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I was born in Brooklyn, New York,
May 19th, 1946,
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{\an8}and when I was about four,
we moved to Florida.
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{\an8}My stepfather was a policeman,
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{\an8}and he was in an organization
called the John Birch Society,
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which was a right-wing organization.
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We're proud members
of the John Birch Society.
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{\an8}We're all engaged along with the society
in an epic undertaking.
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We have got to defeat
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the international Communist
world control conspiracy.
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{\an8}His job for the John Birch Society
was making telephone tapes.
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People would dial
the word "freedom" on the telephone,
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and they would get a recorded message.
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The road to tyranny was enacted
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in the form of the Civil Rights Bill…
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Most of those recorded messages
were about how bad the Communists were.
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The goal
of the international Communist conspiracy
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is world domination.
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I didn't know what a Communist was,
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but I knew they were bad,
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and that they were
the enemy of the United States,
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{\an8}and that it would be my job
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to go in the military
when I graduate high school
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and stop the commies
before they got over here.
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Three days after I graduated,
I was at Parris Island.
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Boot camp, that's where they basically
take the civilian out of you
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and put the military in you.
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They take all your personal belongings
away from you,
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and they put you in a rack, a bed.
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And then the next morning,
the lights come on,
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people are running up and down
the barrack halls,
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making a lot of noise,
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and they're pushing over the bunk beds
and knocking people out of their beds.
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I woke up, and I thought
I was having a bad dream,
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but it was real.
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They give you impossible tasks,
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and then they punish you
for not doing those impossible tasks.
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For instance, I was asked to jump.
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So I jumped.
And the drill instructor said,
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"Private Camil, who gave you
permission to come down?"
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There's a lot
of dehumanization in the training.
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You run,
and you sing songs with a cadence.
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One of the songs was…
I'm gonna go to Vietnam
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I'm gonna kill some Việt Cộng
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With a knife or with a gun
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Either way, it will be fun
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I cannot think of a more cataclysmic event
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than the Vietnam War.
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For Vietnamese people,
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the events that took place
were life-defining.
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And in terms of the United States,
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Vietnam shaped their understanding
of their place in the world.
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And do all this, and do it right…
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The Vietnam War caused
a great loss of faith in presidents
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and their top foreign policy advisors…
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{\an8}because we saw things just not work out
the way they were presented,
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{\an8}and the way they were sold to us.
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Prior to the Vietnam War,
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for the most part, Americans believed
their leaders in Washington, D.C.
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After Vietnam,
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{\an8}you had the first decline
of what we call the imperial presidency.
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This was really when
the American people understood
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that, you know,
our leaders in Washington, D.C.
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aren't always doing
what we think they're doing.
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They don't always tell us
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the decision-making
that was taking place behind closed doors.
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And during the Vietnam War era,
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the American people saw that leaders
for the first time lied to them.
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{\an8}From a political standpoint,
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{\an8}we could've flushed it
down the drain three years ago.
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Blame Johnson and Kennedy.
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Many of the things
that plague our society today,
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resentment, alienation, cynicism,
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a tendency to mistrust one another,
to question one another's motives,
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a breakdown in civic institutions,
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{\an8}they have complex causes, no question,
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{\an8}but I think many of them
have their roots in the Vietnam era.
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{\an8}America's changing.
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{\an8}Did Vietnam cause it?
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{\an8}It was one of the causes.
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It let loose a torrent of emotion
in American society.
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No more war! No more war!
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{\an8}This was a shredding
of the innocence of this country,
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{\an8}the revelation of that.
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It was transformative, not only that,
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but it-- the anti-war movement woke up
a lot of other communities
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{\an8}like, "Hey, we need representation here."
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"We need to be heard."
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My conscience won't let me
go shoot my brother,
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or some darker people,
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{\an8}or some poor, hungry people in the mud
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{\an8}for big, powerful America.
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And shoot them for what?
They never called me "nigger."
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{\an8}I was angry, and I wanted to make sure
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{\an8}when I threw the rock through the window
of the Army recruitment office,
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I was willing to go to jail for that.
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What was happening to us,
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{\an8}our image of ourselves
as the last best hope on earth
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was shaken.
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And if it wasn't shaken,
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if it was still strong
to millions and millions of Americans,
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by the end of the war in Vietnam,
it was shattered.
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Watch out!
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Because viewed a certain way,
the United States in Vietnam
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was not the last best hope on earth.
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It was a violent,
militaristic, imperial power.
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We all live under the shadow of Vietnam.
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We all live
with the consequences of Vietnam.
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The memory of that war is something
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{\an8}that a lot of people are spending
a lot of time trying to erase.
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But we can't forget Vietnam.
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It's with us today.
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When I was a very young boy, perhaps ten,
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plucking hairs from my mother's head…
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She must have been in her fifties
or late forties at that point
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in San Jose, California.
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{\an8}And out of nowhere,
she tells me that in Vietnam,
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{\an8}she saw a dead child
on a doorstep in her neighborhood.
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And that child had died
because of the famine.
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So that was one of the ways
by which I started to understand
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that the history of the country
where I had come from was complicated…
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terrible…
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unspoken of in so many ways.
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Certainly among Americans,
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but also to a certain extent
among the Vietnamese too.
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There's history in the sense of facts.
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But there's also history
as stories, as narratives.
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With the war in Vietnam,
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the histories we tell about that
are really, really crucial.
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For me, as someone
who's Vietnamese and American,
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I'm deeply aware
that in both of these countries,
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there are deeply conflicting histories.
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That's part of what led
to the war in Vietnam.
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In the United States, early on,
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the American mindset
was certainly this Cold War mindset.
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There was communism,
and there was capitalism,
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and there was totalitarianism,
and there was democracy.
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Either or, us or them,
everybody had to choose.
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That was the American perspective.
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{\an8}Only a few generations
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{\an8}have been granted the role
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{\an8}of defending freedom
in its hour of maximum danger.
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{\an8}I do not shrink from this responsibility.
I welcome it.
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John F. Kennedy,
the 35th President of the United States,
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is an extraordinary figure
in American political history.
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He was a Cold War president.
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To some degree,
I would say he was a cold warrior.
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Kennedy obviously inspired Americans,
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through his idealism,
through his rhetoric,
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to support, fundamentally,
his vision for the nation's future.
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From the Office
of the White House in Washington, D.C.,
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NBC Radio now presents an address
by the President of the United States,
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John F. Kennedy.
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Ladies and gentlemen,
the President of the United States.
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We preach freedom around the world,
and we mean it,
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and we cherish our freedom here at home.
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But he's a very key figure
on the Vietnam story.
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{\an8}It's fair to say, uh,
it's not his best… chapter.
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So when Kennedy comes in,
he believes that he inherits
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a very, very dangerous
geopolitical situation.
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{\an8}You have these two great power centers
that are emerging in the Communist world,
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{\an8}the Soviet Union,
as well as the People's Republic of China.
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{\an8}What we oppose, fundamentally,
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is the aggressive nature
of the Communist state,
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its unceasing effort
to expand wherever it can,
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to grow bigger, to take over, to supplant.
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It's hard today to recapture
the degree to which ordinary Americans,
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{\an8}as well as their leaders,
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{\an8}were concerned about the threat
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{\an8}that Communism represented
to the American way of life.
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In 1961, the Communists
decide to build a wall in Berlin.
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{\an8}At the same time,
Cuban leader Fidel Castro
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{\an8}and his Communist brethren
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{\an8}had taken over Cuba.
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It looks like the Soviets,
the Communists, have a beachhead
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in the Western Hemisphere.
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{\an8}And Kennedy inherits a plan
to take down Castro.
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The Bay of Pigs affair
is a disaster for the United States.
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It ends in catastrophe.
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There are hundreds of deaths.
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It's a real black eye for Kennedy.
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{\an8}This is essentially a political war,
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{\an8}because it's a war for men's minds.
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{\an8}And, uh, if we lose the minds
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{\an8}of these people,
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we lose the minds of the officer corps
and of the civil servants,
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we will have lost the war.
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The reason that Kennedy starts recording?
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It's unclear.
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He was the first president
to tape extensively.
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{\an8}He recorded about 260 hours
of White House conversations.
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He got the Secret Service
to install it on the QT.
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The tape recorder was hidden
in the White House basement.
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It is a time machine.
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It's like if you could
just dial up the past
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and be a kind of a fly on the wall
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as people are making
incredibly important decisions.
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{\an8}There are increasing reports, uh,
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{\an8}in Saigon and in Huế, as well,
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{\an8}that students are talking
of moving over to the Việt Cộng side.
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Kennedy can see
that the world is changing.
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Who is JFK? Is he really going to be
a leader to contend with or not?
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Kennedy recognizes the danger of that.
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So that's one of the reasons why,
by the end of the year,
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he recognizes that Vietnam
may be the place he needs to take a stand.
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I think most Americans,
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certainly most white
middle-class Americans,
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had an idealistic view of their country.
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{\an8}The United States stood
for good in the world
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{\an8}against the evil empire
of the Soviet Union.
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Nobody knew anything about Vietnam.
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Nobody knew where it was.
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By then, North Vietnam
had become completely identified
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as a Communist state
with a Communist revolution,
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{\an8}supported by China and the Soviet Union.
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00:15:14,622 --> 00:15:18,250
South Vietnam was going to be
a capitalist democracy
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modeled on something
like the United States
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and what it had to offer.
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00:15:24,924 --> 00:15:28,218
The Democratic Republic
of Vietnam was the Communists…
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{\an8}led by Hồ Chí Minh.
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He believed sincerely
in the Communist cause,
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but it's always his country.
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The nationalist fervor is
what really drives Hồ Chí Minh.
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A non-Communist government
is in power in Saigon,
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{\an8}led by Ngô Đình Diệm.
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A dedicated nationalist,
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very courageous figure personally,
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a Catholic,
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who feels strongly that he knows
what's best for South Vietnam,
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but he is a dedicated anti-Communist.
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{\an8}And he becomes a very important ally
of the United States.
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There was a war being carried out
mostly by the North Vietnamese.
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These are films of South Vietnam
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after the destruction of a village
by the North Vietnamese.
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00:16:40,082 --> 00:16:43,293
{\an8}To those in command
of North Vietnam and the Việt Cộng,
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00:16:43,377 --> 00:16:47,631
{\an8}the pursuit was a united Vietnam
under Hanoi with a Communist government.
