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1
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- Original file by zfeet -
- Resynced by Ornlu Wolfjarl -
36
00:00:09,765 --> 00:00:11,275
HELICOPTER PILOT: This is 2-3 arriving.
37
00:00:11,299 --> 00:00:13,700
We have them in sight and we're
engaging at present time.
38
00:00:13,799 --> 00:00:14,933
MAN: Roger.
39
00:00:19,900 --> 00:00:23,099
RON FERRIZZI: Helicopters
are phenomenal machines.
40
00:00:23,199 --> 00:00:25,566
You could float in the air.
41
00:00:25,665 --> 00:00:27,265
You can be like God.
42
00:00:34,466 --> 00:00:37,265
I flew below 500 feet.
43
00:00:37,365 --> 00:00:40,400
Above 500 feet was a kill zone.
44
00:00:40,500 --> 00:00:45,165
You better be below 200
feet, the lower the better.
45
00:00:47,533 --> 00:00:49,033
My job was to get shot at.
46
00:00:49,133 --> 00:00:50,800
My job was to draw enemy fire.
47
00:00:50,900 --> 00:00:52,500
I was a duck, a decoy.
48
00:00:53,633 --> 00:00:55,265
I got shot at a lot.
49
00:00:55,365 --> 00:00:57,432
I engaged the enemy a lot.
50
00:00:57,533 --> 00:01:00,233
(voice on helicopter radio)
51
00:01:00,332 --> 00:01:02,832
(gunfire)
52
00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:08,033
You're screaming as loud as you
can to try to cover up the sound
53
00:01:08,133 --> 00:01:10,199
of the incoming bullets
54
00:01:10,300 --> 00:01:11,900
because when they pass by your ear
55
00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:13,432
you could hear the popping sound.
56
00:01:13,532 --> 00:01:16,332
You don't hear the gunshot.
57
00:01:16,432 --> 00:01:18,432
That a 50-caliber just opened up on you,
58
00:01:18,532 --> 00:01:21,099
shooting a half-inch piece
of lead flying at you...
59
00:01:21,199 --> 00:01:22,399
And the aircraft was... vroom!
60
00:01:24,300 --> 00:01:26,932
You're flying, you're 90
degrees the other way
61
00:01:27,032 --> 00:01:29,000
and you're-you're shooting yourself down
62
00:01:29,099 --> 00:01:31,009
because the rotor blades
are right in front of you
63
00:01:31,033 --> 00:01:32,873
and you're trying to keep
the gun from jamming
64
00:01:32,966 --> 00:01:35,332
because you're running around like this.
65
00:01:35,432 --> 00:01:37,633
And if your gun jams, you're done.
66
00:01:44,332 --> 00:01:48,900
NARRATOR: Vietnam was the
first real helicopter war.
67
00:01:49,000 --> 00:01:54,199
Helicopter pilots flew more
than 36 million sorties.
68
00:01:54,300 --> 00:01:58,099
Their crews scattered propaganda
leaflets over the enemy
69
00:01:58,199 --> 00:02:02,533
and poured lethal fire
into their positions;
70
00:02:02,633 --> 00:02:07,033
carried troops and supplies
and artillery into battle;
71
00:02:07,133 --> 00:02:11,466
and lifted the wounded off
the battlefield so swiftly
72
00:02:11,566 --> 00:02:16,000
that most reached a field
hospital within 15 minutes.
73
00:02:21,733 --> 00:02:24,932
Ron Ferrizzi, a policeman's son
74
00:02:25,032 --> 00:02:28,233
from the Swampoodle neighborhood
of North Philadelphia,
75
00:02:28,332 --> 00:02:32,033
got to Vietnam in November of 1967.
76
00:02:32,132 --> 00:02:35,100
He was a crew chief in a scout helicopter
77
00:02:35,199 --> 00:02:37,065
with the 1st Air Cavalry,
78
00:02:37,165 --> 00:02:42,332
flying out of Landing Zone
Two-Bits in the Central Highlands.
79
00:02:42,432 --> 00:02:45,266
One day, after returning
from a combat mission,
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00:02:45,365 --> 00:02:49,466
he was approached by a journalist.
81
00:02:49,566 --> 00:02:51,199
FERRIZZI: And there was this...
82
00:02:51,300 --> 00:02:54,266
there was a beautiful woman.
83
00:02:54,365 --> 00:02:57,466
You know, round eye woman...
statuesque, round eye woman
84
00:02:57,566 --> 00:03:02,132
with nice hair and she looked pretty.
85
00:03:02,233 --> 00:03:04,466
Wow!
86
00:03:04,566 --> 00:03:07,300
She said, "Can I ask you
a couple of questions?
87
00:03:07,399 --> 00:03:09,865
"What was it like out there?
88
00:03:09,966 --> 00:03:12,699
"How does it feel that a
50-caliber just opened up
89
00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:15,533
shooting a half-inch piece of lead at you?"
90
00:03:17,432 --> 00:03:19,533
When you... it's hard to describe.
91
00:03:19,632 --> 00:03:22,733
It's shitty.
92
00:03:22,833 --> 00:03:26,365
I mean, isn't it... isn't
it apparent what it's like?
93
00:03:27,333 --> 00:03:29,165
You want to know what it's like?
94
00:03:29,266 --> 00:03:30,466
Go look at it.
95
00:03:30,565 --> 00:03:31,466
Go out there.
96
00:03:31,565 --> 00:03:33,332
Go see the bodies.
97
00:03:33,432 --> 00:03:35,132
I was ready to whack her.
98
00:03:35,233 --> 00:03:36,766
I wanted to blast her.
99
00:03:36,865 --> 00:03:37,899
I was ready to... whoa!
100
00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:39,041
"You want to know what it's like?
101
00:03:39,065 --> 00:03:39,966
"Boom! There it is.
102
00:03:40,065 --> 00:03:41,305
"I'll give it to you right now!
103
00:03:41,365 --> 00:03:42,875
"You want to feel it? You want to see it?
104
00:03:42,899 --> 00:03:44,541
"I'll give it to you if
that's what you want.
105
00:03:44,565 --> 00:03:46,266
Is that what you want?"
106
00:03:46,365 --> 00:03:47,966
I don't want to tell you what it's like
107
00:03:48,066 --> 00:03:49,533
because I don't want to remember it.
108
00:03:49,632 --> 00:03:53,066
That's the insanity that it brings out.
109
00:04:05,266 --> 00:04:09,066
(Big Brother and the Holding
Company playing "Summertime")
110
00:04:22,466 --> 00:04:27,000
LYNDON JOHNSON: The enemy has been
defeated in battle after battle.
111
00:04:27,100 --> 00:04:31,332
He continues to hope that
America's will to persevere
112
00:04:31,432 --> 00:04:32,966
can be broken.
113
00:04:35,165 --> 00:04:38,766
Well, he is wrong.
114
00:04:38,865 --> 00:04:40,966
JANIS JOPLIN: ♪ Summer...
115
00:04:41,065 --> 00:04:45,399
NARRATOR: 1968 would prove
to be a watershed year
116
00:04:45,500 --> 00:04:50,266
in the history of the Vietnam
War and the United States.
117
00:04:50,365 --> 00:04:52,233
As the year began,
118
00:04:52,332 --> 00:04:57,365
there were 485,600
American troops in Vietnam
119
00:04:57,466 --> 00:04:59,800
and American leaders promised
120
00:04:59,899 --> 00:05:02,365
that victory was finally in sight,
121
00:05:02,466 --> 00:05:06,365
that there really was "light
at the end of the tunnel."
122
00:05:06,466 --> 00:05:11,266
JOPLIN: ♪ Don't you cry...
123
00:05:11,365 --> 00:05:15,365
NARRATOR: But then, North Vietnam
would mount a massive offensive
124
00:05:15,466 --> 00:05:18,766
that would result in a
terrible defeat for them,
125
00:05:18,865 --> 00:05:21,600
that in the long run would
turn out to have been
126
00:05:21,699 --> 00:05:25,000
a still-greater victory.
127
00:05:25,100 --> 00:05:28,865
America itself would be
convulsed by assassinations
128
00:05:28,966 --> 00:05:33,132
and battles in the streets
over the war and civil rights.
129
00:05:35,399 --> 00:05:36,865
An American president,
130
00:05:36,966 --> 00:05:40,466
a master politician used
to getting things done,
131
00:05:40,565 --> 00:05:44,132
would continue to find
himself besieged by problems
132
00:05:44,233 --> 00:05:47,266
he could not solve.
133
00:05:47,365 --> 00:05:49,233
JOPLIN: ♪ You're gonna rise...
134
00:05:49,332 --> 00:05:52,199
NARRATOR: Robert Kennedy, the
brother of the slain president
135
00:05:52,300 --> 00:05:55,832
who had escalated American
presence in Vietnam,
136
00:05:55,932 --> 00:06:00,800
wrote an editorial that year
that seemed to speak for many.
137
00:06:00,899 --> 00:06:04,699
"Mere anarchy is loosed
upon the world," he said,
138
00:06:04,800 --> 00:06:08,533
quoting the poet William Butler Yeats.
139
00:06:08,632 --> 00:06:12,566
"Things fall apart; the
center cannot hold."
140
00:06:12,665 --> 00:06:16,432
JOPLIN: ♪ No, no, no, don't you cry
141
00:06:19,865 --> 00:06:25,699
♪ Cry.
142
00:06:30,266 --> 00:06:31,442
General Westmoreland, when you said
143
00:06:31,466 --> 00:06:33,100
that you'd never been more encouraged
144
00:06:33,199 --> 00:06:36,165
in the four years that you
have been in Vietnam,
145
00:06:36,266 --> 00:06:37,699
some critics, on the other hand,
146
00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:39,932
have never been more discouraged.
147
00:06:40,033 --> 00:06:42,533
I wonder if you could detail
one or two or three things
148
00:06:42,632 --> 00:06:45,265
that cause you to be so encouraged.
149
00:06:45,365 --> 00:06:48,533
I could quote a number
of meaningful statistics
150
00:06:48,633 --> 00:06:51,633
such as the roads that are being opened,
151
00:06:51,732 --> 00:06:55,066
increasing number of enemy
that have been killed
152
00:06:55,165 --> 00:06:58,500
and other statistical information,
153
00:06:58,600 --> 00:07:00,141
which suggests that we are making progress
154
00:07:00,165 --> 00:07:01,533
and we are winning.
155
00:07:01,633 --> 00:07:07,232
And I find an attitude of
confidence and growing optimism.
156
00:07:07,332 --> 00:07:09,600
It prevails all over the country.
157
00:07:09,700 --> 00:07:12,232
And, to me, this is the
most significant evidence
158
00:07:12,332 --> 00:07:17,932
I can give you that constant,
real progress is being made.
159
00:07:21,765 --> 00:07:25,232
(man speaking Vietnamese)
160
00:07:26,865 --> 00:07:29,865
NARRATOR: On the evening
of January 1, 1968,
161
00:07:29,966 --> 00:07:34,232
Ho Chi Minh broadcast a
poem over Radio Hanoi.
162
00:07:35,265 --> 00:07:39,500
HO CHI MINH:
163
00:07:43,200 --> 00:07:45,265
NARRATOR: Communist
commanders took this to mean
164
00:07:45,365 --> 00:07:47,265
that the ultimate battle,
165
00:07:47,365 --> 00:07:50,033
the General Offensive and General Uprising
166
00:07:50,133 --> 00:07:54,665
they had been planning for
months, was imminent.
167
00:07:54,765 --> 00:07:57,365
Party First Secretary Le Duan,
168
00:07:57,466 --> 00:08:00,033
who had insisted on the offensive
169
00:08:00,133 --> 00:08:02,600
and had purged those opposed,
170
00:08:02,700 --> 00:08:06,399
believed it would finally bring
about an end to the war.
171
00:08:06,500 --> 00:08:10,865
Viet Cong units supported
by North Vietnamese troops
172
00:08:10,966 --> 00:08:14,332
were to simultaneously
attack cities and bases
173
00:08:14,432 --> 00:08:16,265
all over the South.
174
00:08:16,365 --> 00:08:20,133
Le Duan promised those troops
that when the fighting started,
175
00:08:20,232 --> 00:08:23,466
the people of South Vietnam would rise up
176
00:08:23,566 --> 00:08:25,966
and overthrow the Saigon government,
177
00:08:26,066 --> 00:08:29,365
just as the Vietnamese had
risen up against the Japanese
178
00:08:29,466 --> 00:08:32,700
in August of 1945.
179
00:08:32,799 --> 00:08:37,299
With Saigon defeated, the
Americans would have no choice
180
00:08:37,399 --> 00:08:40,299
but to withdraw from Vietnam.
181
00:08:40,399 --> 00:08:43,500
The surprise attacks would
begin at the end of the month,
182
00:08:43,600 --> 00:08:49,832
at the start of the Lunar New
Year celebration called Tet.
183
00:08:50,700 --> 00:08:53,665
HO HUU LAN:
184
00:09:01,832 --> 00:09:04,765
NARRATOR: The Viet Cong
were already infiltrating
185
00:09:04,865 --> 00:09:07,665
scores of cities and towns.
186
00:09:07,765 --> 00:09:10,832
Tens of thousands of
North Vietnamese troops
187
00:09:10,932 --> 00:09:14,265
were now in place in South Vietnam.
