1 00:00:02,066 --> 00:00:07,100 ♪ ♪ 2 00:00:09,266 --> 00:00:10,800 (audience applauding) 3 00:00:10,800 --> 00:00:13,433 ANNOUNCER: Tonight, from Atlanta, live and in color: 4 00:00:13,433 --> 00:00:15,533 "The Nixon Answer." 5 00:00:15,533 --> 00:00:18,200 Tonight, Richard Nixon in person 6 00:00:18,200 --> 00:00:19,733 is going to face a panel of citizens 7 00:00:19,733 --> 00:00:22,400 asking the questions they want answered. 8 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:24,566 Thank you very much, thank you. (chuckles) 9 00:00:24,566 --> 00:00:26,733 Hi, how are you? 10 00:00:26,733 --> 00:00:28,733 (applause continues) 11 00:00:28,733 --> 00:00:31,766 I thank all of you in the studio audience for your warm welcome, 12 00:00:31,766 --> 00:00:33,400 and I just hope my campaigning's 13 00:00:33,400 --> 00:00:35,600 a lot better than my putting. (all laugh) 14 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:37,233 And so we'll start over on this side 15 00:00:37,233 --> 00:00:40,200 with Mr. Murphy from Atlanta. 16 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:42,233 REG MURPHY: Mr. Nixon, General Curtis LeMay became 17 00:00:42,233 --> 00:00:44,266 Governor Wallace's running mate today, 18 00:00:44,266 --> 00:00:47,033 and he immediately said that he would use a nuclear bomb 19 00:00:47,033 --> 00:00:48,400 to win in Vietnam. 20 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:49,766 How do you feel about the use of nuclear weapons 21 00:00:49,766 --> 00:00:51,200 in Vietnam or elsewhere? 22 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:53,466 I do not believe that nuclear bombs 23 00:00:53,466 --> 00:00:55,766 or nuclear weapons should be used in Vietnam, 24 00:00:55,766 --> 00:00:58,300 I do not think they're necessary to be used in Vietnam, 25 00:00:58,300 --> 00:01:00,533 and we should not risk a nuclear war in Vietnam 26 00:01:00,533 --> 00:01:01,700 by any matter or means. 27 00:01:01,700 --> 00:01:06,733 (audience applauds) 28 00:01:13,433 --> 00:01:15,533 MORTON HALPERIN: We learned pretty quickly 29 00:01:15,533 --> 00:01:18,666 that his secret plan was to threaten the North Vietnamese 30 00:01:18,666 --> 00:01:20,433 with nuclear weapons. 31 00:01:20,433 --> 00:01:22,466 That was his plan. 32 00:01:22,466 --> 00:01:24,500 And he was convinced that the way 33 00:01:24,500 --> 00:01:28,366 to make the threat credible was for the North Vietnamese to fear 34 00:01:28,366 --> 00:01:31,433 that he was crazy and might actually do this. 35 00:01:35,666 --> 00:01:37,333 ♪ ♪ 36 00:01:37,333 --> 00:01:39,366 (explosions pounding) 37 00:01:45,300 --> 00:01:50,333 ♪ ♪ 38 00:01:59,333 --> 00:02:02,600 WALTER CRONKITE: Richard Nixon goes over the top 39 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:05,200 with 287 electoral votes, 40 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:08,900 and that seems to be the 1968 election. 41 00:02:08,900 --> 00:02:12,333 (crowd cheering and applauding) 42 00:02:12,333 --> 00:02:14,366 DICK FERNANDEZ: After his election, 43 00:02:14,366 --> 00:02:19,133 there was a feeling in the anti-war movement of exhaustion. 44 00:02:19,133 --> 00:02:21,566 We felt devastated by the Nixon election. 45 00:02:21,566 --> 00:02:23,700 And there were a lot of questions like, 46 00:02:23,700 --> 00:02:25,700 what should we be doing, what needs to be done, 47 00:02:25,700 --> 00:02:28,333 and what do we do next? 48 00:02:28,333 --> 00:02:30,533 We didn't know at that time that they were 49 00:02:30,533 --> 00:02:33,233 already planning to blow up Vietnam. 50 00:02:33,233 --> 00:02:35,800 ♪ ♪ 51 00:02:47,300 --> 00:02:50,066 NIXON: Dr. Kissinger is a man who is known 52 00:02:50,066 --> 00:02:52,033 to all people who are interested in foreign policy 53 00:02:52,033 --> 00:02:54,266 as perhaps one of the major scholars in America 54 00:02:54,266 --> 00:02:56,066 and the world today in this area. 55 00:02:56,066 --> 00:02:58,633 And I trust, under his direction, 56 00:02:58,633 --> 00:03:00,866 he will develop new ideas 57 00:03:00,866 --> 00:03:03,000 and new policies for the critical 58 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:04,533 problems America has in the field 59 00:03:04,533 --> 00:03:06,200 of foreign policy around the world. 60 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:07,866 (Nixon murmuring) 61 00:03:07,866 --> 00:03:10,033 Ladies and gentlemen, 62 00:03:10,033 --> 00:03:13,100 I am honored by the confidence 63 00:03:13,100 --> 00:03:15,933 that the president-elect has expressed in me. 64 00:03:15,933 --> 00:03:18,466 And I shall serve the president-elect 65 00:03:18,466 --> 00:03:21,533 with all my energy and dedication. 66 00:03:21,533 --> 00:03:25,366 HALPERIN: Kissinger and I had been colleagues together at Harvard. 67 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:29,300 I came into the government in '66, 68 00:03:29,300 --> 00:03:31,966 and I very quickly came to believe that we had no idea 69 00:03:31,966 --> 00:03:34,400 what we were doing in Vietnam, 70 00:03:34,400 --> 00:03:37,033 and that it was hopeless, and that we should get out. 71 00:03:37,033 --> 00:03:39,666 Which, of course, Kissinger knew. 72 00:03:39,666 --> 00:03:42,633 Kissinger and I taught a seminar at Harvard 73 00:03:42,633 --> 00:03:44,966 called the Defense Policy Seminar. 74 00:03:44,966 --> 00:03:48,066 There's actually a very famous "New York Times" picture 75 00:03:48,066 --> 00:03:51,366 of the last class of the seminar in 1968, 76 00:03:51,366 --> 00:03:54,000 'cause I alerted "The New York Times" to the fact 77 00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:55,866 that this was going to be Henry's last class. 