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00:16:48,173 --> 00:16:51,927
To those in South Vietnam,
the pursuit was to be left alone.
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00:16:53,095 --> 00:16:54,888
But they were not left alone.
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By 1960, every area of life
in the South has become a combat zone.
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The state of Vietnam,
when Kennedy comes into office,
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is that the insurrection in South Vietnam
had grown very rapidly.
241
00:17:23,542 --> 00:17:26,628
{\an8}By January of '61,
Kennedy was facing a country
242
00:17:26,712 --> 00:17:29,840
{\an8}that had already lost
much of the control of the countryside.
243
00:17:31,925 --> 00:17:34,261
And the Communists were on the move.
244
00:17:35,262 --> 00:17:39,308
{\an8}There was concern that if Vietnam fell,
then the others would fall also,
245
00:17:39,391 --> 00:17:42,478
you know, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, etc.
246
00:17:43,937 --> 00:17:46,315
I think that was quite generally believed.
247
00:17:48,525 --> 00:17:50,069
This is the domino theory.
248
00:17:51,779 --> 00:17:55,616
If you had one country in Asia
fall to Communism,
249
00:17:55,699 --> 00:17:57,284
that it would set off falling dominoes
250
00:17:57,367 --> 00:17:59,787
{\an8}that would lead
all the way to San Francisco.
251
00:17:59,870 --> 00:18:02,498
Mr. President, have you
ever had any reason to doubt
252
00:18:02,581 --> 00:18:04,792
this so-called domino theory,
253
00:18:04,875 --> 00:18:08,504
that if South Vietnam falls, the rest
of Southeast Asia will go along behind it?
254
00:18:08,587 --> 00:18:11,215
No, I-I believe it. I believe it.
255
00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:14,343
{\an8}I think that, uh, the struggle
is close enough.
256
00:18:14,426 --> 00:18:19,014
{\an8}China is so large, looms so high
on the-- just beyond the frontiers.
257
00:18:19,098 --> 00:18:20,516
{\an8}If South Vietnam went,
258
00:18:20,599 --> 00:18:23,727
{\an8}it would not only give them
an improved geographic position
259
00:18:23,811 --> 00:18:25,729
for a guerrilla assault on Malaya,
260
00:18:25,813 --> 00:18:27,397
but would also give the impression
261
00:18:27,481 --> 00:18:29,483
that the wave of the future
in Southeast Asia
262
00:18:29,566 --> 00:18:31,485
was China and the Communists.
263
00:18:36,657 --> 00:18:38,992
Kennedy's top foreign policy advisors,
264
00:18:39,076 --> 00:18:40,953
Secretary of State Dean Rusk,
265
00:18:41,036 --> 00:18:43,622
Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara,
266
00:18:43,705 --> 00:18:46,375
National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy,
267
00:18:46,959 --> 00:18:50,379
{\an8}that trio, along, I think,
with senior military brass,
268
00:18:50,462 --> 00:18:56,552
{\an8}are convinced that South Vietnam's future
may depend on increased US involvement.
269
00:18:58,137 --> 00:18:59,930
Top aides who are basically saying,
270
00:19:00,013 --> 00:19:04,059
"Mr. President, we think you need to put
American troops into South Vietnam."
271
00:19:05,269 --> 00:19:07,146
They even come up with various schemes
272
00:19:07,229 --> 00:19:11,358
that can be used to introduce
American forces sort of under the radar.
273
00:19:11,942 --> 00:19:15,320
In the past year, we've doubled
the rate of building Polaris submarines.
274
00:19:15,404 --> 00:19:17,364
The Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara
275
00:19:17,447 --> 00:19:19,741
must be central to this story.
276
00:19:21,994 --> 00:19:24,663
Robert McNamara grew up in California,
277
00:19:24,746 --> 00:19:29,001
went to Berkeley,
and then got an MBA at Harvard.
278
00:19:29,084 --> 00:19:30,627
{\an8}During World War II,
279
00:19:31,170 --> 00:19:34,923
{\an8}he worked in the units
that did bomb spotting.
280
00:19:36,592 --> 00:19:38,927
After he came out of the Army,
281
00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:41,763
he went to work at Ford.
282
00:19:42,723 --> 00:19:43,807
I'm Bob McNamara,
283
00:19:43,891 --> 00:19:47,728
Group Vice President in charge of the car
and truck divisions of the company.
284
00:19:47,811 --> 00:19:51,023
He was
a very imposing figure in Washington
285
00:19:51,106 --> 00:19:53,025
in terms of his persona
286
00:19:53,108 --> 00:19:55,485
and the degree
to which he intimidated people
287
00:19:55,569 --> 00:19:58,363
with his forceful personality
and his intelligence.
288
00:19:59,781 --> 00:20:02,451
And he's an architect of the Vietnam War,
289
00:20:02,534 --> 00:20:04,786
of the Americanization of the Vietnam War.
290
00:20:05,829 --> 00:20:09,541
{\an8}The United States is not
at war with the Communists,
291
00:20:09,625 --> 00:20:13,170
{\an8}but American military advisors
are going over to work
292
00:20:13,253 --> 00:20:15,547
with the South Vietnamese military.
293
00:20:17,049 --> 00:20:22,179
Kennedy's advisors tell him
that Vietnam is actually in grave danger.
294
00:20:22,262 --> 00:20:26,642
The Communists have made inroads
all throughout South Vietnam.
295
00:20:26,725 --> 00:20:31,355
It doesn't look like Diệm's forces
are able to really withstand the tide.
296
00:20:32,856 --> 00:20:34,483
{\an8}While I can report, Mr. President,
297
00:20:34,566 --> 00:20:38,237
{\an8}definite progress and increasing strength
in the government forces,
298
00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:39,404
{\an8}the progress is slow.
299
00:20:39,488 --> 00:20:41,281
{\an8}And it's very, very slow,
300
00:20:41,365 --> 00:20:43,242
slower than we would like to see.
301
00:20:44,993 --> 00:20:46,703
When Kennedy comes into office,
302
00:20:46,787 --> 00:20:51,041
there are less than 700
US military advisors in South Vietnam.
303
00:20:51,124 --> 00:20:55,504
Keep your eye on the man ahead of you.
Keep him in that gun sight at all times.
304
00:20:56,505 --> 00:21:00,467
{\an8}But now Kennedy decides
to put in more military advisors
305
00:21:00,550 --> 00:21:03,220
{\an8}to help the South Vietnamese learn
306
00:21:03,303 --> 00:21:06,848
how to fight the war better
against the Communists.
307
00:21:12,980 --> 00:21:16,149
{\an8}I grew up in central New York
in the Finger Lakes area
308
00:21:16,233 --> 00:21:17,818
{\an8}near Ithaca, New York.
309
00:21:17,901 --> 00:21:22,197
I only had a tiny idea
that something was going on in Vietnam.
310
00:21:27,619 --> 00:21:29,496
I wanted to go to West Point.
311
00:21:29,997 --> 00:21:31,957
So I decided to just walk downtown,
312
00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:34,334
go to an Army recruiter,
and join the Army.
313
00:21:38,046 --> 00:21:40,549
That was, uh, in the spring of 1962,
314
00:21:40,632 --> 00:21:42,551
and I was in Vietnam
by the end of the year.
315
00:21:45,053 --> 00:21:50,017
I got the sense that the military
had no idea what they were doing.
316
00:21:50,767 --> 00:21:53,478
There had been
an assistant secretary of defense
317
00:21:53,562 --> 00:21:57,399
{\an8}who said, "We need a cover story
for what we're doing in South Vietnam."
318
00:21:58,567 --> 00:22:00,360
They were sending in advisors.
319
00:22:02,904 --> 00:22:06,199
What that really meant was they would take
a group of South Vietnamese troops,
320
00:22:06,283 --> 00:22:10,245
put them on a helicopter
or otherwise transport them to some place,
321
00:22:10,329 --> 00:22:12,164
and push them into a firefight.
322
00:22:14,666 --> 00:22:18,170
Sometimes they turned around
and shot at the American helicopters.
323
00:22:18,253 --> 00:22:19,921
So that wasn't working out so well,
324
00:22:20,005 --> 00:22:24,217
turning somebody else into the army
that we would direct.
325
00:22:27,262 --> 00:22:29,222
And that's why they kept bringing in
326
00:22:29,306 --> 00:22:31,683
more and more of our own advisors.
327
00:22:34,144 --> 00:22:37,522
But this is not going to be
like World War II.
328
00:22:40,859 --> 00:22:42,527
This is an insurgency fight.
329
00:22:44,279 --> 00:22:46,740
{\an8}This is a war without front lines,
330
00:22:46,823 --> 00:22:50,911
where war is fought in and among
the population, not separate from it.
331
00:22:51,495 --> 00:22:54,247
This is the only way that you can be sure
332
00:22:54,331 --> 00:22:56,792
that you always have
the equipment which you need
333
00:22:56,875 --> 00:22:58,877
in order to go out and fight the Việt Cộng
334
00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:00,921
and win the battle against the Việt Cộng.
335
00:23:04,925 --> 00:23:07,969
"Việt Cộng" is a contraction
between "Vietnam Cộng Sản,"
336
00:23:08,053 --> 00:23:09,554
or Vietnamese Communism.
337
00:23:10,430 --> 00:23:14,059
{\an8}"Việt Cộng," it would be used
in a derogatory way
338
00:23:14,142 --> 00:23:17,687
{\an8}to describe any Communist enemy
in South Vietnam.
339
00:23:17,771 --> 00:23:20,190
{\an8}So it would be called "VC" for short.
340
00:23:20,273 --> 00:23:24,444
{\an8}They would become known officially
as the National Liberation Front.
341
00:23:26,405 --> 00:23:30,117
And what you see
is an escalation of US advisors,
342
00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:32,536
an escalation of military aid,
economic aid.
343
00:23:33,745 --> 00:23:36,248
By the end of 1961,
344
00:23:36,331 --> 00:23:40,252
there are roughly 3,000
American military advisors
345
00:23:40,335 --> 00:23:42,421
embedded with the South Vietnamese.
346
00:23:42,504 --> 00:23:44,256
{\an8}By the end of 1962,
347
00:23:44,339 --> 00:23:46,591
{\an8}I've seen figures upwards of 11,000.