188
00:09:14,365 --> 00:09:18,700
Tons of smuggled Chinese
and Soviet-made weapons
189
00:09:18,799 --> 00:09:22,865
had been spirited towards
intended targets in sampans
190
00:09:22,966 --> 00:09:25,899
and flower carts and false-bottomed trucks,
191
00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:31,365
and then buried in paddy fields
and garbage dumps and cemeteries
192
00:09:31,466 --> 00:09:34,399
until the moment came for
them to be retrieved.
193
00:09:35,466 --> 00:09:39,000
LE VAN CHO:
194
00:10:04,932 --> 00:10:07,466
NARRATOR: More than
10,000 American military
195
00:10:07,566 --> 00:10:10,033
and civilian intelligence
officers were at work
196
00:10:10,133 --> 00:10:12,365
in South Vietnam,
197
00:10:12,466 --> 00:10:16,100
and here and there, hints
of what was to come
198
00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:18,700
filtered up the chain of command.
199
00:10:18,799 --> 00:10:22,600
Enemy units were moving
around in inexplicable ways;
200
00:10:22,700 --> 00:10:25,899
captured enemy reports
described coming attacks
201
00:10:26,000 --> 00:10:27,166
on different cities;
202
00:10:27,265 --> 00:10:31,100
11 agents were caught
in the city of Qui Nhon
203
00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:35,166
carrying prerecorded tapes
calling on the local people
204
00:10:35,265 --> 00:10:38,399
to rise up against the Saigon government.
205
00:10:38,500 --> 00:10:40,732
All of these things were saying to us,
206
00:10:40,832 --> 00:10:42,332
"Something's going to happen."
207
00:10:42,432 --> 00:10:44,700
But we don't know exactly what.
208
00:10:44,799 --> 00:10:48,700
NARRATOR: General
Westmoreland thought he knew.
209
00:10:48,799 --> 00:10:50,700
"I believe that the enemy will attempt
210
00:10:50,799 --> 00:10:54,466
a country-wide show of
strength just prior to Tet,"
211
00:10:54,566 --> 00:10:58,966
he cabled Washington, "with Khe
Sanh being the main event."
212
00:10:59,066 --> 00:11:00,942
("Voodoo Chile" by the Jimi
Hendrix Experience playing)
213
00:11:00,966 --> 00:11:03,500
Some 30,000 North Vietnamese
troops had gathered
214
00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:08,033
near Khe Sanh, the westernmost
strongpoint below the DMZ
215
00:11:08,133 --> 00:11:11,899
that was being held by just 6,000 Marines.
216
00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:15,232
Westmoreland believed North
Vietnam wanted to isolate
217
00:11:15,332 --> 00:11:18,332
and annihilate the U.S. forces there,
218
00:11:18,432 --> 00:11:22,700
just as the Viet Minh had done
to the French at Dien Bien Phu
219
00:11:22,799 --> 00:11:24,899
14 years earlier.
220
00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:29,133
Enemy attacks elsewhere,
Westmoreland was sure,
221
00:11:29,232 --> 00:11:31,466
would only be a diversion.
222
00:11:31,566 --> 00:11:36,232
One American general, Frederick C.
Weyand, was not so sure.
223
00:11:36,332 --> 00:11:40,100
He was able to persuade
Westmoreland to let him pull
224
00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:43,033
half his troops back from
the Cambodian border
225
00:11:43,133 --> 00:11:49,133
to take up defensive positions
outside Saigon just in case.
226
00:11:49,232 --> 00:11:51,633
ROBERT GORALSKI: This is an
underground bunker at Khe Sanh,
227
00:11:51,732 --> 00:11:53,533
one of two cement havens left
228
00:11:53,633 --> 00:11:55,000
from the earlier days of the war
229
00:11:55,100 --> 00:11:56,765
when the Special Forces held this base.
230
00:11:56,865 --> 00:11:59,533
It is dark, dank, dreary.
231
00:11:59,633 --> 00:12:05,600
You feel something in the
air, about the buildup.
232
00:12:05,700 --> 00:12:07,066
I don't know, you could...
233
00:12:07,165 --> 00:12:10,000
you could almost feel them
working around you at night.
234
00:12:10,100 --> 00:12:11,399
Who?
235
00:12:11,500 --> 00:12:13,399
Uh, the NVA.
236
00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:17,000
NARRATOR: On January 21,
237
00:12:17,100 --> 00:12:20,166
the North Vietnamese
began shelling Khe Sanh.
238
00:12:20,265 --> 00:12:22,000
(mortar shrieks)
239
00:12:22,100 --> 00:12:24,365
(explosions, shouting)
240
00:12:28,666 --> 00:12:31,765
CAO XUAN DAI:
241
00:13:02,432 --> 00:13:09,832
("You Keep Me Hangin' On"
by Vanilla Fudge playing)
242
00:13:18,500 --> 00:13:21,932
(song continues, gunfire, men shouting)
243
00:13:25,966 --> 00:13:29,533
NARRATOR: When he learned
of the attack on Khe Sanh,
244
00:13:29,633 --> 00:13:32,666
Lyndon Johnson made the
Joint Chiefs sign a pledge
245
00:13:32,765 --> 00:13:34,765
that the base would never fall.
246
00:13:34,865 --> 00:13:39,033
"I don't want any damn
'Dinbinphoo, '" he said.
247
00:13:39,133 --> 00:13:43,299
The president had a scale-model
of the battlefield installed
248
00:13:43,399 --> 00:13:46,700
in the White House so that he
could follow the fighting there
249
00:13:46,799 --> 00:13:49,033
hour by hour.
250
00:13:49,133 --> 00:13:51,066
("You Keep Me Hangin' On" continues)
251
00:13:51,165 --> 00:13:56,732
NARRATOR: But Westmoreland's and
Johnson's basic assumption was wrong.
252
00:13:56,832 --> 00:13:59,500
Khe Sanh was the sideshow;
253
00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:03,600
the attacks on cities and towns
that were about to begin
254
00:14:03,700 --> 00:14:07,732
throughout South Vietnam
would be the main event.
255
00:14:13,432 --> 00:14:16,700
But First Secretary Le
Duan's basic assumptions
256
00:14:16,799 --> 00:14:19,932
were about to be tested, too.
257
00:14:20,033 --> 00:14:22,299
For the coming offensive to succeed,
258
00:14:22,399 --> 00:14:26,799
the South Vietnamese Army, the
ARVN, would have to collapse,
259
00:14:26,899 --> 00:14:28,865
and the people of the South
260
00:14:28,966 --> 00:14:31,666
would have to join the revolution.
261
00:14:33,332 --> 00:14:36,600
LE CONG HUAN:
262
00:14:54,899 --> 00:14:58,799
NARRATOR: "All our thinking was
focused on finishing off the enemy,"
263
00:14:58,899 --> 00:15:01,566
one North Vietnamese general remembered.
264
00:15:01,665 --> 00:15:06,232
"We were intoxicated by that thought."
265
00:15:07,133 --> 00:15:09,466
HUY DUC:
266
00:15:32,833 --> 00:15:35,766
MORTON DEAN: Okay, we've got our
three wounded Gis on board.
267
00:15:35,865 --> 00:15:38,965
At least one of them is hit pretty bad.
268
00:15:39,066 --> 00:15:42,566
Medic's got a busy, busy
few minutes ahead of him
269
00:15:42,665 --> 00:15:44,299
before we get back.
270
00:15:44,400 --> 00:15:48,133
NARRATOR: As the date for the
Tet Offensive approached,
271
00:15:48,232 --> 00:15:50,932
the war continued for the
hundreds of thousands
272
00:15:51,032 --> 00:15:54,232
of Americans in country.
273
00:15:56,000 --> 00:15:58,732
HAL KUSHNER: I did see the reality of war,
274
00:15:58,833 --> 00:16:02,599
a real education for a young doctor.
275
00:16:04,799 --> 00:16:09,000
The war seemed to be going very
well from our point of view.
276
00:16:11,133 --> 00:16:15,732
The war seemed to be going
just fine, thank you.
277
00:16:15,833 --> 00:16:20,566
NARRATOR: Captain Hal Kushner was
a 26-year-old recent graduate
278
00:16:20,665 --> 00:16:24,165
of medical school from Danville, Virginia.
279
00:16:24,266 --> 00:16:26,133
The father of a three-year-old girl,
280
00:16:26,232 --> 00:16:28,432
with another baby on the way,
281
00:16:28,532 --> 00:16:30,865
he had volunteered to serve in Vietnam
282
00:16:30,965 --> 00:16:36,099
and became a flight surgeon
with the 1st Air Cavalry.
283
00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:37,900
KUSHNER: And I was supposed to give
284
00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:40,865
a lecture on the dangers of
night flying, ironically.
285
00:16:40,965 --> 00:16:41,965
And I did.
286
00:16:42,000 --> 00:16:45,465
We had terrible weather that night.
287
00:16:45,566 --> 00:16:49,365
And it was dark and it was
rainy and it was windy.
288
00:16:49,465 --> 00:16:50,700
As we were flying
289
00:16:50,799 --> 00:16:54,133
I saw that we had drifted
west of the highway.
290
00:16:54,232 --> 00:16:57,432
And I knew that was wrong.
291
00:16:57,532 --> 00:16:59,432
NARRATOR: In the fog and rain,
292
00:16:59,532 --> 00:17:03,432
Kushner's helicopter
slammed into a mountain.
293
00:17:06,165 --> 00:17:08,099
KUSHNER: And the next thing I knew
294
00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:11,165
I was hanging upside down
in a burning helicopter.
295
00:17:11,266 --> 00:17:14,165
Major Porcella was dead.
296
00:17:14,266 --> 00:17:16,865
I just jumped away from the helicopter,
297
00:17:16,965 --> 00:17:21,133
and it just went whoosh,
and it just burned up.
298
00:17:21,232 --> 00:17:24,099
There was an M60 machine
gun on the helicopter
299
00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:28,333
and the rounds had... cooking
off and it was exploding.
300
00:17:28,432 --> 00:17:32,266
And one or several of the rounds
went through my shoulder,
301
00:17:32,365 --> 00:17:33,532
my left shoulder.
302
00:17:35,465 --> 00:17:38,799
On the ground I saw
Warrant Officer Bedworth.
303
00:17:38,900 --> 00:17:41,965
And he was hurt very badly.
304
00:17:42,066 --> 00:17:47,000
I took some branches and splinted his leg.
305
00:17:47,099 --> 00:17:53,532
So the rule is you wait with the
aircraft until you get rescued.
306
00:17:53,633 --> 00:17:55,099
And we just sat there.
307
00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:57,732
So we waited one day.
308
00:17:57,833 --> 00:17:59,599
We waited two days.
309
00:17:59,700 --> 00:18:03,032
We had no food or water.
310
00:18:03,133 --> 00:18:06,833
On the morning of the
third day, Bedworth died.
311
00:18:06,932 --> 00:18:09,833
And he just slipped away.
312
00:18:09,932 --> 00:18:11,432
It was very, very sad.
313
00:18:13,133 --> 00:18:17,000
And I thought that my best
choice was to leave the aircraft
314
00:18:17,099 --> 00:18:19,500
and try to go down the mountain.
315
00:18:19,599 --> 00:18:22,333
NARRATOR: It took the
wounded Kushner four hours
316
00:18:22,432 --> 00:18:25,099
to stagger down the hill.
317
00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:28,665
When he finally reached level
ground, he looked back up
318
00:18:28,766 --> 00:18:33,099
and saw two American helicopters
hovering above the crash site.
319
00:18:34,465 --> 00:18:37,432
Their pilots did not see him.
320
00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:43,640
KUSHNER: And I saw this peasant
working in a rice paddy.
321
00:18:43,732 --> 00:18:45,766
And he saw me.
322
00:18:45,865 --> 00:18:49,500
And I had captain's bars and a
Caduceus, a medical symbol,
323
00:18:49,599 --> 00:18:51,400
on my collar.
324
00:18:51,500 --> 00:18:54,266
And he said (speaking Vietnamese).
325
00:18:54,365 --> 00:18:56,400
Captain, doctor.
326
00:18:56,500 --> 00:19:02,400
He took me about another mile to
a little hooch, a little house,
327
00:19:02,500 --> 00:19:05,400
and he sat me down on the front of it
328
00:19:05,500 --> 00:19:08,732
and he brought out a can of condensed milk.
329
00:19:08,833 --> 00:19:11,299
And as I was eating the stuff...
330
00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:14,333
it was just the best stuff I've
ever eaten in my whole life...
331
00:19:14,432 --> 00:19:19,266
I hear another person say,
"(repeating Vietnamese phrase).
332
00:19:19,365 --> 00:19:21,799
"Surrender, no kill."
333
00:19:21,900 --> 00:19:25,232
There was a squad of Viet Cong there.
334
00:19:25,333 --> 00:19:27,932
And I put my one arm up.
335
00:19:28,032 --> 00:19:31,900
And he shot me with an M2 carbine.
336
00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:34,000
And I think he was more nervous than I was.
337
00:19:34,099 --> 00:19:37,633
And he shot me right where
the M60 had shot me.
338
00:19:37,732 --> 00:19:40,833
And it went right through my
neck and came out the back.
339
00:19:40,932 --> 00:19:45,400
And they tied my arms very
tightly in commo wire.
340
00:19:45,500 --> 00:19:49,266
He went through my wallet and he
took my Geneva Convention card,
341
00:19:49,365 --> 00:19:51,566
which was white with a red cross.
342
00:19:51,665 --> 00:19:53,066
And he tore it up.