78 00:03:55,866 --> 00:03:59,066 The photographer walks in and Henry says, 79 00:03:59,066 --> 00:04:02,466 "This will be good for my megalomania." 80 00:04:02,466 --> 00:04:05,833 After the class was over, Kissinger asked to talk to me. 81 00:04:05,833 --> 00:04:09,466 He said that he wanted to ask me to come and work for him 82 00:04:09,466 --> 00:04:12,766 in the White House, and I immediately said yes. 83 00:04:13,733 --> 00:04:18,133 Kissinger had a sense of urgency because by Inauguration Day, 84 00:04:18,133 --> 00:04:21,100 Nixon wanted a paper on options 85 00:04:21,100 --> 00:04:24,400 for what should be done in Vietnam. 86 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:27,666   We looked at a range of options all the way towards 87 00:04:27,666 --> 00:04:30,333 the one that I favored, which was announcing 88 00:04:30,333 --> 00:04:34,300 that we would withdraw all our forces. 89 00:04:34,300 --> 00:04:36,900 The paper went to Nixon and his response was, 90 00:04:36,900 --> 00:04:38,433 "This is a good options paper, 91 00:04:38,433 --> 00:04:40,800 "but the option that I'm interested in 92 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:45,733 is not in the paper, and that's the option of escalating." 93 00:04:45,733 --> 00:04:48,166 ♪ ♪ 94 00:04:48,166 --> 00:04:50,733 I was surprised by the escalation request, 95 00:04:50,733 --> 00:04:53,000 mostly because I thought it was infeasible, 96 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:55,100 that the country wouldn't stand for it. 97 00:04:55,100 --> 00:04:56,866 And I said to Kissinger, 98 00:04:56,866 --> 00:05:01,533 "If you go in this direction, it will become Nixon's war." 99 00:05:02,966 --> 00:05:05,533 And Kissinger went off and talked to Nixon, 100 00:05:05,533 --> 00:05:06,900 and came back and said, 101 00:05:06,900 --> 00:05:10,733 "He will be proud to have it called Nixon's war." 102 00:05:12,333 --> 00:05:18,100 ("All Along the Watchtower" playing) 103 00:05:18,100 --> 00:05:20,400 TOM WELLS: Nixon wanted to end the war quickly. 104 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:23,833 And the way he hoped to do that was by threatening 105 00:05:23,833 --> 00:05:27,433 the North Vietnamese with a major escalation of the war. 106 00:05:27,433 --> 00:05:30,933 And he had this idea that somehow he could convince 107 00:05:30,933 --> 00:05:33,566 the North Vietnamese that he was capable of anything-- 108 00:05:33,566 --> 00:05:35,633 to blow them to smithereens. 109 00:05:35,633 --> 00:05:37,433 (flashes popping) 110 00:05:37,433 --> 00:05:38,933 DANIEL ELLSBERG: H.R. Haldeman, 111 00:05:38,933 --> 00:05:40,500 who became Nixon's chief of staff, 112 00:05:40,500 --> 00:05:42,133 revealed in his memoirs 113 00:05:42,133 --> 00:05:44,966 that during the '68 campaign, 114 00:05:44,966 --> 00:05:47,100 Nixon had discussed with him how 115 00:05:47,100 --> 00:05:51,466 he expected effectively to win the war in Vietnam. 116 00:05:51,466 --> 00:05:54,933   (bomb releasing and exploding) 117 00:05:54,933 --> 00:05:57,966 Nixon's secret plan was to threaten the North Vietnamese 118 00:05:57,966 --> 00:06:01,466 that he would go to a much higher level of escalation than 119 00:06:01,466 --> 00:06:03,733 President Johnson had ever managed, 120 00:06:03,733 --> 00:06:07,633 including the use of nuclear weapons. 121 00:06:09,366 --> 00:06:11,000 But how to make the North Vietnamese 122 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:13,866 believe that he would do it? 123 00:06:15,066 --> 00:06:16,533 He said, "We'll get the word to them 124 00:06:16,533 --> 00:06:18,200 "that this guy is unpredictable, 125 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:20,333 "crazy, we can't control him, 126 00:06:20,333 --> 00:06:24,000 and he has his finger on the nuclear button." 127 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:26,233 And Nixon said to Haldeman, 128 00:06:26,233 --> 00:06:28,566 "Ho Chi Minh will be in Paris 129 00:06:28,566 --> 00:06:31,900 the next day to negotiate." 130 00:06:31,900 --> 00:06:35,300 And in his own mind, the word was used, madman. 131 00:06:35,300 --> 00:06:38,400 He said, "I call it the Madman Theory, Bob." 132 00:06:38,400 --> 00:06:40,533 ♪ ♪ 133 00:06:40,533 --> 00:06:43,366 And, by the way, privately, I believe 134 00:06:43,366 --> 00:06:46,800 Nixon was that crazy. 135 00:06:49,733 --> 00:06:51,166 FERNANDEZ: My name is Dick Fernandez. 136 00:06:51,166 --> 00:06:53,433 I am a minister in the United Church of Christ. 137 00:06:53,433 --> 00:06:55,666 I worked for eight years as a director 138 00:06:55,666 --> 00:06:59,233 of Clergy and Laity Concerned during the Vietnam War. 139 00:06:59,233 --> 00:07:02,000 In February of 1969, there were a group of us 140 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:03,500 that went to see Kissinger: 141 00:07:03,500 --> 00:07:05,200 Coretta Scott King, 142 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:06,766 William Sloane Coffin at Yale, 143 00:07:06,766 --> 00:07:09,333 Rabbi Abraham Heschel. 144 00:07:09,333 --> 00:07:13,100 And as we came in the door, you had these two Jewish men 145 00:07:13,100 --> 00:07:15,033 who had both escaped Nazi Germany 146 00:07:15,033 --> 00:07:17,200 and Poland, respectively. 147 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:20,966 You could kind of tell there was this recognition. 