48,932 --> 00:49:51,632
for the Marines to fight
their way across the river
690
00:49:51,733 --> 00:49:54,365
to support the ARVN,
691
00:49:54,465 --> 00:49:55,865
who had stubbornly kept the enemy
692
00:49:55,965 --> 00:50:00,365
from overwhelming their division
headquarters in the Citadel.
693
00:50:20,266 --> 00:50:23,233
DAVID BURRINGTON: What's
the hardest part of it?
694
00:50:23,333 --> 00:50:25,766
Not knowing where they are,
that's the worst of it.
695
00:50:25,865 --> 00:50:27,841
Riding around and running in
the sewers, in the gutters,
696
00:50:27,865 --> 00:50:28,932
anywhere.
697
00:50:29,032 --> 00:50:30,599
Could be anywhere.
698
00:50:30,699 --> 00:50:32,432
Just hoping to stay alive and day to day.
699
00:50:32,532 --> 00:50:34,476
Everybody just wants to go
back home and go to school.
700
00:50:34,500 --> 00:50:35,733
That's about it.
701
00:50:35,833 --> 00:50:36,841
Have you lost any friends?
702
00:50:36,865 --> 00:50:38,000
Quite a few.
703
00:50:38,099 --> 00:50:40,300
We lost one the other
day, good buddy of mine.
704
00:50:40,400 --> 00:50:41,733
The whole thing stinks, really.
705
00:50:46,599 --> 00:50:50,965
(gunfire, shouting)
706
00:51:08,300 --> 00:51:09,333
He's still alive.
707
00:51:42,233 --> 00:51:45,532
NARRATOR: After 26 days of
bitter, bloody fighting,
708
00:51:45,632 --> 00:51:50,800
the flag of South Vietnam
flew again above the Citadel.
709
00:51:50,900 --> 00:51:54,733
The surviving North
Vietnamese and Viet Cong
710
00:51:54,833 --> 00:51:57,199
were finally permitted by their commanders
711
00:51:57,300 --> 00:51:59,132
to pull out of the city.
712
00:51:59,233 --> 00:52:03,900
Some 6,000 civilians had
died in the rubble.
713
00:52:04,000 --> 00:52:11,733
Of the city's 135,000 citizens,
110,000 had lost their homes.
714
00:52:15,166 --> 00:52:18,132
All that was left of
Hue, one reporter wrote,
715
00:52:18,233 --> 00:52:21,333
was "ruins divided by a river."
716
00:52:23,632 --> 00:52:25,233
JOHNSON (on TV): The biggest fact is
717
00:52:25,333 --> 00:52:29,233
that the stated purposes
of the General Uprising...
718
00:52:29,333 --> 00:52:33,166
a military victory or a
psychological victory...
719
00:52:33,266 --> 00:52:34,733
have failed.
720
00:52:36,199 --> 00:52:37,841
DON WEBSTER: The attack
on the radio station
721
00:52:37,865 --> 00:52:39,766
started at 2:30 in the morning.
722
00:52:39,865 --> 00:52:42,900
NARRATOR: Night after night for weeks,
723
00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:46,800
American television screens
had been filled with images
724
00:52:46,900 --> 00:52:49,699
of blood and violence and devastation
725
00:52:49,800 --> 00:52:52,465
the public had rarely seen before.
726
00:52:52,565 --> 00:52:55,465
GEORGE SYVERTSON: The enemy
was nowhere and everywhere.
727
00:52:55,565 --> 00:52:59,266
NARRATOR: But it was one
photograph that for many people
728
00:52:59,365 --> 00:53:02,365
would come to define the Tet Offensive.
729
00:53:06,766 --> 00:53:10,532
SAM HYNES: I remember he was
wearing a checked shirt.
730
00:53:10,632 --> 00:53:15,233
And the photographer had come up very close
731
00:53:15,333 --> 00:53:16,766
and had pressed his shutter
732
00:53:16,865 --> 00:53:21,400
just as the officer pulled his trigger.
733
00:53:21,500 --> 00:53:24,199
So camera and gun went off together
734
00:53:24,300 --> 00:53:28,065
and you could see the man's
head bulging at the side
735
00:53:28,166 --> 00:53:31,900
where the bullet was about to come out.
736
00:53:32,000 --> 00:53:35,565
We were there, face-to-face
with this man who was dying,
737
00:53:35,666 --> 00:53:36,932
right now, dead.
738
00:53:37,032 --> 00:53:40,632
JAMES WILLBANKS: It's a
devastating thing to see.
739
00:53:40,733 --> 00:53:43,400
And I think many Americans
began to ask themselves,
740
00:53:43,500 --> 00:53:46,432
"Are we supporting the wrong guys here?"
741
00:53:46,532 --> 00:53:51,333
And it sort of brings home, I
think to, to the dinner table,
742
00:53:51,432 --> 00:53:53,666
or the breakfast table if
you see it in the papers,
743
00:53:53,766 --> 00:53:55,833
the brutality of this war
744
00:53:55,932 --> 00:53:59,000
and the fact that it looks
like it's never going to end.
745
00:53:59,099 --> 00:54:05,266
PHAN QUANG TUE: But what we know is the
price that we pay for that picture.
746
00:54:05,365 --> 00:54:07,333
It was the turning point.
747
00:54:07,432 --> 00:54:11,233
Because that put the gov...
Americans to position and say,
748
00:54:11,333 --> 00:54:13,766
"Hey, look, we want to spend money
749
00:54:13,865 --> 00:54:15,365
"and the lives of our young people
750
00:54:15,465 --> 00:54:17,400
to protect such a system?"