343
00:19:53,165 --> 00:19:58,833
And he said, in English, "No P.O.W.
344
00:19:58,932 --> 00:20:00,865
Criminal. Criminal."
345
00:20:00,965 --> 00:20:04,432
So then they took my boots.
346
00:20:04,532 --> 00:20:07,965
And we started marching.
347
00:20:08,066 --> 00:20:10,400
And then we walked for a month.
348
00:20:12,599 --> 00:20:17,099
30 days, almost always at night.
349
00:20:17,200 --> 00:20:20,665
And my feet were just lacerated.
350
00:20:20,766 --> 00:20:24,099
I didn't think I could possibly survive.
351
00:20:29,465 --> 00:20:32,200
NGUYEN NGOC:
352
00:20:53,165 --> 00:20:54,799
NARRATOR: By January 30,
353
00:20:54,900 --> 00:20:59,932
an informal 36-hour truce
for Tet was in effect.
354
00:21:00,032 --> 00:21:04,665
Thousands of ARVN troops had
gone home for the holiday.
355
00:21:07,165 --> 00:21:09,000
The enemy had not.
356
00:21:10,266 --> 00:21:13,465
NGUYEN VAN TONG:
357
00:21:36,432 --> 00:21:39,766
NARRATOR: That same day,
Marine Corporal Roger Harris
358
00:21:39,865 --> 00:21:43,165
was scheduled to fly out of Vietnam.
359
00:21:43,266 --> 00:21:46,200
His 13-month tour was over.
360
00:21:46,299 --> 00:21:49,532
But he and his unit were
still hunkered down
361
00:21:49,633 --> 00:21:55,299
under constant shelling at Camp
Carroll, just south of the DMZ.
362
00:21:57,165 --> 00:21:59,000
HARRIS: Well, once I had
my orders, you know,
363
00:21:59,099 --> 00:22:01,365
I said goodbye to all my friends.
364
00:22:01,465 --> 00:22:04,665
And then I went over to the landing zone.
365
00:22:04,766 --> 00:22:07,700
So when the helicopters come in,
366
00:22:07,799 --> 00:22:10,665
I put the body bags on the helicopter.
367
00:22:10,766 --> 00:22:12,965
And I got on with the bodies.
368
00:22:15,099 --> 00:22:17,665
We landed in Dong Ha, which
was division headquarters.
369
00:22:17,766 --> 00:22:21,200
And we got about 200
meters from the airstrip,
370
00:22:21,299 --> 00:22:23,799
the airstrip started getting hit.
371
00:22:26,232 --> 00:22:29,665
I'm just thinking personally
that God realizes
372
00:22:29,766 --> 00:22:32,400
that he made a mistake because
some of the guys that got killed
373
00:22:32,500 --> 00:22:35,432
that were with me were good
Christians that never had sex,
374
00:22:35,532 --> 00:22:37,333
didn't swear, you know.
375
00:22:37,432 --> 00:22:40,200
And, you know, I had been this sinner.
376
00:22:40,299 --> 00:22:43,200
And I'm thinking God
realized he made a mistake.
377
00:22:43,299 --> 00:22:46,365
He killed the Christians and I got away.
378
00:22:46,465 --> 00:22:48,766
And so now Death is following me.
379
00:22:50,400 --> 00:22:52,120
And they told us that in another hour or so
380
00:22:52,200 --> 00:22:53,766
a plane was going to come in.
381
00:22:53,865 --> 00:22:57,266
When it came in, then the
artillery started coming in.
382
00:22:57,365 --> 00:23:00,066
And we jumped on and took off.
383
00:23:02,165 --> 00:23:04,099
And it landed in Danang.
384
00:23:04,200 --> 00:23:07,032
And then the sun came up and
we went to the airstrip
385
00:23:07,133 --> 00:23:08,133
and we boarded airplanes.
386
00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:09,932
And we were sitting there.
387
00:23:10,032 --> 00:23:13,165
Everybody's giving each other
pounds and slapping five.
388
00:23:13,266 --> 00:23:14,732
We made it.
389
00:23:14,833 --> 00:23:16,365
And then all of a sudden...
390
00:23:16,465 --> 00:23:19,566
(imitates whistles and explosions)
391
00:23:19,665 --> 00:23:25,633
Danang airstrip starts getting
hit, artillery's coming in.
392
00:23:25,732 --> 00:23:29,665
And I'm thinking, "It's
all coming after me."
393
00:23:29,766 --> 00:23:32,465
It's all about me, you know.
394
00:23:32,566 --> 00:23:35,266
God doesn't want me to make it out of here.
395
00:23:36,900 --> 00:23:42,000
NARRATOR: In the early morning
hours of January 31, 1968,
396
00:23:42,099 --> 00:23:46,665
84,000 Viet Cong and North
Vietnamese troops attacked
397
00:23:46,766 --> 00:23:51,333
36 of South Vietnam's
44 provincial capitals,
398
00:23:51,432 --> 00:23:54,633
dozens of American and ARVN military bases
399
00:23:54,732 --> 00:23:57,833
and the six largest cities in the country,
400
00:23:57,932 --> 00:24:01,165
including Hue, Danang, and Saigon.
401
00:24:01,266 --> 00:24:02,766
(automatic gunfire)
402
00:24:02,865 --> 00:24:05,165
Their goal, their commanders told them,
403
00:24:05,266 --> 00:24:08,732
was to "crack the sky and shake the earth."
404
00:24:13,099 --> 00:24:16,833
(shouting, explosions)
405
00:24:20,599 --> 00:24:25,165
In Saigon, General Westmoreland
mistook the first explosions
406
00:24:25,266 --> 00:24:26,932
as holiday firecrackers.
407
00:24:30,833 --> 00:24:34,333
His deputy commander, General
Creighton W. Abrams,
408
00:24:34,432 --> 00:24:38,833
was asleep, and his aides
did not bother to wake him.
409
00:24:38,932 --> 00:24:43,266
Not a single top commander was
present at "Pentagon East,"
410
00:24:43,365 --> 00:24:46,932
the sprawling MACV headquarters
at Tan Son Nhut Air Base
411
00:24:47,032 --> 00:24:49,200
on the outskirts of Saigon,
412
00:24:49,299 --> 00:24:53,232
when mortars and rockets
began cratering the runways.
413
00:25:17,833 --> 00:25:19,266
It's moving.
414
00:25:33,833 --> 00:25:38,333
NARRATOR: Viet Cong soldiers spread
out to attack specific targets
415
00:25:38,432 --> 00:25:40,133
in and around the capital.
416
00:25:40,232 --> 00:25:45,099
The war had come to the streets of Saigon.
417
00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:49,165
Had General Weyand not
insisted on stationing troops
418
00:25:49,266 --> 00:25:50,500
around the city,
419
00:25:50,599 --> 00:25:54,633
Saigon itself would have
been in far greater danger.
420
00:25:57,566 --> 00:26:00,432
DUONG VAN MAI ELLIOTT: We heard gunfire
421
00:26:00,532 --> 00:26:04,400
and our first reaction was,
"Must be another coup d'état."
422
00:26:04,500 --> 00:26:05,865
(gunfire)
423
00:26:05,965 --> 00:26:10,266
And then we heard that the
Viet Cong had attacked Saigon
424
00:26:10,365 --> 00:26:11,833
and were still attacking.
425
00:26:11,932 --> 00:26:15,965
It came as a total shock
because we always thought
426
00:26:16,066 --> 00:26:21,066
Saigon was safe, the safest
place in all of South Vietnam.
427
00:26:26,066 --> 00:26:28,532
NARRATOR: One Viet Cong squad made it
428
00:26:28,633 --> 00:26:30,400
all the way to the Presidential Palace,
429
00:26:30,500 --> 00:26:33,700
but was stopped by South Vietnamese tanks.
430
00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:40,333
The survivors holed up in a
building across the street
431
00:26:40,432 --> 00:26:44,665
and were shot by ARVN
troops and American MPs.
432
00:26:48,365 --> 00:26:55,032
All over Saigon, nothing was
going according to plan.
433
00:26:55,133 --> 00:26:59,599
Viet Cong units were taking
heavy losses from U.S. troops
434
00:26:59,700 --> 00:27:02,833
and determined South Vietnamese forces.
435
00:27:11,900 --> 00:27:14,633
(shouting)
436
00:27:17,732 --> 00:27:19,532
NGUYEN THANH TUNG:
437
00:27:44,766 --> 00:27:47,133
(indistinct chatter on radio)
438
00:28:00,599 --> 00:28:02,500
("The Blue Danube" playing on radio)
439
00:28:02,599 --> 00:28:04,476
DON WEBSTER: This is the main
Vietnamese language radio station
440
00:28:04,500 --> 00:28:05,766
in Saigon.
441
00:28:05,865 --> 00:28:08,900
And right now there are an
undisclosed number of VC inside
442
00:28:09,000 --> 00:28:10,133
occupying the station.
443
00:28:10,232 --> 00:28:12,833
NARRATOR: The Viet Cong managed to seize
444
00:28:12,932 --> 00:28:15,665
South Vietnam's national radio station
445
00:28:15,766 --> 00:28:19,732
and prepared to broadcast a
taped message from Ho Chi Minh
446
00:28:19,833 --> 00:28:22,965
calling upon the people to rise up.
447
00:28:24,365 --> 00:28:27,566
But a technician radioed
to the transmitting tower
448
00:28:27,665 --> 00:28:31,400
to cut them off and
broadcast Viennese waltzes
449
00:28:31,500 --> 00:28:33,865
and Beatles songs instead.
450
00:28:33,965 --> 00:28:36,465
("Tomorrow Never Knows"
by the Beatles playing)
451
00:28:36,566 --> 00:28:42,133
♪ Turn off your mind, relax,
and float downstream ♪
452
00:28:42,232 --> 00:28:45,532
♪ It is not dying
453
00:28:45,633 --> 00:28:50,465
♪ It is not dying
454
00:28:50,566 --> 00:28:57,333
♪ But listen to the
color of your dreams ♪
455
00:28:57,432 --> 00:29:05,432
♪ It is not living, it is not living ♪
456
00:29:06,133 --> 00:29:07,766
(song continues)
457
00:29:15,700 --> 00:29:20,465
NARRATOR: The Saigon suburb of
Bien Hoa was under attack, too.
458
00:29:20,566 --> 00:29:24,165
Enemy forces were assaulting
both the airbase there
459
00:29:24,266 --> 00:29:25,799
and Long Binh,
460
00:29:25,900 --> 00:29:30,000
the largest American
installation in Vietnam.
461
00:29:32,532 --> 00:29:38,000
BRADY: There were VC moving on
the house, moving everywhere.
462
00:29:38,099 --> 00:29:42,266
A lot of shooting, a lot
of confusion going on.
463
00:29:42,365 --> 00:29:45,032
And we were shooting out the window.
464
00:29:45,133 --> 00:29:47,900
And my wife was reloading.
465
00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:50,500
When we ran out of ammunition, we'd sli...
466
00:29:50,599 --> 00:29:54,266
slide the magazine down the tiles
467
00:29:54,365 --> 00:29:56,165
and she was down there at the other end
468
00:29:56,266 --> 00:29:58,865
filling 'em up and sliding 'em back.
469
00:30:00,900 --> 00:30:03,700
NARRATOR: Viet Cong commandos
managed to slip through the wire
470
00:30:03,799 --> 00:30:08,133
at Long Binh and blow up
a huge ammunition dump.
471
00:30:08,232 --> 00:30:11,865
A mushroom cloud rose above the airfield,
472
00:30:11,965 --> 00:30:14,566
so vast that some of the
Americans thought there had been
473
00:30:14,665 --> 00:30:16,700
a nuclear explosion.
474
00:30:16,799 --> 00:30:20,266
The blast blew off the
door of Brady's building.
475
00:30:22,865 --> 00:30:27,000
BRADY: They went up against
the wire in Long Binh
476
00:30:27,099 --> 00:30:28,865
and paid a frightful price.
477
00:30:30,700 --> 00:30:32,799
There were just layers of bodies.
478
00:30:32,900 --> 00:30:35,432
The Americans just cut them down.
479
00:30:38,032 --> 00:30:39,200
Hi, this is Johnny Carson.
480
00:30:39,299 --> 00:30:40,809
As you know, this is the
usual starting time
481
00:30:40,833 --> 00:30:42,133
for theTonight Show.
482
00:30:42,232 --> 00:30:45,900
But because of the critical
war situation in Vietnam,
483
00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:49,099
especially around Saigon,
NBC, for the next 15 minutes,
484
00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:52,165
is going to bring you a special
news program via satellite.
485
00:30:52,266 --> 00:30:54,133
Just after midnight their time,
486
00:30:54,232 --> 00:30:57,000
a band of Viet Cong raiders
blew up a power installation
487
00:30:57,099 --> 00:30:59,299
and attacked two police stations in Saigon.
488
00:30:59,400 --> 00:31:02,032
It all amounts to the most ambitious series
489
00:31:02,133 --> 00:31:03,965
of communist attacks yet mounted,
490
00:31:04,066 --> 00:31:06,732
spreading violence into at
least ten provincial capitals,
491
00:31:06,833 --> 00:31:09,633
plus American air bases and
civilian installations
492
00:31:09,732 --> 00:31:11,799
stretching the entire
length of the country.
493
00:31:11,900 --> 00:31:14,766
None had greater psychological impact
494
00:31:14,865 --> 00:31:17,465
than the assault on the
American embassy in Saigon.