148 00:07:20,966 --> 00:07:23,233 We said we wanted the war to end, and as our meeting went on, 149 00:07:23,233 --> 00:07:25,033 at one point, Kissinger said, 150 00:07:25,033 --> 00:07:27,866 "You know, I've just been here six weeks-- it takes a while." 151 00:07:27,866 --> 00:07:30,833 He said to us, we need to be patient with them. 152 00:07:30,833 --> 00:07:33,200 Rabbi Heschel, he kind of looked at Kissinger, 153 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:35,333 and he said, "You know, Mr. Secretary, 154 00:07:35,333 --> 00:07:41,833 the children of Vietnam are dying, so you should hurry." 155 00:07:41,833 --> 00:07:46,000 You could have heard a pin drop. 156 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:47,633 We didn't know at that time 157 00:07:47,633 --> 00:07:51,366 that they were already planning to blow up Vietnam. 158 00:07:54,033 --> 00:07:55,566 SAM DONALDSON: It has now come to Richard Nixon 159 00:07:55,566 --> 00:07:58,766 as it came so often to his predecessor, Lyndon Johnson: 160 00:07:58,766 --> 00:08:00,933 the sight of hundreds of sign-carrying women 161 00:08:00,933 --> 00:08:02,400 marching in front of the White House, 162 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:04,933 demanding an immediate end to the war in Vietnam. 163 00:08:04,933 --> 00:08:07,200 It was all very peaceful and quiet. 164 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:12,133 So was Lyndon Johnson's first anti-war demonstration. 165 00:08:12,133 --> 00:08:16,633 CAROLYN EISENBERG: Nixon is acutely aware of the fact 166 00:08:16,633 --> 00:08:19,433 that Lyndon Johnson's presidency 167 00:08:19,433 --> 00:08:23,066 had been essentially destroyed by the anti-war movement. 168 00:08:23,066 --> 00:08:25,166 That's not lost on him at all. 169 00:08:25,166 --> 00:08:28,166 And he doesn't want to be in that spot. 170 00:08:28,166 --> 00:08:31,766 So from the very beginning, Richard Nixon is always paying 171 00:08:31,766 --> 00:08:35,000 attention to the anti-war movement. 172 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:36,766 CORA WEISS: Women Strike for Peace 173 00:08:36,766 --> 00:08:40,366 was a gathering of housewives, that's for sure. 174 00:08:40,366 --> 00:08:43,266 And we were all over the country. 175 00:08:43,266 --> 00:08:46,600 We began getting worried about the Vietnam War. 176 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:49,000 It was a war of atrocities. 177 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:51,300 We committed crimes against humanity. 178 00:08:51,300 --> 00:08:53,200 It was horrible. 179 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:54,666 And we were going to work 180 00:08:54,666 --> 00:08:59,200 to try to prevent this war from escalating and end it. 181 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:00,333 DONALDSON: Today, they marched from the White House 182 00:09:00,333 --> 00:09:02,033 to Capitol Hill; at the Capitol, 183 00:09:02,033 --> 00:09:03,200 the women took turns 184 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:04,833 listening to anti-war congressmen... 185 00:09:04,833 --> 00:09:07,833 SHIRLEY CHISHOLM: The war should be ended immediately. 186 00:09:07,833 --> 00:09:11,166 We really need a complete re-evaluation 187 00:09:11,166 --> 00:09:13,933 of what this nation's priority is going to be. 188 00:09:13,933 --> 00:09:16,700 And until we end the war in Vietnam 189 00:09:16,700 --> 00:09:20,233 and address ourselves to the domestic war at home, 190 00:09:20,233 --> 00:09:23,766 we are going to continue to be in trouble in our country. 191 00:09:27,833 --> 00:09:30,066 DAVID HAWK: In the early '60s, 192 00:09:30,066 --> 00:09:32,666 what I was most concerned about was really 193 00:09:32,666 --> 00:09:35,766 the Civil Rights Movement. 194 00:09:35,766 --> 00:09:39,166 I went to Mississippi in the summer of 1964 195 00:09:39,166 --> 00:09:41,666 as part of Mississippi Freedom Summer. 196 00:09:41,666 --> 00:09:43,500 And being concerned with 197 00:09:43,500 --> 00:09:46,533 the issue of poverty in America, you could see 198 00:09:46,533 --> 00:09:50,466 easily who was getting sent to Vietnam 199 00:09:50,466 --> 00:09:54,400 and where in American society the draftees 200 00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:56,766 were coming from-- the small towns, 201 00:09:56,766 --> 00:09:59,433 the farms, and the ghettos. 202 00:09:59,433 --> 00:10:04,000 And I went from concern about civil rights at home 203 00:10:04,000 --> 00:10:07,466 directly into concern for the escalation 204 00:10:07,466 --> 00:10:10,700 of the war in Vietnam, 205 00:10:10,700 --> 00:10:12,900 and many, many of my colleagues 206 00:10:12,900 --> 00:10:16,233 and friends from the Civil Rights Movement 207 00:10:16,233 --> 00:10:21,266 also transitioned into the anti-war movement. 208 00:10:22,700 --> 00:10:27,166 I became the anti-war and anti-draft coordinator 209 00:10:27,166 --> 00:10:29,933 for the National Student Association, 210 00:10:29,933 --> 00:10:33,933 and I organized a "We Won't Go" letter 211 00:10:33,933 --> 00:10:38,433 addressed to Nixon, advising him of how deep 212 00:10:38,433 --> 00:10:43,533 and how wide opposition to the war was on the campuses. 213 00:10:43,533 --> 00:10:46,866 And to our surprise, we were invited to meet 214 00:10:46,866 --> 00:10:51,000 with Henry Kissinger and Nixon's chief domestic adviser, 215 00:10:51,000 --> 00:10:53,300 John Ehrlichman, and had that meeting 216 00:10:53,300 --> 00:10:56,433 in the Situation Room in the White House. 