751
00:54:26,465 --> 00:54:29,900
NARRATOR: For a month, Hal Kushner's
captors had made him walk
752
00:54:30,000 --> 00:54:33,099
deeper and deeper into
the Central Highlands,
753
00:54:33,199 --> 00:54:34,800
always moving at night
754
00:54:34,900 --> 00:54:37,465
so that they would not
be spotted from the air.
755
00:54:39,532 --> 00:54:43,900
KUSHNER: They took me to this place
that I assume was a hospital.
756
00:54:44,000 --> 00:54:45,333
It was just a series of caves
757
00:54:45,432 --> 00:54:48,365
but there were a lot of
wounded lying around.
758
00:54:48,465 --> 00:54:56,000
And this female nurse came
out and inspected my wound.
759
00:54:56,099 --> 00:55:00,400
And then she gave me a
bamboo stick to bite on.
760
00:55:00,500 --> 00:55:03,865
She laid me down and she gave me
this bamboo stick to bite on.
761
00:55:03,965 --> 00:55:06,266
And then she took this rifle-cleaning rod
762
00:55:06,365 --> 00:55:08,932
and she heated it up in a
fire until it was red hot.
763
00:55:10,932 --> 00:55:12,865
And she took it and put it through my wound
764
00:55:12,965 --> 00:55:14,900
through and through.
765
00:55:15,000 --> 00:55:16,632
And it really hurt.
766
00:55:16,733 --> 00:55:19,632
It really, really, really hurt.
767
00:55:19,733 --> 00:55:22,365
And then she put
Mercurochrome on the wound.
768
00:55:22,465 --> 00:55:26,666
And she gave me an aspirin tablet.
769
00:55:26,766 --> 00:55:31,565
And I... I thought, what
else can they do to me?
770
00:55:31,666 --> 00:55:36,132
NARRATOR: Kushner would eventually
arrive at a remote jungle camp,
771
00:55:36,233 --> 00:55:40,432
joining a handful of other
American prisoners.
772
00:55:42,565 --> 00:55:45,132
And this Vietnamese officer came
to me and he spoke English.
773
00:55:45,233 --> 00:55:48,333
And that was the first real
English speaker that I had seen.
774
00:55:48,432 --> 00:55:50,833
And he had a little
reel-to-reel tape recorder,
775
00:55:50,932 --> 00:55:53,465
battery-powered tape recorder.
776
00:55:53,565 --> 00:55:56,333
And he asked me to make
a message to my family
777
00:55:56,432 --> 00:55:59,099
to let them know that I was safe.
778
00:55:59,199 --> 00:56:01,465
And I could do that if I
would make a statement
779
00:56:01,565 --> 00:56:03,699
against the war.
780
00:56:03,800 --> 00:56:07,233
And I told... I told him with great bravado
781
00:56:07,333 --> 00:56:09,166
that I would rather die
than make a statement
782
00:56:09,266 --> 00:56:10,766
against my country.
783
00:56:10,865 --> 00:56:12,699
And he said to me,
784
00:56:12,800 --> 00:56:17,733
"You will find dying is very easy.
785
00:56:17,833 --> 00:56:21,199
"Living will be the difficult thing.
786
00:56:21,300 --> 00:56:23,733
Living is the difficult thing."
787
00:56:27,132 --> 00:56:32,300
NARRATOR: In early March, two weeks
after Hue had finally been recaptured,
788
00:56:32,400 --> 00:56:36,400
Second Lieutenant Phil Gioia
of the 82nd Airborne Division
789
00:56:36,500 --> 00:56:40,000
led his platoon along the Perfume River,
790
00:56:40,099 --> 00:56:42,233
looking for weapons that
might have been buried
791
00:56:42,333 --> 00:56:44,400
by the retreating enemy.
792
00:56:44,500 --> 00:56:48,400
Gioia's sergeant, Reuben Torres,
793
00:56:48,500 --> 00:56:51,365
saw something sticking
up from the sandy soil.
794
00:56:51,465 --> 00:56:55,132
It was an elbow.
795
00:56:55,233 --> 00:56:59,333
So to us it seemed as though
this was going to be a grave
796
00:56:59,432 --> 00:57:02,032
where the enemy had buried
some of his own people
797
00:57:02,132 --> 00:57:03,900
on the withdrawal from Hue.
798
00:57:04,000 --> 00:57:06,965
Sergeant Torres said, "You know, sir,
799
00:57:07,065 --> 00:57:10,065
I think we better start to dig here."
800
00:57:10,166 --> 00:57:14,132
We found the first body and it was a woman.
801
00:57:14,233 --> 00:57:18,199
She was wearing a white
blouse and black trousers.
802
00:57:18,300 --> 00:57:20,300
She had her hands tied behind her back
803
00:57:20,400 --> 00:57:23,365
and she'd been shot in
the back of the head.
804
00:57:23,465 --> 00:57:26,965
Next to her was a child,
who'd also been shot.
805
00:57:27,065 --> 00:57:32,199
The next person coming
up was another woman.
806
00:57:32,300 --> 00:57:35,532
At that point it was clear
that this-this wasn't
807
00:57:35,632 --> 00:57:37,632
enemy North Vietnamese or Viet Cong.
808
00:57:59,632 --> 00:58:01,233
(gunfire)
809
00:58:02,932 --> 00:58:04,932
NARRATOR: Before they abandoned the city,
810
00:58:05,032 --> 00:58:07,932
the communists had systematically executed
811
00:58:08,032 --> 00:58:12,465
at least 2,800 people
they called "hooligans"
812
00:58:12,565 --> 00:58:15,233
and "reactionaries."
813
00:58:15,333 --> 00:58:16,932
Hanoi would always deny
814
00:58:17,032 --> 00:58:20,365
that any innocent civilians
had been killed.