495
00:31:20,732 --> 00:31:23,066
NARRATOR: In the first few
hours of the fighting,
496
00:31:23,165 --> 00:31:27,099
19 specially trained commandos
had blasted their way
497
00:31:27,200 --> 00:31:31,732
into the sprawling compound
of the United States embassy.
498
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:37,465
DON NORTH: There's a... there's a
rush, they're rushing the embassy.
499
00:31:37,566 --> 00:31:39,865
That's fire coming from the
other side of the street now,
500
00:31:39,965 --> 00:31:41,200
outside the embassy.
501
00:31:41,299 --> 00:31:42,865
They're exchanging across the street.
502
00:31:42,965 --> 00:31:44,766
You can see the tracer bullets going past.
503
00:31:44,865 --> 00:31:47,000
(explosions, gunfire, shouting)
504
00:31:47,099 --> 00:31:49,299
That's outside the embassy.
505
00:31:52,799 --> 00:31:54,732
MAN (on radio): Uh, this is Waco, roger.
506
00:31:54,833 --> 00:31:57,365
Uh, can you get in the gates now?
507
00:31:57,465 --> 00:31:59,341
Are the gates open and can
you take a force in there
508
00:31:59,365 --> 00:32:01,333
and clean out that embassy right now?
509
00:32:01,432 --> 00:32:03,400
(shouting)
510
00:32:17,099 --> 00:32:19,566
NORTH: Apparently the Viet Cong
are trapped in the basement
511
00:32:19,665 --> 00:32:23,900
of this side building,
an incredible situation.
512
00:32:30,333 --> 00:32:33,065
Heavy firing, incoming and outgoing.
513
00:32:33,166 --> 00:32:37,233
Don North, ABC News, at the U.S.
embassy, in Saigon.
514
00:32:37,333 --> 00:32:42,532
NARRATOR: All of the intruders were
eventually killed or captured.
515
00:32:43,932 --> 00:32:46,132
NORTH: What a sight.
516
00:32:46,233 --> 00:32:50,400
A small frog hopping
through a pool of blood
517
00:32:50,500 --> 00:32:54,865
that's issuing from the
head of a Viet Cong,
518
00:32:54,965 --> 00:33:00,965
lying on the green grassy
lawn of the U.S. embassy.
519
00:33:05,432 --> 00:33:08,266
NGUYEN VAN TONG:
520
00:33:23,766 --> 00:33:28,032
NARRATOR: An American Marine
and four Army MPs were killed
521
00:33:28,132 --> 00:33:29,666
at the embassy.
522
00:33:31,365 --> 00:33:33,800
REPORTER: General, how would you assess
523
00:33:33,900 --> 00:33:35,432
yesterday's activities and today's?
524
00:33:35,532 --> 00:33:37,492
What is the enemy doing?
Are these major attacks?
525
00:33:37,565 --> 00:33:39,166
Or... (explosion)
526
00:33:41,065 --> 00:33:46,833
That's E.O.D. setting off a
couple of M-79 duds, I believe.
527
00:33:46,932 --> 00:33:50,699
The enemy, very deceitfully,
528
00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:54,166
has taken advantage of the Tet truce,
529
00:33:54,266 --> 00:34:01,132
in order to, uh... create
maximum consternation.
530
00:34:01,233 --> 00:34:03,599
In my opinion, this is diversionary...
531
00:34:03,699 --> 00:34:07,532
NARRATOR: Early wire service
dispatches reported incorrectly
532
00:34:07,632 --> 00:34:12,199
that the Viet Cong had made
it inside the embassy itself.
533
00:34:12,300 --> 00:34:15,365
REPORTER: Embassy ID cards were
found on some of the Viet Cong.
534
00:34:15,465 --> 00:34:17,932
NARRATOR: And the first
television footage did little
535
00:34:18,032 --> 00:34:22,065
to reassure the American public.
536
00:34:22,166 --> 00:34:23,608
REPORTER: Is Saigon secure right now?
537
00:34:23,632 --> 00:34:26,632
Saigon's secure as far as I know.
538
00:34:26,733 --> 00:34:28,075
There's no more fighting in the streets?
539
00:34:28,099 --> 00:34:29,376
There may be some in the outskirts still.
540
00:34:29,400 --> 00:34:32,233
I'm not sure, don't know.
541
00:34:32,333 --> 00:34:33,699
I'm not sure about that, no.
542
00:34:35,599 --> 00:34:38,365
NARRATOR: Saigon was far from secure.
543
00:34:38,465 --> 00:34:40,365
(shouting)
544
00:34:57,833 --> 00:34:59,833
(no voice)
545
00:35:04,865 --> 00:35:07,833
(distant, echoing gunfire)
546
00:35:07,932 --> 00:35:08,932
(screaming)
547
00:35:09,032 --> 00:35:10,932
Viet Cong assassination squads,
548
00:35:11,032 --> 00:35:15,032
some guided by North Vietnamese spies,
549
00:35:15,132 --> 00:35:19,099
moved through the streets with
orders to kill what they called
550
00:35:19,199 --> 00:35:21,065
"blood" enemies of the people...
551
00:35:21,166 --> 00:35:23,266
(gunfire, screaming)
552
00:35:23,365 --> 00:35:29,132
bureaucrats, intelligence
officers, ARVN commanders,
553
00:35:29,233 --> 00:35:33,599
and ordinary soldiers home on
leave, and their families.
554
00:35:33,699 --> 00:35:37,965
DUONG VAN MAI ELLIOTT: I went
home to visit my parents
555
00:35:38,065 --> 00:35:41,833
and I found them kind of huddled
in their house, the doors shut,
556
00:35:41,932 --> 00:35:44,132
the windows shut, very dark.
557
00:35:44,233 --> 00:35:47,333
They were very afraid because
our house was located
558
00:35:47,432 --> 00:35:49,099
near a slum.
559
00:35:49,199 --> 00:35:52,932
And we always assumed that there
were a lot of Viet Cong agents
560
00:35:53,032 --> 00:35:57,699
living among the poor where
they could hide very easily,
561
00:35:57,800 --> 00:36:00,766
and that they were going to come out
562
00:36:00,865 --> 00:36:03,766
and look for government officials,
563
00:36:03,865 --> 00:36:06,932
military personnel to kill.
564
00:36:07,032 --> 00:36:10,099
So my parents were very afraid.
565
00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:17,400
NGUYEN TAI:
566
00:36:32,199 --> 00:36:35,900
(gunfight)
567
00:36:48,166 --> 00:36:49,908
NARRATOR: On the second
day of the fighting,
568
00:36:49,932 --> 00:36:53,599
a Viet Cong agent named Nguyen Van Lem
569
00:36:53,699 --> 00:36:56,666
was brought before Nguyen Ngoc Loan,
570
00:36:56,766 --> 00:36:59,965
the head of the South
Vietnamese National Police.
571
00:37:00,065 --> 00:37:04,532
As an AP photographer and
an NBC cameraman watched,
572
00:37:04,632 --> 00:37:08,500
Loan ordered another officer
to shoot the captive.
573
00:37:08,599 --> 00:37:12,465
When he hesitated, Loan
did the job himself.
574
00:37:27,166 --> 00:37:30,365
HOWARD TUCKNER: The Chief of South
Vietnam's National Police Force,
575
00:37:30,465 --> 00:37:34,166
Brigadier General Nguyen Ngoc
Loan, was waiting for him.
576
00:37:54,865 --> 00:37:56,965
JACK HORNER: Good morning, Mr. President.
577
00:37:57,065 --> 00:37:58,699
JOHNSON: Hi, Jack.
578
00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:00,666
Uh, we need guidance this morning, sir.
579
00:38:00,766 --> 00:38:03,333
Guidance? Uh, is that all you want?
580
00:38:03,432 --> 00:38:04,900
Yes, sir. No quotation?
581
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:06,465
That's right. No attribution.
582
00:38:06,565 --> 00:38:07,599
No connection.
583
00:38:07,699 --> 00:38:09,099
Give it absolutely none.
584
00:38:09,199 --> 00:38:10,666
Absolutely none.
585
00:38:10,766 --> 00:38:13,300
Your press is lying like
drunken sailors every day.
586
00:38:13,400 --> 00:38:18,766
Uh, first thing I wake up this
morning was trying to figure out
587
00:38:18,865 --> 00:38:21,099
after seeing CBS, watching the networks,
588
00:38:21,199 --> 00:38:24,465
reading the morning papers,
was how can we win...
589
00:38:24,565 --> 00:38:27,032
possibly win... and survive as a nation
590
00:38:27,132 --> 00:38:28,965
and have to fight the press's lies.
591
00:38:29,065 --> 00:38:30,365
Yes, sir.
592
00:38:30,465 --> 00:38:31,742
I'm trying to protect my country,
593
00:38:31,766 --> 00:38:33,032
and they're all whipping me.
594
00:38:33,132 --> 00:38:35,833
Not a son of a bitch said
a word about Ho Chi Minh.
595
00:38:35,932 --> 00:38:38,833
They talk about us bombing,
yet these sons of bitches
596
00:38:38,932 --> 00:38:42,199
come in and bomb our embassy and
19 of them try a raid on it.
597
00:38:42,300 --> 00:38:46,532
All 19 get killed and yet
they blame the embassy.
598
00:38:46,632 --> 00:38:47,699
(chuckles)
599
00:38:47,800 --> 00:38:49,599
I don't understand it.
600
00:38:49,699 --> 00:38:52,400
We think we've killed 20,000;
we think we lost 400.
601
00:38:52,500 --> 00:38:56,266
We think that of course
it's bad to lose anybody,
602
00:38:56,365 --> 00:38:58,032
any one of the 400,
603
00:38:58,132 --> 00:39:00,632
but we think that the Good
Lord has been so good to us
604
00:39:00,733 --> 00:39:04,266
that it is a major, dramatic victory.
605
00:39:04,365 --> 00:39:06,000
And I think what would have happened
606
00:39:06,099 --> 00:39:08,199
if I'd lost 20,000 and they'd lost 400?
607
00:39:08,300 --> 00:39:09,166
I ask you that.
608
00:39:09,266 --> 00:39:10,408
Oh, it would've been terrible.
609
00:39:10,432 --> 00:39:11,565
(explosion)
610
00:39:11,666 --> 00:39:15,599
It appears that a mortar
or a rocket shell came in
611
00:39:15,699 --> 00:39:19,965
and, well, there's blood on my pants.
612
00:39:20,065 --> 00:39:22,199
And I guess I'm... I'm hit.
613
00:39:22,300 --> 00:39:25,000
Well, this is the streets of Saigon,
614
00:39:25,099 --> 00:39:28,300
and that's where the war is now.
615
00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:30,032
Howard Tuckner, NBC News.
616
00:39:33,166 --> 00:39:37,233
NARRATOR: The American press
focused almost entirely
617
00:39:37,333 --> 00:39:39,733
on the fighting in Saigon.
618
00:39:39,833 --> 00:39:43,599
But the Tet Offensive was
happening almost everywhere.
619
00:39:45,733 --> 00:39:48,932
Most assaults were being
quickly beaten back by ARVN
620
00:39:49,032 --> 00:39:51,632
and American forces.
621
00:39:51,733 --> 00:39:56,233
Everywhere the enemy was
suffering terrible losses.
622
00:40:08,766 --> 00:40:10,500
(gunfire)
623
00:40:17,733 --> 00:40:20,365
LE VAN CHO:
624
00:40:45,233 --> 00:40:49,532
NARRATOR: The Americans called in
massive air and artillery firepower
625
00:40:49,632 --> 00:40:53,900
to dislodge a Viet Cong regiment
from the city of Ben Tre
626
00:40:54,000 --> 00:40:56,300
in the Mekong Delta.
627
00:40:56,400 --> 00:41:01,199
Afterwards, a reporter quoted an
American major as having said,
628
00:41:01,300 --> 00:41:07,965
"It became necessary to
destroy the town to save it."
629
00:41:08,065 --> 00:41:14,500
Right now, the Navy and the Army
boats that also bring supplies
630
00:41:14,599 --> 00:41:18,300
up the Perfume River are having
to undergo heavy small arms
631
00:41:18,400 --> 00:41:20,632
and mortar fire as they
turn the bend in the river
632
00:41:20,733 --> 00:41:22,632
here around Hue itself.
633
00:41:22,733 --> 00:41:25,099
And the landing zone on this
the south side of the river
634
00:41:25,199 --> 00:41:28,365
has been under almost constant
mortar and small arms fire.
635
00:41:28,465 --> 00:41:31,733
And today, at any rate, Hue is cut off.
636
00:41:36,065 --> 00:41:39,266
NARRATOR: The longest, bloodiest
battle of the Tet Offensive
637
00:41:39,365 --> 00:41:41,300
was being fought in the streets
638
00:41:41,400 --> 00:41:44,166
of one of the country's loveliest cities,
639
00:41:44,266 --> 00:41:47,965
the former imperial capital Hue.
640
00:41:48,065 --> 00:41:50,266
(gunfire)
641
00:41:53,400 --> 00:41:56,333
(shouting, gunfire)
642
00:42:04,065 --> 00:42:07,266
The Perfume River divided Hue in two.
643
00:42:07,365 --> 00:42:10,465
The enemy... North Vietnamese regulars
644
00:42:10,565 --> 00:42:12,365
and Viet Cong guerrillas...
645
00:42:12,465 --> 00:42:15,432
had taken over both sides of the city.