217 00:10:56,433 --> 00:10:57,833 ROGER BLACK: Dr. Kissinger 218 00:10:57,833 --> 00:11:00,433 repeated a, a number of times that, that we really 219 00:11:00,433 --> 00:11:03,066 should give them, give them more time, be patient. 220 00:11:03,066 --> 00:11:05,533 Dr. Kissinger said that 221 00:11:05,533 --> 00:11:06,700 if we came back a year from now 222 00:11:06,700 --> 00:11:08,333 and the war was still in the same position, 223 00:11:08,333 --> 00:11:12,100 he would really have no moral argument against us. 224 00:11:13,266 --> 00:11:17,333 HAWK: Kissinger left the room after 20, 30 minutes, 225 00:11:17,333 --> 00:11:20,333 and John Ehrlichman took the floor 226 00:11:20,333 --> 00:11:24,633 and was so hard-line, it shocked people. 227 00:11:24,633 --> 00:11:28,366 He said, "If you think 228 00:11:28,366 --> 00:11:32,066 "that you can break laws you don't like, 229 00:11:32,066 --> 00:11:35,100 "you're going to force us to up the ante 230 00:11:35,100 --> 00:11:37,333 "to the point where we have to give out 231 00:11:37,333 --> 00:11:40,633 death sentences for traffic violations." 232 00:11:40,633 --> 00:11:44,233 I mean, this was so off the wall and over the top 233 00:11:44,233 --> 00:11:46,266 that everybody's jaw just dropped. 234 00:11:46,266 --> 00:11:48,066 (laughs): "What is this guy talking about?" 235 00:11:48,066 --> 00:11:51,666 (guns firing) 236 00:11:51,666 --> 00:11:55,966 It was clear to everybody that the war was going to go on. 237 00:11:55,966 --> 00:11:57,533 (explosion pounds) 238 00:11:57,533 --> 00:12:00,466 These guys were not going to end it, 239 00:12:00,466 --> 00:12:03,433 and they might even be worse than the last bunch. 240 00:12:05,433 --> 00:12:07,000 ROGER MORRIS: I'm Roger Morris. 241 00:12:07,000 --> 00:12:09,333 I was on the National Security Council staff 242 00:12:09,333 --> 00:12:14,466 under Henry Kissinger and President Richard Nixon. 243 00:12:14,466 --> 00:12:17,700 Nixon intended to be very much his own secretary of state, 244 00:12:17,700 --> 00:12:19,633 as well as his own president. 245 00:12:19,633 --> 00:12:23,466 In foreign policy, it would be, in the end, Henry and Dick. 246 00:12:25,500 --> 00:12:30,533 As early as the spring of 1969, we knew that Nixon was making 247 00:12:30,533 --> 00:12:34,200 (chuckling): very, very definite and often somewhat 248 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:38,333 furtively menacing approaches to the Soviet Union, 249 00:12:38,333 --> 00:12:40,933 what struck me at the time as almost childish, 250 00:12:40,933 --> 00:12:44,300 if not adolescent, playing with the whole issue: 251 00:12:44,300 --> 00:12:45,966 "You'll have to get on board here 252 00:12:45,966 --> 00:12:48,733 "with pressuring the North Vietnamese to end the war 253 00:12:48,733 --> 00:12:51,866 or terrible things will happen." 254 00:12:51,866 --> 00:12:54,500 STEPHEN BULL: I was a very, very strong supporter 255 00:12:54,500 --> 00:12:56,200 of Richard Nixon. 256 00:12:56,200 --> 00:12:58,900 He was my boss, I admired him. 257 00:12:58,900 --> 00:13:03,133 And whatever his decision was, I was going to support it. 258 00:13:03,133 --> 00:13:05,600 President Nixon wanted the Russians 259 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:08,366 to believe that he would do anything. 260 00:13:08,366 --> 00:13:11,366 He wanted to make them think that he was a madman. 261 00:13:11,366 --> 00:13:14,433 However, my personal observation was, it was a bluff. 262 00:13:14,433 --> 00:13:17,100 He wasn't going to do anything, 263 00:13:17,100 --> 00:13:19,900 he was never going to use nuclear weapons, 264 00:13:19,900 --> 00:13:23,000 but he wanted the threat to be out there 265 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:25,600 to force them to the table. 266 00:13:27,133 --> 00:13:30,266 ELLSBERG: By May of 1969, 267 00:13:30,266 --> 00:13:32,533 Henry Kissinger had told Dobrynin, 268 00:13:32,533 --> 00:13:34,833 the Russian ambassador, Soviet ambassador, 269 00:13:34,833 --> 00:13:39,600 that if the North Vietnamese did not agree to Nixon's terms, 270 00:13:39,600 --> 00:13:43,133 we would move to measures of the greatest consequence, 271 00:13:43,133 --> 00:13:45,900 the gravest consequence. 272 00:13:47,733 --> 00:13:50,600 HALPERIN: I found out about the threats in which Kissinger 273 00:13:50,600 --> 00:13:52,966 says to the Russian ambassador, Dobrynin, 274 00:13:52,966 --> 00:13:55,266 "The president wants you to tell the Russians 275 00:13:55,266 --> 00:13:59,133 "that the North Vietnamese have nothing to gain by waiting, 276 00:13:59,133 --> 00:14:01,700   "that if they wait, things will get much worse. 277 00:14:01,700 --> 00:14:03,366 There will be terrible destruction." 278 00:14:03,366 --> 00:14:04,766 It did everything 279 00:14:04,766 --> 00:14:06,700 but use the word "nuclear weapons," but it was clearly 280 00:14:06,700 --> 00:14:09,266 meant to be a nuclear threat. 281 00:14:09,266 --> 00:14:12,000 Which, of course, I found very disturbing. 282 00:14:15,700 --> 00:14:17,800 EISENBERG: In May of 1969, 283 00:14:17,800 --> 00:14:20,966 you have the Battle of Hamburger Hill. 284 00:14:20,966 --> 00:14:25,766 It's very close to the Laotian border, in a mountainous region. 285 00:14:25,766 --> 00:14:29,233 Groups of soldiers are sent up the hill 286 00:14:29,233 --> 00:14:31,966 to get the North Vietnamese out, 287 00:14:31,966 --> 00:14:35,100 but they're in a terrible position. 