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34
00:00:19,304 --> 00:00:24,941
I was assigned a listening
post at Con Thien in the fall.
35
00:00:24,943 --> 00:00:28,945
That was like getting a
death sentence in a trial.
36
00:00:28,947 --> 00:00:31,114
Because that's just three
Marines out there with a radio.
37
00:00:32,784 --> 00:00:34,450
And that's the scariest thing I did.
38
00:00:34,452 --> 00:00:37,320
You're listening for the enemy.
39
00:00:37,322 --> 00:00:40,456
They call you on the radio every hour,
40
00:00:40,458 --> 00:00:41,891
"Delta, Lima, Papa, Three, Bravo,
41
00:00:41,893 --> 00:00:45,328
Delta, Lima, Papa, Three,
Bravo, this is Delta Three.
42
00:00:45,330 --> 00:00:48,464
If your sit rep is alpha
sierra, key your handset twice.
43
00:00:49,867 --> 00:00:51,566
"If your situation report is all secure,
44
00:00:51,568 --> 00:00:53,235
break squelch twice on the handset."
45
00:00:55,306 --> 00:00:57,405
And if it's not, they
keep thinking you're asleep
46
00:00:57,407 --> 00:01:00,042
so they keep asking you, "If
your sit rep is alpha sierra,"
47
00:01:00,044 --> 00:01:01,343
and then it finally dawns on them,
48
00:01:01,345 --> 00:01:04,079
maybe there's somebody too
close for you to say anything.
49
00:01:04,081 --> 00:01:07,049
So then they say, "If your sit
rep is negative alpha sierra,
50
00:01:07,051 --> 00:01:08,550
key your handset once,"
51
00:01:08,552 --> 00:01:10,518
and you damn near squeeze
the handle off the, you know,
52
00:01:10,520 --> 00:01:13,788
and two on the radio
because they're so close
53
00:01:13,790 --> 00:01:15,557
that you can hear them
whispering to one another.
54
00:01:18,128 --> 00:01:19,594
And that's scary stuff.
55
00:01:19,596 --> 00:01:20,963
That's real scary stuff.
56
00:01:20,965 --> 00:01:24,632
And I'm scared of the dark, still.
57
00:01:24,634 --> 00:01:27,569
I still got a night light.
58
00:01:27,571 --> 00:01:30,938
When my kids were growing up,
59
00:01:30,940 --> 00:01:34,676
that's the first time
they really found out
60
00:01:34,678 --> 00:01:36,811
that Daddy'd been in
a war when they said,
61
00:01:36,813 --> 00:01:39,381
"Well, why do we need to
outgrow our night lights?
62
00:01:39,383 --> 00:01:40,615
Daddy's still got one."
63
00:01:47,791 --> 00:01:51,859
Let the word go forth
from this time and place,
64
00:01:51,861 --> 00:01:54,896
to friend and foe alike,
65
00:01:54,898 --> 00:01:59,032
that the torch has been
passed to a new generation
66
00:01:59,034 --> 00:02:05,773
of Americans born in this
century, tempered by war,
67
00:02:05,775 --> 00:02:09,476
disciplined by a hard and bitter peace,
68
00:02:09,478 --> 00:02:12,879
- proud of our...
- I still believed, very much,
69
00:02:12,881 --> 00:02:17,551
in this concept of an heroic America,
70
00:02:17,553 --> 00:02:20,321
America being a really special country,
71
00:02:20,323 --> 00:02:23,590
the best country in the
world, the best democracy,
72
00:02:23,592 --> 00:02:27,560
all the things that we
believe about it, which...
73
00:02:27,562 --> 00:02:29,529
and I didn't really see
anything wrong with that.
74
00:02:32,434 --> 00:02:37,070
I was sure that we were
right to be in Vietnam.
75
00:02:37,072 --> 00:02:39,206
You know, because it
started under Kennedy
76
00:02:39,208 --> 00:02:41,875
and, to me, JFK was God.
77
00:02:41,877 --> 00:02:45,111
Anything that he thought was
right, I thought was right.
78
00:02:47,615 --> 00:02:51,784
At 43, John Fitzgerald
Kennedy was the youngest man
79
00:02:51,786 --> 00:02:55,421
ever elected president
of the United States.
80
00:02:55,423 --> 00:02:57,858
He had promised bold new leadership,
81
00:02:57,860 --> 00:03:04,096
and to his supporters his inauguration
seemed to signal a new day.
82
00:03:04,098 --> 00:03:07,032
To those new states whom we welcome
83
00:03:07,034 --> 00:03:10,002
to the ranks of the free,
84
00:03:10,004 --> 00:03:15,975
we pledge our word that
one form of colonial control
85
00:03:15,977 --> 00:03:18,577
shall not have passed away
86
00:03:18,579 --> 00:03:23,815
merely to be replaced by
a far more iron tyranny.
87
00:03:23,817 --> 00:03:28,953
We shall not always expect to
find them supporting our view.
88
00:03:28,955 --> 00:03:33,524
But we shall always hope to
find them strongly supporting
89
00:03:33,526 --> 00:03:39,030
their own freedom and to
remember that, in the past,
90
00:03:39,032 --> 00:03:42,533
those who foolishly sought power
91
00:03:42,535 --> 00:03:46,637
by riding the back of
the tiger ended up inside.
92
00:03:55,082 --> 00:03:57,381
The new president gathered around him
93
00:03:57,383 --> 00:04:01,219
an extraordinary set of advisors
who shared his determination
94
00:04:01,221 --> 00:04:06,324
to confront communism, including
Secretary of State Dean Rusk,
95
00:04:06,326 --> 00:04:10,127
National Security
Advisor McGeorge Bundy,
96
00:04:10,129 --> 00:04:12,896
his deputy Walt Rostow,
97
00:04:12,898 --> 00:04:17,268
special military advisor
General Maxwell Taylor,
98
00:04:17,270 --> 00:04:20,871
and Secretary of
Defense Robert McNamara,
99
00:04:20,873 --> 00:04:22,673
who had given up his post
100
00:04:22,675 --> 00:04:26,711
as president of the Ford Motor
Company to serve his country.
101
00:04:26,713 --> 00:04:32,783
He was a pioneer in the
field of systems analysis.
102
00:04:32,785 --> 00:04:35,719
Like the president who picked them,
103
00:04:35,721 --> 00:04:39,889
all of Kennedy's men had
served during World War II.
104
00:04:39,891 --> 00:04:42,259
Each had absorbed what they all believed
105
00:04:42,261 --> 00:04:44,294
was its central lesson:
106
00:04:44,296 --> 00:04:48,365
ambitious dictatorships needed
to be halted in their tracks
107
00:04:48,367 --> 00:04:51,601
before they constituted a serious danger
108
00:04:51,603 --> 00:04:53,737
to the peace of the world.
109
00:04:53,739 --> 00:04:57,039
Meanwhile, in South Vietnam,
110
00:04:57,041 --> 00:04:59,208
the National Liberation Front...
111
00:04:59,210 --> 00:05:02,078
labeled by its enemies the Viet Cong...
112
00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:05,548
was determined to
overthrow the anticommunist
113
00:05:05,550 --> 00:05:10,920
and increasingly autocratic
government of Ngo Dinh Diem.
114
00:05:10,922 --> 00:05:15,057
In North Vietnam,
unbeknownst to Washington,
115
00:05:15,059 --> 00:05:19,061
Ho Chi Minh, the father
of Vietnamese independence,
116
00:05:19,063 --> 00:05:22,364
was now sharing power with
a more aggressive leader,
117
00:05:22,366 --> 00:05:25,301
Le Duan, who was even more impatient
118
00:05:25,303 --> 00:05:27,569
to reunify his country.
119
00:05:48,282 --> 00:05:51,784
None of us knew anything about Vietnam.
120
00:05:51,786 --> 00:05:55,987
Vietnam in those days was
a piece on a chessboard,
121
00:05:55,989 --> 00:05:58,223
a strategic chessboard,
122
00:05:58,225 --> 00:06:02,160
not a place with a culture and a history
123
00:06:02,162 --> 00:06:07,733
that we would have an
impossible time changing,
124
00:06:07,735 --> 00:06:10,702
even with the mighty
force of the United States.
125
00:06:10,704 --> 00:06:15,340
Over the next three years, the
United States would struggle
126
00:06:15,342 --> 00:06:19,844
to understand the complicated
country it had come to save,
127
00:06:19,846 --> 00:06:22,980
fail to appreciate the enemy's resolve,
128
00:06:22,982 --> 00:06:26,684
and misread how the South
Vietnamese people really felt
129
00:06:26,686 --> 00:06:28,519
about their government.
130
00:06:30,557 --> 00:06:32,890
The new president would
find himself caught
131
00:06:32,892 --> 00:06:37,562
between the momentum of war
and the desire for peace,
132
00:06:37,564 --> 00:06:40,665
between humility and hubris,
133
00:06:40,667 --> 00:06:46,938
between idealism and expediency,
between the truth and a lie.
134
00:07:07,373 --> 00:07:10,674
And so, my fellow Americans,
135
00:07:10,676 --> 00:07:15,779
ask not what your
country can do for you,
136
00:07:15,781 --> 00:07:17,914
ask what you can do for your country.
137
00:07:24,957 --> 00:07:28,892
I grew up in Missouri, near Kansas City,
138
00:07:28,894 --> 00:07:31,995
a little community called Fairmount.
139
00:07:31,997 --> 00:07:33,597
I was born in 1948.
140
00:07:33,599 --> 00:07:36,232
And there were lots of kids
being born in those days
141
00:07:36,234 --> 00:07:37,801
from the guys who were
lucky enough to come home
142
00:07:37,803 --> 00:07:38,668
from World War II.
143
00:07:40,105 --> 00:07:43,539
My dad was a pilot
in the Army Air Corps.
144
00:07:43,541 --> 00:07:46,442
And all of dad's friends
145
00:07:46,444 --> 00:07:49,579
were World War II vets or Korean vets.
146
00:07:49,581 --> 00:07:52,281
And all of my male
teachers were veterans.
147
00:07:52,283 --> 00:07:54,484
And even my pastor had been a chaplain.
148
00:07:56,221 --> 00:08:00,756
Well, they were my heroes,
and I wanted to be like them.
149
00:08:07,965 --> 00:08:10,966
For all of John Kennedy's
soaring rhetoric,
150
00:08:10,968 --> 00:08:13,636
for all the talent he
gathered around him,
151
00:08:13,638 --> 00:08:16,972
the first months of his
presidency did not go well.
152
00:08:16,974 --> 00:08:21,444
He approved a CIA-sponsored
invasion of Cuba
153
00:08:21,446 --> 00:08:25,913
at the Bay of Pigs
that ended in disaster.
154
00:08:25,915 --> 00:08:27,849
He felt he'd been bullied
155
00:08:27,851 --> 00:08:30,285
by Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev
156
00:08:30,287 --> 00:08:32,720
at a summit meeting in Vienna.
157
00:08:32,722 --> 00:08:35,023
He was unable to keep the Soviets
158
00:08:35,025 --> 00:08:37,459
from building the Berlin Wall.
159
00:08:37,461 --> 00:08:41,696
And in Southeast Asia,
he refused to intervene
160
00:08:41,698 --> 00:08:44,999
against a communist
insurrection in Laos.
161
00:08:45,001 --> 00:08:49,638
Critics accused him of
being immature, indecisive,
162
00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:53,308
inadequate to the task of
combating what seemed to be
163
00:08:53,310 --> 00:08:55,877
a mounting communist threat.
164
00:08:55,879 --> 00:08:59,414
"There are just so many
concessions that we can make
165
00:08:59,416 --> 00:09:01,848
in one year and survive politically,"
166
00:09:01,850 --> 00:09:06,587
he confided to an aide
in the spring of 1961.
167
00:09:06,589 --> 00:09:11,958
In South Vietnam, Kennedy
felt he had to act.
168
00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:14,662
After the president received reports
169
00:09:14,664 --> 00:09:17,231
that the Viet Cong might be in control
170
00:09:17,233 --> 00:09:21,268
of more than half the densely
populated Mekong Delta,
171
00:09:21,270 --> 00:09:25,339
he dispatched General
Maxwell Taylor and Walt Rostow
172
00:09:25,341 --> 00:09:27,541
to Vietnam.
173
00:09:27,543 --> 00:09:31,312
They urged him to commit
American ground troops.
174
00:09:31,314 --> 00:09:33,046
Kennedy refused.
175
00:09:33,048 --> 00:09:36,817
It would be like taking
a first drink, he said...
176
00:09:36,819 --> 00:09:39,953
the effect would soon wear
off and there would be demands
177
00:09:39,955 --> 00:09:43,423
for another and another and another.
178
00:09:43,425 --> 00:09:46,893
Instead, in the midst of a cold war,
179
00:09:46,895 --> 00:09:50,197
with its constant risk
of nuclear confrontation,
180
00:09:50,199 --> 00:09:53,533
the president supported
a new "flexible" way
181
00:09:53,535 --> 00:09:59,106
to confront and contain
communism: limited war.
182
00:09:59,108 --> 00:10:03,877
This is another type of
warfare, new in its intensity,
183
00:10:03,879 --> 00:10:06,579
ancient in its origin...