646
00:42:15,532 --> 00:42:19,365
Only the American advisers'
compound on the south bank
647
00:42:19,465 --> 00:42:21,965
and the 1st ARVN division headquarters
648
00:42:22,065 --> 00:42:25,300
within the thick-walled
Citadel on the north side
649
00:42:25,400 --> 00:42:27,166
held out against them.
650
00:42:37,400 --> 00:42:40,432
NGUYEN NGOC:
651
00:43:04,432 --> 00:43:08,199
NARRATOR: Marine Corporal Bill
Ehrhart was at the end of his tour
652
00:43:08,300 --> 00:43:10,532
and was preparing to go home.
653
00:43:10,632 --> 00:43:12,733
But when his company was ordered
654
00:43:12,833 --> 00:43:16,465
to relieve the besieged
American compound in Hue,
655
00:43:16,565 --> 00:43:19,733
he chose to go with his comrades.
656
00:43:19,833 --> 00:43:23,800
EHRHART: I had spent 12 months in Vietnam
looking for somebody to shoot at
657
00:43:23,900 --> 00:43:26,766
and there was nobody there.
658
00:43:26,865 --> 00:43:29,833
And then all of a sudden
659
00:43:29,932 --> 00:43:33,365
it seemed like here's
every NVA in the world
660
00:43:33,465 --> 00:43:36,032
trying to kill me and my pals.
661
00:43:36,132 --> 00:43:40,099
It was an entirely different kind of fight.
662
00:43:49,965 --> 00:43:53,300
NARRATOR: Ehrhart and his
unit endured a bloody ambush,
663
00:43:53,400 --> 00:43:57,032
finally fought their way
through to the MACV compound,
664
00:43:57,132 --> 00:44:01,500
and then began days of
brutal block-by-block battle
665
00:44:01,599 --> 00:44:04,233
to retake the surrounding neighborhoods.
666
00:44:05,400 --> 00:44:07,766
Every house became a battlefield.
667
00:44:18,233 --> 00:44:21,599
"It was exhilarating," Ehrhart remembered.
668
00:44:21,699 --> 00:44:24,833
"I was scared utterly witless,
669
00:44:24,932 --> 00:44:27,365
"but it was the greatest adrenaline high
670
00:44:27,465 --> 00:44:30,032
I'd ever experienced."
671
00:44:31,532 --> 00:44:34,565
EHRHART: It was ugly, ugly fighting.
672
00:44:34,666 --> 00:44:37,932
You literally have to clear
houses a room at a time,
673
00:44:38,032 --> 00:44:40,800
a floor at a time, a house at a time.
674
00:44:40,900 --> 00:44:43,932
And then you go to the next one.
675
00:44:45,465 --> 00:44:48,599
NGUYEN THI HOA:
676
00:45:14,532 --> 00:45:16,800
(gunfire)
677
00:45:27,432 --> 00:45:30,632
(soldier yelling instructions
over deafening gunfight)
678
00:45:30,733 --> 00:45:32,699
(gunfight grows louder)
679
00:45:36,932 --> 00:45:38,432
(explosion, then silence)
680
00:45:41,900 --> 00:45:45,400
February 5, I was wounded by a B40 rocket.
681
00:45:47,000 --> 00:45:48,932
I was utterly stone deaf.
682
00:45:52,166 --> 00:45:56,199
Under any other circumstances
I would have been evacuated.
683
00:45:56,300 --> 00:46:00,833
But I could see, I could
walk, and I could shoot.
684
00:46:00,932 --> 00:46:02,132
So I stayed.
685
00:46:07,166 --> 00:46:10,166
(distant, muffled gunfire)
686
00:46:18,733 --> 00:46:22,099
(heartbeat grows louder over muted din)
687
00:46:22,199 --> 00:46:24,500
(explosion, shouting)
688
00:46:31,132 --> 00:46:33,065
NARRATOR: The fighting continued.
689
00:46:35,632 --> 00:46:38,833
(gunshots whizzing, soldiers
cacophonously screaming in pain)
690
00:46:38,932 --> 00:46:43,599
"We had to blow our way through
every wall of every house,"
691
00:46:43,699 --> 00:46:45,199
one Marine remembered.
692
00:46:45,300 --> 00:46:50,666
"It's a shame we had to damage
such a beautiful city."
693
00:46:52,766 --> 00:46:55,333
EHRHART: Of course, all these
civilians have been herded
694
00:46:55,432 --> 00:46:57,266
into the university.
695
00:46:57,365 --> 00:47:00,500
They had all gone there
to get the hell away
696
00:47:00,599 --> 00:47:02,575
from having grenades thrown
in their living rooms.
697
00:47:02,599 --> 00:47:05,132
And one of the guys comes in and says,
698
00:47:05,233 --> 00:47:11,666
"I found this-this girl who will
fuck us all for C rations."
699
00:47:11,766 --> 00:47:13,300
And I'm thinking,
700
00:47:13,400 --> 00:47:15,532
"Wait, we're in the
middle of this big battle
701
00:47:15,632 --> 00:47:18,800
and I'm gonna go and..."
702
00:47:20,465 --> 00:47:26,599
But I'm 19 years old and my
buddies are gonna, and I just...
703
00:47:26,699 --> 00:47:31,233
I demonstrated to myself how
little courage I actually had.
704
00:47:31,333 --> 00:47:36,099
I've lived with it ever
since, but I-I-I did it
705
00:47:36,199 --> 00:47:37,666
because I wasn't gonna say,
706
00:47:37,766 --> 00:47:41,266
"You guys, we shouldn't
do something like this."
707
00:47:41,365 --> 00:47:45,599
Even more than the killings,
708
00:47:45,699 --> 00:47:48,833
the thing I think I'm most ashamed of
709
00:47:48,932 --> 00:47:53,400
when I think back on the
time I spent there.
710
00:47:53,500 --> 00:48:01,099
I think it's because my mother's
a woman, my wife's a woman,
711
00:48:01,199 --> 00:48:04,065
my daughter's a woman.
712
00:48:04,166 --> 00:48:05,800
(sighs)
713
00:48:10,965 --> 00:48:14,599
Somebody gets shot, not a good thing.
714
00:48:14,699 --> 00:48:17,333
You see somebody running away,
715
00:48:17,432 --> 00:48:20,900
I don't know, it could've been a VC.
716
00:48:21,000 --> 00:48:22,666
But that woman?
717
00:48:24,233 --> 00:48:26,666
Nah.
718
00:48:26,766 --> 00:48:29,465
I had every opportunity to say no.
719
00:48:29,565 --> 00:48:32,233
(gunfire)
720
00:48:32,333 --> 00:48:36,565
NARRATOR: The next day, in the
midst of still another firefight,
721
00:48:36,666 --> 00:48:40,065
a lieutenant in a jeep pulled
up in front of the building
722
00:48:40,166 --> 00:48:43,599
from which Ehrhart and five
fellow Marines were firing
723
00:48:43,699 --> 00:48:45,132
at the enemy.
724
00:48:45,233 --> 00:48:48,199
"Come on, Ehrhart!" he shouted.
725
00:48:48,300 --> 00:48:50,166
"Chopper's on the LZ right now.
726
00:48:50,266 --> 00:48:52,865
You want to go home or not?"
727
00:48:55,000 --> 00:48:57,965
From the helicopter that
lifted him up and away
728
00:48:58,065 --> 00:48:59,965
from the ruined, smoking city,
729
00:49:00,065 --> 00:49:02,500
he could see a farmer and his water buffalo
730
00:49:02,599 --> 00:49:04,965
working a flooded field
731
00:49:05,065 --> 00:49:08,900
and women in conical hats
carrying twin baskets
732
00:49:09,000 --> 00:49:14,000
hurrying along between the
paddies as if there were no war.
733
00:49:17,699 --> 00:49:21,632
Back in Hue, the Viet Cong
and North Vietnamese troops
734
00:49:21,733 --> 00:49:25,865
now found themselves
trapped inside the city.
735
00:49:26,532 --> 00:49:29,465
NGUYEN NGOC:
736
00:49:42,932 --> 00:49:43,932
(gunfire)
737
00:49:47,432 --> 00:49:48,833
NARRATOR: It would take two weeks
738
00:49:48,932 --> 00:49:51,632
for the Marines to fight
their way across the river
739
00:49:51,733 --> 00:49:54,365
to support the ARVN,
740
00:49:54,465 --> 00:49:55,865
who had stubbornly kept the enemy
741
00:49:55,965 --> 00:50:00,365
from overwhelming their division
headquarters in the Citadel.
742
00:50:20,266 --> 00:50:23,233
DAVID BURRINGTON: What's
the hardest part of it?
743
00:50:23,333 --> 00:50:25,766
Not knowing where they are,
that's the worst of it.
744
00:50:25,865 --> 00:50:27,841
Riding around and running in
the sewers, in the gutters,
745
00:50:27,865 --> 00:50:28,932
anywhere.
746
00:50:29,032 --> 00:50:30,599
Could be anywhere.
747
00:50:30,699 --> 00:50:32,432
Just hoping to stay alive and day to day.
748
00:50:32,532 --> 00:50:34,476
Everybody just wants to go
back home and go to school.
749
00:50:34,500 --> 00:50:35,733
That's about it.
750
00:50:35,833 --> 00:50:36,841
Have you lost any friends?
751
00:50:36,865 --> 00:50:38,000
Quite a few.
752
00:50:38,099 --> 00:50:40,300
We lost one the other
day, good buddy of mine.
753
00:50:40,400 --> 00:50:41,733
The whole thing stinks, really.
754
00:50:46,599 --> 00:50:50,965
(gunfire, shouting)
755
00:50:56,932 --> 00:50:58,599
HO HUU LAN:
756
00:51:08,300 --> 00:51:09,333
He's still alive.
757
00:51:18,865 --> 00:51:23,632
NGUYEN THI HOA:
758
00:51:42,233 --> 00:51:45,532
NARRATOR: After 26 days of
bitter, bloody fighting,
759
00:51:45,632 --> 00:51:50,800
the flag of South Vietnam
flew again above the Citadel.
760
00:51:50,900 --> 00:51:54,733
The surviving North
Vietnamese and Viet Cong
761
00:51:54,833 --> 00:51:57,199
were finally permitted by their commanders
762
00:51:57,300 --> 00:51:59,132
to pull out of the city.
763
00:51:59,233 --> 00:52:03,900
Some 6,000 civilians had
died in the rubble.
764
00:52:04,000 --> 00:52:11,733
Of the city's 135,000 citizens,
110,000 had lost their homes.
765
00:52:15,166 --> 00:52:18,132
All that was left of
Hue, one reporter wrote,
766
00:52:18,233 --> 00:52:21,333
was "ruins divided by a river."
767
00:52:23,632 --> 00:52:25,233
JOHNSON (on TV): The biggest fact is
768
00:52:25,333 --> 00:52:29,233
that the stated purposes
of the General Uprising...
769
00:52:29,333 --> 00:52:33,166
a military victory or a
psychological victory...
770
00:52:33,266 --> 00:52:34,733
have failed.
771
00:52:36,199 --> 00:52:37,841
DON WEBSTER: The attack
on the radio station
772
00:52:37,865 --> 00:52:39,766
started at 2:30 in the morning.
773
00:52:39,865 --> 00:52:42,900
NARRATOR: Night after night for weeks,
774
00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:46,800
American television screens
had been filled with images
775
00:52:46,900 --> 00:52:49,699
of blood and violence and devastation
776
00:52:49,800 --> 00:52:52,465
the public had rarely seen before.
777
00:52:52,565 --> 00:52:55,465
GEORGE SYVERTSON: The enemy
was nowhere and everywhere.
778
00:52:55,565 --> 00:52:59,266
NARRATOR: But it was one
photograph that for many people
779
00:52:59,365 --> 00:53:02,365
would come to define the Tet Offensive.
780
00:53:06,766 --> 00:53:10,532
SAM HYNES: I remember he was
wearing a checked shirt.
781
00:53:10,632 --> 00:53:15,233
And the photographer had come up very close
782
00:53:15,333 --> 00:53:16,766
and had pressed his shutter
783
00:53:16,865 --> 00:53:21,400
just as the officer pulled his trigger.
784
00:53:21,500 --> 00:53:24,199
So camera and gun went off together
785
00:53:24,300 --> 00:53:28,065
and you could see the man's
head bulging at the side
786
00:53:28,166 --> 00:53:31,900
where the bullet was about to come out.
787
00:53:32,000 --> 00:53:35,565
We were there, face-to-face
with this man who was dying,
788
00:53:35,666 --> 00:53:36,932
right now, dead.
789
00:53:37,032 --> 00:53:40,632
JAMES WILLBANKS: It's a
devastating thing to see.
790
00:53:40,733 --> 00:53:43,400
And I think many Americans
began to ask themselves,
791
00:53:43,500 --> 00:53:46,432
"Are we supporting the wrong guys here?"
792
00:53:46,532 --> 00:53:51,333
And it sort of brings home, I
think to, to the dinner table,
793
00:53:51,432 --> 00:53:53,666
or the breakfast table if
you see it in the papers,
794
00:53:53,766 --> 00:53:55,833
the brutality of this war
795
00:53:55,932 --> 00:53:59,000
and the fact that it looks
like it's never going to end.
796
00:53:59,099 --> 00:54:05,266
PHAN QUANG TUE: But what we know is the
price that we pay for that picture.