815
00:58:20,465 --> 00:58:22,400
(woman sobbing)
816
00:58:50,500 --> 00:58:52,833
(woman wailing in grief)
817
00:59:26,266 --> 00:59:30,266
NARRATOR: President Johnson insisted
that the Tet Offensive had been
818
00:59:30,365 --> 00:59:33,632
"a devastating defeat for the communists."
819
00:59:33,733 --> 00:59:36,500
Militarily, he was right.
820
00:59:36,599 --> 00:59:40,632
The basic assumptions on which
the North Vietnamese mounted
821
00:59:40,733 --> 00:59:44,199
their offensive had all proved to be wrong.
822
00:59:44,300 --> 00:59:48,166
Hanoi's leaders had assumed
the ARVN would crumble,
823
00:59:48,266 --> 00:59:53,065
that South Vietnamese soldiers
would come over to their side.
824
00:59:53,166 --> 00:59:57,000
Instead, not a single unit defected.
825
00:59:58,632 --> 01:00:02,599
The civilian populace
Hanoi expected to rise up
826
01:00:02,699 --> 01:00:05,132
may have been unhappy
with their government,
827
01:00:05,233 --> 01:00:09,132
but they had little sympathy for communism,
828
01:00:09,233 --> 01:00:13,400
and when the fighting began,
they had hidden in their homes
829
01:00:13,500 --> 01:00:17,632
to escape the fury in the streets.
830
01:00:31,632 --> 01:00:36,132
NARRATOR: North Vietnamese
general Vo Nguyen Giap,
831
01:00:36,233 --> 01:00:38,900
who had opposed the offensive
from the beginning,
832
01:00:39,000 --> 01:00:42,900
later remembered that Tet
had been a "costly lesson,
833
01:00:43,000 --> 01:00:47,233
paid for in blood and bone."
834
01:01:07,800 --> 01:01:11,500
NARRATOR: Of the 84,000 enemy
troops who are estimated
835
01:01:11,599 --> 01:01:15,000
to have taken part in the Tet
Offensive, more than half...
836
01:01:15,099 --> 01:01:20,733
as many as 58,000 men and
women, most of them Viet Cong...
837
01:01:20,833 --> 01:01:25,199
are thought to have been
killed or wounded or captured.
838
01:01:27,199 --> 01:01:30,400
JOHN LAURENCE: The American military
command celebrated the Tet Offensive
839
01:01:30,500 --> 01:01:31,932
as a victory.
840
01:01:32,032 --> 01:01:35,132
You know, "They finally came
at us, and we blew them away,"
841
01:01:35,233 --> 01:01:37,632
which was basically true.
842
01:01:37,733 --> 01:01:41,132
But the administration had been
telling the American public
843
01:01:41,233 --> 01:01:45,865
for most of the end of '67 and
for the first month of 1968
844
01:01:45,965 --> 01:01:47,766
that the war was being won;
845
01:01:47,865 --> 01:01:52,865
that the NLF and the North
Vietnamese were ground down
846
01:01:52,965 --> 01:01:55,833
to such an extent that we
could see the end of the war,
847
01:01:55,932 --> 01:01:57,266
a victory.
848
01:01:57,365 --> 01:02:00,865
The Tet Offensive has forced
our generals to re-evaluate...
849
01:02:00,965 --> 01:02:04,865
So when Tet hit, it contradicted everything
850
01:02:04,965 --> 01:02:07,865
that the administration and
the Saigon country team
851
01:02:07,965 --> 01:02:10,666
had been telling the American
public through its journalists
852
01:02:10,766 --> 01:02:12,865
for the previous four or five months.
853
01:02:12,965 --> 01:02:15,766
John Laurence, CBS News, Saigon.
854
01:02:15,865 --> 01:02:17,705
("White Rabbit" by Jefferson
Airplane playing)
855
01:02:17,800 --> 01:02:22,833
BRADY: It broke the will of the
United States to fight that war.
856
01:02:22,932 --> 01:02:28,465
It was such a shock that it
stripped away the last vestiges
857
01:02:28,565 --> 01:02:32,300
of the fiction and fanciful interpretations
858
01:02:32,400 --> 01:02:36,266
that had led us down this
primrose path into disaster.
859
01:02:36,365 --> 01:02:41,233
After that nobody could be convinced.
860
01:02:41,333 --> 01:02:45,266
And then the most ferocious
possible argument erupted
861
01:02:45,365 --> 01:02:46,699
inside the U.S. government
862
01:02:46,800 --> 01:02:51,733
because the hawks on the war were saying,
863
01:02:51,833 --> 01:02:57,166
"Tet was North Vietnam's last gasp.
864
01:02:57,266 --> 01:03:00,465
"It was their last shot at winning the war,
865
01:03:00,565 --> 01:03:02,300
"and they failed.
866
01:03:02,400 --> 01:03:06,632
We beat them, and that's the end of them."
867
01:03:06,733 --> 01:03:11,465
And we said, "After all these years of war,
868
01:03:11,565 --> 01:03:14,065
"if that's what they are able to do,
869
01:03:14,166 --> 01:03:18,432
"we ought to learn some
lesson about their commitment
870
01:03:18,532 --> 01:03:21,233
to this war as well and the cost to us."
871
01:03:21,333 --> 01:03:25,000
NARRATOR: On March 10,
theNew York Times reported
872
01:03:25,099 --> 01:03:29,800
that the Army was requesting
206,000 additional troops
873
01:03:29,900 --> 01:03:31,632
for Vietnam.
874
01:03:31,733 --> 01:03:34,432
But if the United States
had been winning the war,
875
01:03:34,532 --> 01:03:38,699
many Americans asked, if Tet
had in fact been a disaster
876
01:03:38,800 --> 01:03:42,865
for the enemy, why were
still more men needed?