184
00:10:06,581 --> 00:10:11,516
war by guerrillas, subversives,
insurgents, assassins;
185
00:10:11,518 --> 00:10:15,955
war by ambush instead of by combat;
186
00:10:15,957 --> 00:10:18,290
by infiltration instead of aggression.
187
00:10:20,194 --> 00:10:22,728
To fight his "limited wars,"
188
00:10:22,730 --> 00:10:25,697
Kennedy hoped to use
the elite Green Berets,
189
00:10:25,699 --> 00:10:29,235
special forces trained
in guerrilla warfare,
190
00:10:29,237 --> 00:10:31,904
counterinsurgency.
191
00:10:31,906 --> 00:10:36,776
They were meant to be dispatched
to hotspots around the world.
192
00:10:37,278 --> 00:10:39,511
Khrushchev said, "We're
not going to destroy you
193
00:10:39,513 --> 00:10:41,079
with nuclear weapons,
194
00:10:41,081 --> 00:10:43,849
we're going to destroy you with
wars of national liberation."
195
00:10:44,251 --> 00:10:46,251
Everybody talked about the fact
196
00:10:46,253 --> 00:10:51,055
that communism was spreading
and it had to be stopped.
197
00:10:51,057 --> 00:10:53,825
You went to Command and
General Staff College
198
00:10:53,827 --> 00:10:57,361
and you were playing on
maps with nuclear weapons
199
00:10:57,363 --> 00:10:59,130
and so forth.
200
00:10:59,132 --> 00:11:04,035
And I escaped from that by
getting into Special Forces.
201
00:11:04,037 --> 00:11:06,805
So that instead of planning
what we were going to do
202
00:11:06,807 --> 00:11:11,542
if World War III broke out,
we were actually doing stuff.
203
00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:16,446
And Vietnam was a place where
we were going to draw the line.
204
00:11:18,284 --> 00:11:20,083
Kennedy sent the Green Berets
205
00:11:20,085 --> 00:11:22,452
to the Central Highlands of Vietnam
206
00:11:22,454 --> 00:11:26,089
to organize mountain tribes
to fight the Viet Cong
207
00:11:26,091 --> 00:11:30,828
and to undertake covert missions
to sabotage their supply bases
208
00:11:30,830 --> 00:11:33,997
in Laos and Cambodia.
209
00:11:33,999 --> 00:11:38,501
But Kennedy understood
that counterinsurgency alone
210
00:11:38,503 --> 00:11:39,703
would never be enough,
211
00:11:39,705 --> 00:11:43,307
so he doubled funding
for South Vietnam's army,
212
00:11:43,309 --> 00:11:48,410
dispatched helicopters and
APCs, armored personnel carriers.
213
00:11:51,582 --> 00:11:55,451
Kennedy also authorized
the use of napalm
214
00:11:55,453 --> 00:11:59,989
and the spraying of defoliants
to deny cover to the Viet Cong
215
00:11:59,991 --> 00:12:03,860
and destroy the crops that fed them.
216
00:12:03,862 --> 00:12:07,063
A whole array of chemicals was used,
217
00:12:07,065 --> 00:12:10,532
including one named for
the color of the stripes
218
00:12:10,534 --> 00:12:16,572
on the 55-gallon drums in
which it came... "Agent Orange."
219
00:12:16,574 --> 00:12:20,209
And the president quietly
continued to increase
220
00:12:20,211 --> 00:12:23,178
the number of American
military advisors.
221
00:12:23,180 --> 00:12:31,786
Within two years, the number he
had inherited would grow to 11,300,
222
00:12:31,788 --> 00:12:34,389
empowered not only to teach
223
00:12:34,391 --> 00:12:37,392
the Army of the Republic
of Vietnam... the ARVN...
224
00:12:37,394 --> 00:12:39,527
to fight a conventional war,
225
00:12:39,529 --> 00:12:41,763
but to accompany them into battle,
226
00:12:41,765 --> 00:12:46,401
a violation of the agreement that
had divided Vietnam back in 1954.
227
00:12:50,140 --> 00:12:54,209
The administration did its best
to hide from the American people
228
00:12:54,211 --> 00:12:56,611
the scale of the buildup
that was taking place
229
00:12:56,613 --> 00:12:58,513
on the other side of the world,
230
00:12:58,515 --> 00:13:01,416
fearful that the
public would not support
231
00:13:01,418 --> 00:13:08,355
the more active role advisors
had begun to play in combat.
232
00:13:08,357 --> 00:13:11,025
Mr. President, a Republican
National Committee publication
233
00:13:11,027 --> 00:13:14,462
has said that you are...
have been less than candid
234
00:13:14,464 --> 00:13:18,299
with the American people as
to how deeply we are involved
235
00:13:18,301 --> 00:13:20,267
in Vietnam.
236
00:13:20,269 --> 00:13:22,837
Could you throw any more light on that?
237
00:13:22,839 --> 00:13:24,906
We have increased our
assistance to the government,
238
00:13:24,908 --> 00:13:26,808
its logistics.
239
00:13:26,810 --> 00:13:28,776
We have not sent combat troops there.
240
00:13:28,778 --> 00:13:32,012
Though the training
missions that we have there
241
00:13:32,014 --> 00:13:34,915
have been instructed if
they are fired upon to...
242
00:13:34,917 --> 00:13:37,884
they are, would of course, fire
back, to protect themselves.
243
00:13:37,886 --> 00:13:39,719
But we have not sent combat troops
244
00:13:39,721 --> 00:13:42,056
in the generally understood
sense of the word.
245
00:13:42,058 --> 00:13:47,794
So that I... I feel that we
are being as frank as the...
246
00:13:47,796 --> 00:13:49,163
as we can be.
247
00:13:49,165 --> 00:13:50,764
I think we... what I have said to you
248
00:13:50,766 --> 00:13:53,667
is a description of our activity there.
249
00:13:58,441 --> 00:14:01,875
I was a child of the Cold War.
250
00:14:01,877 --> 00:14:07,380
When I got off the plane in Saigon
on a humid evening in April 1962,
251
00:14:07,382 --> 00:14:11,317
I really believed in all
the ideology of the Cold War.
252
00:14:11,319 --> 00:14:12,452
On...
253
00:14:12,454 --> 00:14:15,121
That if we lost South Vietnam,
254
00:14:15,123 --> 00:14:17,591
that the rest of Southeast Asia
would fall to the communists.
255
00:14:17,593 --> 00:14:21,495
There was an international
communist conspiracy.
256
00:14:21,497 --> 00:14:24,063
We believed fervently in this stuff.
257
00:14:24,965 --> 00:14:28,034
Neil Sheehan was a
25-year-old reporter
258
00:14:28,036 --> 00:14:31,404
for United Press International, UPI.
259
00:14:31,406 --> 00:14:35,574
He had served three years in
the Army in Korea and Japan
260
00:14:35,576 --> 00:14:38,443
before deciding to
become a newspaperman.
261
00:14:38,445 --> 00:14:42,748
Vietnam was his first
full-time overseas assignment,
262
00:14:42,750 --> 00:14:44,750
and his only worry, he remembered,
263
00:14:44,752 --> 00:14:49,522
was that he would get there too
late and miss out on the big story.
264
00:14:49,524 --> 00:14:53,826
Sheehan and other reporters
rode along as the ARVN mounted
265
00:14:53,828 --> 00:14:57,462
a series of helicopter
assaults on enemy strongholds
266
00:14:57,464 --> 00:14:59,865
in the Mekong Delta and elsewhere
267
00:14:59,867 --> 00:15:03,335
and brought terror to the Viet Cong.
268
00:15:03,337 --> 00:15:06,471
American pilots were at the controls.
269
00:15:07,673 --> 00:15:11,275
It was a crusade and it was thrilling.
270
00:15:11,277 --> 00:15:13,845
And you'd climb aboard the helicopters
271
00:15:13,847 --> 00:15:17,181
with the Vietnamese soldiers who
were being taken out to battle.
272
00:15:17,183 --> 00:15:18,916
And they'd take off.
273
00:15:18,918 --> 00:15:21,652
And they'd contour-fly, they'd
skim across the rice paddies
274
00:15:21,654 --> 00:15:23,921
at about three or four
feet above the paddies,
275
00:15:23,923 --> 00:15:27,791
and then pop up over the tree
lines that lined the fields.
276
00:15:27,793 --> 00:15:29,160
It was thrilling.
277
00:15:29,162 --> 00:15:30,494
I mean it was absolutely thrilling.
278
00:15:30,496 --> 00:15:33,564
And you believed in what was happening.
279
00:15:33,566 --> 00:15:35,799
I mean you had the sense
that we're fighting here
280
00:15:35,801 --> 00:15:39,636
and some day we'll win, and
this country will be a better,
281
00:15:39,638 --> 00:15:40,537
better country for our coming.
282
00:15:42,542 --> 00:15:45,475
The new M-113 armored
personnel carriers
283
00:15:45,477 --> 00:15:49,179
were capable of churning
across rivers and rice paddies
284
00:15:49,181 --> 00:15:51,081
and right through the earthen dikes
285
00:15:51,083 --> 00:15:53,216
that separated one field from the next.
286
00:15:54,787 --> 00:16:00,023
The Viet Cong had nothing
with which to stop them.
287
00:16:00,025 --> 00:16:03,417
We were just overwhelming
them with force,
288
00:16:03,918 --> 00:16:05,200
with firepower.
289
00:16:05,731 --> 00:16:09,199
And the firefights would be
over in a pretty short time.
290
00:16:09,201 --> 00:16:11,902
We have some people
running along the dikes.
291
00:16:11,904 --> 00:16:14,805
Actually, the canal is perpendicular
292
00:16:14,807 --> 00:16:16,372
to the one you're attacking now.
293
00:16:16,374 --> 00:16:20,376
They have on black uniforms,
and I estimate approximately 3-0.
294
00:16:20,378 --> 00:16:23,079
Do you have them in sight? Over.
295
00:16:23,081 --> 00:16:25,348
That's what was causing us to win, see.
296
00:16:25,350 --> 00:16:28,585
And we were winning one after the other.
297
00:16:28,587 --> 00:16:32,255
And we were not meeting a
heck of a lot of resistance.
298
00:16:32,257 --> 00:16:36,058
Captain James Scanlon had
been stationed in West Germany
299
00:16:36,060 --> 00:16:39,295
and had seen for himself
the brutality with which
300
00:16:39,297 --> 00:16:41,964
the communist East
Germans dealt with anyone
301
00:16:41,966 --> 00:16:45,468
who dared try to escape to the West.
302
00:16:45,470 --> 00:16:47,870
He was now in the Mekong Delta,
303
00:16:47,872 --> 00:16:50,940
an advisor to the 7th
Division of the ARVN,
304
00:16:50,942 --> 00:16:55,444
and had begun to see evidence
of Viet Cong brutality as well.
305
00:16:58,915 --> 00:17:02,551
Those of us who talked to the
people who fled East Germany,
306
00:17:02,553 --> 00:17:06,688
we saw the need to stop
the growth of communism,
307
00:17:06,690 --> 00:17:10,125
to stop the dominoes from being tumbled.
308
00:17:10,127 --> 00:17:12,561
That was a worthy cause.
309
00:17:14,298 --> 00:17:18,066
As the ARVN and their
advisors pursued the Viet Cong,
310
00:17:18,068 --> 00:17:20,802
the government of Ngo
Dinh Diem had launched
311
00:17:20,804 --> 00:17:25,173
an ambitious program meant to
gain control of the countryside
312
00:17:25,175 --> 00:17:27,975
by concentrating the rural population
313
00:17:27,977 --> 00:17:30,645
into thousands of fortified settlements,
314
00:17:30,647 --> 00:17:34,982
ringed with barbed wire
and moats and bamboo spikes
315
00:17:34,984 --> 00:17:37,851
meant to keep out the Viet Cong.
316
00:17:37,853 --> 00:17:42,323
They were called strategic
hamlets, part of the effort
317
00:17:42,325 --> 00:17:45,459
to win the hearts and
minds, and loyalty,
318
00:17:45,461 --> 00:17:47,027
of the Vietnamese people.
319
00:17:47,029 --> 00:17:51,666
The French had tried something
like it a decade before.
320
00:17:51,668 --> 00:17:55,836
They had called it pacification.
321
00:17:55,838 --> 00:17:58,406
President Diem's
strategic hamlet program
322
00:17:58,408 --> 00:18:00,940
is making substantial progress.
323
00:18:00,942 --> 00:18:05,612
About 1,600 of the some 14,000 hamlets
324
00:18:05,614 --> 00:18:09,316
have been fortified to date.
325
00:18:09,318 --> 00:18:11,651
By the summer of 1962,
326
00:18:11,653 --> 00:18:15,054
news from South Vietnam
seemed so promising
327
00:18:15,056 --> 00:18:18,925
that Defense Secretary
Robert McNamara made sure
328
00:18:18,927 --> 00:18:22,094
the Pentagon was prepared
to implement a plan
329
00:18:22,096 --> 00:18:25,598
for a gradual withdrawal
of American advisors
330
00:18:25,600 --> 00:18:28,301
to be completed by 1965.