348
00:23:47,134 --> 00:23:48,635
{\an8}And by 1963,
349
00:23:48,718 --> 00:23:53,098
{\an8}there are well over 16,000
US military advisors
350
00:23:53,181 --> 00:23:54,516
{\an8}in South Vietnam.
351
00:23:56,435 --> 00:23:58,311
This is a dramatic increase.
352
00:23:58,937 --> 00:24:02,399
Almighty God, we stand before thee
353
00:24:02,482 --> 00:24:05,944
as thy children should, acknowledging…
354
00:24:06,027 --> 00:24:10,157
We didn't know much
about this operation that was developing.
355
00:24:11,575 --> 00:24:15,745
Kennedy did not allow
much information to emerge
356
00:24:15,829 --> 00:24:21,376
{\an8}of the kind of support
that he was sending to Vietnam.
357
00:24:23,044 --> 00:24:26,715
The Vietnam War is a turning point
in United States history.
358
00:24:27,924 --> 00:24:31,678
{\an8}There's a stark difference
between the before and the after
359
00:24:31,761 --> 00:24:33,346
{\an8}when it comes to the Vietnam War.
360
00:24:34,306 --> 00:24:38,560
And one of those turning points is
this thing called the credibility gap.
361
00:24:39,936 --> 00:24:42,522
That's a gap between
what the government is telling you
362
00:24:42,606 --> 00:24:45,150
and what is actually happening
on the ground.
363
00:24:45,859 --> 00:24:48,361
And you feel
that you have told the American people
364
00:24:48,445 --> 00:24:51,031
as much as can be told
because of the sensitivity
365
00:24:51,114 --> 00:24:53,200
of the-- of the subject? Is that…?
366
00:24:53,283 --> 00:24:56,328
Well, I-- I think
I've just indicated what our role is.
367
00:24:56,411 --> 00:25:00,290
We have increased our assistance
to the government, its logistics.
368
00:25:00,373 --> 00:25:02,417
We have not sent combat troops there,
369
00:25:02,501 --> 00:25:05,712
though the training missions
that we have there,
370
00:25:05,795 --> 00:25:08,507
uh, have been instructed,
if they are fired upon, to, uh…
371
00:25:08,590 --> 00:25:10,217
They, uh, would, of course, fire back.
372
00:25:11,384 --> 00:25:14,679
He didn't say that they were reinforcing
373
00:25:14,763 --> 00:25:19,935
the South Vietnamese military
with heavy weapons and aircraft.
374
00:25:30,070 --> 00:25:33,615
He didn't say
that American so-called "advisors"
375
00:25:33,698 --> 00:25:37,661
would fly the planes
going out on bombing missions.
376
00:25:39,913 --> 00:25:42,457
The advisors are not
supposed to be fighting the war.
377
00:25:42,541 --> 00:25:46,586
They're only supposed to be assisting,
but they're actually fighting as well.
378
00:25:47,712 --> 00:25:48,547
And dying too.
379
00:25:48,630 --> 00:25:52,050
…continue to bless this world
with men such as these.
380
00:25:59,975 --> 00:26:03,353
We also learned in that period
381
00:26:03,436 --> 00:26:09,484
that the Kennedy administration had sent
guidelines out to the American mission
382
00:26:09,568 --> 00:26:12,487
not to cooperate with the Western press.
383
00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:14,781
The important question
384
00:26:14,864 --> 00:26:20,245
{\an8}was what was really happening
on the ground in South Vietnam.
385
00:26:32,882 --> 00:26:37,178
I arrived in Saigon in June 1962
386
00:26:37,262 --> 00:26:41,224
{\an8}as a correspondent
for the Associated Press.
387
00:26:42,267 --> 00:26:46,104
{\an8}The roadblocks we encountered
were enormous.
388
00:26:46,730 --> 00:26:51,610
{\an8}The South Vietnamese government
enforced strict censorship.
389
00:26:51,693 --> 00:26:54,237
{\an8}So any story we sent out,
390
00:26:54,321 --> 00:26:56,531
{\an8}we had to send through the post office.
391
00:27:01,036 --> 00:27:05,123
They did not allow any critical references
392
00:27:05,206 --> 00:27:09,461
or anything that would suggest
the inadequacies of the government.
393
00:27:10,211 --> 00:27:15,675
{\an8}And the US diplomatic
and military missions
394
00:27:15,759 --> 00:27:20,597
were totally uncooperative
with the media in Saigon.
395
00:27:21,556 --> 00:27:24,351
One of the solutions we found
396
00:27:24,434 --> 00:27:28,063
to get information
of what was really going on
397
00:27:28,146 --> 00:27:32,233
was we would simply
drive out in the mornings
398
00:27:32,317 --> 00:27:34,944
along the main highways out of Saigon,
399
00:27:35,028 --> 00:27:37,405
looking for any action,
400
00:27:37,489 --> 00:27:39,324
say, helicopter traffic.
401
00:27:42,118 --> 00:27:45,372
We would follow the helicopters
along the main roads.
402
00:27:45,455 --> 00:27:49,709
And when we saw dead bodies
on the road or wounded people,
403
00:27:49,793 --> 00:27:52,754
we knew we'd found
the battle and the action.
404
00:27:55,256 --> 00:27:58,760
To be a great journalist,
you gotta get close to the action.
405
00:27:59,636 --> 00:28:01,221
You got to be there.
406
00:28:01,304 --> 00:28:04,432
And Arnett is famous
for the stories that he covered
407
00:28:04,516 --> 00:28:07,310
where he was just on top of the action.
408
00:28:09,813 --> 00:28:13,358
It was dangerous,
but getting a story was the main thing.
409
00:28:14,818 --> 00:28:18,446
And that's how we got
the story about Ấp Bắc.
410
00:28:22,617 --> 00:28:25,245
{\an8}We didn't know anything
about this operation.
411
00:28:26,955 --> 00:28:31,251
{\an8}The helicopter contacts
at the Tân Sơn Nhứt airport called us
412
00:28:31,334 --> 00:28:33,211
{\an8}and said they're really worried
413
00:28:33,294 --> 00:28:36,506
{\an8}because they've lost
several of their helicopters
414
00:28:36,589 --> 00:28:38,425
{\an8}in this place, Ấp Bắc.
415
00:28:42,345 --> 00:28:45,473
And we're given a helicopter ride
416
00:28:45,557 --> 00:28:47,600
{\an8}around the battlefield.
417
00:28:48,768 --> 00:28:52,355
{\an8}And we went pretty close.
You could see bodies on the ground.
418
00:28:53,022 --> 00:28:58,111
And at that point, there'd been
five American helicopters shot down,
419
00:28:58,862 --> 00:29:00,697
{\an8}three American dead.
420
00:29:00,780 --> 00:29:02,907
{\an8}There were eight or nine injured,
421
00:29:02,991 --> 00:29:06,870
50, 60 South Vietnamese casualties.
422
00:29:06,953 --> 00:29:08,955
It was just a complete mess.
423
00:29:09,998 --> 00:29:12,584
The Battle of Ấp Bắc
is extremely important.
424
00:29:13,835 --> 00:29:18,548
US helicopter pilots
and US soldiers are directly involved
425
00:29:18,631 --> 00:29:22,844
and noticeably directly involved
for the first time in the war.
426
00:29:26,014 --> 00:29:29,058
It is evident
that they're flying the helicopters.
427
00:29:30,310 --> 00:29:33,480
So the pretense
that the United States is only there
428
00:29:33,563 --> 00:29:37,108
in the capacity of advising Vietnam
429
00:29:37,192 --> 00:29:39,861
can no longer be maintained
at the Battle of Ấp Bắc.
430
00:29:41,571 --> 00:29:44,449
{\an8}General Paul D. Harkins arrived.
431
00:29:44,532 --> 00:29:48,036
{\an8}He was the chief
of the American military mission.
432
00:29:48,119 --> 00:29:52,332
And we walked over to him.
We said, "General, how does it look?"
433
00:29:52,415 --> 00:29:54,083
And he said, "Boys…
434
00:29:56,002 --> 00:29:57,629
it was a great victory."
435
00:29:57,712 --> 00:30:00,423
"We've got the VC on the run,
436
00:30:00,507 --> 00:30:03,760
and we're moving in
on them right now. Bye."
437
00:30:06,513 --> 00:30:09,808
That was the senseless optimism
438
00:30:10,433 --> 00:30:14,103
that prevailed
amongst the senior-most Americans
439
00:30:14,187 --> 00:30:15,355
in Saigon.
440
00:30:16,147 --> 00:30:18,274
Most of the Red guerrilla band
was wiped out.
441
00:30:18,358 --> 00:30:21,277
American observers counted
at least 80 bodies.
442
00:30:21,361 --> 00:30:26,032
They added that it was the best action
Vietnam's 7th Division has yet executed.
443
00:30:26,115 --> 00:30:28,368
US training seems to be paying off.
444
00:30:28,868 --> 00:30:32,455
The military painted
the Ấp Bắc engagement as a victory.
445
00:30:33,039 --> 00:30:35,583
But it's a real black eye
for the Americans,
446
00:30:35,667 --> 00:30:39,462
as reported in the American media,
back home, to the country…
447
00:30:42,674 --> 00:30:44,342
as well as to Kennedy.
448
00:30:44,425 --> 00:30:48,429
When Kennedy sees a picture
of an American helicopter on the ground,
449
00:30:48,513 --> 00:30:51,808
you know, "What's going on here?
I-- I thought we were doing well."
450
00:31:05,029 --> 00:31:07,574
It's impossible
to divorce American politics
451
00:31:07,657 --> 00:31:09,951
from American policy abroad.
452
00:31:11,911 --> 00:31:13,955
Politics is always going to be
part of the mix
453
00:31:14,038 --> 00:31:16,583
because that's just baked into the system.
454
00:31:18,543 --> 00:31:20,920
John F. Kennedy is hoping
that he can keep this all
455
00:31:21,004 --> 00:31:23,506
on the back burner
through the '64 election.
456
00:31:26,718 --> 00:31:31,347
But that hope is dashed
when the Buddhist crisis erupts.
457
00:31:37,312 --> 00:31:42,734
Buddhists were a big part
of Vietnam's 15 million or so population.
458
00:31:49,115 --> 00:31:53,077
{\an8}The United States supported
South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm.
459
00:31:55,288 --> 00:31:57,415
He was a Vietnamese Catholic.