288 00:14:35,100 --> 00:14:38,400 The enemy troops are on the top and they're just killing them. 289 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:41,500 But their officer cannot bear to give up. 290 00:14:41,500 --> 00:14:45,300 Hamburger Hill was a term that the men used 291 00:14:45,300 --> 00:14:49,900 because they were being ground up like ground meat. 292 00:14:49,900 --> 00:14:51,466 Eventually, they actually take the hill, 293 00:14:51,466 --> 00:14:54,566 and of course, by that point, enemy's either dead 294 00:14:54,566 --> 00:14:57,366 or they've crossed back over the border into Laos. 295 00:14:57,366 --> 00:15:01,133 So it's really a big nothing in terms of what they're achieving. 296 00:15:01,133 --> 00:15:03,900 CRONKITE: Today, a squad leader wounded in those assaults, 297 00:15:03,900 --> 00:15:06,766 Sergeant Ken Tepper, talked about the fight. 298 00:15:06,766 --> 00:15:09,100   It seemed so useless, because they just, 299 00:15:09,100 --> 00:15:11,033 they just kept sending us up there, 300 00:15:11,033 --> 00:15:13,566 and they were just slaughtering us. 301 00:15:13,566 --> 00:15:16,100 My best friend was right behind me with his machine gun. 302 00:15:16,100 --> 00:15:18,900 He got killed right there, got a bullet through his head, 303 00:15:18,900 --> 00:15:20,900 and it was, it was pretty awful. 304 00:15:22,166 --> 00:15:25,366 And I cried that night, and many guys did. 305 00:15:25,366 --> 00:15:28,233 EISENBERG: Nixon sees this, 306 00:15:28,233 --> 00:15:29,933 and he sends a message to Kissinger. 307 00:15:29,933 --> 00:15:33,333 "How in the world do people like that get put on the television? 308 00:15:33,333 --> 00:15:35,900 How did we allow that to happen?" 309 00:15:35,900 --> 00:15:39,333 The absolute disconnection, both of them, 310 00:15:39,333 --> 00:15:42,100 between the things that they're deciding to do 311 00:15:42,100 --> 00:15:43,733 and the human costs of it, 312 00:15:43,733 --> 00:15:46,700 whether it's to our own soldiers or it's civilians, 313 00:15:46,700 --> 00:15:49,200 has absolutely no part in their thinking. 314 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:51,433 They don't care. 315 00:15:55,533 --> 00:16:01,133 (hammers pounding) 316 00:16:01,133 --> 00:16:02,766 SAM BROWN: I was teaching 317 00:16:02,766 --> 00:16:05,733 a seminar at Harvard at the time. 318 00:16:05,733 --> 00:16:08,833 In the seminar, I said, "Let's play a 'what if?' game. 319 00:16:08,833 --> 00:16:12,500 What if you wanted to end the war in Vietnam?" 320 00:16:12,500 --> 00:16:15,766 We were casting about to see what other people were thinking. 321 00:16:15,766 --> 00:16:18,300 Jerry Grossman, who was a businessman, 322 00:16:18,300 --> 00:16:20,733 but deeply committed against the war, 323 00:16:20,733 --> 00:16:25,266 had come up with this idea of a national strike. 324 00:16:25,266 --> 00:16:28,233 Jerry came to the seminar and pitched this. 325 00:16:28,233 --> 00:16:31,666 And over a period of weeks, we carried on 326 00:16:31,666 --> 00:16:33,500 a conversation about, how is that going to work? 327 00:16:33,500 --> 00:16:36,166 Who's going to be attracted to that? 328 00:16:36,166 --> 00:16:38,800 Will people be put off by the word "strike"? 329 00:16:38,800 --> 00:16:42,466 And also, the question was, could you pull it off? 330 00:16:42,466 --> 00:16:45,666 That is, would people actually walk off their jobs? 331 00:16:45,666 --> 00:16:47,900 We began to think, on the other hand, maybe we can 332 00:16:47,900 --> 00:16:50,133 use that idea, reframed, 333 00:16:50,133 --> 00:16:52,400 saying not, "We're gonna strike that day," 334 00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:55,600 but we're going to take some time to contemplate that day. 335 00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:58,400 We're going to set aside business as usual. 336 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:04,533 And from that came the idea of the Moratorium. 337 00:17:04,533 --> 00:17:08,700 HAWK: We thought there was a lot more latent opposition 338 00:17:08,700 --> 00:17:13,866 to the war that could be mobilized at the local level. 339 00:17:13,866 --> 00:17:17,933 Since I had this active network of student leaders, 340 00:17:17,933 --> 00:17:20,266 we decided to bring some of them back 341 00:17:20,266 --> 00:17:25,366 to Washington, and Sam came down and laid out the idea. 342 00:17:25,366 --> 00:17:28,300 BROWN: You know, we were basically political people. 343 00:17:28,300 --> 00:17:30,500 We didn't think revolution was in the air. 344 00:17:30,500 --> 00:17:32,766 We didn't think that the United States 345 00:17:32,766 --> 00:17:34,366 is going to change overnight. 346 00:17:34,366 --> 00:17:36,666 So we wanted to find a way that made people 347 00:17:36,666 --> 00:17:38,966 feel comfortable, that made them feel like, 348 00:17:38,966 --> 00:17:40,666 "Oh, I've been thinking about the war, 349 00:17:40,666 --> 00:17:42,766 "and maybe now I can actually do something 350 00:17:42,766 --> 00:17:44,966 right here in my hometown." 351 00:17:44,966 --> 00:17:49,233 So that was the intent of the Moratorium. 352 00:17:49,233 --> 00:17:50,533 HAWK: We decided to give it a try, 353 00:17:50,533 --> 00:17:52,966 and set October 15 354 00:17:52,966 --> 00:17:55,566 as the target date. 355 00:17:55,566 --> 00:17:57,166 BROWN: Yeah, well, we didn't know any better. 