797
00:54:05,365 --> 00:54:07,333
It was the turning point.
798
00:54:07,432 --> 00:54:11,233
Because that put the gov...
Americans to position and say,
799
00:54:11,333 --> 00:54:13,766
"Hey, look, we want to spend money
800
00:54:13,865 --> 00:54:15,365
"and the lives of our young people
801
00:54:15,465 --> 00:54:17,400
to protect such a system?"
802
00:54:26,465 --> 00:54:29,900
NARRATOR: For a month, Hal Kushner's
captors had made him walk
803
00:54:30,000 --> 00:54:33,099
deeper and deeper into
the Central Highlands,
804
00:54:33,199 --> 00:54:34,800
always moving at night
805
00:54:34,900 --> 00:54:37,465
so that they would not
be spotted from the air.
806
00:54:39,532 --> 00:54:43,900
KUSHNER: They took me to this place
that I assume was a hospital.
807
00:54:44,000 --> 00:54:45,333
It was just a series of caves
808
00:54:45,432 --> 00:54:48,365
but there were a lot of
wounded lying around.
809
00:54:48,465 --> 00:54:56,000
And this female nurse came
out and inspected my wound.
810
00:54:56,099 --> 00:55:00,400
And then she gave me a
bamboo stick to bite on.
811
00:55:00,500 --> 00:55:03,865
She laid me down and she gave me
this bamboo stick to bite on.
812
00:55:03,965 --> 00:55:06,266
And then she took this rifle-cleaning rod
813
00:55:06,365 --> 00:55:08,932
and she heated it up in a
fire until it was red hot.
814
00:55:10,932 --> 00:55:12,865
And she took it and put it through my wound
815
00:55:12,965 --> 00:55:14,900
through and through.
816
00:55:15,000 --> 00:55:16,632
And it really hurt.
817
00:55:16,733 --> 00:55:19,632
It really, really, really hurt.
818
00:55:19,733 --> 00:55:22,365
And then she put
Mercurochrome on the wound.
819
00:55:22,465 --> 00:55:26,666
And she gave me an aspirin tablet.
820
00:55:26,766 --> 00:55:31,565
And I... I thought, what
else can they do to me?
821
00:55:31,666 --> 00:55:36,132
NARRATOR: Kushner would eventually
arrive at a remote jungle camp,
822
00:55:36,233 --> 00:55:40,432
joining a handful of other
American prisoners.
823
00:55:42,565 --> 00:55:45,132
And this Vietnamese officer came
to me and he spoke English.
824
00:55:45,233 --> 00:55:48,333
And that was the first real
English speaker that I had seen.
825
00:55:48,432 --> 00:55:50,833
And he had a little
reel-to-reel tape recorder,
826
00:55:50,932 --> 00:55:53,465
battery-powered tape recorder.
827
00:55:53,565 --> 00:55:56,333
And he asked me to make
a message to my family
828
00:55:56,432 --> 00:55:59,099
to let them know that I was safe.
829
00:55:59,199 --> 00:56:01,465
And I could do that if I
would make a statement
830
00:56:01,565 --> 00:56:03,699
against the war.
831
00:56:03,800 --> 00:56:07,233
And I told... I told him with great bravado
832
00:56:07,333 --> 00:56:09,166
that I would rather die
than make a statement
833
00:56:09,266 --> 00:56:10,766
against my country.
834
00:56:10,865 --> 00:56:12,699
And he said to me,
835
00:56:12,800 --> 00:56:17,733
"You will find dying is very easy.
836
00:56:17,833 --> 00:56:21,199
"Living will be the difficult thing.
837
00:56:21,300 --> 00:56:23,733
Living is the difficult thing."
838
00:56:27,132 --> 00:56:32,300
NARRATOR: In early March, two weeks
after Hue had finally been recaptured,
839
00:56:32,400 --> 00:56:36,400
Second Lieutenant Phil Gioia
of the 82nd Airborne Division
840
00:56:36,500 --> 00:56:40,000
led his platoon along the Perfume River,
841
00:56:40,099 --> 00:56:42,233
looking for weapons that
might have been buried
842
00:56:42,333 --> 00:56:44,400
by the retreating enemy.
843
00:56:44,500 --> 00:56:48,400
Gioia's sergeant, Reuben Torres,
844
00:56:48,500 --> 00:56:51,365
saw something sticking
up from the sandy soil.
845
00:56:51,465 --> 00:56:55,132
It was an elbow.
846
00:56:55,233 --> 00:56:59,333
So to us it seemed as though
this was going to be a grave
847
00:56:59,432 --> 00:57:02,032
where the enemy had buried
some of his own people
848
00:57:02,132 --> 00:57:03,900
on the withdrawal from Hue.
849
00:57:04,000 --> 00:57:06,965
Sergeant Torres said, "You know, sir,
850
00:57:07,065 --> 00:57:10,065
I think we better start to dig here."
851
00:57:10,166 --> 00:57:14,132
We found the first body and it was a woman.
852
00:57:14,233 --> 00:57:18,199
She was wearing a white
blouse and black trousers.
853
00:57:18,300 --> 00:57:20,300
She had her hands tied behind her back
854
00:57:20,400 --> 00:57:23,365
and she'd been shot in
the back of the head.
855
00:57:23,465 --> 00:57:26,965
Next to her was a child,
who'd also been shot.
856
00:57:27,065 --> 00:57:32,199
The next person coming
up was another woman.
857
00:57:32,300 --> 00:57:35,532
At that point it was clear
that this-this wasn't
858
00:57:35,632 --> 00:57:37,632
enemy North Vietnamese or Viet Cong.
859
00:57:39,365 --> 00:57:42,465
NGUYEN NGOC:
860
00:57:59,632 --> 00:58:01,233
(gunfire)
861
00:58:02,932 --> 00:58:04,932
NARRATOR: Before they abandoned the city,
862
00:58:05,032 --> 00:58:07,932
the communists had systematically executed
863
00:58:08,032 --> 00:58:12,465
at least 2,800 people
they called "hooligans"
864
00:58:12,565 --> 00:58:15,233
and "reactionaries."
865
00:58:15,333 --> 00:58:16,932
Hanoi would always deny
866
00:58:17,032 --> 00:58:20,365
that any innocent civilians
had been killed.
867
00:58:20,465 --> 00:58:22,400
(woman sobbing)
868
00:58:23,199 --> 00:58:24,865
NGUYEN NGOC:
869
00:58:50,500 --> 00:58:52,833
(woman wailing in grief)
870
00:58:52,932 --> 00:58:57,400
HO HUU LAN:
871
00:59:26,266 --> 00:59:30,266
NARRATOR: President Johnson insisted
that the Tet Offensive had been
872
00:59:30,365 --> 00:59:33,632
"a devastating defeat for the communists."
873
00:59:33,733 --> 00:59:36,500
Militarily, he was right.
874
00:59:36,599 --> 00:59:40,632
The basic assumptions on which
the North Vietnamese mounted
875
00:59:40,733 --> 00:59:44,199
their offensive had all proved to be wrong.
876
00:59:44,300 --> 00:59:48,166
Hanoi's leaders had assumed
the ARVN would crumble,
877
00:59:48,266 --> 00:59:53,065
that South Vietnamese soldiers
would come over to their side.
878
00:59:53,166 --> 00:59:57,000
Instead, not a single unit defected.
879
00:59:58,632 --> 01:00:02,599
The civilian populace
Hanoi expected to rise up
880
01:00:02,699 --> 01:00:05,132
may have been unhappy
with their government,
881
01:00:05,233 --> 01:00:09,132
but they had little sympathy for communism,
882
01:00:09,233 --> 01:00:13,400
and when the fighting began,
they had hidden in their homes
883
01:00:13,500 --> 01:00:17,632
to escape the fury in the streets.
884
01:00:18,500 --> 01:00:21,766
PHAM DUY TAT:
885
01:00:31,632 --> 01:00:36,132
NARRATOR: North Vietnamese
general Vo Nguyen Giap,
886
01:00:36,233 --> 01:00:38,900
who had opposed the offensive
from the beginning,
887
01:00:39,000 --> 01:00:42,900
later remembered that Tet
had been a "costly lesson,
888
01:00:43,000 --> 01:00:47,233
paid for in blood and bone."
889
01:01:07,800 --> 01:01:11,500
NARRATOR: Of the 84,000 enemy
troops who are estimated
890
01:01:11,599 --> 01:01:15,000
to have taken part in the Tet
Offensive, more than half...
891
01:01:15,099 --> 01:01:20,733
as many as 58,000 men and
women, most of them Viet Cong...
892
01:01:20,833 --> 01:01:25,199
are thought to have been
killed or wounded or captured.
893
01:01:27,199 --> 01:01:30,400
JOHN LAURENCE: The American military
command celebrated the Tet Offensive
894
01:01:30,500 --> 01:01:31,932
as a victory.
895
01:01:32,032 --> 01:01:35,132
You know, "They finally came
at us, and we blew them away,"
896
01:01:35,233 --> 01:01:37,632
which was basically true.
897
01:01:37,733 --> 01:01:41,132
But the administration had been
telling the American public
898
01:01:41,233 --> 01:01:45,865
for most of the end of '67 and
for the first month of 1968
899
01:01:45,965 --> 01:01:47,766
that the war was being won;
900
01:01:47,865 --> 01:01:52,865
that the NLF and the North
Vietnamese were ground down
901
01:01:52,965 --> 01:01:55,833
to such an extent that we
could see the end of the war,
902
01:01:55,932 --> 01:01:57,266
a victory.
903
01:01:57,365 --> 01:02:00,865
The Tet Offensive has forced
our generals to re-evaluate...
904
01:02:00,965 --> 01:02:04,865
So when Tet hit, it contradicted everything
905
01:02:04,965 --> 01:02:07,865
that the administration and
the Saigon country team
906
01:02:07,965 --> 01:02:10,666
had been telling the American
public through its journalists
907
01:02:10,766 --> 01:02:12,865
for the previous four or five months.
908
01:02:12,965 --> 01:02:15,766
John Laurence, CBS News, Saigon.
909
01:02:15,865 --> 01:02:17,705
("White Rabbit" by Jefferson
Airplane playing)
910
01:02:17,800 --> 01:02:22,833
BRADY: It broke the will of the
United States to fight that war.
911
01:02:22,932 --> 01:02:28,465
It was such a shock that it
stripped away the last vestiges
912
01:02:28,565 --> 01:02:32,300
of the fiction and fanciful interpretations
913
01:02:32,400 --> 01:02:36,266
that had led us down this
primrose path into disaster.
914
01:02:36,365 --> 01:02:41,233
After that nobody could be convinced.
915
01:02:41,333 --> 01:02:45,266
And then the most ferocious
possible argument erupted
916
01:02:45,365 --> 01:02:46,699
inside the U.S. government
917
01:02:46,800 --> 01:02:51,733
because the hawks on the war were saying,
918
01:02:51,833 --> 01:02:57,166
"Tet was North Vietnam's last gasp.
919
01:02:57,266 --> 01:03:00,465
"It was their last shot at winning the war,
920
01:03:00,565 --> 01:03:02,300
"and they failed.
921
01:03:02,400 --> 01:03:06,632
We beat them, and that's the end of them."
922
01:03:06,733 --> 01:03:11,465
And we said, "After all these years of war,
923
01:03:11,565 --> 01:03:14,065
"if that's what they are able to do,
924
01:03:14,166 --> 01:03:18,432
"we ought to learn some
lesson about their commitment
925
01:03:18,532 --> 01:03:21,233
to this war as well and the cost to us."
926
01:03:21,333 --> 01:03:25,000
NARRATOR: On March 10,
theNew York Times reported
927
01:03:25,099 --> 01:03:29,800
that the Army was requesting
206,000 additional troops
928
01:03:29,900 --> 01:03:31,632
for Vietnam.
929
01:03:31,733 --> 01:03:34,432
But if the United States
had been winning the war,
930
01:03:34,532 --> 01:03:38,699
many Americans asked, if Tet
had in fact been a disaster
931
01:03:38,800 --> 01:03:42,865
for the enemy, why were
still more men needed?
932
01:03:42,965 --> 01:03:46,465
More and more members of
the president's own party
933
01:03:46,565 --> 01:03:50,065
now felt free to express their doubts.
934
01:03:50,166 --> 01:03:54,132
"Our enemy has finally shattered
the mask of official illusion,"
935
01:03:54,233 --> 01:03:56,632
Senator Robert Kennedy said.
936
01:03:56,733 --> 01:03:59,833
"Unable to defeat him or break his will,
937
01:03:59,932 --> 01:04:03,865
we must actively seek a
peaceful settlement."
938
01:04:03,965 --> 01:04:05,666
...can cope with its problems.
939
01:04:05,766 --> 01:04:10,300
NARRATOR: Walter Cronkite, the respected
anchor of theCBS Evening News,
940
01:04:10,400 --> 01:04:13,166
had come home from
covering the Tet Offensive
941
01:04:13,266 --> 01:04:17,333
convinced victory was no longer possible.
942
01:04:17,432 --> 01:04:20,000
We have been too often
disappointed by the optimism
943
01:04:20,099 --> 01:04:23,233
of the American leaders, both
in Vietnam and Washington,
944
01:04:23,333 --> 01:04:26,666
to have faith any longer in
the silver linings they find
945
01:04:26,766 --> 01:04:28,266
in the darkest clouds.