331
00:18:28,303 --> 00:18:31,971
So far as most Americans knew,
332
00:18:31,973 --> 00:18:34,941
the United States was
achieving its goal:
333
00:18:34,943 --> 00:18:40,512
a stable, independent,
anticommunist state in South Vietnam.
334
00:18:41,714 --> 00:18:45,017
It was "a struggle this
country cannot shirk,"
335
00:18:45,019 --> 00:18:46,886
the
New York Times said,
336
00:18:46,888 --> 00:18:51,123
and the United States
seemed to be winning it.
337
00:18:53,027 --> 00:18:56,963
But that same summer, Ho
Chi Minh traveled to Beijing
338
00:18:56,965 --> 00:19:00,599
in search of more help from the Chinese.
339
00:19:00,601 --> 00:19:03,903
The American buildup in
South Vietnam had alarmed him
340
00:19:03,905 --> 00:19:06,272
and the other leaders in Hanoi.
341
00:19:06,274 --> 00:19:09,640
Ho told the Chinese
that American attacks
342
00:19:09,642 --> 00:19:15,513
on North Vietnam itself now
seemed only a matter of time.
343
00:19:15,515 --> 00:19:19,584
The Chinese promised to equip
and arm tens of thousands
344
00:19:19,586 --> 00:19:22,720
of Vietnamese soldiers.
345
00:19:22,722 --> 00:19:26,358
Meanwhile, the Politburo
in Hanoi had directed
346
00:19:26,360 --> 00:19:29,727
that every able-bodied
North Vietnamese man
347
00:19:29,729 --> 00:19:34,632
be required to serve
in the armed forces.
348
00:19:41,508 --> 00:19:43,875
Inspired by their president's call,
349
00:19:43,877 --> 00:19:47,177
thousands of young Americans
would join the Peace Corps
350
00:19:47,179 --> 00:19:51,048
and other organizations to
help project American ideals
351
00:19:51,050 --> 00:19:53,284
and goodwill around the world.
352
00:20:05,465 --> 00:20:10,234
We were not only there in
Vietnam to stop communism,
353
00:20:10,236 --> 00:20:14,104
but there had to be something positive.
354
00:20:14,106 --> 00:20:17,341
We're trying to find out what
the Vietnamese people want
355
00:20:17,343 --> 00:20:20,044
and to help them get it.
356
00:20:20,046 --> 00:20:21,478
And that was very simple
357
00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:23,580
but, if you think about
it, also very complex.
358
00:20:23,582 --> 00:20:26,016
But it went to the heart, I thought,
359
00:20:26,018 --> 00:20:28,485
of what we were trying to do.
360
00:20:30,022 --> 00:20:33,824
Pete Hunting, a 22-year-old
from Oklahoma City,
361
00:20:33,826 --> 00:20:37,494
would go to Vietnam right after
college to do what he could
362
00:20:37,496 --> 00:20:40,864
to help poor villagers
in the countryside.
363
00:20:49,875 --> 00:20:51,775
Dear Margo,
364
00:20:51,777 --> 00:20:54,243
I finally finished up my
work in Phan Rang last week.
365
00:20:54,245 --> 00:20:56,245
Had spent a month working on a windmill
366
00:20:56,247 --> 00:20:58,348
I'd promised the people of one hamlet.
367
00:20:58,350 --> 00:21:03,052
Cost a lot of money, too, which
I paid out of my own pocket.
368
00:21:06,859 --> 00:21:09,058
I'm in soaring spirits today
369
00:21:09,060 --> 00:21:12,261
despite all the natural
disasters, political intrigues,
370
00:21:12,263 --> 00:21:14,397
and subversive activities.
371
00:21:14,399 --> 00:21:16,933
Pete Hunting worked
372
00:21:16,935 --> 00:21:19,803
for the International
Voluntary Services,
373
00:21:19,805 --> 00:21:23,673
a nonprofit organization
committed to improving
374
00:21:23,675 --> 00:21:26,842
agriculture, education,
and public health.
375
00:21:26,844 --> 00:21:30,045
He was one of hundreds
of dedicated aid workers
376
00:21:30,047 --> 00:21:32,815
in South Vietnam.
377
00:21:36,687 --> 00:21:38,921
Latest news on this side of the world
378
00:21:38,923 --> 00:21:40,956
is that I'll almost definitely
be extending over here
379
00:21:40,958 --> 00:21:42,992
for another two years,
380
00:21:42,994 --> 00:21:44,994
providing the country stays
in one piece that long.
381
00:21:48,232 --> 00:21:50,465
Two years after he arrived,
382
00:21:50,467 --> 00:21:52,968
Pete Hunting was driving
in the Mekong Delta
383
00:21:52,970 --> 00:21:55,905
when he ran into a Viet Cong ambush.
384
00:21:55,907 --> 00:21:59,374
He was shot five times in the head...
385
00:22:01,111 --> 00:22:03,078
the first American civilian volunteer
386
00:22:03,080 --> 00:22:05,647
to be killed in Vietnam.
387
00:22:34,277 --> 00:22:36,711
People used to joke in Vietnam
388
00:22:36,713 --> 00:22:38,479
about winning the hearts and minds.
389
00:22:38,481 --> 00:22:42,016
And you hear that expression,
but that should not be a joke.
390
00:22:42,018 --> 00:22:44,418
It's a serious, serious problem.
391
00:22:44,420 --> 00:22:46,921
If you pull off a military operation,
392
00:22:46,923 --> 00:22:50,592
and it may be successful
on the military basis,
393
00:22:50,594 --> 00:22:53,595
but you destroy a village,
394
00:22:53,597 --> 00:22:57,498
then you've created a
village of resistance.
395
00:22:57,500 --> 00:23:01,335
Few advisors understood
the unique challenges
396
00:23:01,337 --> 00:23:04,205
of fighting an insurgency in Vietnam
397
00:23:04,207 --> 00:23:08,142
better than Lieutenant
Colonel John Paul Vann.
398
00:23:08,144 --> 00:23:10,877
A career soldier from Virginia,
399
00:23:10,879 --> 00:23:13,179
he was the senior American advisor
400
00:23:13,181 --> 00:23:17,250
to the 7th ARVN Division
in the Mekong Delta.
401
00:23:17,252 --> 00:23:21,855
Small, wiry and abrasive,
John Paul Vann was convinced
402
00:23:21,857 --> 00:23:26,093
he knew how to defeat the Viet Cong.
403
00:23:26,095 --> 00:23:30,631
John Paul Vann was simply
the most remarkable soldier
404
00:23:30,633 --> 00:23:31,798
I ever met.
405
00:23:31,800 --> 00:23:33,800
Period.
406
00:23:33,802 --> 00:23:38,639
The biggest challenge
of John Paul Vann's life
407
00:23:38,641 --> 00:23:44,678
was somehow saving Vietnam, winning.
408
00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:47,613
That, to him, was the
ultimate challenge.
409
00:23:50,151 --> 00:23:51,851
When it became clear to Vann
410
00:23:51,853 --> 00:23:54,820
that the tactics the
Americans had taught the ARVN
411
00:23:54,822 --> 00:23:58,024
were beginning to make
more enemies than friends,
412
00:23:58,026 --> 00:24:02,795
he sought out newspapermen
to spread the word.
413
00:24:02,797 --> 00:24:06,699
He was able to explain
to us what was going on.
414
00:24:06,701 --> 00:24:10,102
The important thing was not
to alienate the population.
415
00:24:10,104 --> 00:24:13,072
That if you got sniper
fire from a hamlet,
416
00:24:13,074 --> 00:24:15,474
you sent in riflemen
to take out the sniper.
417
00:24:15,476 --> 00:24:17,843
You didn't shell the place,
because you were going to kill
418
00:24:17,845 --> 00:24:20,244
women and kids and destroy houses
419
00:24:20,246 --> 00:24:22,513
and you were going to turn
the population against you.
420
00:24:25,018 --> 00:24:28,286
Most press coverage
of Vietnam was upbeat
421
00:24:28,288 --> 00:24:31,089
in the tradition of previous wars.
422
00:24:31,091 --> 00:24:36,027
But a handful of young
reporters including Neil Sheehan,
423
00:24:36,029 --> 00:24:38,563
David Halberstam of
the
New York Times,
424
00:24:38,565 --> 00:24:41,199
and Malcolm Browne of
the Associated Press,
425
00:24:41,201 --> 00:24:45,070
who spent time in the field
with officers like Vann,
426
00:24:45,072 --> 00:24:49,240
were beginning to see that
from the Vietnamese countryside,
427
00:24:49,242 --> 00:24:51,475
things looked very
different than they did
428
00:24:51,477 --> 00:24:55,445
from the press offices
in Washington or Saigon.
429
00:24:55,447 --> 00:24:59,683
So it was terribly important
that we not only win the war
430
00:24:59,685 --> 00:25:02,519
but that we as reporters
report the truth
431
00:25:02,521 --> 00:25:05,522
that would help to win the war.
432
00:25:05,524 --> 00:25:08,658
We were very fervent in
wanting to report the truth
433
00:25:08,660 --> 00:25:11,729
because it was very important
to the welfare of our country
434
00:25:11,731 --> 00:25:12,963
and to the welfare of the world.
435
00:25:15,300 --> 00:25:18,802
Sheehan and his colleagues
began asking tough questions
436
00:25:18,804 --> 00:25:23,841
about what constituted progress,
what victory would look like,
437
00:25:23,843 --> 00:25:26,243
and if the people in the countryside,
438
00:25:26,245 --> 00:25:30,012
where 80% of South
Vietnam's population lived,
439
00:25:30,014 --> 00:25:34,917
could ever trust the
government in Saigon.
440
00:25:34,919 --> 00:25:37,920
I remember going, during one
of Robert McNamara's visits,
441
00:25:37,922 --> 00:25:41,057
out to one of these hamlets.
442
00:25:41,059 --> 00:25:42,559
The Vietnamese general
who commanded the area
443
00:25:42,561 --> 00:25:44,160
was telling McNamara what
a wonderful thing this was.
444
00:25:44,162 --> 00:25:46,796
And the... the... some
of these farmers were down
445
00:25:46,798 --> 00:25:50,533
digging a ditch around
the... around the hamlet.
446
00:25:50,535 --> 00:25:53,670
And I looked at their faces
and they were really angry.
447
00:25:55,540 --> 00:25:57,307
I mean it was very obvious to me
448
00:25:57,309 --> 00:25:59,876
that if these people could,
they'd cut our throats.
449
00:26:04,482 --> 00:26:08,450
Farmers resented being
forced to abandon their homes
450
00:26:08,452 --> 00:26:11,020
and move to strategic hamlets.
451
00:26:11,022 --> 00:26:15,158
Corrupt officials siphoned off funds.
452
00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:17,660
And villagers blamed the Diem regime
453
00:26:17,662 --> 00:26:21,630
for failing to protect
them from guerrilla attacks.
454
00:26:21,632 --> 00:26:26,903
As the people's anger grew, so
did the ranks of the Viet Cong.
455
00:26:26,905 --> 00:26:31,307
It turned out that the Viet
Cong were recruiting men
456
00:26:31,309 --> 00:26:34,844
right out of those strategic...
so-called strategic hamlets.
457
00:26:34,846 --> 00:26:36,645
And then the whole program fell apart.
458
00:27:00,738 --> 00:27:04,640
Nguyen Ngoc's father was a
postal clerk south of Danang.
459
00:27:04,642 --> 00:27:09,244
His brothers and sisters taught
in South Vietnamese schools.
460
00:27:09,246 --> 00:27:13,013
But he joined the revolution,
and as a political officer,
461
00:27:13,015 --> 00:27:16,951
wrote poems, songs, and
slogans to inspire the people
462
00:27:16,953 --> 00:27:21,656
in the countryside to
support the Viet Cong.
463
00:27:21,658 --> 00:27:26,227
The Viet Cong cadre would
come in and talk to them
464
00:27:26,229 --> 00:27:31,098
and their message is usually ,
465
00:27:31,100 --> 00:27:33,634
which means "turn
your grief into action.
466
00:27:33,636 --> 00:27:36,103
"Do something about it.
467
00:27:36,105 --> 00:27:38,172
"Join us.
468
00:27:38,174 --> 00:27:39,640
"We'll fight together.
469
00:27:39,642 --> 00:27:44,210
"We'll liberate the country from
this corrupt, unjust government.
470
00:27:44,212 --> 00:27:46,246
"We'll throw out the foreigners.
471
00:27:46,248 --> 00:27:48,081
"We'll reunify the country.
472
00:27:48,083 --> 00:27:51,217
"And we'll bring in this great regime
473
00:27:51,219 --> 00:27:52,919
"that will take care of you
474
00:27:52,921 --> 00:27:54,521
and bring economic and social justice."
475
00:27:56,859 --> 00:28:00,026
The Viet Cong ran
rival local governments,
476
00:28:00,028 --> 00:28:03,830
complete with their own tax
collectors and school teachers,
477
00:28:03,832 --> 00:28:08,067
spies and propagandists,
and province chiefs.
478
00:28:10,806 --> 00:28:13,139
To make matters worse,
479
00:28:13,141 --> 00:28:16,975
ARVN troops and American
advisors now found themselves
480
00:28:16,977 --> 00:28:20,012
confronted by a new threat:
481
00:28:20,014 --> 00:28:23,248
battalions of well-armed
Viet Cong soldiers,
482
00:28:23,250 --> 00:28:26,519
as well as by local guerrillas.