877
01:03:42,965 --> 01:03:46,465
More and more members of
the president's own party
878
01:03:46,565 --> 01:03:50,065
now felt free to express their doubts.
879
01:03:50,166 --> 01:03:54,132
"Our enemy has finally shattered
the mask of official illusion,"
880
01:03:54,233 --> 01:03:56,632
Senator Robert Kennedy said.
881
01:03:56,733 --> 01:03:59,833
"Unable to defeat him or break his will,
882
01:03:59,932 --> 01:04:03,865
we must actively seek a
peaceful settlement."
883
01:04:03,965 --> 01:04:05,666
...can cope with its problems.
884
01:04:05,766 --> 01:04:10,300
NARRATOR: Walter Cronkite, the respected
anchor of theCBS Evening News,
885
01:04:10,400 --> 01:04:13,166
had come home from
covering the Tet Offensive
886
01:04:13,266 --> 01:04:17,333
convinced victory was no longer possible.
887
01:04:17,432 --> 01:04:20,000
We have been too often
disappointed by the optimism
888
01:04:20,099 --> 01:04:23,233
of the American leaders, both
in Vietnam and Washington,
889
01:04:23,333 --> 01:04:26,666
to have faith any longer in
the silver linings they find
890
01:04:26,766 --> 01:04:28,266
in the darkest clouds.
891
01:04:28,365 --> 01:04:32,565
To say that we are closer to
victory today is to believe,
892
01:04:32,666 --> 01:04:34,099
in the face of the evidence,
893
01:04:34,199 --> 01:04:37,000
the optimists who have
been wrong in the past.
894
01:04:37,099 --> 01:04:39,699
To suggest we are on the edge of defeat
895
01:04:39,800 --> 01:04:42,833
is to yield to unreasonable pessimism.
896
01:04:42,932 --> 01:04:45,432
To say that we are mired in stalemate
897
01:04:45,532 --> 01:04:49,266
seems the only realistic if
unsatisfactory conclusion.
898
01:04:49,365 --> 01:04:52,733
But it is increasingly
clear to this reporter
899
01:04:52,833 --> 01:04:57,266
that the only rational way out
then will be to negotiate,
900
01:04:57,365 --> 01:05:01,666
not as victors, but as an
honorable people who lived up
901
01:05:01,766 --> 01:05:03,699
to their pledge to defend democracy
902
01:05:03,800 --> 01:05:06,500
and did the best they could.
903
01:05:06,599 --> 01:05:08,233
This is Walter Cronkite.
904
01:05:08,333 --> 01:05:09,733
Goodnight.
905
01:05:09,833 --> 01:05:12,500
EUGENE McCARTHY: In 1966, in '67,
906
01:05:12,599 --> 01:05:14,632
and again in '68,
907
01:05:14,733 --> 01:05:17,699
most recently we hear the same
hollow claims of progress
908
01:05:17,800 --> 01:05:21,065
and of advance toward victory.
909
01:05:21,166 --> 01:05:24,333
The fact is, however, as we know
from events of recent weeks,
910
01:05:24,432 --> 01:05:27,900
events which one is almost
saddened to report,
911
01:05:28,000 --> 01:05:30,365
that the enemy has become bolder than ever.
912
01:05:30,465 --> 01:05:33,965
NARRATOR: On the evening of March 12,
913
01:05:34,065 --> 01:05:36,666
President Johnson watched
the returns come in
914
01:05:36,766 --> 01:05:40,300
from the New Hampshire
Democratic presidential primary,
915
01:05:40,400 --> 01:05:44,199
where he was facing an
unexpected challenge.
916
01:05:44,300 --> 01:05:46,365
The most recent poll had suggested
917
01:05:46,465 --> 01:05:49,733
he would beat Eugene McCarthy two to one.
918
01:05:49,833 --> 01:05:54,532
But Johnson won just 49.6% of the vote
919
01:05:54,632 --> 01:05:58,266
against 41.9% for his opponent,
920
01:05:58,365 --> 01:06:02,565
even though most of those who
voted against the president
921
01:06:02,666 --> 01:06:07,233
actually wanted him to prosecute
the war more vigorously.
922
01:06:07,333 --> 01:06:10,465
Johnson knew he was in trouble.
923
01:06:10,565 --> 01:06:12,642
ROBERT KENNEDY: ...for the
presidency of the United States...
924
01:06:12,666 --> 01:06:14,699
NARRATOR: And there was more to come.
925
01:06:14,800 --> 01:06:18,432
I do not run for the presidency
merely to oppose any man...
926
01:06:18,532 --> 01:06:21,965
NARRATOR: Just four days after
the New Hampshire primary,
927
01:06:22,065 --> 01:06:27,565
Robert F. Kennedy declared his
candidacy for the presidency,
928
01:06:27,666 --> 01:06:31,632
and polls suggested he was more
popular than Lyndon Johnson.
929
01:06:31,733 --> 01:06:33,600
...about what must be done.
930
01:06:33,699 --> 01:06:37,300
I run because it is now unmistakably clear
931
01:06:37,399 --> 01:06:42,699
that we can change these
disastrous, divisive policies
932
01:06:42,800 --> 01:06:46,733
only by changing the men
who are now making them.
933
01:06:50,199 --> 01:06:52,199
(din of large crowd)
934
01:06:55,132 --> 01:06:57,565
LYNDON JOHNSON: I think
what we've got to do, too,
935
01:06:57,666 --> 01:07:02,033
is get out of the posture of
just being the war candidate
936
01:07:02,132 --> 01:07:05,166
that McCarthy has put us in,
and Bobby's putting us in,
937
01:07:05,265 --> 01:07:06,365
the kids are putting us in,
938
01:07:06,466 --> 01:07:08,100
and the papers are putting us in.