946
01:04:28,365 --> 01:04:32,565
To say that we are closer to
victory today is to believe,
947
01:04:32,666 --> 01:04:34,099
in the face of the evidence,
948
01:04:34,199 --> 01:04:37,000
the optimists who have
been wrong in the past.
949
01:04:37,099 --> 01:04:39,699
To suggest we are on the edge of defeat
950
01:04:39,800 --> 01:04:42,833
is to yield to unreasonable pessimism.
951
01:04:42,932 --> 01:04:45,432
To say that we are mired in stalemate
952
01:04:45,532 --> 01:04:49,266
seems the only realistic if
unsatisfactory conclusion.
953
01:04:49,365 --> 01:04:52,733
But it is increasingly
clear to this reporter
954
01:04:52,833 --> 01:04:57,266
that the only rational way out
then will be to negotiate,
955
01:04:57,365 --> 01:05:01,666
not as victors, but as an
honorable people who lived up
956
01:05:01,766 --> 01:05:03,699
to their pledge to defend democracy
957
01:05:03,800 --> 01:05:06,500
and did the best they could.
958
01:05:06,599 --> 01:05:08,233
This is Walter Cronkite.
959
01:05:08,333 --> 01:05:09,733
Goodnight.
960
01:05:09,833 --> 01:05:12,500
EUGENE McCARTHY: In 1966, in '67,
961
01:05:12,599 --> 01:05:14,632
and again in '68,
962
01:05:14,733 --> 01:05:17,699
most recently we hear the same
hollow claims of progress
963
01:05:17,800 --> 01:05:21,065
and of advance toward victory.
964
01:05:21,166 --> 01:05:24,333
The fact is, however, as we know
from events of recent weeks,
965
01:05:24,432 --> 01:05:27,900
events which one is almost
saddened to report,
966
01:05:28,000 --> 01:05:30,365
that the enemy has become bolder than ever.
967
01:05:30,465 --> 01:05:33,965
NARRATOR: On the evening of March 12,
968
01:05:34,065 --> 01:05:36,666
President Johnson watched
the returns come in
969
01:05:36,766 --> 01:05:40,300
from the New Hampshire
Democratic presidential primary,
970
01:05:40,400 --> 01:05:44,199
where he was facing an
unexpected challenge.
971
01:05:44,300 --> 01:05:46,365
The most recent poll had suggested
972
01:05:46,465 --> 01:05:49,733
he would beat Eugene McCarthy two to one.
973
01:05:49,833 --> 01:05:54,532
But Johnson won just 49.6% of the vote
974
01:05:54,632 --> 01:05:58,266
against 41.9% for his opponent,
975
01:05:58,365 --> 01:06:02,565
even though most of those who
voted against the president
976
01:06:02,666 --> 01:06:07,233
actually wanted him to prosecute
the war more vigorously.
977
01:06:07,333 --> 01:06:10,465
Johnson knew he was in trouble.
978
01:06:10,565 --> 01:06:12,642
ROBERT KENNEDY: ...for the
presidency of the United States...
979
01:06:12,666 --> 01:06:14,699
NARRATOR: And there was more to come.
980
01:06:14,800 --> 01:06:18,432
I do not run for the presidency
merely to oppose any man...
981
01:06:18,532 --> 01:06:21,965
NARRATOR: Just four days after
the New Hampshire primary,
982
01:06:22,065 --> 01:06:27,565
Robert F. Kennedy declared his
candidacy for the presidency,
983
01:06:27,666 --> 01:06:31,632
and polls suggested he was more
popular than Lyndon Johnson.
984
01:06:31,733 --> 01:06:33,600
...about what must be done.
985
01:06:33,699 --> 01:06:37,300
I run because it is now unmistakably clear
986
01:06:37,399 --> 01:06:42,699
that we can change these
disastrous, divisive policies
987
01:06:42,800 --> 01:06:46,733
only by changing the men
who are now making them.
988
01:06:50,199 --> 01:06:52,199
(din of large crowd)
989
01:06:55,132 --> 01:06:57,565
LYNDON JOHNSON: I think
what we've got to do, too,
990
01:06:57,666 --> 01:07:02,033
is get out of the posture of
just being the war candidate
991
01:07:02,132 --> 01:07:05,166
that McCarthy has put us in,
and Bobby's putting us in,
992
01:07:05,265 --> 01:07:06,365
the kids are putting us in,
993
01:07:06,466 --> 01:07:08,100
and the papers are putting us in.
994
01:07:08,199 --> 01:07:10,632
We've got to come up with something.
995
01:07:10,733 --> 01:07:14,000
CLARK CLIFFORD: What it
is: we're out to win,
996
01:07:14,100 --> 01:07:16,600
but we're not out to win the war.
997
01:07:16,699 --> 01:07:17,832
We're out to win the peace.
998
01:07:17,932 --> 01:07:19,233
JOHNSON: That's right.
999
01:07:19,332 --> 01:07:20,642
CLIFFORD: And that's what we give them,
1000
01:07:20,666 --> 01:07:22,142
and what our slogan could very well be...
1001
01:07:22,166 --> 01:07:24,466
win the peace with honor.
1002
01:07:24,565 --> 01:07:28,765
JOHNSON: But we've got to have something
new and fresh that goes in there
1003
01:07:28,865 --> 01:07:30,966
along with the statement
that we're going to win.
1004
01:07:31,065 --> 01:07:32,699
CLIFFORD: Right.
1005
01:07:32,800 --> 01:07:34,699
But we have to be very careful
1006
01:07:34,800 --> 01:07:36,500
what it is we say we're going to win.
1007
01:07:36,600 --> 01:07:38,365
JOHNSON: That's right.
1008
01:07:38,466 --> 01:07:41,065
CLIFFORD: They think, well hell,
that means we're just going
1009
01:07:41,166 --> 01:07:43,765
to keep pouring men in
until we win militarily.
1010
01:07:43,865 --> 01:07:45,932
And that isn't what we're after, really.
1011
01:07:46,033 --> 01:07:49,000
JOHNSON: Uh, we're not
going to get these doves,
1012
01:07:49,100 --> 01:07:51,233
but we can neutralize the country;
1013
01:07:51,332 --> 01:07:52,442
that way it won't follow them,
1014
01:07:52,466 --> 01:07:53,786
if we can come up with something.
1015
01:07:58,365 --> 01:08:03,699
NARRATOR: On March 26, the Wise Men,
a group of veteran cold warriors
1016
01:08:03,800 --> 01:08:06,632
who had earlier urged the
president to hold steady
1017
01:08:06,733 --> 01:08:10,765
in Vietnam, now advised
him to change course.
1018
01:08:10,865 --> 01:08:14,733
Dean Acheson, Harry Truman's
secretary of state,
1019
01:08:14,832 --> 01:08:16,565
spoke for the majority.
1020
01:08:16,666 --> 01:08:20,100
"We can no longer do the
job we set out to do
1021
01:08:20,199 --> 01:08:22,565
in the time we have left," he said,
1022
01:08:22,666 --> 01:08:26,800
"and we must begin to
take steps to disengage."
1023
01:08:26,899 --> 01:08:33,265
The president agreed to send
just 13,500 more troops,
1024
01:08:33,365 --> 01:08:37,765
not the 206,000 the generals had requested,
1025
01:08:37,865 --> 01:08:41,432
and decided to recall William
Westmoreland to Washington
1026
01:08:41,533 --> 01:08:43,699
as chief of staff of the Army,
1027
01:08:43,800 --> 01:08:49,000
replacing him with his deputy,
General Creighton W. Abrams.
1028
01:08:50,800 --> 01:08:55,500
NEIL SHEEHAN: His face was a... was
a mask of exhaustion and defeat.
1029
01:08:55,600 --> 01:08:58,332
It was very sad to see the man.
1030
01:08:58,432 --> 01:09:01,765
He-he was broken by it.
1031
01:09:03,365 --> 01:09:05,500
NARRATOR: On March 30, Gallup reported
1032
01:09:05,600 --> 01:09:08,932
that 63% of the public disapproved
1033
01:09:09,033 --> 01:09:11,733
of Johnson's handling of the war,
1034
01:09:11,832 --> 01:09:15,800
the lowest point of his presidency.
1035
01:09:15,899 --> 01:09:20,832
The following evening, March 31, 1968,
1036
01:09:20,932 --> 01:09:25,500
the president asked for
time on all three networks.
1037
01:09:26,733 --> 01:09:29,765
Good evening, my fellow Americans.
1038
01:09:29,865 --> 01:09:32,932
Tonight, I want to speak to you
1039
01:09:33,033 --> 01:09:36,000
of peace in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.
1040
01:09:38,000 --> 01:09:40,899
NARRATOR: Johnson announced that
he had decided to stop bombing
1041
01:09:41,000 --> 01:09:45,600
the densely populated areas
around Hanoi and Haiphong
1042
01:09:45,699 --> 01:09:48,500
in the hope that North Vietnam
would finally be willing
1043
01:09:48,600 --> 01:09:51,132
to come to the negotiating table.
1044
01:09:51,233 --> 01:09:53,899
Only the southern half of the country,
1045
01:09:54,000 --> 01:09:56,533
the staging areas north of the DMZ,
1046
01:09:56,632 --> 01:10:00,500
would continue to be targeted.
1047
01:10:00,600 --> 01:10:05,033
Then he stunned the country and the world.
1048
01:10:05,132 --> 01:10:10,466
I do not believe that I
should devote an hour
1049
01:10:10,565 --> 01:10:16,432
or a day of my time to any
personal partisan causes
1050
01:10:16,533 --> 01:10:24,533
or to any duties other than the
awesome duties of this office,
1051
01:10:25,033 --> 01:10:28,865
the presidency of your country.
1052
01:10:28,966 --> 01:10:36,966
Accordingly, I shall not
seek, and I will not accept,
1053
01:10:37,865 --> 01:10:41,832
the nomination of my party for
another term as your president.
1054
01:10:45,565 --> 01:10:48,832
("Live Right Now" by Eddie Harris playing)
1055
01:10:53,166 --> 01:10:56,699
ROGER HARRIS: I land in California and
take a plane from California to Boston.
1056
01:10:56,800 --> 01:11:00,399
And I'm feeling good because I've survived
1057
01:11:00,500 --> 01:11:03,199
and, you know, I fought for my country.
1058
01:11:03,300 --> 01:11:06,166
I got off the plane at Logan
and I stepped out there
1059
01:11:06,265 --> 01:11:08,132
and I'm just happy to be home.
1060
01:11:08,233 --> 01:11:15,033
And I had my uniform on and
walked out to the curb,
1061
01:11:15,132 --> 01:11:19,899
and the cabs just kept going
by me, kept going by me.
1062
01:11:20,000 --> 01:11:22,865
And there was a state trooper
that was standing there.
1063
01:11:22,966 --> 01:11:25,600
And I didn't realize what was happening.
1064
01:11:25,699 --> 01:11:29,065
And then he stepped in the
street and he stopped a cab
1065
01:11:29,166 --> 01:11:31,100
and he says, "You have to take this man.
1066
01:11:31,199 --> 01:11:33,432
You have to take this soldier."
1067
01:11:33,533 --> 01:11:35,565
And the driver looked
over at me and he said,
1068
01:11:35,666 --> 01:11:38,199
"I don't want to go to Roxbury."
1069
01:11:38,300 --> 01:11:40,666
They don't see me as a soldier.
1070
01:11:40,765 --> 01:11:43,565
You know, they see me as a
nigger coming home here
1071
01:11:43,666 --> 01:11:45,365
and I live in Roxbury.
1072
01:11:45,466 --> 01:11:46,565
You know?
1073
01:11:46,666 --> 01:11:48,399
I'm thinking, "I'm a Marine.
1074
01:11:48,500 --> 01:11:49,865
I'm a Marine," you know.
1075
01:11:49,966 --> 01:11:53,300
"I just fought for my country
13 months in the combat zone.
1076
01:11:53,399 --> 01:11:55,500
And I can't get a cab to get home."
1077
01:11:57,733 --> 01:12:00,533
ROBERT KENNEDY: I have some
very sad news for all of you,
1078
01:12:00,632 --> 01:12:05,765
and, I think, sad news for
all of our fellow citizens,
1079
01:12:05,865 --> 01:12:09,832
and people who love peace
all over the world;
1080
01:12:09,932 --> 01:12:13,565
and that is that Martin
Luther King was shot
1081
01:12:13,666 --> 01:12:15,308
and was killed tonight
in Memphis, Tennessee.
1082
01:12:15,332 --> 01:12:17,100
(crowd screaming in disbelief)
1083
01:12:19,332 --> 01:12:21,432
In this difficult day,
1084
01:12:21,533 --> 01:12:25,132
in this difficult time
for the United States,
1085
01:12:25,233 --> 01:12:29,800
it's perhaps well to ask
what kind of a nation we are
1086
01:12:29,899 --> 01:12:32,300
and what direction we want to move in.
1087
01:12:33,800 --> 01:12:37,300
NARRATOR: Over the next
week, African Americans...
1088
01:12:37,399 --> 01:12:40,399
grieving, frustrated, angry...
1089
01:12:40,500 --> 01:12:45,399
poured into the streets of more
than 100 towns and cities,
1090
01:12:45,500 --> 01:12:50,065
including New York and
Oakland, Newark and Nashville,
1091
01:12:50,166 --> 01:12:55,233
Chicago and Cincinnati and Baltimore,
1092
01:12:55,332 --> 01:12:57,800
and in Washington, D.C.,
1093
01:12:57,899 --> 01:13:01,233
where fires came within two
blocks of the White House.