460
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:00,835
And of course he received
a lot of support,
461
00:32:00,919 --> 00:32:02,629
I think, from Vietnamese Catholics.
462
00:32:03,338 --> 00:32:07,133
{\an8}Vietnamese Catholics are a minority
throughout Vietnam.
463
00:32:07,216 --> 00:32:11,054
Their Catholicism owes
to the French and Portuguese presence
464
00:32:11,137 --> 00:32:13,890
throughout the past few centuries
of Vietnamese history.
465
00:32:15,183 --> 00:32:20,313
{\an8}South Vietnam, under Ngô Đình Diệm,
did not have a policy against Buddhism.
466
00:32:21,356 --> 00:32:27,153
He supported the building,
the construction of many Buddhist temples.
467
00:32:27,946 --> 00:32:29,948
But by the 1960s,
468
00:32:30,031 --> 00:32:35,161
{\an8}Diệm's older brother, Ngô Đình Thục,
who was a Catholic archbishop,
469
00:32:35,244 --> 00:32:39,666
{\an8}was clearly promoting Catholicism
in South Vietnam.
470
00:32:41,834 --> 00:32:44,462
That gave people the impression
471
00:32:44,545 --> 00:32:50,551
that Diệm was discriminating
against Buddhism and Buddhists.
472
00:32:56,933 --> 00:33:01,521
{\an8}As Mr. Diệm consolidated his power,
he became more autocratic.
473
00:33:02,271 --> 00:33:05,733
Among Diệm's people,
there is no genuine political opposition.
474
00:33:05,817 --> 00:33:07,443
It is simply not permitted.
475
00:33:09,988 --> 00:33:14,492
{\an8}He has his brother, Mr. Nhu,
who ran the secret police.
476
00:33:15,159 --> 00:33:18,871
{\an8}Ngô Đình Nhu is younger brother
of Ngô Đình Diệm.
477
00:33:19,539 --> 00:33:23,126
{\an8}Madame Nhu, his wife,
was much younger than he was.
478
00:33:24,877 --> 00:33:27,714
{\an8}She was well-educated under the French.
479
00:33:27,797 --> 00:33:31,801
{\an8}She became the first lady
because Diệm was not married.
480
00:33:32,885 --> 00:33:35,221
Madame Nhu
and her husband, Diệm's brother,
481
00:33:35,304 --> 00:33:37,348
live in the presidential palace.
482
00:33:38,349 --> 00:33:42,103
What do you think
that the United States can do most now
483
00:33:42,186 --> 00:33:43,271
to help Vietnam?
484
00:33:46,774 --> 00:33:48,735
{\an8}I think that the most urgent
485
00:33:49,652 --> 00:33:54,574
is to decide not to be intoxicated anymore
486
00:33:55,199 --> 00:33:58,745
by the propaganda, uh, plot
487
00:34:00,038 --> 00:34:02,582
directed by the Communists.
488
00:34:05,001 --> 00:34:08,504
One of the things you see
in Diệm's administration
489
00:34:08,588 --> 00:34:13,259
is a concerted campaign
to kill off all of the VC in the region.
490
00:34:16,054 --> 00:34:17,180
{\an8}Việt Cộng…
491
00:34:20,391 --> 00:34:22,894
and anyone who disagrees with him is a VC.
492
00:34:27,440 --> 00:34:30,693
The Buddhist political
opposition would fall under this category
493
00:34:30,777 --> 00:34:32,111
as enemy of the state.
494
00:34:33,613 --> 00:34:36,491
There were factions
in the Buddhist church.
495
00:34:37,492 --> 00:34:39,911
There was the more militant faction
496
00:34:39,994 --> 00:34:42,121
who wanted Buddhism to play
497
00:34:42,205 --> 00:34:45,666
a bigger political role
in the life of the nation.
498
00:34:45,750 --> 00:34:50,296
And they did not like the idea of having
a Catholic president for the country.
499
00:34:54,717 --> 00:34:57,428
{\an8}Ngô Đình Nhu, who is a policeman,
500
00:34:57,512 --> 00:35:00,515
only thing in his mind
is torture and kill.
501
00:35:03,684 --> 00:35:06,479
{\an8}When the South Vietnamese
came in our village,
502
00:35:06,562 --> 00:35:11,275
{\an8}they put a big Ngô Đình Diệm photo
and a cross
503
00:35:12,068 --> 00:35:18,116
{\an8}right inside our temple, or our altar.
504
00:35:18,699 --> 00:35:20,701
They made us bow to Ngô Đình Diệm,
505
00:35:20,785 --> 00:35:23,746
and they talking about him
as just like a god.
506
00:35:23,830 --> 00:35:28,084
Like he is somebody
that's so important to us.
507
00:35:28,668 --> 00:35:31,796
We don't care.
We just want to be peaceful.
508
00:35:32,505 --> 00:35:37,218
We want to worship our ancestors,
hang up the Buddhist flag.
509
00:35:38,553 --> 00:35:41,681
But the next thing we know that,
everybody's killed.
510
00:35:47,645 --> 00:35:49,522
They killed the leaders in the village.
511
00:35:49,605 --> 00:35:52,400
They killed the monks.
They buried them alive.
512
00:35:52,984 --> 00:35:54,861
So they killed
513
00:35:56,404 --> 00:35:58,573
whoever they think that's Việt Cộng.
514
00:36:02,910 --> 00:36:06,497
And so, more them doing that,
515
00:36:07,081 --> 00:36:11,919
the more our family
and 90% of the villagers,
516
00:36:12,003 --> 00:36:15,214
yeah, we join the Việt Cộng,
we stand up and we fight.
517
00:36:18,050 --> 00:36:21,762
And so daytime,
we praise the Ngô Đình Diệm.
518
00:36:22,430 --> 00:36:25,141
The nighttime, we praise Hồ Chí Minh.
519
00:36:33,816 --> 00:36:36,444
By 1963, you had all-out war
520
00:36:36,527 --> 00:36:39,822
between the Catholic leadership
and their Buddhist majority.
521
00:36:42,158 --> 00:36:43,326
In South Vietnam,
522
00:36:44,702 --> 00:36:46,579
{\an8}I demonstrated against the government.
523
00:36:46,662 --> 00:36:51,542
{\an8}Not to overthrow the-- the system
of government that we have,
524
00:36:51,626 --> 00:36:55,171
but to establish
a constitutional order for the country.
525
00:36:58,883 --> 00:37:03,054
{\an8}In Huế, the decision was made
by the security forces
526
00:37:03,137 --> 00:37:05,765
{\an8}to push the protesters back.
527
00:37:10,394 --> 00:37:12,063
{\an8}And in that melee,
528
00:37:12,146 --> 00:37:14,232
several grenades were thrown.
529
00:37:15,483 --> 00:37:19,028
Eight Buddhists were killed
and a lot injured.
530
00:37:26,702 --> 00:37:29,080
{\an8}That was a catastrophic mistake.
531
00:37:32,750 --> 00:37:37,713
{\an8}The anger was severe, strong, boiling.
532
00:37:39,090 --> 00:37:40,007
Boiling.
533
00:37:42,134 --> 00:37:46,973
Protests began on the streets
of Saigon within a week or two.
534
00:37:57,316 --> 00:38:03,114
{\an8}There were thousands of people
massed along the streets of this parade.
535
00:38:07,243 --> 00:38:10,913
And as they came
along Phan Đình Phùng Street,
536
00:38:12,081 --> 00:38:18,212
a large, old automobile
that had been part of the parade stopped.
537
00:38:21,882 --> 00:38:26,721
This elderly man was led
out of the vehicle by a younger monk,
538
00:38:27,305 --> 00:38:31,225
taken to the center of the street
where he sat cross-legged
539
00:38:32,893 --> 00:38:33,894
on the street.
540
00:38:33,978 --> 00:38:36,897
And the assistant poured
a liquid over him.
541
00:38:38,274 --> 00:38:42,695
And, uh, this monk lit a match and…
542
00:38:42,778 --> 00:38:44,405
…was in flames.
543
00:39:04,592 --> 00:39:06,886
One Buddhist monk died
544
00:39:06,969 --> 00:39:11,724
to figure out how could he help
to save the people.
545
00:39:12,767 --> 00:39:15,561
{\an8}Only way he can do is to give himself up.
546
00:39:25,780 --> 00:39:28,282
{\an8}Madame Nhu was outspoken on everything.
547
00:39:29,617 --> 00:39:32,370
{\an8}When the Buddhist crisis was erupting
548
00:39:32,453 --> 00:39:36,415
and the immolations by fire began,
549
00:39:37,124 --> 00:39:39,585
she called them "monk barbecues."
550
00:39:41,545 --> 00:39:47,259
What have the Buddhist leaders
done comparatively?
551
00:39:47,760 --> 00:39:49,345
The only thing they have done,
552
00:39:49,428 --> 00:39:54,183
they have, uh, barbecued
one of their monks,
553
00:39:54,809 --> 00:39:57,311
uh, whom they have intoxicated,
554
00:39:57,395 --> 00:39:59,814
whom they have abused the confidence.
555
00:40:00,815 --> 00:40:05,027
And even that barbecuing was done, uh,
556
00:40:05,111 --> 00:40:07,238
not even with self-sufficient means.
557
00:40:07,321 --> 00:40:10,616
Because they-- they used,
uh, imported, uh, gasoline.
558
00:40:14,370 --> 00:40:17,832
You love your country
and you say those things?
559
00:40:19,834 --> 00:40:20,960
It doesn't heal.
560
00:40:21,627 --> 00:40:23,838
It break up the faith of the people.
561
00:40:29,093 --> 00:40:31,512
There is a difference
between how President Diệm
562
00:40:31,595 --> 00:40:34,473
and his brother Nhu looked
at the Buddhist protests.
563
00:40:37,435 --> 00:40:40,855
{\an8}Diệm himself was attempting
to actually talk to the Buddhists
564
00:40:40,938 --> 00:40:42,481
{\an8}and sort of reach a compromise.
565
00:40:45,401 --> 00:40:48,237
{\an8}It was Nhu that sent
the police and the military
566
00:40:48,320 --> 00:40:50,573
{\an8}into the pagoda raids in late August.
567
00:40:58,664 --> 00:41:00,624
They start raiding the pagodas.
568
00:41:00,708 --> 00:41:02,334
They start arresting more people.
569
00:41:03,752 --> 00:41:05,963
Waging war on their own people.