939
01:07:08,199 --> 01:07:10,632
We've got to come up with something.
940
01:07:10,733 --> 01:07:14,000
CLARK CLIFFORD: What it
is: we're out to win,
941
01:07:14,100 --> 01:07:16,600
but we're not out to win the war.
942
01:07:16,699 --> 01:07:17,832
We're out to win the peace.
943
01:07:17,932 --> 01:07:19,233
JOHNSON: That's right.
944
01:07:19,332 --> 01:07:20,642
CLIFFORD: And that's what we give them,
945
01:07:20,666 --> 01:07:22,142
and what our slogan could very well be...
946
01:07:22,166 --> 01:07:24,466
win the peace with honor.
947
01:07:24,565 --> 01:07:28,765
JOHNSON: But we've got to have something
new and fresh that goes in there
948
01:07:28,865 --> 01:07:30,966
along with the statement
that we're going to win.
949
01:07:31,065 --> 01:07:32,699
CLIFFORD: Right.
950
01:07:32,800 --> 01:07:34,699
But we have to be very careful
951
01:07:34,800 --> 01:07:36,500
what it is we say we're going to win.
952
01:07:36,600 --> 01:07:38,365
JOHNSON: That's right.
953
01:07:38,466 --> 01:07:41,065
CLIFFORD: They think, well hell,
that means we're just going
954
01:07:41,166 --> 01:07:43,765
to keep pouring men in
until we win militarily.
955
01:07:43,865 --> 01:07:45,932
And that isn't what we're after, really.
956
01:07:46,033 --> 01:07:49,000
JOHNSON: Uh, we're not
going to get these doves,
957
01:07:49,100 --> 01:07:51,233
but we can neutralize the country;
958
01:07:51,332 --> 01:07:52,442
that way it won't follow them,
959
01:07:52,466 --> 01:07:53,786
if we can come up with something.
960
01:07:58,365 --> 01:08:03,699
NARRATOR: On March 26, the Wise Men,
a group of veteran cold warriors
961
01:08:03,800 --> 01:08:06,632
who had earlier urged the
president to hold steady
962
01:08:06,733 --> 01:08:10,765
in Vietnam, now advised
him to change course.
963
01:08:10,865 --> 01:08:14,733
Dean Acheson, Harry Truman's
secretary of state,
964
01:08:14,832 --> 01:08:16,565
spoke for the majority.
965
01:08:16,666 --> 01:08:20,100
"We can no longer do the
job we set out to do
966
01:08:20,199 --> 01:08:22,565
in the time we have left," he said,
967
01:08:22,666 --> 01:08:26,800
"and we must begin to
take steps to disengage."
968
01:08:26,899 --> 01:08:33,265
The president agreed to send
just 13,500 more troops,
969
01:08:33,365 --> 01:08:37,765
not the 206,000 the generals had requested,
970
01:08:37,865 --> 01:08:41,432
and decided to recall William
Westmoreland to Washington
971
01:08:41,533 --> 01:08:43,699
as chief of staff of the Army,
972
01:08:43,800 --> 01:08:49,000
replacing him with his deputy,
General Creighton W. Abrams.
973
01:08:50,800 --> 01:08:55,500
NEIL SHEEHAN: His face was a... was
a mask of exhaustion and defeat.
974
01:08:55,600 --> 01:08:58,332
It was very sad to see the man.
975
01:08:58,432 --> 01:09:01,765
He-he was broken by it.
976
01:09:03,365 --> 01:09:05,500
NARRATOR: On March 30, Gallup reported
977
01:09:05,600 --> 01:09:08,932
that 63% of the public disapproved
978
01:09:09,033 --> 01:09:11,733
of Johnson's handling of the war,
979
01:09:11,832 --> 01:09:15,800
the lowest point of his presidency.
980
01:09:15,899 --> 01:09:20,832
The following evening, March 31, 1968,
981
01:09:20,932 --> 01:09:25,500
the president asked for
time on all three networks.
982
01:09:26,733 --> 01:09:29,765
Good evening, my fellow Americans.
983
01:09:29,865 --> 01:09:32,932
Tonight, I want to speak to you
984
01:09:33,033 --> 01:09:36,000
of peace in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.
985
01:09:38,000 --> 01:09:40,899
NARRATOR: Johnson announced that
he had decided to stop bombing
986
01:09:41,000 --> 01:09:45,600
the densely populated areas
around Hanoi and Haiphong
987
01:09:45,699 --> 01:09:48,500
in the hope that North Vietnam
would finally be willing
988
01:09:48,600 --> 01:09:51,132
to come to the negotiating table.
989
01:09:51,233 --> 01:09:53,899
Only the southern half of the country,
990
01:09:54,000 --> 01:09:56,533
the staging areas north of the DMZ,
991
01:09:56,632 --> 01:10:00,500
would continue to be targeted.
992
01:10:00,600 --> 01:10:05,033
Then he stunned the country and the world.
993
01:10:05,132 --> 01:10:10,466
I do not believe that I
should devote an hour
994
01:10:10,565 --> 01:10:16,432
or a day of my time to any
personal partisan causes
995
01:10:16,533 --> 01:10:24,533
or to any duties other than the
awesome duties of this office,
996
01:10:25,033 --> 01:10:28,865
the presidency of your country.
997
01:10:28,966 --> 01:10:36,966
Accordingly, I shall not
seek, and I will not accept,
998
01:10:37,865 --> 01:10:41,832
the nomination of my party for
another term as your president.
999
01:10:45,565 --> 01:10:48,832
("Live Right Now" by Eddie Harris playing)
1000
01:10:53,166 --> 01:10:56,699
ROGER HARRIS: I land in California and
take a plane from California to Boston.