483
00:28:26,521 --> 00:28:28,821
We'd armed them.
484
00:28:28,823 --> 00:28:32,291
You could hear the
arming of the Viet Cong.
485
00:28:32,293 --> 00:28:35,795
Back in early '62, they only had
one machine gun per battalion.
486
00:28:36,964 --> 00:28:38,597
It was sporadic fire.
487
00:28:38,599 --> 00:28:42,535
Then, as they captured more
and more of these American arms,
488
00:28:42,537 --> 00:28:44,503
when you made contact, it fi...
489
00:28:44,505 --> 00:28:46,772
it would build up into
a drumfire of automatic
490
00:28:46,774 --> 00:28:48,307
and semi-automatic weapons.
491
00:28:55,114 --> 00:28:58,249
Secretary McNamara decided
that he would draw up
492
00:28:58,251 --> 00:29:01,052
some kind of a chart to determine
493
00:29:01,054 --> 00:29:03,988
whether we were winning or not.
494
00:29:03,990 --> 00:29:06,758
And he was putting things in
495
00:29:06,760 --> 00:29:09,561
like numbers of weapons recovered,
496
00:29:09,563 --> 00:29:11,896
numbers of Viet Cong killed.
497
00:29:11,898 --> 00:29:14,131
Very statistical.
498
00:29:16,837 --> 00:29:19,403
And he asked Edward Lansdale,
499
00:29:19,405 --> 00:29:23,174
who was then in the Pentagon
as head of Special Operations,
500
00:29:23,176 --> 00:29:25,309
to come down and look at this.
501
00:29:25,311 --> 00:29:29,513
And so Lansdale did and he said,
"There's something missing."
502
00:29:29,515 --> 00:29:32,850
And McNamara said, "What?"
503
00:29:32,852 --> 00:29:36,487
And Lansdale said, "The feelings
of the Vietnamese people."
504
00:29:36,489 --> 00:29:40,458
You couldn't reduce this to a statistic.
505
00:29:40,460 --> 00:29:45,029
Robert McNamara had vowed
to make America's military
506
00:29:45,031 --> 00:29:46,597
"cost-effective."
507
00:29:46,599 --> 00:29:50,368
He demanded that
everything be quantified.
508
00:29:50,370 --> 00:29:54,271
In Saigon, General Paul D. Harkins,
509
00:29:54,273 --> 00:29:57,707
head of the Military
Assistance Command, Vietnam,
510
00:29:57,709 --> 00:30:01,044
known as MACV, dutifully complied.
511
00:30:01,046 --> 00:30:05,681
He and his staff generated
mountains of daily, weekly,
512
00:30:05,683 --> 00:30:08,018
monthly, and quarterly data
513
00:30:08,020 --> 00:30:11,087
on more than a hundred
separate indicators,
514
00:30:11,089 --> 00:30:15,591
far more data than could
ever be adequately analyzed.
515
00:30:19,031 --> 00:30:21,864
General Harkins had little
use for skeptical reporters
516
00:30:21,866 --> 00:30:23,500
like Neil Sheehan.
517
00:30:23,502 --> 00:30:26,136
Bad news was to be buried.
518
00:30:26,138 --> 00:30:30,305
Harkins ignored the
alarming after action reports
519
00:30:30,307 --> 00:30:33,976
John Paul Vann and other
officers were sending in
520
00:30:33,978 --> 00:30:36,178
from the field.
521
00:30:36,180 --> 00:30:39,114
I was going to be made
head of the Vietnam desk
522
00:30:39,116 --> 00:30:41,250
at CIA headquarters.
523
00:30:41,252 --> 00:30:44,587
And the first person
of importance that I met
524
00:30:44,589 --> 00:30:46,889
was General Harkins.
525
00:30:46,891 --> 00:30:49,491
And he started out by saying,
526
00:30:49,493 --> 00:30:52,361
"Mr. Gregg, I don't care what
you hear from anybody else,
527
00:30:52,363 --> 00:30:54,764
"I can tell you without a doubt
we're going to be out of here
528
00:30:54,766 --> 00:30:56,365
with a military victory in six months."
529
00:30:58,069 --> 00:31:00,102
The country's 12 million peasants
530
00:31:00,104 --> 00:31:02,738
can scarcely remember
what peace was like.
531
00:31:02,740 --> 00:31:04,706
They're caught between
the predatory guerrillas
532
00:31:04,708 --> 00:31:07,241
and the almost equally
demanding soldiery.
533
00:31:07,243 --> 00:31:09,644
Their lives are lived in a
state of permanent uncertainty,
534
00:31:09,646 --> 00:31:12,346
punctuated by bouts of violence
535
00:31:12,348 --> 00:31:13,882
as government forces come to grips
536
00:31:13,884 --> 00:31:16,150
with the black-clad
communist rebel forces
537
00:31:16,152 --> 00:31:17,351
called the Viet Cong.
538
00:33:15,570 --> 00:33:19,905
On our side we were not as committed
539
00:33:19,907 --> 00:33:21,840
and we were...
540
00:33:21,842 --> 00:33:25,210
our leaders were
corrupt and incompetent.
541
00:33:25,212 --> 00:33:30,281
And so deep down we'll
always have this fear,
542
00:33:30,283 --> 00:33:35,987
this suspicion that in the end
it'll be the communists who won.
543
00:33:35,989 --> 00:33:39,557
When John Kennedy assembled
544
00:33:39,559 --> 00:33:41,693
what he thinks is the
best and the brightest,
545
00:33:41,695 --> 00:33:47,999
20 years before that in a
cave in the northern part
546
00:33:48,001 --> 00:33:50,668
of Vietnam, Ho Chi
Minh also put together
547
00:33:50,670 --> 00:33:52,204
his best and the brightest.
548
00:33:52,206 --> 00:33:55,406
And these guys are at it for a while.
549
00:33:55,408 --> 00:33:59,043
And when we show up, they were far along
550
00:33:59,045 --> 00:34:04,949
to consolidating their victory
over this inevitable conflict
551
00:34:04,951 --> 00:34:09,554
between Ho Chi Minh and
John F. Kennedy's vision.
552
00:34:09,556 --> 00:34:14,592
The more you think about
the American strategy,
553
00:34:14,594 --> 00:34:18,396
the more you know
554
00:34:18,398 --> 00:34:20,965
that it was never going to
work out particularly well.
555
00:34:36,115 --> 00:34:41,551
I was at my top of my
game when I was in combat.
556
00:34:46,759 --> 00:34:49,960
You don't have the luxury
to indulge your fear
557
00:34:49,962 --> 00:34:51,962
because other people's lives depend upon
558
00:34:51,964 --> 00:34:53,130
you keeping your head cold.
559
00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:05,074
You know, when something goes wrong,
560
00:35:05,076 --> 00:35:06,509
they call it emotional numbing.
561
00:35:06,511 --> 00:35:08,912
It's not very good in civilian life,
562
00:35:08,914 --> 00:35:10,914
but it's pretty useful in combat.
563
00:35:22,727 --> 00:35:25,461
To be able to get absolutely very cold
564
00:35:25,463 --> 00:35:30,433
about what needs to be
done and to stick with it.
565
00:35:36,506 --> 00:35:39,474
To me it's, it's a little
bit distressing to realize
566
00:35:39,476 --> 00:35:41,310
that I was at my best
567
00:35:41,312 --> 00:35:43,778
doing something as terrible as war.
568
00:35:53,490 --> 00:35:56,091
President Kennedy has
staked his reputation in Asia
569
00:35:56,093 --> 00:35:59,027
on saving South Vietnam from communism.
570
00:35:59,029 --> 00:36:01,463
As the army makes the
sweep towards the village
571
00:36:01,465 --> 00:36:03,365
suspected of harboring Viet Cong,
572
00:36:03,367 --> 00:36:06,301
it can't tell whether
it will meet resistance.
577
00:38:06,306 --> 00:38:11,242
Each of South Vietnam's 44
provinces had its own chief.
578
00:38:11,244 --> 00:38:14,111
Some were simply political appointees,
579
00:38:14,113 --> 00:38:17,013
corrupt allies of President Diem.
580
00:38:17,015 --> 00:38:22,754
Tran Ngoc Chau, province chief
of Kien Hoa, was different.
581
00:38:22,756 --> 00:38:27,692
A privileged judge's son from
the old imperial city of Hue,
582
00:38:27,694 --> 00:38:30,695
he and two of his brothers
had fought against the French
583
00:38:30,697 --> 00:38:32,264
with the Viet Minh.
584
00:38:32,266 --> 00:38:36,434
But he had refused to
join the Communist Party;
585
00:38:36,436 --> 00:38:39,437
he admired their dedication,
but disliked the way
586
00:38:39,439 --> 00:38:42,641
they punished those who
dared differ with them.
587
00:38:42,643 --> 00:38:45,777
Instead, he left the Viet Minh,
588
00:38:45,779 --> 00:38:48,980
became a major in the
army fighting against them,
589
00:38:48,982 --> 00:38:52,884
and eventually so impressed
Diem with his insider's knowledge
590
00:38:52,886 --> 00:38:56,854
of communist tactics that
he was promoted to colonel
591
00:38:56,856 --> 00:39:02,727
and made chief of Kien
Hoa, a Viet Cong stronghold.
592
00:39:02,729 --> 00:39:06,564
He was absolutely incorruptible.
593
00:39:06,566 --> 00:39:11,704
And people came to really
understand that here's a guy
594
00:39:11,706 --> 00:39:14,774
who's, even though it's
not an elected system,
595
00:39:14,776 --> 00:39:17,443
who never... nevertheless
really represents us.
596
00:39:19,347 --> 00:39:21,346
"Give me a budget that equals the cost
597
00:39:21,348 --> 00:39:25,650
of one American helicopter,"
Chau liked to say,
598
00:39:25,652 --> 00:39:28,386
"and I'll give you a pacified province.
599
00:39:28,388 --> 00:39:32,490
"With that much money, I can
raise the standard of living
600
00:39:32,492 --> 00:39:34,193
"of the rice farmers,
601
00:39:34,195 --> 00:39:35,994
"and government officials
can be paid enough
602
00:39:35,996 --> 00:39:40,867
so they won't think
it necessary to steal."
603
00:39:40,869 --> 00:39:43,369
Rather than hunt down the Viet Cong,
604
00:39:43,371 --> 00:39:45,905
he sought to persuade them.
605
00:40:41,430 --> 00:40:45,164
Back home, Americans were
paying little attention
606
00:40:45,166 --> 00:40:47,467
to what was happening in Vietnam.
607
00:40:47,469 --> 00:40:50,303
They were watching
The
Beverly Hillbillies
608
00:40:50,305 --> 00:40:52,506
and
Gunsmoke on TV,
609
00:40:52,508 --> 00:40:55,476
were interested in whether
the Yankees would win
610
00:40:55,478 --> 00:40:57,044
the World Series again
611
00:40:57,046 --> 00:41:01,281
and in the recent
death of Marilyn Monroe.
612
00:41:04,386 --> 00:41:06,887
But some Americans had
been growing impatient
613
00:41:06,889 --> 00:41:10,256
with the slow pace of social change.
614
00:41:10,258 --> 00:41:11,991
We were told in the '50s
615
00:41:11,993 --> 00:41:14,828
that we lived in the
best country in the world.
616
00:41:14,830 --> 00:41:18,298
In the middle of, you
know, trying to figure out
617
00:41:18,300 --> 00:41:20,701
what it meant to be a citizen of the...
618
00:41:20,703 --> 00:41:23,070
of this best country in the world,
619
00:41:23,072 --> 00:41:24,972
suddenly the civil
rights movement exploded
620
00:41:24,974 --> 00:41:27,141
into our consciousness.
621
00:41:33,349 --> 00:41:35,315
We didn't think we had any power.
622
00:41:35,317 --> 00:41:38,485
We didn't think we could
be actors in history,
623
00:41:38,487 --> 00:41:40,954
that we could affect things.
624
00:41:48,498 --> 00:41:50,264
And suddenly, you know,
625
00:41:50,266 --> 00:41:52,199
these young black students in the South
626
00:41:52,201 --> 00:41:53,935
were doing exactly that.
627
00:41:53,937 --> 00:41:57,304
And it just blew the
tops of our heads off.
628
00:42:18,228 --> 00:42:21,596
Other Americans were concerned
about the proliferation
629
00:42:21,598 --> 00:42:25,000
of nuclear weapons in the world.
630
00:42:25,002 --> 00:42:29,037
Perhaps it would be a good thing
to put Khrushchev and Kennedy
631
00:42:29,039 --> 00:42:32,874
on an island and not let
either one of them off
632
00:42:32,876 --> 00:42:35,477
until they came to an agreement.
633
00:42:58,035 --> 00:43:01,303
And if you were in a café
when Diem was giving a speech,
634
00:43:01,305 --> 00:43:03,172
somebody would get up
and shut the radio off,
635
00:43:03,174 --> 00:43:04,940
it would be coming in over the radio.
636
00:43:04,942 --> 00:43:07,376
Somebody would get up and
they'd just shut the radio off.
637
00:43:07,378 --> 00:43:11,346
I mean, he was not connected
with... to his own population.