356 00:17:57,166 --> 00:17:59,366 Nobody had told us we couldn't do it, 357 00:17:59,366 --> 00:18:02,300 so we just sort of set out to do it. 358 00:18:02,300 --> 00:18:04,233 ("The I-Feel-Like- I'm-Fixing-to-Die Rag" playing) 359 00:18:04,233 --> 00:18:07,366 ♪ Well, come on, all of you big strong men ♪ 360 00:18:07,366 --> 00:18:08,933 ♪ Uncle Sam needs your help again ♪ 361 00:18:08,933 --> 00:18:10,533 ♪ Got himself in a terrible jam ♪ 362 00:18:10,533 --> 00:18:12,700 ♪ Way down yonder in Vietnam ♪ 363 00:18:12,700 --> 00:18:15,366 ♪ Put down your books and pick up a gun ♪ 364 00:18:15,366 --> 00:18:16,633 ♪ We're gonna have a whole lot of fun ♪ 365 00:18:16,633 --> 00:18:19,033 ♪ And it's one, two, three ♪ 366 00:18:19,033 --> 00:18:20,966 ♪ What are we fighting for? ♪ 367 00:18:20,966 --> 00:18:23,100 ♪ Don't ask me, I don't give a damn ♪ 368 00:18:23,100 --> 00:18:25,300 ♪ The next stop is Vietnam ♪ 369 00:18:25,300 --> 00:18:28,266 ♪ And it's five, six, seven ♪ 370 00:18:28,266 --> 00:18:29,800 ♪ Open up the Pearly Gates ♪ 371 00:18:29,800 --> 00:18:32,600 ♪ Well, there ain't no time to wonder why ♪ 372 00:18:32,600 --> 00:18:35,600 ♪ Whoopee! We're all gonna die ♪ 373 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:37,300 DAVID HARTSOUGH: I'm David Hartsough. 374 00:18:37,300 --> 00:18:40,233 And I was a lobbyist working on ending the war. 375 00:18:40,233 --> 00:18:43,666 My job was to help educate Congress 376 00:18:43,666 --> 00:18:47,233 and bring pressure on Congress about the war, 377 00:18:47,233 --> 00:18:49,733 and trying to bring the truth to Congress. 378 00:18:49,733 --> 00:18:52,533 I was living the Vietnam War day and night, 379 00:18:52,533 --> 00:18:57,000 and feeling a heavy responsibility on my shoulders. 380 00:18:58,533 --> 00:19:02,566 Every week, 300 American soldiers were dying, 381 00:19:02,566 --> 00:19:07,200 and thousands of Vietnamese. 382 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:11,566 Quakers decided somehow we had to publicly help 383 00:19:11,566 --> 00:19:15,200 the American people understand the reality 384 00:19:15,200 --> 00:19:18,733 of what the war was costing in lives, 385 00:19:18,733 --> 00:19:21,200 and came up with the idea 386 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:24,200 of reading the names of the American war dead 387 00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:27,733 on the Capitol steps, which we proceeded to do. 388 00:19:27,733 --> 00:19:29,333 MAN: Joe Mac Kemp. 389 00:19:29,333 --> 00:19:31,366 Kent Alan Leonard. 390 00:19:31,366 --> 00:19:34,200 HARTSOUGH: We got through 50, 60 names, 391 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:37,600 and we were arrested and taken off to jail. 392 00:19:39,366 --> 00:19:41,000 The next Wednesday, again, we went back 393 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:44,033 and continued reading the names of the war dead. 394 00:19:44,033 --> 00:19:47,033 And we were again arrested and taken off to jail. 395 00:19:47,033 --> 00:19:49,300 Vacate the lane forthwith 396 00:19:49,300 --> 00:19:53,600 or subject yourself to arrest. (woman reading names) 397 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:56,466 HARTSOUGH: So I went to see Congressman George Brown 398 00:19:56,466 --> 00:20:00,333 of Southern California, and I said, 399 00:20:00,333 --> 00:20:03,700 "George, is there anything you could do to help us?" 400 00:20:03,700 --> 00:20:05,800 He sits back on his swivel chair and says, 401 00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:08,066 "Yeah, I think I'll join you." 402 00:20:08,066 --> 00:20:09,533 (laughs) 403 00:20:09,533 --> 00:20:11,266 REPORTER: For the fourth straight Wednesday, 404 00:20:11,266 --> 00:20:13,333 a group of Quakers tried to read from 405 00:20:13,333 --> 00:20:17,400 the Capitol steps the names of Americans killed in Vietnam. 406 00:20:17,400 --> 00:20:19,066 They were joined today by members of Congress 407 00:20:19,066 --> 00:20:21,066 who sat with them on the steps. 408 00:20:21,066 --> 00:20:22,300 HARTSOUGH: The congressmen, 409 00:20:22,300 --> 00:20:25,000 they had congressional immunity, 410 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:28,000 so we got arrested and they just continued 411 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:31,833 reading the names, for hours and hours and hours. 412 00:20:31,833 --> 00:20:35,500 That got publicity, and more members of Congress joined us. 413 00:20:35,500 --> 00:20:38,100 Charles Diggs from Detroit. 414 00:20:38,100 --> 00:20:42,266 Ed Koch, who later became mayor of New York City. 415 00:20:42,266 --> 00:20:45,233 Shirley Chisholm of New York. 416 00:20:45,233 --> 00:20:49,700   ♪ We shall not, we shall not be moved ♪ 417 00:20:49,700 --> 00:20:53,833 ♪ We shall not, we shall not be moved ♪ 418 00:20:53,833 --> 00:20:55,700 ♪ Just like a tree ♪ 419 00:20:55,700 --> 00:20:59,866 ♪ That's standing by the water ♪ 420 00:20:59,866 --> 00:21:04,300 ♪ We shall not be moved ♪ 421 00:21:04,300 --> 00:21:06,766 HARTSOUGH: I like to believe that our courage 422 00:21:06,766 --> 00:21:10,133 gave these congresspeople the courage to do 423 00:21:10,133 --> 00:21:12,233 what they believed was right. 424 00:21:12,233 --> 00:21:15,766 And their courage gave courage 425 00:21:15,766 --> 00:21:19,600 and encouragement to the media to begin sharing this 426 00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:22,466 terrible story of how many Americans 427 00:21:22,466 --> 00:21:26,633 and how many Vietnamese were dying every single week. 428 00:21:26,633 --> 00:21:31,000 Orrie Julius Buskey, Reuben Butcher... 