570
00:41:09,675 --> 00:41:12,803
This clearly alarmed Washington,
571
00:41:12,887 --> 00:41:17,558
who was supporting
the regime of President Ngô Đình Diệm.
572
00:41:19,685 --> 00:41:21,395
{\an8}The heart of the matter is
573
00:41:21,479 --> 00:41:23,355
{\an8}that they've established a police state,
574
00:41:23,439 --> 00:41:26,066
{\an8}and that they're interfering
with the liberties of the people,
575
00:41:26,150 --> 00:41:27,943
{\an8}and that you have resentments
576
00:41:28,027 --> 00:41:29,236
born of that.
577
00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:30,529
- Right, yeah.
- Right?
578
00:41:34,867 --> 00:41:38,120
The United States is watching
in horror as this is playing out
579
00:41:38,204 --> 00:41:39,830
in the summer of 1963,
580
00:41:39,914 --> 00:41:43,959
that they are telling Diệm,
"You need to stop raiding these pagodas."
581
00:41:45,336 --> 00:41:48,380
In Saigon,
President Ngô Đình Diệm's regime
582
00:41:48,464 --> 00:41:51,383
has accused the United States government
of being off base
583
00:41:51,467 --> 00:41:54,845
in denouncing the military crackdown
on his Buddhist opponents.
584
00:41:59,308 --> 00:42:03,646
President Diệm, from my standpoint,
585
00:42:03,729 --> 00:42:06,190
was the person who rebuilt the country.
586
00:42:07,483 --> 00:42:13,822
{\an8}But at his side,
Ngô Đinh Nhu brought about events
587
00:42:13,906 --> 00:42:16,575
which made Diệm look bad.
588
00:42:18,744 --> 00:42:23,457
Dissent began to brew
from within the military ranks.
589
00:42:27,962 --> 00:42:29,463
You have to assume
590
00:42:29,547 --> 00:42:32,341
that Diệm has felt that there's going
to be a coup against him
591
00:42:32,424 --> 00:42:34,385
for probably the last couple of months.
592
00:42:40,849 --> 00:42:43,018
The Guiding Light will not
be seen today
593
00:42:43,102 --> 00:42:46,272
in order to bring you
the following CBS News special report.
594
00:42:46,355 --> 00:42:48,107
{\an8}Good day from New York.
595
00:42:48,190 --> 00:42:50,859
{\an8}South Vietnam is
in a state of revolt today,
596
00:42:50,943 --> 00:42:52,444
{\an8}and there are unconfirmed reports
597
00:42:52,528 --> 00:42:55,531
{\an8}that President Ngô Đình Diệm's government
has been overthrown.
598
00:43:07,251 --> 00:43:11,422
{\an8}High-ranking military generals
under Dương Văn Minh carry out the coup.
599
00:43:14,258 --> 00:43:17,678
Diệm and Nhu were able to escape
the presidential palace
600
00:43:17,761 --> 00:43:20,306
by way of secret doorways into tunnels.
601
00:43:20,931 --> 00:43:24,685
{\an8}Eventually, they would regroup
in a Catholic church.
602
00:43:26,687 --> 00:43:30,774
{\an8}They were promised safe passage
back to the palace
603
00:43:30,858 --> 00:43:32,985
{\an8}and to eventually leave the country.
604
00:43:34,820 --> 00:43:38,407
{\an8}They sent a convoy
to Cha Tam Church to pick up Mr. President
605
00:43:38,490 --> 00:43:41,076
{\an8}and Mr. Advisor to bring them back.
606
00:43:44,580 --> 00:43:49,209
{\an8}Captain Nhung was Lieutenant General
Dương Văn Minh's closest bodyguard.
607
00:43:50,669 --> 00:43:55,591
Later, it was learned
that while sitting in the armored vehicle,
608
00:43:55,674 --> 00:43:57,009
he used a dagger blade
609
00:43:57,092 --> 00:44:02,014
to stab Ngô Đình Nhu once,
causing him to collapse on his seat.
610
00:44:03,015 --> 00:44:07,311
He was about to stab once more,
but he saw Ngô Đình Diệm on the side
611
00:44:07,394 --> 00:44:10,731
slightly leaning toward him,
so he stabbed him once instead.
612
00:44:11,482 --> 00:44:13,734
He stabbed them one more time each,
613
00:44:14,860 --> 00:44:16,779
then shot them with his pistol.
614
00:44:20,532 --> 00:44:25,120
That is what's called a "mercy shot."
615
00:44:37,257 --> 00:44:39,301
{\an8}During the entire coup period,
616
00:44:39,385 --> 00:44:41,345
{\an8}Madame Nhu was in the United States.
617
00:44:42,930 --> 00:44:44,973
That probably saved Madame Nhu's life.
618
00:44:45,974 --> 00:44:48,852
Treason does not pay.
619
00:44:49,978 --> 00:44:52,147
And nobody can rule Vietnam,
620
00:44:52,231 --> 00:44:55,776
can rule Vietnam
with just money and puppets.
621
00:44:56,360 --> 00:45:01,824
And all those whom some of the Americans
intend to settle and to tutor,
622
00:45:02,741 --> 00:45:06,537
for how long will they hold power
623
00:45:07,287 --> 00:45:09,164
if they ever hold power?
624
00:45:11,625 --> 00:45:14,002
{\an8}The new leaders, General Dương Văn Minh
625
00:45:14,086 --> 00:45:16,171
{\an8}and Premier Nguyễn Ngọc Thơ,
626
00:45:16,255 --> 00:45:19,425
{\an8}want immediate support from the people
and recognition from the West.
627
00:45:22,386 --> 00:45:24,513
There were a series of declassifications,
628
00:45:24,596 --> 00:45:27,599
and we now know
that the Kennedy administration,
629
00:45:27,683 --> 00:45:31,478
in particular President Kennedy,
had started courting with this idea
630
00:45:31,562 --> 00:45:35,023
{\an8}of removing Diệm
as early as August of '63.
631
00:45:35,899 --> 00:45:40,112
{\an8}So the events that transpired
in the beginning of November, they knew.
632
00:45:41,905 --> 00:45:42,990
There's no doubt
633
00:45:43,073 --> 00:45:45,951
John F. Kennedy was
the decision-maker on Vietnam
634
00:45:46,034 --> 00:45:48,787
in those fateful weeks in 1963
635
00:45:48,871 --> 00:45:52,916
when the decision was made
to essentially give the green light
636
00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:54,668
to the coup-plotters in Saigon.
637
00:45:56,420 --> 00:46:00,090
One interesting question
is whether John F. Kennedy understood
638
00:46:00,174 --> 00:46:04,178
that Diệm and Nhu would likely be killed.
639
00:46:06,680 --> 00:46:09,183
The South Vietnamese never received
640
00:46:09,266 --> 00:46:12,102
any sort of caution from the US government
641
00:46:12,186 --> 00:46:16,857
that Diệm or Nhu or anybody else
in the Ngô family was to be protected,
642
00:46:16,940 --> 00:46:19,651
held harmless,
allowed safely to go into exile.
643
00:46:21,278 --> 00:46:23,947
One of the things that I think
is quite clear as a historian
644
00:46:24,031 --> 00:46:26,617
is that the coup-plotters knew
that if Diệm lives,
645
00:46:26,700 --> 00:46:30,204
that there would be constant coups,
and the Americans knew that.
646
00:46:34,917 --> 00:46:38,212
The Kennedy administration
has blood on their hands.
647
00:46:38,962 --> 00:46:41,632
Some of the most poignant things
you can hear from Kennedy
648
00:46:41,715 --> 00:46:44,593
{\an8}is what he dictated
on the Monday morning after the coup.
649
00:46:45,511 --> 00:46:48,222
I, uh, feel that we must bear
650
00:46:49,431 --> 00:46:51,350
a good deal of responsibility for it,
651
00:46:52,434 --> 00:46:56,313
{\an8}beginning with our cable of early August
652
00:46:56,396 --> 00:46:59,483
{\an8}in which we suggested the coup.
653
00:47:04,863 --> 00:47:09,159
{\an8}I was, uh, shocked
by the death of Diệm and Nhu.
654
00:47:09,243 --> 00:47:12,246
I met Diệm with Justice Douglas
many years ago.
655
00:47:12,329 --> 00:47:16,166
He was a… an extraordinary character.
656
00:47:16,250 --> 00:47:21,171
While he… became increasingly difficult
in the last months,
657
00:47:21,255 --> 00:47:24,800
nevertheless, over a ten-year period,
he held his country together,
658
00:47:24,883 --> 00:47:27,469
maintained its independence
under very adverse conditions.
659
00:47:28,929 --> 00:47:30,013
He…
660
00:47:30,097 --> 00:47:34,309
The way he was killed
made it particularly… abhorrent.
661
00:47:40,607 --> 00:47:44,361
Ngô Đình Diệm was a controversial figure
for many different kinds of reasons,
662
00:47:45,279 --> 00:47:48,574
but I think that
for some of the South Vietnamese,
663
00:47:48,657 --> 00:47:52,452
he represented the possibility
of nationalist independence,
664
00:47:52,536 --> 00:47:54,955
a country led by a Vietnamese president.
665
00:47:56,081 --> 00:47:58,333
The politics of this
was very, very complicated obviously,
666
00:47:58,417 --> 00:48:01,545
because South Vietnam was
a politically diverse place.
667
00:48:02,087 --> 00:48:04,089
There were people
of different religious backgrounds
668
00:48:04,172 --> 00:48:05,340
and so on.
669
00:48:06,133 --> 00:48:08,176
But he was controversial
to different populations,
670
00:48:08,260 --> 00:48:09,845
again, for different reasons.
671
00:48:10,345 --> 00:48:11,805
Americans were opposed to him
672
00:48:11,889 --> 00:48:15,350
because they thought he stood in the way
of their particular policies.
673
00:48:17,477 --> 00:48:19,271
At least for some Vietnamese Catholics,
674
00:48:19,354 --> 00:48:21,231
he was a revered political leader,
675
00:48:21,315 --> 00:48:26,361
nationalist figure,
whose assassination was a tragic event.
676
00:48:28,906 --> 00:48:32,826
When President Ngô Đình Diệm
got assassinated, my father came home.
677
00:48:32,910 --> 00:48:36,747
{\an8}He said that, "It not gonna be
a good time anymore."