1001
01:10:56,800 --> 01:11:00,399
And I'm feeling good because I've survived
1002
01:11:00,500 --> 01:11:03,199
and, you know, I fought for my country.
1003
01:11:03,300 --> 01:11:06,166
I got off the plane at Logan
and I stepped out there
1004
01:11:06,265 --> 01:11:08,132
and I'm just happy to be home.
1005
01:11:08,233 --> 01:11:15,033
And I had my uniform on and
walked out to the curb,
1006
01:11:15,132 --> 01:11:19,899
and the cabs just kept going
by me, kept going by me.
1007
01:11:20,000 --> 01:11:22,865
And there was a state trooper
that was standing there.
1008
01:11:22,966 --> 01:11:25,600
And I didn't realize what was happening.
1009
01:11:25,699 --> 01:11:29,065
And then he stepped in the
street and he stopped a cab
1010
01:11:29,166 --> 01:11:31,100
and he says, "You have to take this man.
1011
01:11:31,199 --> 01:11:33,432
You have to take this soldier."
1012
01:11:33,533 --> 01:11:35,565
And the driver looked
over at me and he said,
1013
01:11:35,666 --> 01:11:38,199
"I don't want to go to Roxbury."
1014
01:11:38,300 --> 01:11:40,666
They don't see me as a soldier.
1015
01:11:40,765 --> 01:11:43,565
You know, they see me as a
nigger coming home here
1016
01:11:43,666 --> 01:11:45,365
and I live in Roxbury.
1017
01:11:45,466 --> 01:11:46,565
You know?
1018
01:11:46,666 --> 01:11:48,399
I'm thinking, "I'm a Marine.
1019
01:11:48,500 --> 01:11:49,865
I'm a Marine," you know.
1020
01:11:49,966 --> 01:11:53,300
"I just fought for my country
13 months in the combat zone.
1021
01:11:53,399 --> 01:11:55,500
And I can't get a cab to get home."
1022
01:11:57,733 --> 01:12:00,533
ROBERT KENNEDY: I have some
very sad news for all of you,
1023
01:12:00,632 --> 01:12:05,765
and, I think, sad news for
all of our fellow citizens,
1024
01:12:05,865 --> 01:12:09,832
and people who love peace
all over the world;
1025
01:12:09,932 --> 01:12:13,565
and that is that Martin
Luther King was shot
1026
01:12:13,666 --> 01:12:15,308
and was killed tonight
in Memphis, Tennessee.
1027
01:12:15,332 --> 01:12:17,100
(crowd screaming in disbelief)
1028
01:12:19,332 --> 01:12:21,432
In this difficult day,
1029
01:12:21,533 --> 01:12:25,132
in this difficult time
for the United States,
1030
01:12:25,233 --> 01:12:29,800
it's perhaps well to ask
what kind of a nation we are
1031
01:12:29,899 --> 01:12:32,300
and what direction we want to move in.
1032
01:12:33,800 --> 01:12:37,300
NARRATOR: Over the next
week, African Americans...
1033
01:12:37,399 --> 01:12:40,399
grieving, frustrated, angry...
1034
01:12:40,500 --> 01:12:45,399
poured into the streets of more
than 100 towns and cities,
1035
01:12:45,500 --> 01:12:50,065
including New York and
Oakland, Newark and Nashville,
1036
01:12:50,166 --> 01:12:55,233
Chicago and Cincinnati and Baltimore,
1037
01:12:55,332 --> 01:12:57,800
and in Washington, D.C.,
1038
01:12:57,899 --> 01:13:01,233
where fires came within two
blocks of the White House.
1039
01:13:03,600 --> 01:13:06,565
STOKELY CARMICHAEL: When they killed Dr.
King they just opened up the eyes
1040
01:13:06,666 --> 01:13:09,466
of a lot of black people who
were afraid to pick up guns.
1041
01:13:09,565 --> 01:13:12,332
Now they will pick up those guns.
1042
01:13:12,432 --> 01:13:14,432
JESSE JACKSON: We're
living in a sick world.
1043
01:13:14,533 --> 01:13:17,466
This racist society in which we live
1044
01:13:17,565 --> 01:13:19,199
is that that really pulled the trigger.
1045
01:13:19,300 --> 01:13:25,065
ROBERT KENNEDY: Violence breeds violence,
repression breeds retaliation,
1046
01:13:25,166 --> 01:13:29,632
and only a cleansing of our whole society
1047
01:13:29,733 --> 01:13:33,466
can remove this sickness from our souls.
1048
01:13:33,565 --> 01:13:36,966
NARRATOR: Tens of thousands
of National Guardsmen,
1049
01:13:37,065 --> 01:13:39,899
regular Army troops and the Marines,
1050
01:13:40,000 --> 01:13:43,832
including Roger Harris's stateside unit,
1051
01:13:43,932 --> 01:13:46,800
were ordered to patrol American streets.
1052
01:13:48,632 --> 01:13:50,832
HARRIS: And I was ready to go.
1053
01:13:50,932 --> 01:13:54,100
Until I saw what they were giving out.
1054
01:13:54,199 --> 01:13:56,166
I thought they were going
to give us billy clubs
1055
01:13:56,265 --> 01:13:58,733
and I thought we were going to
stand in front of buildings,
1056
01:13:58,832 --> 01:14:02,100
you know, and protect,
you know, businesses.
1057
01:14:02,199 --> 01:14:05,800
And they were passing out
flak jackets, helmets,
1058
01:14:05,899 --> 01:14:07,166
M-16s with live ammunition.
1059
01:14:07,265 --> 01:14:11,065
You know, same things we had in Vietnam.
1060
01:14:11,166 --> 01:14:15,932
And when I saw that I said...