638
00:43:14,585 --> 00:43:19,521
Diem was simply the opposite
of what democracy was.
639
00:43:19,523 --> 00:43:23,358
South Vietnam, in the
competition against the North,
640
00:43:23,360 --> 00:43:28,531
that should been, should
have been a golden opportunity
641
00:43:28,533 --> 00:43:33,970
to have that society
open with the free press,
642
00:43:33,972 --> 00:43:36,105
free expression.
643
00:43:36,107 --> 00:43:39,008
But there was not much choice
644
00:43:39,010 --> 00:43:43,412
if the two system are
structurally dictator
645
00:43:43,414 --> 00:43:44,913
and oppressive systems...
646
00:43:44,915 --> 00:43:50,986
one under the Communist
Party, one under a family.
647
00:44:08,140 --> 00:44:11,708
Diem's brother, Ngo Dinh
Nhu, had been the architect
648
00:44:11,710 --> 00:44:14,311
of the strategic hamlet program,
649
00:44:14,313 --> 00:44:18,548
ran a personal political party
that mirrored the techniques
650
00:44:18,550 --> 00:44:21,084
and the ruthlessness of the communists,
651
00:44:21,086 --> 00:44:25,355
and supervised a host of
internal security units
652
00:44:25,357 --> 00:44:29,292
that spied on and seized
enemies of the regime.
653
00:44:31,396 --> 00:44:33,597
Some reporters who probed too deeply
654
00:44:33,599 --> 00:44:36,065
into what Diem and Nhu were doing
655
00:44:36,067 --> 00:44:38,335
were ordered out of the country.
656
00:44:39,471 --> 00:44:42,005
When an American journalist objected,
657
00:44:42,007 --> 00:44:46,110
Nhu's sharp-tongued wife
told him Vietnam had no use
658
00:44:46,112 --> 00:44:48,613
for "your crazy freedoms."
659
00:44:50,216 --> 00:44:52,150
Meanwhile, out in the countryside,
660
00:44:52,152 --> 00:44:56,453
John Paul Vann and other
advisors had begun to notice
661
00:44:56,455 --> 00:45:00,223
that the corruption within
Diem's regime had filtered down
662
00:45:00,225 --> 00:45:02,292
to the commanders in the field.
663
00:45:02,294 --> 00:45:07,297
Troops, who had once been
willing to engage the enemy,
664
00:45:07,299 --> 00:45:11,502
now seemed strangely reluctant.
665
00:45:11,504 --> 00:45:16,440
God, I was told so many times...
666
00:45:16,442 --> 00:45:18,376
You know, "Scanlon... "
667
00:45:18,378 --> 00:45:19,577
Um...
668
00:45:19,579 --> 00:45:25,015
very dangerous, you
know, going out there.
669
00:45:25,017 --> 00:45:27,785
John Vann would go
out with them at night.
670
00:45:27,787 --> 00:45:31,988
And he noticed that
somebody would always cough
671
00:45:31,990 --> 00:45:35,493
or make some other slight
noise when it turned out
672
00:45:35,495 --> 00:45:37,961
that the Viet Cong were
heading into the ambush site.
673
00:45:37,963 --> 00:45:39,830
They did not want to get in a fight.
674
00:45:39,832 --> 00:45:43,133
South Vietnamese officers were chosen
675
00:45:43,135 --> 00:45:46,737
less for their combat
skill than for their loyalty
676
00:45:46,739 --> 00:45:50,441
to President Diem,
and their men knew it.
677
00:45:51,911 --> 00:45:53,377
What we should have done is
678
00:45:53,379 --> 00:45:57,981
either forced the Vietnamese...
I mean really forced them...
679
00:45:57,983 --> 00:46:00,218
to clean up their act.
680
00:46:00,220 --> 00:46:02,321
And if they wouldn't
clean up their act to say,
681
00:46:02,323 --> 00:46:04,789
"We're out of here.
682
00:46:04,791 --> 00:46:07,625
"Because we don't bet on losing horses.
683
00:46:07,627 --> 00:46:10,161
"This is a losing horse.
684
00:46:10,163 --> 00:46:12,597
You are not going to
win this insurgency."
685
00:46:12,599 --> 00:46:15,399
We, as Americans, should
have understood the desire
686
00:46:15,401 --> 00:46:19,037
of the Vietnamese people
to have their own country.
687
00:46:19,039 --> 00:46:21,840
I mean we did the same
thing to the Brits.
688
00:46:27,715 --> 00:46:32,618
In October of 1962, the United
States and the Soviet Union
689
00:46:32,620 --> 00:46:35,454
came closer than they
would ever come again
690
00:46:35,456 --> 00:46:38,323
to mutually assured destruction.
691
00:46:38,325 --> 00:46:41,393
Good evening, my fellow citizens.
692
00:46:41,395 --> 00:46:45,497
This government, as
promised, has maintained
693
00:46:45,499 --> 00:46:49,368
the closest surveillance of
the Soviet military buildup
694
00:46:49,370 --> 00:46:50,969
on the island of Cuba.
695
00:46:52,206 --> 00:46:54,307
Within the past week,
696
00:46:54,309 --> 00:46:57,744
unmistakable evidence
has established the fact
697
00:46:57,746 --> 00:47:01,247
that a series of offensive missile sites
698
00:47:01,249 --> 00:47:06,319
is now in preparation on
that imprisoned island.
699
00:47:06,321 --> 00:47:09,588
The Soviets had secretly
placed nuclear missiles
700
00:47:09,590 --> 00:47:12,758
90 miles from the United States.
701
00:47:12,760 --> 00:47:17,729
The Joint Chiefs of Staff urged
President Kennedy to bomb Cuba.
702
00:47:17,731 --> 00:47:22,001
He resisted and instead
ordered a naval blockade
703
00:47:22,003 --> 00:47:26,205
to stop Soviet ships from
resupplying the island.
704
00:47:27,975 --> 00:47:33,212
For 13 excruciating days,
the world held its breath.
705
00:47:36,884 --> 00:47:40,219
Finally, in exchange
for a private pledge
706
00:47:40,221 --> 00:47:43,022
to remove American missiles from Turkey,
707
00:47:43,024 --> 00:47:46,426
Khrushchev agreed to remove
his missiles from Cuba.
708
00:47:49,431 --> 00:47:52,465
Neither the United States
nor the Soviet Union
709
00:47:52,467 --> 00:47:56,569
wanted so direct a
confrontation ever again.
710
00:47:56,571 --> 00:47:59,138
From now on, limited wars,
711
00:47:59,140 --> 00:48:01,741
like the growing conflict in Vietnam,
712
00:48:01,743 --> 00:48:05,010
would assume still greater importance.
713
00:48:08,550 --> 00:48:13,086
I'd grown up in the shadow
of the mushroom cloud.
714
00:48:13,088 --> 00:48:17,190
And I remember the... watching
President Kennedy speak
715
00:48:17,192 --> 00:48:18,925
during the Cuban Missile Crisis
716
00:48:18,927 --> 00:48:21,228
and wondering if I was
ever gonna kiss a girl.
717
00:48:21,230 --> 00:48:24,130
And so this was just
continuing that battle
718
00:48:24,132 --> 00:48:26,066
against the Russians.
719
00:48:26,068 --> 00:48:29,669
Only we were fighting, you
know, their, their proxies,
720
00:48:29,671 --> 00:48:32,939
the Vietnamese there... but
it was monolithic communism.
721
00:48:34,609 --> 00:48:37,578
It didn't matter to me where
it was, I was going to go
722
00:48:37,580 --> 00:48:41,715
if my government said
we needed to be there.
723
00:48:41,717 --> 00:48:44,718
We were probably the last
kids of any generation
724
00:48:44,720 --> 00:48:46,120
that actually believed
725
00:48:46,122 --> 00:48:47,654
our government would never lie to us.
726
00:48:53,161 --> 00:48:55,528
We had been writing
stories about all the flaws
727
00:48:55,530 --> 00:48:58,464
on the Saigon side... about
how they wouldn't fight,
728
00:48:58,466 --> 00:49:01,235
about the corruption,
they wouldn't obey orders,
729
00:49:01,237 --> 00:49:02,636
the disorganization.
730
00:49:04,774 --> 00:49:09,377
And then all of a sudden the
Viet Cong, for the first time,
731
00:49:09,379 --> 00:49:10,912
the "raggedy-ass little bastards"
732
00:49:10,914 --> 00:49:13,714
as the Harkins's people
in Saigon called them,
733
00:49:13,716 --> 00:49:15,449
stood and fought.
734
00:49:15,451 --> 00:49:17,718
And suddenly all the
flaws on the Saigon side
735
00:49:17,720 --> 00:49:20,221
were illuminated by this.
736
00:49:20,223 --> 00:49:23,457
Like a star shell, it
illuminated the battlefield.
737
00:49:23,459 --> 00:49:24,792
Everything came out.
738
00:49:26,196 --> 00:49:29,597
A few days after Christmas 1962,
739
00:49:29,599 --> 00:49:33,167
the 7th ARVN Division
got orders to capture
740
00:49:33,169 --> 00:49:35,503
a Viet Cong radio transmitter
741
00:49:35,505 --> 00:49:40,207
broadcasting from a spot some
40 miles southwest of Saigon
742
00:49:40,209 --> 00:49:43,311
in a village called Tan Thoi.
743
00:49:43,313 --> 00:49:46,180
The village was
surrounded by rice paddies.
744
00:49:46,182 --> 00:49:52,220
An irrigation dike linked it to
a neighboring hamlet... Ap Bac.
745
00:49:52,222 --> 00:49:56,592
Intelligence suggested no
more than 120 guerrillas
746
00:49:56,594 --> 00:49:59,061
were guarding the transmitter.
747
00:49:59,063 --> 00:50:02,464
John Paul Vann helped
draw up what seemed to be
748
00:50:02,466 --> 00:50:04,999
a foolproof plan of attack.
749
00:50:05,001 --> 00:50:09,337
Supported by helicopters and
armored personnel carriers,
750
00:50:09,339 --> 00:50:13,240
some 1,200 South Vietnamese
troops would attack the village
751
00:50:13,242 --> 00:50:15,276
from three sides.
752
00:50:15,278 --> 00:50:18,246
When the surviving Viet Cong
tried to flee through the gap
753
00:50:18,248 --> 00:50:22,284
left open for them, as they
always had whenever outnumbered
754
00:50:22,286 --> 00:50:24,553
and confronted by modern weapons,
755
00:50:24,555 --> 00:50:28,190
artillery and airstrikes
would destroy them.
756
00:50:28,192 --> 00:50:32,761
Vann would observe the
fighting from a spotter plane.
757
00:50:32,763 --> 00:50:38,467
But the intelligence underlying
it all turned out to be wrong.
758
00:50:38,469 --> 00:50:44,107
There were more than 340 Viet
Cong, not 120, in the area.
759
00:50:44,109 --> 00:50:47,110
Communist spies had tipped them off
760
00:50:47,112 --> 00:50:49,379
that they were soon to be attacked.
761
00:50:49,381 --> 00:50:53,249
And this time they would
not flee without a fight.
762
00:50:54,852 --> 00:50:57,720
Among them was Le Quan Cong,
763
00:50:57,722 --> 00:51:01,924
who had been a guerrilla fighter
since 1951, when he was 12.
764
00:51:16,641 --> 00:51:21,777
At 6:35 in the morning
on January 2, 1963,
765
00:51:21,779 --> 00:51:25,214
ten American helicopters
ferried an ARVN company
766
00:51:25,216 --> 00:51:28,384
to a spot just north of Tan Thoi.
767
00:51:31,423 --> 00:51:34,658
They met no resistance.
768
00:51:34,660 --> 00:51:38,295
Meanwhile, two South Vietnamese
Civil Guard battalions
769
00:51:38,297 --> 00:51:41,432
approached Ap Bac
from the South on foot.
770
00:51:44,603 --> 00:51:48,304
The Viet Cong commander let the
Civil Guards get within 100 feet
771
00:51:48,306 --> 00:51:50,707
before giving the order to fire.
772
00:51:53,411 --> 00:51:56,012
Several South Vietnamese
soldiers were killed.
773
00:52:00,119 --> 00:52:03,187
Survivors hid behind a dike.
774
00:52:06,059 --> 00:52:08,059
Ten more helicopters,
775
00:52:08,061 --> 00:52:11,796
filled with troops and escorted
by five helicopter gunships,
776
00:52:11,798 --> 00:52:12,930
roared in to help.
777
00:52:40,126 --> 00:52:44,461
Viet Cong machine guns
hit 14 of the 15 aircraft.
778
00:52:44,463 --> 00:52:49,600
Five would be destroyed, killing
and wounding American crewmen.
779
00:52:59,579 --> 00:53:02,013
The enemy concentrated
their fire on the ARVN
780
00:53:02,015 --> 00:53:05,116
struggling to get out of
the downed helicopters.
781
00:53:05,118 --> 00:53:08,119
"It was like shooting
ducks for the Viet Cong,"
782
00:53:08,121 --> 00:53:09,920
an American crewman remembered.
783
00:53:12,459 --> 00:53:15,493
Colonel Vann circled
helplessly overhead.