429 00:21:31,000 --> 00:21:34,466 HARTSOUGH: Congresspeople inserted all 40,000 names 430 00:21:34,466 --> 00:21:37,566 of the American war dead into the Congressional Record, 431 00:21:37,566 --> 00:21:40,433 so that became public knowledge, 432 00:21:40,433 --> 00:21:42,266 and people began 433 00:21:42,266 --> 00:21:45,066 reading the names of the war dead all over the country. 434 00:21:45,066 --> 00:21:46,366 MAN: Nathaniel Collins. 435 00:21:46,366 --> 00:21:49,900 Thomas Edward Collins. 436 00:21:49,900 --> 00:21:52,066 Farrell Richard Carew. 437 00:21:52,066 --> 00:21:55,733 Randall Vincent Cook. 438 00:21:55,733 --> 00:21:57,333 Joseph Henry Cooper, Jr. 439 00:21:57,333 --> 00:22:00,466 HARTSOUGH: The message we were trying to send out was, 440 00:22:00,466 --> 00:22:03,133 this war has to end. 441 00:22:03,133 --> 00:22:06,000 This madness has to end. 442 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:07,433 JOHN LENNON: One, two, three, four! 443 00:22:07,433 --> 00:22:12,100 ("Give Peace a Chance" playing) 444 00:22:13,133 --> 00:22:16,900 ♪ Everybody's talking 'bout Bagism, Shagism, Dragism ♪ 445 00:22:16,900 --> 00:22:20,133 ♪ Madism, Ragism, Tagism, this-ism, that-ism ♪ 446 00:22:20,133 --> 00:22:21,600 ♪ Ism, ism, ism ♪ 447 00:22:22,700 --> 00:22:28,366 ♪ All we are saying ♪ 448 00:22:28,366 --> 00:22:32,000 ♪ Is give peace a chance ♪ 449 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:34,466 (exclaiming) 450 00:22:34,466 --> 00:22:39,266 ♪ All we are saying ♪ 451 00:22:39,266 --> 00:22:43,900 ♪ Is give peace a chance ♪ 452 00:22:43,900 --> 00:22:46,066 We tried to do it in New York, but the American government 453 00:22:46,066 --> 00:22:47,400 wouldn't let us in. 454 00:22:47,400 --> 00:22:49,666 So we ended up doing it in Montreal, instead, 455 00:22:49,666 --> 00:22:52,566 and broadcasting across the border. 456 00:22:52,566 --> 00:22:56,900 ♪ And Fishops and Rabbis and Popeyes and bye-bye, bye-bye ♪ 457 00:22:56,900 --> 00:23:01,566 ♪ All we are saying ♪ 458 00:23:03,366 --> 00:23:05,133 ♪ Is give peace a chance ♪ 459 00:23:05,133 --> 00:23:07,066 Okay, beautiful! 460 00:23:07,066 --> 00:23:09,700 Yeah! (all cheer and applaud) 461 00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:18,533 CHRISTIAN APPY: By the middle of 1969, 462 00:23:18,533 --> 00:23:20,633 many Americans, middle Americans, 463 00:23:20,633 --> 00:23:22,566 were beginning to think, you know, 464 00:23:22,566 --> 00:23:25,066 "Maybe it doesn't make sense for us to be continuing 465 00:23:25,066 --> 00:23:26,366 "to send our sons 466 00:23:26,366 --> 00:23:30,033 to fight this war that seems unwinnable." 467 00:23:30,033 --> 00:23:31,100 (explosion pounds) 468 00:23:33,233 --> 00:23:34,700 NIXON: After five years 469 00:23:34,700 --> 00:23:38,900 in which more and more Americans have been sent to Vietnam, 470 00:23:38,900 --> 00:23:42,066 we finally have reached the point where we can begin 471 00:23:42,066 --> 00:23:45,000 to bring Americans home from Vietnam. 472 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:48,033 APPY: He did realize that he could no longer escalate 473 00:23:48,033 --> 00:23:51,200 the war of American ground troops in Vietnam. 474 00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:53,900 Those soldiers had to be brought back. 475 00:23:53,900 --> 00:23:55,133 He wanted to bring them back 476 00:23:55,133 --> 00:23:57,500 as slowly as possible, but he understood 477 00:23:57,500 --> 00:24:00,433 that the American public could no longer tolerate 478 00:24:00,433 --> 00:24:03,966 large numbers of American body bags coming home. 479 00:24:03,966 --> 00:24:07,300 ♪ ♪ 480 00:24:11,933 --> 00:24:13,633 BROWN: You could not forget 481 00:24:13,633 --> 00:24:15,833 that June issue of "Life" magazine. 482 00:24:15,833 --> 00:24:18,300 I think "Life" may have had a circulation 483 00:24:18,300 --> 00:24:20,300 of five or six million or something. 484 00:24:20,300 --> 00:24:22,166 It seemed like it came 485 00:24:22,166 --> 00:24:23,300 to every home in America, 486 00:24:23,300 --> 00:24:25,833 and suddenly, here are these pictures, 487 00:24:25,833 --> 00:24:29,300 and you have a face and a name. 488 00:24:29,300 --> 00:24:32,566 Not just, oh, last week, people died, 489 00:24:32,566 --> 00:24:37,733 which is horrifying, but it had become so normalized. 490 00:24:37,733 --> 00:24:42,333 That magazine brought back to reality 491 00:24:42,333 --> 00:24:45,333 that that new normal was terrible. 492 00:24:45,333 --> 00:24:47,766 It was devastating. 493 00:24:51,100 --> 00:24:52,266 (firing) 494 00:24:52,266 --> 00:24:54,900 HAWK: Nixon announced the withdrawal 495 00:24:54,900 --> 00:24:58,100 of 25,000 troops, 496 00:24:58,100 --> 00:25:03,600 but the rate of withdrawal they were talking about 497 00:25:03,600 --> 00:25:06,766 meant the war would go on for another four or five years. 498 00:25:06,766 --> 00:25:10,533 We wanted to indicate that won't do it. 499 00:25:10,533 --> 00:25:14,100 The war's gone on too long already. 500 00:25:14,100 --> 00:25:16,366 Just simply end it-- end it! 501 00:25:16,366 --> 00:25:18,700 Bring them home-- immediate withdrawal. 502 00:25:18,700 --> 00:25:22,266 ("Volunteers" by Jefferson Airplane playing) 503 00:25:22,266 --> 00:25:25,333 JOAN LIBBY: I was student body president at Mount Holyoke, 504 00:25:25,333 --> 00:25:27,200 and I hated the war. 505 00:25:27,200 --> 00:25:31,866 I met David Hawk, who was looking to hire people 506 00:25:31,866 --> 00:25:35,033 who were good organizers and could get things done. 507 00:25:35,033 --> 00:25:36,633 (chuckles): And of course, at 21, 508 00:25:36,633 --> 00:25:39,200 you knew that you could get anything done. 509 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:43,600 And I said, "I'm in." 510 00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:46,633 I remember I packed my things in a cardboard box 511 00:25:46,633 --> 00:25:49,533 and went on an airplane, you know, I had no suitcase, even. 512 00:25:49,533 --> 00:25:52,033 And it's a beehive. 