678
00:48:36,830 --> 00:48:38,248
{\an8}"It can be a lot of chaos."
679
00:48:38,332 --> 00:48:41,126
"Nobody can deal with Hồ Chí Minh,
680
00:48:41,209 --> 00:48:44,630
can deal with the Communists,
like President Ngô Đình Diệm."
681
00:48:51,678 --> 00:48:56,266
{\an8}What happened after the coup
was a series of coups,
682
00:48:56,350 --> 00:49:00,062
{\an8}kind of a revolving-door government
in Saigon,
683
00:49:00,145 --> 00:49:03,398
{\an8}where various generals decided
that they would be the best people
684
00:49:03,482 --> 00:49:05,525
{\an8}to run the war against the Việt Cộng.
685
00:49:06,151 --> 00:49:09,655
So it was a period
of instability in Saigon.
686
00:49:14,993 --> 00:49:17,871
Several weeks after
Ngô Đình Diệm and Ngô Đình Nhu
687
00:49:17,955 --> 00:49:18,997
are assassinated,
688
00:49:19,081 --> 00:49:21,959
the United States goes through
one of the most tragic days
689
00:49:22,042 --> 00:49:23,460
in presidential history.
690
00:49:27,047 --> 00:49:28,507
{\an8}Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
691
00:49:28,590 --> 00:49:31,259
{\an8}You'll excuse the fact
that I'm out of breath, but…
692
00:49:31,343 --> 00:49:32,636
{\an8}about 10 or 15 minutes ago,
693
00:49:32,719 --> 00:49:35,681
{\an8}a tragic thing, from all indications
at this point, has happened
694
00:49:35,764 --> 00:49:36,640
{\an8}in the city of Dallas.
695
00:49:36,723 --> 00:49:39,059
{\an8}There has been an attempt,
as perhaps you know now,
696
00:49:39,142 --> 00:49:40,686
{\an8}on the life of President Kennedy.
697
00:49:40,769 --> 00:49:42,562
{\an8}He was wounded in an automobile
698
00:49:42,646 --> 00:49:45,315
{\an8}driving from Dallas Airport
into downtown Dallas,
699
00:49:45,399 --> 00:49:47,359
along with Governor Connally of Texas.
700
00:49:47,442 --> 00:49:49,653
They've been taken
to Parkland Hospital there,
701
00:49:49,736 --> 00:49:52,572
where their condition is as yet unknown.
702
00:49:56,284 --> 00:49:59,329
It appears as though something
has happened in the motorcade route.
703
00:49:59,413 --> 00:50:02,290
Something, I repeat, has happened
in the motorcade route.
704
00:50:15,012 --> 00:50:17,389
We just have a report
from our correspondent,
705
00:50:17,472 --> 00:50:18,932
Dan Rather in Dallas,
706
00:50:19,016 --> 00:50:22,728
that he has confirmed
that President Kennedy is dead.
707
00:50:23,770 --> 00:50:28,525
{\an8}Walter, we have some additional film
taken at and near Parkland Hospital,
708
00:50:28,608 --> 00:50:30,610
{\an8}where President John Kennedy died.
709
00:50:31,194 --> 00:50:34,197
Uh, this film is in rough cut form.
710
00:50:36,491 --> 00:50:40,704
These are some of the witnesses
in the area of the shooting.
711
00:50:40,787 --> 00:50:42,748
There was a great deal
of disbelief at first
712
00:50:42,831 --> 00:50:44,833
that the President had even been shot.
713
00:50:46,752 --> 00:50:48,462
To be there that day
714
00:50:49,004 --> 00:50:52,549
was pretty much what was reflected
around the country.
715
00:50:53,133 --> 00:50:55,385
{\an8}The first reports were he was shot.
716
00:50:55,469 --> 00:50:58,180
{\an8}Then it was confirmed
he was-- he was dead.
717
00:50:58,263 --> 00:50:59,931
Late afternoon editions…
718
00:51:00,015 --> 00:51:03,602
The Kennedy assassination
was a shock to the American psyche.
719
00:51:04,728 --> 00:51:08,940
We believed that those kinds of things
didn't happen in our country anymore.
720
00:51:10,734 --> 00:51:13,487
Women here in shock. Some have fainted.
721
00:51:13,570 --> 00:51:17,240
Grown men, Secret Service men,
standing by the emergency room,
722
00:51:17,324 --> 00:51:19,326
tears streaming down their face.
723
00:51:19,993 --> 00:51:23,914
There's only one word
to describe the picture here
724
00:51:23,997 --> 00:51:26,083
and that's "grief," and much of it.
725
00:51:36,176 --> 00:51:38,136
If you look at Kennedy's even opponents,
726
00:51:38,220 --> 00:51:40,222
many of them in the United States,
727
00:51:40,305 --> 00:51:43,600
even for them,
this was a-- a monumental blow.
728
00:51:46,228 --> 00:51:48,522
{\an8}Today, millions of people
throughout the world
729
00:51:48,605 --> 00:51:51,775
{\an8}are trying to find
words adequate to express
730
00:51:52,275 --> 00:51:55,112
{\an8}their grief and their sympathy
to his family.
731
00:51:55,195 --> 00:51:57,906
…the souls of all the faithful departed,
732
00:51:57,989 --> 00:52:00,659
through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
733
00:52:01,159 --> 00:52:04,371
In the name of the Father,
and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, amen.
734
00:52:04,913 --> 00:52:08,667
If we engage
in so-called "what if" speculation,
735
00:52:09,793 --> 00:52:11,920
though we will never know for sure,
736
00:52:13,130 --> 00:52:17,050
I think that the best argument
is that a surviving Kennedy
737
00:52:17,134 --> 00:52:20,428
would have avoided
large-scale escalation in Vietnam.
738
00:52:21,680 --> 00:52:23,473
I think his doubts went deeper
739
00:52:23,557 --> 00:52:27,894
in terms of what
American military power could do.
740
00:52:28,854 --> 00:52:30,355
And maybe most important,
741
00:52:30,438 --> 00:52:34,109
Kennedy would have reached
the critical decisions on Vietnam
742
00:52:34,192 --> 00:52:35,610
in his second and final term.
743
00:52:36,736 --> 00:52:39,406
And at that point,
he could no longer run for re-election.
744
00:52:41,658 --> 00:52:45,495
Anyone can speculate all they want
about what he might have, should have done
745
00:52:45,579 --> 00:52:46,621
had he been re-elected.
746
00:52:46,705 --> 00:52:48,832
But all we have is the record.
747
00:52:48,915 --> 00:52:53,044
And the record is that President Kennedy
got us involved in Vietnam
748
00:52:53,795 --> 00:52:55,422
and escalated the war,
749
00:52:55,505 --> 00:52:58,633
and was escalating the war
when he was assassinated.
750
00:53:00,051 --> 00:53:03,930
And it's very hard for me to believe
that he wouldn't have carried on the war.
751
00:53:04,764 --> 00:53:06,975
As always, democracy finds its strength
752
00:53:07,058 --> 00:53:08,727
in the continuity of the presidency.
753
00:53:09,311 --> 00:53:13,231
{\an8}Lyndon B. Johnson becomes
the 36th President of the United States,
754
00:53:13,315 --> 00:53:15,859
{\an8}just 99 minutes
after his predecessor's life
755
00:53:15,942 --> 00:53:16,860
{\an8}had ebbed away.
756
00:53:17,694 --> 00:53:20,071
Lyndon Johnson became president.
757
00:53:20,155 --> 00:53:21,656
But in that first year,
758
00:53:21,740 --> 00:53:24,826
{\an8}he kept referring to himself
as "the accidental president."
759
00:53:27,495 --> 00:53:30,999
{\an8}When it came to domestic politics
and domestic policy,
760
00:53:31,082 --> 00:53:33,168
he was truly in command.
761
00:53:35,795 --> 00:53:38,340
But on Vietnam, he was insecure.
762
00:53:39,299 --> 00:53:41,635
He didn't really understand this issue.
763
00:53:43,720 --> 00:53:46,097
President Johnson started
recording his phone calls
764
00:53:46,181 --> 00:53:49,309
using a Dictabelt system
of his own immediately.
765
00:53:49,392 --> 00:53:54,022
And so we have a great record
of Lyndon Johnson's phone calls.
766
00:53:56,233 --> 00:53:59,945
I would like to have, for this period
when everybody is asking me,
767
00:54:00,028 --> 00:54:01,613
something in my own words.
768
00:54:01,696 --> 00:54:04,950
I can say, "Well, here are--
here are the alternatives,
769
00:54:05,033 --> 00:54:08,203
and here's our theory,
and here's what we're basing it on."
770
00:54:11,539 --> 00:54:15,669
{\an8}LBJ basically, by his own admission,
771
00:54:15,752 --> 00:54:17,587
{\an8}didn't know what he was doing.
772
00:54:19,089 --> 00:54:22,425
And he was very poorly advised
by his advisors,
773
00:54:23,343 --> 00:54:24,970
especially McNamara.
774
00:54:26,012 --> 00:54:27,347
I do think, Mr. President,
775
00:54:27,430 --> 00:54:30,308
that it would be wise for you
to say as little as possible.
776
00:54:30,392 --> 00:54:33,270
The frank answer is,
we don't know what's going on out there.
777
00:54:33,353 --> 00:54:35,522
The signs I see coming through the cables
778
00:54:35,605 --> 00:54:38,275
are-- are disturbing signs.
779
00:54:40,151 --> 00:54:44,406
President Johnson always had
something of a vulnerability
780
00:54:44,489 --> 00:54:45,740
about his education.
781
00:54:46,866 --> 00:54:49,327
When he came to the presidency,
he was surrounded
782
00:54:49,411 --> 00:54:52,122
by President Kennedy's
hand-picked advisors.
783
00:54:52,205 --> 00:54:53,581
And President Johnson,
784
00:54:53,665 --> 00:54:56,459
I know having talked to him,
thought to himself,
785
00:54:56,960 --> 00:55:00,088
"Geez, I just graduated
from this small teacher's college
786
00:55:00,171 --> 00:55:01,464
in South Texas,
787
00:55:01,548 --> 00:55:03,925
and I have around me
the best brains in the country
788
00:55:04,009 --> 00:55:06,052
that President Kennedy brought on."