784
00:53:15,495 --> 00:53:18,063
He radioed the ARVN commander,
785
00:53:18,065 --> 00:53:21,967
urging him to send an APC
unit to rescue the men.
786
00:53:23,471 --> 00:53:26,137
I got the word from John Vann
787
00:53:26,139 --> 00:53:29,040
that American helicopters were down.
788
00:53:29,042 --> 00:53:31,543
They were right in front
of the Viet Cong positions.
789
00:53:31,545 --> 00:53:35,046
We had Americans killed and wounded
790
00:53:35,048 --> 00:53:37,248
and we had to get over there right away.
791
00:53:37,250 --> 00:53:41,219
Like Vann, Captain Scanlon
was only an advisor.
792
00:53:41,221 --> 00:53:44,756
Captain Ly Tong Ba,
his ARVN counterpart,
793
00:53:44,758 --> 00:53:47,493
would have to give the order to advance.
794
00:53:47,495 --> 00:53:50,762
Scanlon liked and admired him.
795
00:53:50,764 --> 00:53:53,365
I turned to Ba and said,
796
00:53:53,367 --> 00:53:56,101
"Hey, you know, you got to
get over there right away."
797
00:53:56,103 --> 00:54:00,739
And Ba said to me, "I'm not going."
798
00:54:00,741 --> 00:54:04,042
Ba's superiors within the
ARVN, far from the battlefield,
799
00:54:04,044 --> 00:54:07,345
had told him to stay put.
800
00:54:07,347 --> 00:54:11,383
And John Vann, my boss, was,
uh, screaming at me over the...
801
00:54:11,385 --> 00:54:14,821
over the radio to get them over there.
802
00:54:14,823 --> 00:54:19,158
It took Scanlon an hour to
convince Captain Ba to move.
803
00:54:19,160 --> 00:54:21,728
Another two hours were lost
804
00:54:21,730 --> 00:54:24,764
before the APCs could make
their way through the paddies
805
00:54:24,766 --> 00:54:26,833
toward the trapped men.
806
00:54:28,903 --> 00:54:31,337
The firing had died down.
807
00:54:31,339 --> 00:54:33,372
Everything was quiet.
808
00:54:33,374 --> 00:54:36,242
You could see the open
expanse of rice fields.
809
00:54:36,244 --> 00:54:39,746
And my reaction was,
hey, it was all over.
810
00:54:39,748 --> 00:54:42,949
The first two APCs dropped their ramps.
811
00:54:42,951 --> 00:54:45,484
Infantry squads stepped out,
812
00:54:45,486 --> 00:54:48,454
prepared to spray the tree
line with automatic fire
813
00:54:48,456 --> 00:54:49,856
as they advanced.
814
00:54:49,858 --> 00:54:52,591
In the past, that had been enough
815
00:54:52,593 --> 00:54:55,928
to make the Viet Cong scurry away.
816
00:54:55,930 --> 00:54:58,097
This time was different.
817
00:55:01,971 --> 00:55:04,004
Eight of the APCs came under attack.
818
00:55:04,006 --> 00:55:07,439
Within minutes, six of their
gunners had been killed,
819
00:55:07,441 --> 00:55:08,540
shot through the head.
820
00:55:10,111 --> 00:55:12,278
And boy, we got raked.
821
00:55:12,280 --> 00:55:14,147
So it was like a pool table.
822
00:55:14,149 --> 00:55:15,681
We were on the green
823
00:55:15,683 --> 00:55:18,050
and they were in the
pockets shooting at us.
824
00:55:18,052 --> 00:55:20,820
When Captain Ba managed to convince
825
00:55:20,822 --> 00:55:23,522
a few more APCs to advance,
826
00:55:23,524 --> 00:55:26,559
guerrillas leapt from their foxholes
827
00:55:26,561 --> 00:55:28,461
and hurled hand grenades at them.
828
00:55:33,568 --> 00:55:36,236
None did any real damage,
829
00:55:36,238 --> 00:55:39,906
but the drivers were so
demoralized that they halted,
830
00:55:39,908 --> 00:55:44,877
turned around, and withdrew
behind the wrecked helicopters.
831
00:55:44,879 --> 00:55:46,979
From his spotter plane,
832
00:55:46,981 --> 00:55:51,118
Vann begged the ARVN to
make a simultaneous assault
833
00:55:51,120 --> 00:55:54,322
on the enemy by all the
remaining ground forces.
834
00:55:55,558 --> 00:55:58,459
ARVN commanders refused.
835
00:56:01,063 --> 00:56:04,064
That night, the Viet Cong melted away,
836
00:56:04,066 --> 00:56:07,267
carrying most of their
dead and wounded with them.
837
00:56:09,572 --> 00:56:13,773
At least 80 South Vietnamese
soldiers had been killed.
838
00:56:13,775 --> 00:56:19,214
So had three American advisors,
including Captain Ken Good,
839
00:56:19,216 --> 00:56:20,215
a friend of Scanlon's.
840
00:56:24,321 --> 00:56:28,323
We stacked the armored
personnel carriers with bodies,
841
00:56:28,325 --> 00:56:30,058
stacked them up on top till they...
842
00:56:30,060 --> 00:56:32,060
we couldn't stack any more.
843
00:56:32,062 --> 00:56:38,266
And, um, I wouldn't let the
Vietnamese touch the Americans.
844
00:56:38,268 --> 00:56:41,135
So I carried the Americans out.
845
00:56:41,137 --> 00:56:43,505
And, um...
846
00:56:43,507 --> 00:56:45,841
And I was... I was exhausted.
847
00:56:45,843 --> 00:56:51,713
They told me about Ken
Good getting killed.
848
00:56:51,715 --> 00:56:56,150
And Ken and I had worked so
hard with our two battalions.
849
00:56:56,152 --> 00:57:02,023
And to hear that... he got killed hurt.
850
00:57:02,025 --> 00:57:03,425
Great guy.
851
00:57:05,028 --> 00:57:07,328
Reporters arrived from Saigon
852
00:57:07,330 --> 00:57:11,333
before all of the ARVN
dead could be removed.
853
00:57:11,335 --> 00:57:15,605
They were horrified at what
they saw and tried to find out
854
00:57:15,607 --> 00:57:18,441
what had really happened.
855
00:57:18,443 --> 00:57:22,945
John Paul Vann took Neil Sheehan
and David Halberstam aside
856
00:57:22,947 --> 00:57:24,980
and told them.
857
00:57:24,982 --> 00:57:26,949
The Battle of Ap Bac had been
858
00:57:26,951 --> 00:57:29,718
"a miserable goddamn performance."
859
00:57:29,720 --> 00:57:32,021
"The ARVN won't listen," he said.
860
00:57:32,023 --> 00:57:35,025
"They make the same
mistakes over and over again
861
00:57:35,027 --> 00:57:36,960
in the same way."
862
00:57:38,763 --> 00:57:40,397
But back in Saigon,
863
00:57:40,399 --> 00:57:44,234
General Harkins immediately
declared victory.
864
00:57:44,236 --> 00:57:47,237
"The ARVN forces had
an objective," he said.
865
00:57:47,239 --> 00:57:48,871
"We took that objective.
866
00:57:48,873 --> 00:57:52,409
"The VC left and their
casualties were greater
867
00:57:52,411 --> 00:57:55,011
"than those of the government forces.
868
00:57:55,013 --> 00:57:56,512
What more do you want?"
869
00:57:58,150 --> 00:58:00,651
When Halberstam and Sheehan reported
870
00:58:00,653 --> 00:58:03,587
that Ap Bac had in fact been a defeat,
871
00:58:03,589 --> 00:58:07,758
the U.S. Commander in
the Pacific denied it all
872
00:58:07,760 --> 00:58:10,894
and urged the reporters
to "get on the team."
873
00:58:13,365 --> 00:58:15,499
Ap Bac was terribly important.
874
00:58:15,501 --> 00:58:17,801
They had shot down five helicopters,
875
00:58:17,803 --> 00:58:20,303
which they previously
had been terrified of.
876
00:58:20,305 --> 00:58:24,441
They'd stopped the
armored personnel carriers.
877
00:58:24,443 --> 00:58:26,578
They demonstrated to their own people
878
00:58:26,580 --> 00:58:29,447
that you could resist
the Americans and win.
879
00:58:49,434 --> 00:58:53,170
In Hanoi, the Battle of Ap Bac was seen
880
00:58:53,172 --> 00:58:57,909
by Party First Secretary Le
Duan and his Politburo allies
881
00:58:57,911 --> 00:59:00,177
as evidence of the inherent weakness
882
00:59:00,179 --> 00:59:03,314
of the South Vietnamese regime.
883
00:59:03,316 --> 00:59:07,150
Even when faced with American
advisors and weaponry,
884
00:59:07,152 --> 00:59:11,054
the Viet Cong had learned how
to inflict heavy casualties
885
00:59:11,056 --> 00:59:14,658
on Saigon's forces, and get away again.
886
00:59:16,329 --> 00:59:20,197
In Saigon, President Diem
claimed the ARVN were winning,
887
00:59:20,199 --> 00:59:21,599
not losing.
888
00:59:21,601 --> 00:59:24,936
Ap Bac had only been
a momentary setback.
889
00:59:24,938 --> 00:59:26,838
And he resented Americans telling him
890
00:59:26,840 --> 00:59:30,542
how to fight his battles
or run his country.
891
00:59:30,544 --> 00:59:35,747
The president's sister-in-law,
Madame Nhu, went further.
892
00:59:35,749 --> 00:59:39,951
She denounced the Americans
as "false brothers."
893
00:59:41,655 --> 00:59:44,522
"We don't have a prayer
of staying in Vietnam,"
894
00:59:44,524 --> 00:59:48,660
President Kennedy privately
told a friend that spring.
895
00:59:48,662 --> 00:59:50,828
"These people hate us.
896
00:59:50,830 --> 00:59:54,265
"But I can't give up a
piece of territory like that
897
00:59:54,267 --> 00:59:58,570
to the communists and then
get the people to reelect me."
898
01:00:05,511 --> 01:00:07,011
Buddhist monks and nuns are joined
899
01:00:07,013 --> 01:00:08,581
by thousands of sympathizers
900
01:00:08,583 --> 01:00:10,315
to protest the government's restrictions
901
01:00:10,317 --> 01:00:13,085
on the practice of their
religion in South Vietnam.
902
01:00:14,922 --> 01:00:18,522
Diem began by alienating
the rural population.
903
01:00:18,524 --> 01:00:21,258
And that started the Viet Cong.
904
01:00:21,260 --> 01:00:24,228
Now he was alienating
the urban population.
905
01:00:24,230 --> 01:00:26,831
Seventy percent of the
population is Buddhist
906
01:00:26,833 --> 01:00:28,432
and the demonstrators
clashed with the police
907
01:00:28,434 --> 01:00:32,737
during the week-long series
of incidents like this.
908
01:00:32,739 --> 01:00:36,174
In the months that followed
the Battle of Ap Bac,
909
01:00:36,176 --> 01:00:40,913
South Vietnam plunged into civil
strife that had little to do
910
01:00:40,915 --> 01:00:43,849
with the Viet Cong.
911
01:00:43,851 --> 01:00:47,986
Religion and nationalism
were at its heart.
912
01:00:47,988 --> 01:00:51,789
A Catholic minority had for
years dominated the government
913
01:00:51,791 --> 01:00:54,459
of an overwhelmingly Buddhist country.
914
01:00:56,196 --> 01:00:58,731
That spring in the city of Hue,
915
01:00:58,733 --> 01:01:01,767
Christian flags had
been flown to celebrate
916
01:01:01,769 --> 01:01:04,970
the 25th anniversary of the ordination
917
01:01:04,972 --> 01:01:07,573
of Diem's older brother
as a Catholic bishop.
918
01:01:10,911 --> 01:01:14,280
But when the Buddhists of
the city flew their flags
919
01:01:14,282 --> 01:01:19,751
to celebrate the 2,527th
birthday of Lord Buddha,
920
01:01:19,753 --> 01:01:22,687
police tore them down.
921
01:01:22,689 --> 01:01:25,191
Protesters took to the streets.
922
01:01:27,495 --> 01:01:31,330
The Catholic deputy province
chief sent security forces
923
01:01:31,332 --> 01:01:34,200
to suppress the demonstration.
924
01:01:34,202 --> 01:01:35,968
The soldiers opened fire.
925
01:01:36,971 --> 01:01:40,072
Eight protesters died.
926
01:01:40,074 --> 01:01:46,045
The youngest was 12; the oldest was 20.
927
01:01:46,047 --> 01:01:49,649
The Diem regime blamed the Viet Cong.
928
01:01:51,453 --> 01:01:55,054
Monks throughout the
country demanded an apology.
929
01:02:04,065 --> 01:02:06,432
They also called for
an end to discrimination
930
01:02:06,434 --> 01:02:08,867
by Catholic officials.
931
01:02:08,869 --> 01:02:12,137
Many Buddhists had come
to see Diem's policies
932
01:02:12,139 --> 01:02:15,208
as a direct threat to
their religious beliefs.
933
01:02:18,280 --> 01:02:21,881
My family was against
what Diem was doing.
934
01:02:21,883 --> 01:02:24,585
My mother was convinced
935
01:02:24,587 --> 01:02:28,688
that Diem was destroying
the Buddhist faith.