I said, "I'm not going.
1061
01:14:16,033 --> 01:14:17,199
I'm not going."
1062
01:14:17,300 --> 01:14:21,100
I said, "I got family in Washington, D.C."
1063
01:14:21,199 --> 01:14:24,832
And my company commander said,
"Get on the truck, Marine."
1064
01:14:27,632 --> 01:14:29,199
I said, "I'm not going."
1065
01:14:31,800 --> 01:14:35,132
I didn't make sergeant
because I refused to go.
1066
01:14:36,733 --> 01:14:43,166
NARRATOR: Forty-six Americans
died, 2,600 were injured,
1067
01:14:43,265 --> 01:14:45,166
20,000 were arrested.
1068
01:14:49,600 --> 01:14:51,033
Later that same month,
1069
01:14:51,132 --> 01:14:54,065
antiwar students seized several buildings
1070
01:14:54,166 --> 01:14:57,699
at Columbia University in Manhattan.
1071
01:14:57,800 --> 01:15:01,733
The occupation lasted a week,
1072
01:15:01,832 --> 01:15:04,800
the first time in American
history that students forced
1073
01:15:04,899 --> 01:15:09,100
a major university to shut down.
1074
01:15:09,199 --> 01:15:12,365
Policemen eventually
drove the demonstrators
1075
01:15:12,466 --> 01:15:13,899
out of the buildings
1076
01:15:14,000 --> 01:15:17,800
and sent more than 100
students to the hospital.
1077
01:15:17,899 --> 01:15:22,166
The United States now
appeared to be more divided
1078
01:15:22,265 --> 01:15:25,500
than at any time since the Civil War.
1079
01:15:26,966 --> 01:15:32,000
That spring, protestors also
took to the streets of London,
1080
01:15:32,100 --> 01:15:34,265
Paris...
1081
01:15:34,365 --> 01:15:36,199
Berlin...
1082
01:15:36,300 --> 01:15:38,265
Prague...
1083
01:15:38,365 --> 01:15:40,000
Rio...
1084
01:15:40,100 --> 01:15:42,332
Jakarta.
1085
01:15:42,432 --> 01:15:45,466
The world seemed to be coming apart.
1086
01:15:51,300 --> 01:15:52,565
(shouting, sirens wailing)
1087
01:16:02,132 --> 01:16:04,065
(static)
1088
01:16:10,199 --> 01:16:12,800
President Johnson's partial bombing halt
1089
01:16:12,899 --> 01:16:15,000
had had the desired effect.
1090
01:16:15,100 --> 01:16:21,432
Hanoi agreed, for the first
time, to talk with Washington.
1091
01:16:21,533 --> 01:16:26,932
Negotiators began meeting at
the Hotel Majestic in Paris.
1092
01:16:27,033 --> 01:16:31,033
But the communists had now
adopted a new double policy.
1093
01:16:31,132 --> 01:16:32,565
They called it
1094
01:16:32,666 --> 01:16:36,733
"talking while fighting,
fighting while talking."
1095
01:16:36,832 --> 01:16:40,132
MAN: Incoming!
1096
01:16:40,233 --> 01:16:43,865
NARRATOR: On May 5, they
launched another offensive
1097
01:16:43,966 --> 01:16:46,500
that Le Duan hoped would somehow achieve
1098
01:16:46,600 --> 01:16:48,800
what the Tet Offensive had not.
1099
01:16:48,899 --> 01:16:55,100
The enemy hit 119 targets in
what came to be called Mini-Tet.
1100
01:16:58,699 --> 01:17:01,365
There was new fighting in
the streets of Saigon.
1101
01:17:05,466 --> 01:17:08,432
Half the city was now leveled.
1102
01:17:17,365 --> 01:17:21,865
But the Viet Cong and the North
Vietnamese Army failed again.
1103
01:17:21,966 --> 01:17:23,966
They were still no closer
1104
01:17:24,065 --> 01:17:26,865
to overthrowing the South
Vietnamese government,
1105
01:17:26,966 --> 01:17:31,632
and they had suffered some
36,000 more casualties.
1106
01:17:35,932 --> 01:17:41,065
For the United States, May of
1968 proved the bloodiest month
1107
01:17:41,166 --> 01:17:44,100
of the Vietnam War.
1108
01:17:44,199 --> 01:17:49,365
2,416 Americans lost their lives
1109
01:17:49,466 --> 01:17:51,865
in places whose names Americans back home
1110
01:17:51,966 --> 01:17:55,565
would have a hard time remembering:
1111
01:17:55,666 --> 01:18:00,100
Dai Do, Phu Lam, Kham Duc,
1112
01:18:00,199 --> 01:18:04,565
Cholon, and the Plain of Reeds.
1113
01:18:06,932 --> 01:18:10,666
ROBERT KENNEDY: A total military
victory is not within sight
1114
01:18:10,765 --> 01:18:12,666
and is not around the corner;
1115
01:18:12,765 --> 01:18:16,332
that, in fact, it is
probably beyond our grasp.
1116
01:18:16,432 --> 01:18:18,533
NARRATOR: For a time that spring,
1117
01:18:18,632 --> 01:18:20,765
it looked as if Robert Kennedy might win
1118
01:18:20,865 --> 01:18:24,600
the Democratic nomination for president.
1119
01:18:24,699 --> 01:18:29,565
He pledged to bring the war to
an end and seemed to embody
1120
01:18:29,666 --> 01:18:32,300
the hope of bridging the growing gulf
1121
01:18:32,399 --> 01:18:35,332
between black and white Americans.