789
00:55:06,136 --> 00:55:08,430
And the Kennedy advisors, make no mistake,
790
00:55:09,055 --> 00:55:13,893
were almost unanimous in saying,
"You've got to stay in Vietnam."
791
00:55:17,772 --> 00:55:20,483
There's a recognition
on the part of senior US officials
792
00:55:20,567 --> 00:55:22,193
in the summer of 1964
793
00:55:22,819 --> 00:55:25,071
that South Vietnam is in deep trouble.
794
00:55:26,656 --> 00:55:29,200
The insurgency is continuing
to gain strength.
795
00:55:29,284 --> 00:55:32,037
There is infighting
among South Vietnamese officials.
796
00:55:32,620 --> 00:55:34,205
And something needs to happen.
797
00:55:34,831 --> 00:55:37,959
{\an8}Arguably, the United States enters
the month of August
798
00:55:38,043 --> 00:55:41,463
{\an8}looking for a pretext
to flex American muscle.
799
00:55:42,547 --> 00:55:43,798
In a limited fashion.
800
00:55:49,846 --> 00:55:52,766
{\an8}The American war in Vietnam began
801
00:55:52,849 --> 00:55:55,018
{\an8}in the summer of 1964
802
00:55:55,101 --> 00:55:56,936
{\an8}with political lies
803
00:55:57,020 --> 00:55:59,356
{\an8}based on false intelligence.
804
00:56:02,150 --> 00:56:05,487
USS Maddox,
one of the United States Navy destroyers,
805
00:56:05,570 --> 00:56:07,697
was conducting
signals intelligence patrols
806
00:56:07,781 --> 00:56:10,617
in the Gulf of Tonkin
along the North Vietnamese coast.
807
00:56:11,534 --> 00:56:14,954
{\an8}They were up deep into enemy territory
above the 17th parallel.
808
00:56:16,206 --> 00:56:18,500
Information gathering,
intelligence gathering
809
00:56:18,583 --> 00:56:20,627
through, uh, electronic eavesdropping.
810
00:56:23,046 --> 00:56:24,881
Unbeknownst to the Maddox,
811
00:56:24,964 --> 00:56:29,219
{\an8}the South Vietnamese were conducting
commando raids closer to the coast,
812
00:56:29,302 --> 00:56:33,139
{\an8}firing weapons and mortars
against North Vietnamese installations.
813
00:56:38,561 --> 00:56:41,398
On the afternoon of August 2nd, 1964,
814
00:56:42,107 --> 00:56:46,778
{\an8}three North Vietnamese torpedo vessels
come out and engage the USS Maddox.
815
00:56:50,240 --> 00:56:54,327
{\an8}Three North Vietnamese
patrol boats approached the Maddox,
816
00:56:54,411 --> 00:56:57,163
which both engaged them with fire
817
00:56:57,247 --> 00:57:00,417
{\an8}and called for air support
from a nearby naval carrier.
818
00:57:04,879 --> 00:57:09,592
The Maddox sustained damage
in the form of one bullet hole.
819
00:57:11,719 --> 00:57:14,139
All three
of the North Vietnamese torpedo vessels
820
00:57:14,222 --> 00:57:15,098
are struck.
821
00:57:15,890 --> 00:57:17,392
One is completely destroyed.
822
00:57:18,351 --> 00:57:22,689
The other vessels managed to drift back
to their bases with some heavy damage.
823
00:57:23,815 --> 00:57:27,110
{\an8}They fired at us.
We responded immediately.
824
00:57:27,193 --> 00:57:30,363
{\an8}And we took out one of their boats,
put the other two running.
825
00:57:30,447 --> 00:57:32,949
We kept… We're putting our boats
right there. We're not running--
826
00:57:33,032 --> 00:57:34,742
Our instructions are to destroy--
827
00:57:34,826 --> 00:57:35,827
That's right.
828
00:57:35,910 --> 00:57:39,456
Now I want to leave an impression
on the people we talk to over here
829
00:57:39,539 --> 00:57:41,291
that we're gonna be firm as hell.
830
00:57:41,374 --> 00:57:42,792
We oughtn't do anything
831
00:57:42,876 --> 00:57:45,420
that the national interest
doesn't require,
832
00:57:45,503 --> 00:57:48,256
but we sure ought
to always leave the impression
833
00:57:48,339 --> 00:57:50,425
that if you shoot at us,
you're going to get hit.
834
00:57:54,888 --> 00:57:56,931
{\an8}In order to demonstrate US resolve,
835
00:57:57,015 --> 00:57:59,726
{\an8}the military command center,
and as well as the commander-in-chief,
836
00:57:59,809 --> 00:58:02,395
order the Maddox to return the next day,
837
00:58:02,479 --> 00:58:07,108
now accompanied by USS Turner Joy,
which is another US military destroyer.
838
00:58:10,570 --> 00:58:12,822
{\an8}Weather goes south on them very fast.
839
00:58:14,866 --> 00:58:17,327
Wave heights are now at about six feet.
840
00:58:18,244 --> 00:58:21,247
Low visibility.
Rain squalls moving through the area.
841
00:58:22,332 --> 00:58:24,292
The tensions were pretty high.
842
00:58:25,126 --> 00:58:29,839
When the US Navy destroyers start seeing
radar signals approaching the vessels…
843
00:58:32,217 --> 00:58:35,595
there's some confusion
because the blips are moving really fast,
844
00:58:35,678 --> 00:58:37,347
and they're coming
from different directions
845
00:58:37,430 --> 00:58:38,765
and then sometimes disappearing.
846
00:58:38,848 --> 00:58:40,850
But also, the sonar operators
are starting to hear
847
00:58:40,934 --> 00:58:43,144
propeller noises and torpedo noises
in the water.
848
00:58:43,728 --> 00:58:46,397
And so the crew
and the officers on board the two ships
849
00:58:46,481 --> 00:58:48,983
were getting pretty nervous
that they were under attack.
850
00:58:50,735 --> 00:58:52,695
Mr. President,
we, uh, just got a, uh, report
851
00:58:52,779 --> 00:58:54,781
from the commander
of that task force out there
852
00:58:54,864 --> 00:58:57,617
that they have sighted
two unidentified vessels
853
00:58:57,700 --> 00:59:02,622
and three unidentified prop aircraft
in the vicinity of the destroyers.
854
00:59:04,666 --> 00:59:06,751
Uh, what else do we have out there?
855
00:59:06,834 --> 00:59:09,462
We have ample forces to respond
856
00:59:09,546 --> 00:59:11,548
not only to these attacks
on the destroyers
857
00:59:11,631 --> 00:59:13,174
but also to retaliate,
858
00:59:13,258 --> 00:59:16,886
should you wish to do so,
against targets on the land.
859
00:59:19,764 --> 00:59:23,434
{\an8}The message traffic back and forth was,
"Give me proof
860
00:59:23,518 --> 00:59:26,145
{\an8}that there was a torpedo there."
861
00:59:26,229 --> 00:59:28,648
{\an8}"Give me some flotsam, a cushion,
862
00:59:28,731 --> 00:59:31,234
anything that would say
that there was a torpedo boat."
863
00:59:33,319 --> 00:59:35,446
We did not see one torpedo boat.
864
00:59:37,824 --> 00:59:40,076
At this point, there was some uncertainty
865
00:59:40,159 --> 00:59:42,912
about whether or not
an attack had actually occurred.
866
00:59:42,996 --> 00:59:45,707
This is now late at night on August 4th.
867
00:59:46,457 --> 00:59:50,086
And the signals intelligence
on board the ships pick up messages
868
00:59:50,169 --> 00:59:52,922
{\an8}from the North Vietnamese Navy
that they had struck
869
00:59:53,006 --> 00:59:55,425
{\an8}some of the enemy vessels
that were in the area.
870
00:59:55,508 --> 00:59:58,595
{\an8}And it validates everything
that they had suspected at this point.
871
01:00:00,138 --> 01:00:03,683
{\an8}I think I might get, uh, Dean Rusk
and Mac Bundy, have 'em come over here,
872
01:00:03,766 --> 01:00:06,102
{\an8}and we'll go over
these retaliatory actions.
873
01:00:07,854 --> 01:00:12,358
{\an8}I was attached
to a squadron of A-4 Skyhawks.
874
01:00:14,068 --> 01:00:16,863
{\an8}The next thing I know,
I was going on a mission.
875
01:00:19,532 --> 01:00:23,202
{\an8}Our targets were
along the coast of Vietnam,
876
01:00:23,911 --> 01:00:26,998
the naval bases on the northern part,
877
01:00:27,081 --> 01:00:30,293
like around Hải Phòng
and north towards China.
878
01:00:37,008 --> 01:00:39,052
I went in and hit my target.
879
01:00:40,386 --> 01:00:42,889
And as I was exiting, I got hit.
880
01:00:45,933 --> 01:00:48,478
And I pulled the ejection curtain.
881
01:00:48,561 --> 01:00:50,938
I felt the chute pop open.
882
01:00:51,814 --> 01:00:53,524
And I was in the water.
883
01:00:54,817 --> 01:00:56,569
And as I tried to swim away,
884
01:00:56,653 --> 01:00:58,905
looked around,
and here was a fishing boat.
885
01:00:58,988 --> 01:01:03,493
And it had about three rifles…
pointing at me.
886
01:01:04,410 --> 01:01:06,788
{\an8}They hauled me aboard. They stripped me.
887
01:01:06,871 --> 01:01:10,333
{\an8}They wrapped me up
with a rope like a-- a knot.
888
01:01:10,416 --> 01:01:14,671
That was the beginning
of a… a long captivity.
889
01:01:15,880 --> 01:01:18,091
The Pentagon said two pilots were lost.
890
01:01:18,174 --> 01:01:20,635
One was reported
to be a prisoner of the Reds.
891
01:01:23,346 --> 01:01:26,599
{\an8}All this message traffic
and all these accounts were top secret
892
01:01:26,683 --> 01:01:29,977
{\an8}and kept classified
for the better part of about 40 years.
893
01:01:30,520 --> 01:01:32,438
{\an8}But as it turns out,
894
01:01:32,522 --> 01:01:34,899
{\an8}the attack on August 4th never happened.
895
01:01:36,818 --> 01:01:40,530
{\an8}Their radars reflecting off the sea waves
and the low cloud level…
896
01:01:43,157 --> 01:01:45,034
the sonar operators were picking up
897
01:01:45,118 --> 01:01:47,954
their own rudder noises
and own propeller noises.