936
01:02:28,690 --> 01:02:32,892
She would go to the pagodas and
listen to the monks' speeches.
937
01:02:32,894 --> 01:02:36,196
And she was just extremely upset.
938
01:02:37,699 --> 01:02:38,998
She was not alone.
939
01:02:39,000 --> 01:02:42,002
There was a lot of people like her.
940
01:02:42,004 --> 01:02:45,973
American officials urged
Diem and his brother Nhu
941
01:02:45,975 --> 01:02:49,409
to make meaningful
concessions to the Buddhists,
942
01:02:49,411 --> 01:02:51,478
for the sake of maintaining unity
943
01:02:51,480 --> 01:02:54,048
in the struggle against communism.
944
01:02:54,050 --> 01:02:55,549
They refused.
945
01:02:58,254 --> 01:03:03,322
On June 10, 1963, Malcolm
Browne of the Associated Press
946
01:03:03,324 --> 01:03:06,292
received an anonymous tip:
947
01:03:06,294 --> 01:03:09,563
something important was
going to happen the next day
948
01:03:09,565 --> 01:03:13,000
at a major intersection in Saigon.
949
01:03:13,002 --> 01:03:14,802
He took his camera.
950
01:03:22,544 --> 01:03:25,980
To protest the Diem regime's repression,
951
01:03:25,982 --> 01:03:32,219
a 73-year-old monk named
Quang Duc set himself on fire.
952
01:03:50,106 --> 01:03:55,310
As a large, hushed crowd
watched him burn to death,
953
01:03:55,312 --> 01:03:58,781
another monk repeated
over and over again
954
01:03:58,783 --> 01:04:01,817
in English and Vietnamese,
955
01:04:01,819 --> 01:04:04,853
"A Buddhist monk becomes a martyr.
956
01:04:04,855 --> 01:04:07,289
A Buddhist monk becomes a martyr."
957
01:04:14,298 --> 01:04:17,265
I remember they held the ashes
958
01:04:17,267 --> 01:04:19,868
of the monk who burned himself to death
959
01:04:19,870 --> 01:04:22,971
where it was kept in
one of the main pagodas.
960
01:04:22,973 --> 01:04:29,145
And lines of people came to
pass by, and I saw these women,
961
01:04:29,147 --> 01:04:32,248
not rich women, ordinary
Vietnamese women,
962
01:04:32,250 --> 01:04:35,384
take off the one piece of gold
they had on, their wedding ring,
963
01:04:35,386 --> 01:04:40,422
and drop it in the bottle to
contribute to the struggle.
964
01:04:40,424 --> 01:04:44,326
And I thought to myself,
"This regime is over.
965
01:04:44,328 --> 01:04:45,260
It's the end."
966
01:04:49,568 --> 01:04:51,901
Soon other monks would become martyrs.
967
01:04:55,374 --> 01:05:01,010
Fresh outbursts by Madame
Nhu only made things worse.
968
01:05:01,012 --> 01:05:04,514
Burning monks made her
clap her hands, she said.
969
01:05:04,516 --> 01:05:07,116
If more monks wanted to burn themselves,
970
01:05:07,118 --> 01:05:10,319
she would provide the matches.
971
01:05:10,321 --> 01:05:12,355
The only thing they have done,
972
01:05:12,357 --> 01:05:18,128
they have barbecued one of their monks,
973
01:05:18,130 --> 01:05:23,767
whom they have intoxicated, whom
they have abused the confidence.
974
01:05:23,769 --> 01:05:28,237
And even that barbecuing was done
975
01:05:28,239 --> 01:05:30,573
not even with self-sufficient means
976
01:05:30,575 --> 01:05:33,410
because they... they
used imported gasoline.
977
01:05:35,346 --> 01:05:38,047
They thought she was arrogant,
978
01:05:38,049 --> 01:05:39,649
she was power hungry.
979
01:05:39,651 --> 01:05:43,020
They suspected her and her
husband of being corrupt.
980
01:05:43,022 --> 01:05:49,393
Nhu ran the secret police, which
arrested and tortured people.
981
01:05:49,395 --> 01:05:52,663
People feared the Diem regime.
982
01:05:52,665 --> 01:05:56,065
Perhaps more than they feared
it, they really hated it.
983
01:05:58,570 --> 01:06:01,203
Students, including many Catholics,
984
01:06:01,205 --> 01:06:03,706
rallied to the Buddhist cause.
985
01:06:03,708 --> 01:06:07,010
So did some army officers.
986
01:06:07,012 --> 01:06:11,449
People among the military
had to ask the question,
987
01:06:11,451 --> 01:06:14,819
"Can we continue this
kind of situation like that
988
01:06:14,821 --> 01:06:18,322
"when the whole country,
country was almost burning
989
01:06:18,324 --> 01:06:20,023
with the kind of protest
from the Buddhists?"
990
01:06:20,025 --> 01:06:20,925
You see?
991
01:06:24,797 --> 01:06:28,465
I first became aware of Vietnam
because of a burning monk.
992
01:06:31,203 --> 01:06:36,174
We had watched the civil
rights movement in the South
993
01:06:36,176 --> 01:06:39,177
and it had set the standard for us
994
01:06:39,179 --> 01:06:45,583
to stand up against injustice,
allow yourself to be beaten up,
995
01:06:45,585 --> 01:06:47,952
allow yourself to be attacked by a dog
996
01:06:47,954 --> 01:06:50,321
or hit by a police truncheon.
997
01:06:50,323 --> 01:06:52,357
And we had enormous respect
998
01:06:52,359 --> 01:06:55,293
for people who were
willing to go that far.
999
01:06:59,833 --> 01:07:02,934
And then one day in 1963,
1000
01:07:02,936 --> 01:07:07,105
we saw on television a
picture of a monk in Saigon.
1001
01:07:08,675 --> 01:07:10,675
This was an extraordinary act.
1002
01:07:13,279 --> 01:07:16,080
Why was a Buddhist monk burning himself
1003
01:07:16,082 --> 01:07:18,717
on the streets of Saigon?
1004
01:07:21,622 --> 01:07:24,156
The protests continued.
1005
01:07:24,158 --> 01:07:29,128
Tensions between Washington
and Saigon steadily worsened.
1006
01:07:29,130 --> 01:07:33,132
The more the Kennedy
Administration demanded change,
1007
01:07:33,134 --> 01:07:36,968
the more Diem and his
brother Nhu seemed to resist.
1008
01:07:38,839 --> 01:07:41,640
The White House announced
that a new American ambassador,
1009
01:07:41,642 --> 01:07:46,912
former senator Henry Cabot
Lodge, was being sent to Saigon,
1010
01:07:46,914 --> 01:07:49,448
a man eminent enough,
the president hoped,
1011
01:07:49,450 --> 01:07:54,587
to make Diem listen more
closely to American advice.
1012
01:07:54,589 --> 01:07:58,424
Diem professed to be unimpressed.
1013
01:07:58,426 --> 01:08:01,226
"They can send ten Lodges," he said,
1014
01:08:01,228 --> 01:08:05,197
"but I will not let myself
or my country be humiliated,
1015
01:08:05,199 --> 01:08:09,068
not if they train their
artillery on this palace."
1016
01:08:09,070 --> 01:08:13,705
He did promise the outgoing
ambassador, Frederick Nolting,
1017
01:08:13,707 --> 01:08:16,509
that he would take no
further repressive steps
1018
01:08:16,511 --> 01:08:17,944
against the Buddhists.
1019
01:08:19,881 --> 01:08:25,251
Then, a few minutes after
midnight on August 21, 1963,
1020
01:08:25,253 --> 01:08:28,788
with Nolting gone and
Henry Cabot Lodge's arrival
1021
01:08:28,790 --> 01:08:32,459
still one day away,
Diem cut the phone lines
1022
01:08:32,461 --> 01:08:35,962
of all the senior American
officials in Saigon
1023
01:08:35,964 --> 01:08:39,632
and sent hundreds of his Special Forces
1024
01:08:39,634 --> 01:08:43,471
storming into Buddhist
pagodas in Saigon, Hue,
1025
01:08:43,473 --> 01:08:46,772
and several other
South Vietnamese cities.
1026
01:08:46,774 --> 01:08:49,709
Some 1,400 monks and nuns,
1027
01:08:49,711 --> 01:08:55,281
students and ordinary citizens
were rounded up and taken away.
1028
01:09:03,057 --> 01:09:07,661
Martial law was imposed,
public meetings were forbidden,
1029
01:09:07,663 --> 01:09:12,099
troops were authorized to shoot
anyone found on the streets
1030
01:09:12,101 --> 01:09:13,900
after 9:00.
1031
01:09:13,902 --> 01:09:17,303
Tanks guard a pagoda in Saigon
1032
01:09:17,305 --> 01:09:20,073
during South Vietnam's
bafflingly complicated crisis
1033
01:09:20,075 --> 01:09:23,110
that has the government
of President Ngo Dinh Diem,
1034
01:09:23,112 --> 01:09:26,980
students, and Buddhists, and
the United States government
1035
01:09:26,982 --> 01:09:30,717
all trying to guess
one another's next move.
1036
01:09:30,719 --> 01:09:34,622
When college students protested
in support of the monks,
1037
01:09:34,624 --> 01:09:38,325
Diem closed Vietnam's universities.
1038
01:09:38,327 --> 01:09:42,229
High school students then
poured into the streets.
1039
01:09:42,231 --> 01:09:44,832
He shut down all the high schools
1040
01:09:44,834 --> 01:09:46,167
and the grammar schools, too,
1041
01:09:46,169 --> 01:09:49,470
and arrested thousands
of school children,
1042
01:09:49,472 --> 01:09:52,339
including the sons and
daughters of officials
1043
01:09:52,341 --> 01:09:54,542
in his own government.
1044
01:09:54,544 --> 01:09:57,646
I participated in the demonstrations.
1045
01:09:57,648 --> 01:10:04,553
I strongly believed that that
government has to be overthrown
1046
01:10:04,555 --> 01:10:06,688
because it's a dictator government.
1047
01:10:06,690 --> 01:10:08,823
We couldn't stand it anymore
1048
01:10:08,825 --> 01:10:12,627
and this is an opportunity
to rise against it.
1049
01:10:12,629 --> 01:10:16,665
Phan Quang Tue was a
law student that summer.
1050
01:10:16,667 --> 01:10:20,702
His father was a prominent
nationalist whom Diem had jailed
1051
01:10:20,704 --> 01:10:24,038
for calling for greater democracy.
1052
01:10:24,040 --> 01:10:27,542
I was and I'm still a Catholic,
1053
01:10:27,544 --> 01:10:29,911
not a very good Catholic.
1054
01:10:29,913 --> 01:10:31,846
I don't practice religiously.
1055
01:10:31,848 --> 01:10:33,615
But I'm a Catholic.
1056
01:10:35,252 --> 01:10:36,784
I was rightly arrested
1057
01:10:36,786 --> 01:10:39,954
because I did participate
in demonstration.
1058
01:10:39,956 --> 01:10:43,057
And I was interrogated
1059
01:10:43,059 --> 01:10:45,927
and briefly tortured,
beaten a little bit.
1060
01:10:49,500 --> 01:10:52,301
Henry Cabot Lodge took
over as U.S. ambassador
1061
01:10:52,303 --> 01:10:53,902
in the midst of the turmoil.
1062
01:10:53,904 --> 01:10:55,371
And he has reported to have demanded
1063
01:10:55,373 --> 01:10:57,639
that President Diem's
brother Nhu be ousted
1064
01:10:57,641 --> 01:10:59,807
or U.S. aid to Vietnam will be cut.
1065
01:11:03,247 --> 01:11:05,313
In the wake of the pagoda raids,
1066
01:11:05,315 --> 01:11:07,716
a small group of South
Vietnamese generals
1067
01:11:07,718 --> 01:11:11,453
contacted the CIA in Saigon.
1068
01:11:11,455 --> 01:11:14,923
Diem's brother Nhu was
now largely in control
1069
01:11:14,925 --> 01:11:17,025
of the government, they said.
1070
01:11:17,027 --> 01:11:21,797
What would Washington's reaction
be if they mounted a coup?
1071
01:11:21,799 --> 01:11:24,933
President Kennedy and
his senior advisors
1072
01:11:24,935 --> 01:11:29,838
happened to be out of
town, so Roger Hilsman, Jr.,
1073
01:11:29,840 --> 01:11:33,308
assistant secretary of
state for Far Eastern affairs
1074
01:11:33,310 --> 01:11:35,877
and a critic of the Diem regime,
1075
01:11:35,879 --> 01:11:39,948
took it upon himself to draft
a cable with new instructions
1076
01:11:39,950 --> 01:11:42,918
for Ambassador Lodge.
1077
01:11:42,920 --> 01:11:46,889
The U.S. government could no
longer tolerate a situation
1078
01:11:46,891 --> 01:11:51,126
in which power lay in
Nhu's hands, it said.
1079
01:11:51,128 --> 01:11:54,163
Diem should be given a chance
to rid himself of his brother.
1080
01:11:55,800 --> 01:11:59,468
If he refused, Lodge
was to tell the generals,
1081
01:11:59,470 --> 01:12:02,938
"then we must face the
possibility that Diem himself
1082
01:12:02,940 --> 01:12:06,875
cannot be preserved."