1122
01:18:35,432 --> 01:18:37,832
(panicked shouting)
1123
01:18:37,932 --> 01:18:41,300
But in June, after
defeating Eugene McCarthy
1124
01:18:41,399 --> 01:18:45,699
in the California primary,
he too was assassinated.
1125
01:18:45,800 --> 01:18:49,265
MAN: Oh, God damn! Why?
1126
01:18:54,100 --> 01:18:56,800
(Jacqueline Schwab performs
"We Shall Overcome")
1127
01:19:03,632 --> 01:19:06,800
CAROL CROCKER: People were
stunned, and people were scared.
1128
01:19:06,899 --> 01:19:13,166
The people we'd looked up to
were being taken away from us.
1129
01:19:17,332 --> 01:19:22,265
It definitely put those of us
who were heading off on our own
1130
01:19:22,365 --> 01:19:26,233
on a path that felt uncertain.
1131
01:19:32,966 --> 01:19:34,966
KUSHNER: When Martin Luther
King was assassinated
1132
01:19:35,065 --> 01:19:37,632
and Bobby Kennedy was assassinated,
1133
01:19:37,733 --> 01:19:41,765
they made a big huge deal about that.
1134
01:19:41,865 --> 01:19:47,533
They said that was part of the
struggle of the American people
1135
01:19:47,632 --> 01:19:49,399
against their government.
1136
01:19:49,500 --> 01:19:51,500
And that there were riots in the streets.
1137
01:19:52,832 --> 01:19:54,966
And the camp commander actually told us,
1138
01:19:55,065 --> 01:19:57,632
"You can kill ten of us to one of you,
1139
01:19:57,733 --> 01:20:01,733
"but your people will turn against this.
1140
01:20:01,832 --> 01:20:05,966
"And we will be here for ten
years or 20 years or 30 years,
1141
01:20:06,065 --> 01:20:07,332
"as long as it takes.
1142
01:20:07,432 --> 01:20:09,500
"And unless you kill every one of us,
1143
01:20:09,600 --> 01:20:13,132
we're gonna win this war."
1144
01:20:17,132 --> 01:20:18,466
And on July the Fourth,
1145
01:20:18,565 --> 01:20:22,233
we recognized it was July the Fourth.
1146
01:20:22,332 --> 01:20:25,365
And they would not let
us sing patriotic songs.
1147
01:20:25,466 --> 01:20:30,265
But sometimes we would
softly sing at night.
1148
01:20:30,365 --> 01:20:33,899
(voice breaking): And...
1149
01:20:34,000 --> 01:20:35,332
(clears throat)
1150
01:20:35,432 --> 01:20:40,233
we understood that despite
different backgrounds
1151
01:20:40,332 --> 01:20:42,300
and different socioeconomic backgrounds,
1152
01:20:42,399 --> 01:20:44,533
different races, different religions,
1153
01:20:44,632 --> 01:20:46,565
that we were Americans.
1154
01:20:49,765 --> 01:20:51,899
("A Whiter Shade of Pale"
by Procol Harum playing)
1155
01:20:52,000 --> 01:20:54,966
NARRATOR: The American people
would be choosing new leadership
1156
01:20:55,065 --> 01:20:58,199
that fall, and everyone seemed to agree,
1157
01:20:58,300 --> 01:21:00,199
a British correspondent wrote,
1158
01:21:00,300 --> 01:21:03,832
"that whoever captures the
presidency this November
1159
01:21:03,932 --> 01:21:06,432
"will be obliged to end the conflict
1160
01:21:06,533 --> 01:21:09,332
"within a matter of months.
1161
01:21:09,432 --> 01:21:13,132
"How this is to be done or what
concessions are to be made
1162
01:21:13,233 --> 01:21:16,699
is very much a matter of detail."
1163
01:21:16,800 --> 01:21:20,565
Before those details
were finally worked out,
1164
01:21:20,666 --> 01:21:24,199
almost seven more years would pass.
1165
01:21:24,300 --> 01:21:27,832
And 27,184 more Americans,
1166
01:21:27,932 --> 01:21:32,233
and hundreds of thousands
more Laotians, Cambodians,
1167
01:21:32,332 --> 01:21:37,466
and Vietnamese... North and
South... would have to die.
1168
01:21:38,666 --> 01:21:44,166
d We skipped the light fandango d
1169
01:21:44,265 --> 01:21:48,533
d Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor d
1170
01:21:50,899 --> 01:21:57,265
d I was feeling kinda seasick
1171
01:21:57,365 --> 01:22:01,033
d But the crowd called out for more d
1172
01:22:04,065 --> 01:22:07,365
d The room was humming harder
1173
01:22:10,300 --> 01:22:12,765
d As the ceiling flew away
1174
01:22:16,932 --> 01:22:21,166
d When we called out
for another drink d
1175
01:22:23,166 --> 01:22:26,399
d The waiter brought a tray
1176
01:22:26,500 --> 01:22:34,500
d And so it was that later
1177
01:22:35,800 --> 01:22:42,500
d As the miller told his tale
1178
01:22:42,600 --> 01:22:46,932
d That her face, at
first just ghostly d
1179
01:22:47,033 --> 01:22:53,699
d Turned a whiter shade of pale d
1180
01:22:53,800 --> 01:22:58,466
(music continues)
1181
01:23:21,666 --> 01:23:27,932
d And although my eyes were open d
1182
01:23:28,033 --> 01:23:31,565
d They might just as
well've been closed d
1183
01:23:31,666 --> 01:23:39,666
d And so it was that later
1184
01:23:40,832 --> 01:23:47,000
d As the miller told his tale
1185
01:23:47,100 --> 01:23:52,132
d That her face, at
first just ghostly d
1186
01:23:52,233 --> 01:23:57,432
d Turned a whiter shade of pale. d
1187
01:24:00,432 --> 01:24:04,432
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