898
01:01:49,247 --> 01:01:51,124
As President Johnson later said,
899
01:01:51,207 --> 01:01:54,043
"The damn sailors were shootin'
at flying fish."
900
01:01:56,087 --> 01:01:58,423
As for the North Vietnamese message,
901
01:01:58,506 --> 01:01:59,632
they were transmitting
902
01:01:59,716 --> 01:02:02,677
a follow-up message
to the August 2nd attack
903
01:02:02,760 --> 01:02:04,429
in which they had
the initial confrontation
904
01:02:04,512 --> 01:02:06,055
just with USS Maddox.
905
01:02:06,723 --> 01:02:08,641
So it was not about the events
906
01:02:08,725 --> 01:02:11,728
that supposedly occurred
on the night of August 4th.
907
01:02:13,062 --> 01:02:15,940
I think Secretary of Defense
Robert McNamara had doubts
908
01:02:16,023 --> 01:02:17,859
about the attack on August 4th.
909
01:02:19,527 --> 01:02:22,947
But instead of being honest
and truthful about what happened,
910
01:02:23,030 --> 01:02:24,991
McNamara misrepresents it to Congress
911
01:02:25,074 --> 01:02:27,285
as well as misrepresents it
to members of the press.
912
01:02:28,828 --> 01:02:30,955
They were reporting
they were avoiding torpedoes
913
01:02:31,038 --> 01:02:34,375
and that they had sunk
one of the attacking patrol craft.
914
01:02:35,501 --> 01:02:38,963
And so he really opens the door
for President Johnson to escalate the war.
915
01:02:52,310 --> 01:02:56,606
Even though attacks didn't transpire
on August 4th, 1964,
916
01:02:58,024 --> 01:03:02,528
LBJ used the pretense of these attacks
to go to Congress
917
01:03:02,612 --> 01:03:06,991
to seek what we now know as a blank check
to go to war in South Vietnam.
918
01:03:07,074 --> 01:03:09,494
That is the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.
919
01:03:09,577 --> 01:03:13,664
In each house, the resolution
was promptly examined in committee
920
01:03:13,748 --> 01:03:15,166
and reported for action.
921
01:03:15,750 --> 01:03:18,961
In each house,
the resolution was passed on Friday last,
922
01:03:19,796 --> 01:03:24,050
with a total of 502 votes in support
and two opposed.
923
01:03:25,218 --> 01:03:27,303
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution is unusual
924
01:03:27,386 --> 01:03:30,389
because it is not a declaration of war,
925
01:03:31,516 --> 01:03:33,601
but it gave full authority
to the United States
926
01:03:33,684 --> 01:03:36,395
to assist the South Vietnamese government
927
01:03:36,479 --> 01:03:40,316
in defending its territories
from aggression from the North.
928
01:03:43,236 --> 01:03:47,657
To any armed attack,
our forces will reply.
929
01:03:48,407 --> 01:03:52,411
{\an8}To any in Southeast Asia who ask
our help in defending their freedom,
930
01:03:53,496 --> 01:03:54,580
we're going to give it.
931
01:03:56,582 --> 01:03:59,418
{\an8}I have ordered to Vietnam
the Air Mobile Division
932
01:04:00,336 --> 01:04:04,674
{\an8}and certain other forces which will raise
our fighting strength almost immediately.
933
01:04:09,387 --> 01:04:12,014
Operation Rolling Thunder
was a strategic bombing campaign
934
01:04:12,098 --> 01:04:13,432
against North Vietnam…
935
01:04:24,777 --> 01:04:28,364
…to use massive amounts of air power
936
01:04:28,447 --> 01:04:31,409
{\an8}to break the enemy's willpower.
937
01:04:33,452 --> 01:04:35,788
In public, the Johnson administration,
938
01:04:35,872 --> 01:04:37,331
like the Kennedy administration,
939
01:04:37,415 --> 01:04:41,627
was officially optimistic
about their ability to win the war.
940
01:04:43,254 --> 01:04:46,299
Even though they entertained doubts
at the highest level.
941
01:04:47,925 --> 01:04:52,805
It's going to be difficult for us
to, very long, prosecute effectively
942
01:04:52,889 --> 01:04:54,682
a war that far away from home.
943
01:05:10,948 --> 01:05:13,659
I arrived about a week
after I was shot down.
944
01:05:14,577 --> 01:05:19,081
I was the first American pilot
captured in North Vietnam.
945
01:05:19,749 --> 01:05:23,878
{\an8}I was flown-- flown my last mission
on, uh, 5 August 1964.
946
01:05:24,670 --> 01:05:27,673
{\an8}I was, uh, put
into a seven-foot by seven-foot cell
947
01:05:27,757 --> 01:05:32,887
{\an8}with high walls
and, uh, a little ventilation window.
948
01:05:34,430 --> 01:05:39,060
The concrete beds had wooden blocks
like-- like leg restraints.
949
01:05:40,561 --> 01:05:44,857
Sitting there five, six days
without sleep, food, and water.
950
01:05:45,483 --> 01:05:46,984
Some guys didn't survive.
951
01:05:50,196 --> 01:05:52,365
Hanoi has used the prisoners of war
952
01:05:52,448 --> 01:05:53,991
for its propaganda purposes
953
01:05:54,075 --> 01:05:56,953
{\an8}almost from the day
the first captive was shot down
954
01:05:57,036 --> 01:05:59,705
{\an8}on the first day
of US bombing of the North.
955
01:06:01,374 --> 01:06:04,251
Then there was the Hanoi March.
956
01:06:06,462 --> 01:06:07,838
They took 50 of us.
957
01:06:09,048 --> 01:06:10,883
They loaded us up in trucks.
958
01:06:15,054 --> 01:06:18,474
{\an8}And the next thing we know,
we were on the perimeter of a park.
959
01:06:21,519 --> 01:06:23,729
And they started marching us.
960
01:06:24,230 --> 01:06:27,274
As far as you could see
is thousands of people.
961
01:06:27,358 --> 01:06:28,567
They were shouting.
962
01:06:28,651 --> 01:06:31,320
North Vietnam paraded
this group of prisoners
963
01:06:31,404 --> 01:06:33,030
through the streets of Hanoi.
964
01:06:33,114 --> 01:06:37,868
A parade designed to depict them
as humbled and impotent air pilots.
965
01:06:40,037 --> 01:06:42,665
Somebody hit me, and I staggered down.
966
01:06:44,208 --> 01:06:46,293
I remember looking
at the guys ahead of me,
967
01:06:46,377 --> 01:06:48,671
that they were getting
the hell beat out of 'em.
968
01:06:49,839 --> 01:06:51,590
It just went on and on,
969
01:06:51,674 --> 01:06:54,010
and I didn't know
if we were going to make it.
970
01:06:57,680 --> 01:07:02,309
And I realized that these are
not good-- good times coming up.
971
01:07:04,854 --> 01:07:07,940
The longer we stayed, the worse it got.
972
01:07:11,736 --> 01:07:17,408
It was the first real shock Americans got
of what the reality of war is.
973
01:07:22,955 --> 01:07:24,331
What's our role?
974
01:07:25,958 --> 01:07:29,086
What does it mean to be the United States?
975
01:07:30,671 --> 01:07:32,548
What does it mean to be an American?
976
01:07:33,466 --> 01:07:36,969
To be the most powerful nation
on the globe?
977
01:07:38,554 --> 01:07:42,058
Vietnam forced a reckoning
around those questions.
978
01:07:52,068 --> 01:07:54,945
In the United States,
we call it the Vietnam War.
979
01:07:55,738 --> 01:07:58,407
But in Vietnam,
they call it the American War.
980
01:08:00,034 --> 01:08:04,663
There are vastly different interpretations
of the same set of facts.
981
01:08:05,873 --> 01:08:07,458
To the West, it's just a movie.
982
01:08:07,541 --> 01:08:08,751
{\an8}Put it on the camp!
983
01:08:08,834 --> 01:08:10,461
{\an8}A John Wayne movie.
984
01:08:14,131 --> 01:08:16,425
But to the village, it's real.
985
01:08:19,720 --> 01:08:23,015
It's just so sad and suffering,
986
01:08:23,099 --> 01:08:26,268
the people who have nothing to do
with the politics.
987
01:08:28,229 --> 01:08:29,897
Everybody killing everybody.
988
01:08:35,611 --> 01:08:39,323
Ooh, a storm is threatening
989
01:08:39,406 --> 01:08:42,535
My very life today
990
01:08:43,410 --> 01:08:46,914
If I don't get some shelter
991
01:08:47,414 --> 01:08:50,501
Ooh yeah, I'm gonna fade away
992
01:08:51,627 --> 01:08:54,255
War, children
993
01:08:55,214 --> 01:08:59,176
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
994
01:08:59,260 --> 01:09:02,346
War, children
995
01:09:03,472 --> 01:09:07,351
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
996
01:09:15,901 --> 01:09:19,446
Ooh, see the fire is sweepin'
997
01:09:20,072 --> 01:09:23,159
Our very street today
998
01:09:24,118 --> 01:09:27,830
Burns like a red coal carpet
999
01:09:27,913 --> 01:09:31,125
Mad bull lost your way
1000
01:09:32,126 --> 01:09:34,753
War, children
1001
01:09:34,837 --> 01:09:35,838
Yeah
1002
01:09:35,921 --> 01:09:39,675
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
1003
01:09:39,758 --> 01:09:43,053
War, children
1004
01:09:44,096 --> 01:09:47,766
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
1005
01:10:28,682 --> 01:10:32,102
Rape, murder
1006
01:10:32,603 --> 01:10:36,315
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
1007
01:10:36,941 --> 01:10:40,361
Rape, murder, yeah
1008
01:10:40,444 --> 01:10:44,365
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
1009
01:10:44,990 --> 01:10:47,701
Rape, murder
1010
01:10:48,494 --> 01:10:52,456
It's just a shot away
It's just a shot away
1011
01:10:52,539 --> 01:10:55,918
Yeah
1012
01:11:01,006 --> 01:11:04,343
{\an8}Mmm, the floods is threatening
1013
01:11:04,885 --> 01:11:07,763
{\an8}My very life today
1014
01:11:08,931 --> 01:11:12,434
Gimme, gimme shelter
1015
01:11:12,935 --> 01:11:15,854
Or I'm gonna fade away…