1083
01:12:06,877 --> 01:12:10,613
The president was vacationing
at Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.
1084
01:12:10,615 --> 01:12:14,517
Undersecretary of State George
Ball read part of the cable
1085
01:12:14,519 --> 01:12:17,687
to him over the phone.
1086
01:12:17,689 --> 01:12:20,022
Since the early 1950s,
1087
01:12:20,024 --> 01:12:22,558
the United States
government had encouraged
1088
01:12:22,560 --> 01:12:27,963
and even orchestrated other Cold
War coups in Iran, Guatemala,
1089
01:12:27,965 --> 01:12:32,569
the Congo, and elsewhere.
1090
01:12:32,571 --> 01:12:36,540
Kennedy decided to
approve Hilsman's cable
1091
01:12:36,542 --> 01:12:39,709
in part because he
thought his top advisors
1092
01:12:39,711 --> 01:12:41,878
had already endorsed it.
1093
01:12:41,880 --> 01:12:44,848
They had not.
1094
01:12:44,850 --> 01:12:50,053
And somehow, because of a cable
that came out from Washington,
1095
01:12:50,055 --> 01:12:53,323
Lodge decided that the
only solution was to get rid
1096
01:12:53,325 --> 01:12:57,094
of not just Ngo Dinh
Nhu, the bad brother,
1097
01:12:57,096 --> 01:12:59,763
but also of Diem himself.
1098
01:12:59,765 --> 01:13:01,866
And that started us
on this whole business
1099
01:13:01,868 --> 01:13:04,668
of promoting a coup.
1100
01:13:04,670 --> 01:13:08,205
And it was not a good idea.
1101
01:13:08,207 --> 01:13:10,774
I just had a feeling
of impending disaster.
1102
01:13:12,144 --> 01:13:14,878
On September 2, 1963,
1103
01:13:14,880 --> 01:13:18,548
Labor Day, Walter Cronkite of CBS News
1104
01:13:18,550 --> 01:13:21,184
interviewed President Kennedy.
1105
01:13:21,186 --> 01:13:25,256
The president used the
opportunity to deliver a message
1106
01:13:25,258 --> 01:13:27,191
to President Diem.
1107
01:13:27,193 --> 01:13:30,928
Mr. President, the only hot war
we've got running at the moment
1108
01:13:30,930 --> 01:13:33,631
is of course the one in Vietnam,
1109
01:13:33,633 --> 01:13:36,567
and we've got our difficulties
there, quite obviously.
1110
01:13:36,569 --> 01:13:41,205
I don't think that unless
a greater effort is made
1111
01:13:41,207 --> 01:13:43,207
by the government to win popular support
1112
01:13:43,209 --> 01:13:44,675
that the war can be won out there.
1113
01:13:44,677 --> 01:13:46,577
In the final analysis, it's their war.
1114
01:13:46,579 --> 01:13:50,481
Hasn't every indication from Saigon been
1115
01:13:50,483 --> 01:13:52,583
that President Diem has no intention
1116
01:13:52,585 --> 01:13:53,584
of changing his pattern?
1117
01:13:53,586 --> 01:13:54,619
If he doesn't change it,
1118
01:13:54,621 --> 01:13:56,621
of course, that's his decision.
1119
01:13:56,623 --> 01:13:58,656
He has been there ten
years and, as I say,
1120
01:13:58,658 --> 01:14:00,058
he has carried this burden
1121
01:14:00,060 --> 01:14:01,459
when he has been counted
out on a number of occasions.
1122
01:14:01,461 --> 01:14:02,593
Our best judgment is
1123
01:14:02,595 --> 01:14:05,130
that he can't be
successful in this basis.
1124
01:14:05,132 --> 01:14:07,799
But I don't agree with those
who say we should withdraw.
1125
01:14:07,801 --> 01:14:09,067
That would be a great mistake.
1126
01:14:09,069 --> 01:14:10,468
That'd be a great mistake.
1127
01:14:10,470 --> 01:14:12,404
I know people don't like
Americans to be engaged
1128
01:14:12,406 --> 01:14:13,504
in this kind of an effort.
1129
01:14:13,506 --> 01:14:15,975
47 Americans have been killed.
1130
01:14:15,977 --> 01:14:18,044
We're in a very
1131
01:14:18,046 --> 01:14:20,879
desperate struggle against
the communist system.
1132
01:14:20,881 --> 01:14:24,182
And I don't want Asia to pass
into the control of the Chinese.
1133
01:14:24,184 --> 01:14:26,418
Do you think that this
government still has time
1134
01:14:26,420 --> 01:14:28,954
to... to regain the
support of the people?
1135
01:14:28,956 --> 01:14:30,989
I do, I do.
1136
01:14:30,991 --> 01:14:34,292
With changes in policy
and perhaps in personnel,
1137
01:14:34,294 --> 01:14:35,961
I think it can.
1138
01:14:35,963 --> 01:14:39,531
If it doesn't make those changes,
1139
01:14:39,533 --> 01:14:41,600
I would think that the
chances of winning it
1140
01:14:41,602 --> 01:14:43,135
would not be very good.
1141
01:14:45,073 --> 01:14:47,974
Despite the cable,
Kennedy and his advisors
1142
01:14:47,976 --> 01:14:51,310
were sharply divided about a coup.
1143
01:14:51,312 --> 01:14:56,682
Robert McNamara, Maxwell Taylor,
Vice President Lyndon Johnson,
1144
01:14:56,684 --> 01:15:01,119
and the head of the CIA
all cautioned against it,
1145
01:15:01,121 --> 01:15:04,590
because, while none of them
especially admired Diem,
1146
01:15:04,592 --> 01:15:09,261
they did not believe there
was any viable alternative.
1147
01:15:09,263 --> 01:15:12,298
Fritz Nolting was called in.
1148
01:15:12,300 --> 01:15:14,868
And he said, "As difficult
as they are to deal with,
1149
01:15:14,870 --> 01:15:19,873
"there is nobody with the
guts and sangfroid in Vietnam
1150
01:15:19,875 --> 01:15:21,741
"of Diem and his brother Nhu.
1151
01:15:21,743 --> 01:15:25,211
"And if we let them
go, we will be saddled
1152
01:15:25,213 --> 01:15:29,115
by a descending cycle
of mediocre generals."
1153
01:15:29,117 --> 01:15:30,951
And he was absolutely correct.
1154
01:15:32,855 --> 01:15:35,722
But several State
Department officials believed
1155
01:15:35,724 --> 01:15:40,593
that without fresh leadership,
South Vietnam could not survive.
1156
01:15:40,595 --> 01:15:43,730
The debate intensified.
1157
01:15:45,033 --> 01:15:47,066
"My God," the president said,
1158
01:15:47,068 --> 01:15:50,436
"my administration is coming apart."
1159
01:15:50,438 --> 01:15:53,840
In the end, Kennedy instructed Lodge
1160
01:15:53,842 --> 01:15:56,309
to tell the renegade generals
1161
01:15:56,311 --> 01:15:58,712
that while the United
States does not wish
1162
01:15:58,714 --> 01:16:02,516
to stimulate a coup, it
would not thwart one either.
1163
01:16:04,153 --> 01:16:07,254
The generals laid their plans.
1164
01:16:13,595 --> 01:16:19,232
On November 1, 1963,
troops loyal to the plotters
1165
01:16:19,234 --> 01:16:21,501
seized key installations in Saigon
1166
01:16:21,503 --> 01:16:24,805
and demanded Diem and Nhu surrender.
1167
01:16:27,577 --> 01:16:30,078
The battle for the city
went on for 18 hours
1168
01:16:30,080 --> 01:16:33,414
and most of it was centered
on the presidential palace.
1169
01:16:33,416 --> 01:16:36,750
Just after 6:30 in the morning
Saturday, the shooting ceased.
1170
01:16:45,927 --> 01:16:51,199
Diem and Nhu escaped,
took sanctuary in a church,
1171
01:16:51,201 --> 01:16:54,335
and agreed to surrender
to the rebels in exchange
1172
01:16:54,337 --> 01:16:58,139
for the promise of safe
passage out of the country.
1173
01:16:58,141 --> 01:17:01,642
They were picked up in an
armored personnel carrier...
1174
01:17:03,646 --> 01:17:07,781
And murdered soon after
they climbed inside.
1175
01:17:12,522 --> 01:17:16,057
Madame Nhu survived the coup.
1176
01:17:16,059 --> 01:17:19,128
She was on a goodwill
tour in the United States.
1177
01:17:24,601 --> 01:17:27,168
The system was overthrown on November 1.
1178
01:17:27,170 --> 01:17:29,938
I was released November 4.
1179
01:17:29,940 --> 01:17:35,910
And it was the most exciting
moment in the life of Saigon.
1180
01:17:37,948 --> 01:17:43,352
The excitement, you
could feel it in the air.
1181
01:17:43,354 --> 01:17:47,857
I was thinking that,
yeah, it's a good thing.
1182
01:17:47,859 --> 01:17:51,526
Diem was making it
impossible to win the war
1183
01:17:51,528 --> 01:17:55,096
because people were so against him
1184
01:17:55,098 --> 01:17:59,400
that the war would be
lost if he stayed in power.
1185
01:18:01,204 --> 01:18:03,437
My father was a bit worried
1186
01:18:03,439 --> 01:18:05,274
because he didn't know who
was going to replace Diem.
1187
01:18:08,279 --> 01:18:10,913
Ambassador Lodge reported to Washington
1188
01:18:10,915 --> 01:18:15,517
that "every Vietnamese has
a smile on his face today."
1189
01:18:15,519 --> 01:18:19,254
"The prospects are now for
a shorter war," he said,
1190
01:18:19,256 --> 01:18:22,224
"provided the generals stay together.
1191
01:18:22,226 --> 01:18:25,027
"Certainly officers and soldiers
1192
01:18:25,029 --> 01:18:28,263
who can pull off an operation
like this," he continued,
1193
01:18:28,265 --> 01:18:31,634
"should be able to do very
well on the battlefield
1194
01:18:31,636 --> 01:18:33,969
if their hearts are in it."
1195
01:18:37,041 --> 01:18:40,210
President Kennedy was not so sure.
1196
01:18:40,212 --> 01:18:44,614
He was appalled that Diem
and Nhu had been killed.
1197
01:18:44,616 --> 01:18:48,284
Three days later, he dictated
his own rueful account
1198
01:18:48,286 --> 01:18:52,188
of the coup and his
concerns for the future.
1199
01:18:53,925 --> 01:18:57,894
Monday, November 4, 1963.
1200
01:18:57,896 --> 01:19:00,896
Over the weekend the
coup in Saigon took place.
1201
01:19:00,898 --> 01:19:03,799
It culminated three
months of conversation,
1202
01:19:03,801 --> 01:19:09,105
which divided the government
here and in Saigon.
1203
01:19:09,107 --> 01:19:14,244
I feel that we must bear a good
deal of responsibility for it,
1204
01:19:14,246 --> 01:19:17,280
beginning with our cable of August
1205
01:19:17,282 --> 01:19:20,015
in which we suggested the coup.
1206
01:19:20,017 --> 01:19:22,853
I should not have given my consent to it
1207
01:19:22,855 --> 01:19:25,021
without a roundtable conference.
1208
01:19:27,226 --> 01:19:32,730
I was shocked by the
death of Diem and Nhu.
1209
01:19:32,732 --> 01:19:36,932
The way he was killed made
it particularly abhorrent.
1210
01:19:36,934 --> 01:19:39,502
The question now is whether
the generals can stay together
1211
01:19:39,504 --> 01:19:43,473
and build a stable government or
whether public opinion in Saigon
1212
01:19:43,475 --> 01:19:47,177
will turn on this government
as repressive and undemocratic
1213
01:19:47,179 --> 01:19:48,979
in the not-too-distant future.
1214
01:19:54,153 --> 01:19:56,487
Kennedy would not live to see the answer
1215
01:19:56,489 --> 01:19:59,122
to the question he had asked.
1216
01:19:59,124 --> 01:20:03,661
He was murdered in Dallas 18 days later.
1217
01:20:03,663 --> 01:20:08,666
There were now 16,000 American
advisors in South Vietnam.
1218
01:20:08,668 --> 01:20:14,105
Their fate and the fate of
that embattled country rested
1219
01:20:14,107 --> 01:20:19,343
with another American
president, Lyndon Baines Johnson.
1220
01:20:36,863 --> 01:20:38,997
We thought we were the
exceptions to history,
1221
01:20:38,999 --> 01:20:40,565
we Americans.
1222
01:20:40,567 --> 01:20:43,302
History didn't apply to us.
1223
01:20:43,304 --> 01:20:45,536
We could never fight a bad war.
1224
01:20:45,538 --> 01:20:47,538
We could never represent
the wrong cause.
1225
01:20:47,540 --> 01:20:48,539
We were Americans.
1226
01:20:49,876 --> 01:20:51,209
Well, in Vietnam it proved
1227
01:20:51,211 --> 01:20:53,577
that we were not an
exception to history.
1228
01:23:49,993 --> 01:23:54,993
- Synced and Corrected by chamallow for www.addic7ed.com -
- Resynced by Ornlu Wolfjarl -
91949