1094
01:13:03,600 --> 01:13:06,565
STOKELY CARMICHAEL: When they killed Dr.
King they just opened up the eyes
1095
01:13:06,666 --> 01:13:09,466
of a lot of black people who
were afraid to pick up guns.
1096
01:13:09,565 --> 01:13:12,332
Now they will pick up those guns.
1097
01:13:12,432 --> 01:13:14,432
JESSE JACKSON: We're
living in a sick world.
1098
01:13:14,533 --> 01:13:17,466
This racist society in which we live
1099
01:13:17,565 --> 01:13:19,199
is that that really pulled the trigger.
1100
01:13:19,300 --> 01:13:25,065
ROBERT KENNEDY: Violence breeds violence,
repression breeds retaliation,
1101
01:13:25,166 --> 01:13:29,632
and only a cleansing of our whole society
1102
01:13:29,733 --> 01:13:33,466
can remove this sickness from our souls.
1103
01:13:33,565 --> 01:13:36,966
NARRATOR: Tens of thousands
of National Guardsmen,
1104
01:13:37,065 --> 01:13:39,899
regular Army troops and the Marines,
1105
01:13:40,000 --> 01:13:43,832
including Roger Harris's stateside unit,
1106
01:13:43,932 --> 01:13:46,800
were ordered to patrol American streets.
1107
01:13:48,632 --> 01:13:50,832
HARRIS: And I was ready to go.
1108
01:13:50,932 --> 01:13:54,100
Until I saw what they were giving out.
1109
01:13:54,199 --> 01:13:56,166
I thought they were going
to give us billy clubs
1110
01:13:56,265 --> 01:13:58,733
and I thought we were going to
stand in front of buildings,
1111
01:13:58,832 --> 01:14:02,100
you know, and protect,
you know, businesses.
1112
01:14:02,199 --> 01:14:05,800
And they were passing out
flak jackets, helmets,
1113
01:14:05,899 --> 01:14:07,166
M-16s with live ammunition.
1114
01:14:07,265 --> 01:14:11,065
You know, same things we had in Vietnam.
1115
01:14:11,166 --> 01:14:15,932
And when I saw that I said...
I said, "I'm not going.
1116
01:14:16,033 --> 01:14:17,199
I'm not going."
1117
01:14:17,300 --> 01:14:21,100
I said, "I got family in Washington, D.C."
1118
01:14:21,199 --> 01:14:24,832
And my company commander said,
"Get on the truck, Marine."
1119
01:14:27,632 --> 01:14:29,199
I said, "I'm not going."
1120
01:14:31,800 --> 01:14:35,132
I didn't make sergeant
because I refused to go.
1121
01:14:36,733 --> 01:14:43,166
NARRATOR: Forty-six Americans
died, 2,600 were injured,
1122
01:14:43,265 --> 01:14:45,166
20,000 were arrested.
1123
01:14:49,600 --> 01:14:51,033
Later that same month,
1124
01:14:51,132 --> 01:14:54,065
antiwar students seized several buildings
1125
01:14:54,166 --> 01:14:57,699
at Columbia University in Manhattan.
1126
01:14:57,800 --> 01:15:01,733
The occupation lasted a week,
1127
01:15:01,832 --> 01:15:04,800
the first time in American
history that students forced
1128
01:15:04,899 --> 01:15:09,100
a major university to shut down.
1129
01:15:09,199 --> 01:15:12,365
Policemen eventually
drove the demonstrators
1130
01:15:12,466 --> 01:15:13,899
out of the buildings
1131
01:15:14,000 --> 01:15:17,800
and sent more than 100
students to the hospital.
1132
01:15:17,899 --> 01:15:22,166
The United States now
appeared to be more divided
1133
01:15:22,265 --> 01:15:25,500
than at any time since the Civil War.
1134
01:15:26,966 --> 01:15:32,000
That spring, protestors also
took to the streets of London,
1135
01:15:32,100 --> 01:15:34,265
Paris...
1136
01:15:34,365 --> 01:15:36,199
Berlin...
1137
01:15:36,300 --> 01:15:38,265
Prague...
1138
01:15:38,365 --> 01:15:40,000
Rio...
1139
01:15:40,100 --> 01:15:42,332
Jakarta.
1140
01:15:42,432 --> 01:15:45,466
The world seemed to be coming apart.
1141
01:15:51,300 --> 01:15:52,565
(shouting, sirens wailing)
1142
01:16:02,132 --> 01:16:04,065
(static)
1143
01:16:10,199 --> 01:16:12,800
President Johnson's partial bombing halt
1144
01:16:12,899 --> 01:16:15,000
had had the desired effect.
1145
01:16:15,100 --> 01:16:21,432
Hanoi agreed, for the first
time, to talk with Washington.
1146
01:16:21,533 --> 01:16:26,932
Negotiators began meeting at
the Hotel Majestic in Paris.
1147
01:16:27,033 --> 01:16:31,033
But the communists had now
adopted a new double policy.
1148
01:16:31,132 --> 01:16:32,565
They called it
1149
01:16:32,666 --> 01:16:36,733
"talking while fighting,
fighting while talking."
1150
01:16:36,832 --> 01:16:40,132
MAN: Incoming!
1151
01:16:40,233 --> 01:16:43,865
NARRATOR: On May 5, they
launched another offensive
1152
01:16:43,966 --> 01:16:46,500
that Le Duan hoped would somehow achieve
1153
01:16:46,600 --> 01:16:48,800
what the Tet Offensive had not.
1154
01:16:48,899 --> 01:16:55,100
The enemy hit 119 targets in
what came to be called Mini-Tet.
1155
01:16:58,699 --> 01:17:01,365
There was new fighting in
the streets of Saigon.
1156
01:17:05,466 --> 01:17:08,432
Half the city was now leveled.
1157
01:17:17,365 --> 01:17:21,865
But the Viet Cong and the North
Vietnamese Army failed again.
1158
01:17:21,966 --> 01:17:23,966
They were still no closer
1159
01:17:24,065 --> 01:17:26,865
to overthrowing the South
Vietnamese government,
1160
01:17:26,966 --> 01:17:31,632
and they had suffered some
36,000 more casualties.
1161
01:17:35,932 --> 01:17:41,065
For the United States, May of
1968 proved the bloodiest month
1162
01:17:41,166 --> 01:17:44,100
of the Vietnam War.
1163
01:17:44,199 --> 01:17:49,365
2,416 Americans lost their lives
1164
01:17:49,466 --> 01:17:51,865
in places whose names Americans back home
1165
01:17:51,966 --> 01:17:55,565
would have a hard time remembering:
1166
01:17:55,666 --> 01:18:00,100
Dai Do, Phu Lam, Kham Duc,
1167
01:18:00,199 --> 01:18:04,565
Cholon, and the Plain of Reeds.
1168
01:18:06,932 --> 01:18:10,666
ROBERT KENNEDY: A total military
victory is not within sight
1169
01:18:10,765 --> 01:18:12,666
and is not around the corner;
1170
01:18:12,765 --> 01:18:16,332
that, in fact, it is
probably beyond our grasp.
1171
01:18:16,432 --> 01:18:18,533
NARRATOR: For a time that spring,
1172
01:18:18,632 --> 01:18:20,765
it looked as if Robert Kennedy might win
1173
01:18:20,865 --> 01:18:24,600
the Democratic nomination for president.
1174
01:18:24,699 --> 01:18:29,565
He pledged to bring the war to
an end and seemed to embody
1175
01:18:29,666 --> 01:18:32,300
the hope of bridging the growing gulf
1176
01:18:32,399 --> 01:18:35,332
between black and white Americans.
1177
01:18:35,432 --> 01:18:37,832
(panicked shouting)
1178
01:18:37,932 --> 01:18:41,300
But in June, after
defeating Eugene McCarthy
1179
01:18:41,399 --> 01:18:45,699
in the California primary,
he too was assassinated.
1180
01:18:45,800 --> 01:18:49,265
MAN: Oh, God damn! Why?
1181
01:18:54,100 --> 01:18:56,800
(Jacqueline Schwab performs
"We Shall Overcome")
1182
01:19:03,632 --> 01:19:06,800
CAROL CROCKER: People were
stunned, and people were scared.
1183
01:19:06,899 --> 01:19:13,166
The people we'd looked up to
were being taken away from us.
1184
01:19:17,332 --> 01:19:22,265
It definitely put those of us
who were heading off on our own
1185
01:19:22,365 --> 01:19:26,233
on a path that felt uncertain.
1186
01:19:32,966 --> 01:19:34,966
KUSHNER: When Martin Luther
King was assassinated
1187
01:19:35,065 --> 01:19:37,632
and Bobby Kennedy was assassinated,
1188
01:19:37,733 --> 01:19:41,765
they made a big huge deal about that.
1189
01:19:41,865 --> 01:19:47,533
They said that was part of the
struggle of the American people
1190
01:19:47,632 --> 01:19:49,399
against their government.
1191
01:19:49,500 --> 01:19:51,500
And that there were riots in the streets.
1192
01:19:52,832 --> 01:19:54,966
And the camp commander actually told us,
1193
01:19:55,065 --> 01:19:57,632
"You can kill ten of us to one of you,
1194
01:19:57,733 --> 01:20:01,733
"but your people will turn against this.
1195
01:20:01,832 --> 01:20:05,966
"And we will be here for ten
years or 20 years or 30 years,
1196
01:20:06,065 --> 01:20:07,332
"as long as it takes.
1197
01:20:07,432 --> 01:20:09,500
"And unless you kill every one of us,
1198
01:20:09,600 --> 01:20:13,132
we're gonna win this war."
1199
01:20:17,132 --> 01:20:18,466
And on July the Fourth,
1200
01:20:18,565 --> 01:20:22,233
we recognized it was July the Fourth.
1201
01:20:22,332 --> 01:20:25,365
And they would not let
us sing patriotic songs.
1202
01:20:25,466 --> 01:20:30,265
But sometimes we would
softly sing at night.
1203
01:20:30,365 --> 01:20:33,899
(voice breaking): And...
1204
01:20:34,000 --> 01:20:35,332
(clears throat)
1205
01:20:35,432 --> 01:20:40,233
we understood that despite
different backgrounds
1206
01:20:40,332 --> 01:20:42,300
and different socioeconomic backgrounds,
1207
01:20:42,399 --> 01:20:44,533
different races, different religions,
1208
01:20:44,632 --> 01:20:46,565
that we were Americans.
1209
01:20:49,765 --> 01:20:51,899
("A Whiter Shade of Pale"
by Procol Harum playing)
1210
01:20:52,000 --> 01:20:54,966
NARRATOR: The American people
would be choosing new leadership
1211
01:20:55,065 --> 01:20:58,199
that fall, and everyone seemed to agree,
1212
01:20:58,300 --> 01:21:00,199
a British correspondent wrote,
1213
01:21:00,300 --> 01:21:03,832
"that whoever captures the
presidency this November
1214
01:21:03,932 --> 01:21:06,432
"will be obliged to end the conflict
1215
01:21:06,533 --> 01:21:09,332
"within a matter of months.
1216
01:21:09,432 --> 01:21:13,132
"How this is to be done or what
concessions are to be made
1217
01:21:13,233 --> 01:21:16,699
is very much a matter of detail."
1218
01:21:16,800 --> 01:21:20,565
Before those details
were finally worked out,
1219
01:21:20,666 --> 01:21:24,199
almost seven more years would pass.
1220
01:21:24,300 --> 01:21:27,832
And 27,184 more Americans,
1221
01:21:27,932 --> 01:21:32,233
and hundreds of thousands
more Laotians, Cambodians,
1222
01:21:32,332 --> 01:21:37,466
and Vietnamese... North and
South... would have to die.
1223
01:21:38,666 --> 01:21:44,166
♪ We skipped the light fandango ♪
1224
01:21:44,265 --> 01:21:48,533
♪ Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor ♪
1225
01:21:50,899 --> 01:21:57,265
♪ I was feeling kinda seasick
1226
01:21:57,365 --> 01:22:01,033
♪ But the crowd called out for more ♪
1227
01:22:04,065 --> 01:22:07,365
♪ The room was humming harder
1228
01:22:10,300 --> 01:22:12,765
♪ As the ceiling flew away
1229
01:22:16,932 --> 01:22:21,166
♪ When we called out
for another drink ♪
1230
01:22:23,166 --> 01:22:26,399
♪ The waiter brought a tray
1231
01:22:26,500 --> 01:22:34,500
♪ And so it was that later
1232
01:22:35,800 --> 01:22:42,500
♪ As the miller told his tale
1233
01:22:42,600 --> 01:22:46,932
♪ That her face, at
first just ghostly ♪
1234
01:22:47,033 --> 01:22:53,699
♪ Turned a whiter shade of pale ♪
1235
01:22:53,800 --> 01:22:58,466
(music continues)
1236
01:23:21,666 --> 01:23:27,932
♪ And although my eyes were open ♪
1237
01:23:28,033 --> 01:23:31,565
♪ They might just as
well've been closed ♪
1238
01:23:31,666 --> 01:23:39,666
♪ And so it was that later
1239
01:23:40,832 --> 01:23:47,000
♪ As the miller told his tale
1240
01:23:47,100 --> 01:23:52,132
♪ That her face, at
first just ghostly ♪
1241
01:23:52,233 --> 01:23:57,432
♪ Turned a whiter shade of pale. ♪
96813