513 00:25:52,033 --> 00:25:55,433 It's frenetic, it's organized. 514 00:25:55,433 --> 00:25:57,466 REPORTER: At 26, Sam Brown is the oldest of the four 515 00:25:57,466 --> 00:26:01,233 Moratorium organizers, and has a master's degree from Rutgers. 516 00:26:01,233 --> 00:26:03,600 David Hawk is a quietly intense young man 517 00:26:03,600 --> 00:26:06,400 with the best connections to the radical left. 518 00:26:06,400 --> 00:26:09,800 He graduated from Cornell, went to Harvard Divinity School, 519 00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:12,533 and expects to go to prison in a few months 520 00:26:12,533 --> 00:26:14,266 for refusing the draft. 521 00:26:14,266 --> 00:26:17,033 At 22, Marge Sklencar is extraordinary. 522 00:26:17,033 --> 00:26:19,400 She's been accepted at Yale Law School, 523 00:26:19,400 --> 00:26:21,866 works 18 hours a day, handles the money, 524 00:26:21,866 --> 00:26:24,533 breaks up the arguments, and knows everyone. 525 00:26:24,533 --> 00:26:28,366 David Mixner was recruited by Brown for his long experience 526 00:26:28,366 --> 00:26:31,866 in student organization and his knowledge of Capitol Hill. 527 00:26:31,866 --> 00:26:34,033 ♪ We're the volunteers of America ♪ 528 00:26:34,033 --> 00:26:36,366 MIXNER: My family has always had a great military history. 529 00:26:36,366 --> 00:26:38,433 All my uncles served in World War II, 530 00:26:38,433 --> 00:26:42,500 my father, and there was real pride in that. 531 00:26:42,500 --> 00:26:45,366 And then I had four members of my family die in Vietnam. 532 00:26:45,366 --> 00:26:48,400 And my best friend from high school 533 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:50,666 and elementary school died in Vietnam. 534 00:26:50,666 --> 00:26:53,233 All before they were 22. 535 00:26:53,233 --> 00:26:54,433 It's something you never forget, 536 00:26:54,433 --> 00:26:56,566 and my sister and I became outspoken 537 00:26:56,566 --> 00:26:58,900 opponents against the war. 538 00:26:58,900 --> 00:27:01,233 And then I got a draft notice. 539 00:27:01,233 --> 00:27:03,966 There was no question in my mind-- I wasn't going. 540 00:27:03,966 --> 00:27:08,266 The only question in my mind was whether to go overseas or jail. 541 00:27:08,266 --> 00:27:10,433 And I dreaded telling my father. 542 00:27:10,433 --> 00:27:13,000 But I said, "Dad, I got drafted." 543 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:15,800 And he sort of turned pale and I said, 544 00:27:15,800 --> 00:27:18,666 "I know you're not going to like this, but I ain't going." 545 00:27:18,666 --> 00:27:21,666 I said, "I sent a letter to the Salem County draft board, 546 00:27:21,666 --> 00:27:24,700 saying, '(muted) you and (muted) your war, I ain't going.'" 547 00:27:24,700 --> 00:27:27,433 And that's exactly what I wrote. 548 00:27:27,433 --> 00:27:29,966 And he said, "Of course you're not going. 549 00:27:29,966 --> 00:27:32,633 We've given enough already." 550 00:27:32,633 --> 00:27:34,466 And he says, "You'll go when the Rockefellers 551 00:27:34,466 --> 00:27:36,366 start sending their sons." 552 00:27:36,366 --> 00:27:39,933 Shocked the (muted) out of me. 553 00:27:39,933 --> 00:27:43,133 LIBBY: I was from this working-class town 554 00:27:43,133 --> 00:27:45,466 called Revere, Massachusetts. 555 00:27:45,466 --> 00:27:50,166 I did have a sense from my lower-middle-class upbringing 556 00:27:50,166 --> 00:27:52,800 and my father that I wanted to do something 557 00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:56,900 that would convince people who were like my parents 558 00:27:56,900 --> 00:28:00,700 to turn against the war. 559 00:28:00,700 --> 00:28:06,833 My father was in World War II and was a master sergeant, 560 00:28:06,833 --> 00:28:11,533 and came back from the war and became a police officer. 561 00:28:11,533 --> 00:28:15,400   My family is Jewish, and my father 562 00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:17,500 had been with General Patton 563 00:28:17,500 --> 00:28:20,833 and had helped liberate concentration camps. 564 00:28:20,833 --> 00:28:24,633 So the notion of conscience was for me 565 00:28:24,633 --> 00:28:27,066 very important. 566 00:28:27,066 --> 00:28:30,233 And when I thought about Vietnam, 567 00:28:30,233 --> 00:28:32,900 I didn't want to say I just, you know, 568 00:28:32,900 --> 00:28:35,533 finished college and went to grad school, honey. 569 00:28:35,533 --> 00:28:39,533 I wanted to know that I did what I could, 570 00:28:39,533 --> 00:28:43,233 in the smartest way I knew how, 571 00:28:43,233 --> 00:28:45,433 to end the war in Vietnam. 572 00:28:45,433 --> 00:28:48,633 I was not going to be the bystander. 573 00:28:51,933 --> 00:28:55,100 MIXNER: Mary McGrory was a Pulitzer Prize columnist 574 00:28:55,100 --> 00:28:58,033 at the "Washington Evening Star" at the time. 575 00:28:58,033 --> 00:29:00,766 Her column was in, like, 400 papers around the world. 576 00:29:00,766 --> 00:29:02,433 I mean, she was a star. 577 00:29:02,433 --> 00:29:06,033 And she was passionately committed against the war. 578 00:29:06,033 --> 00:29:09,000 She fell in love with the Moratorium. 579 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:14,033 And she arranged a lunch with Ehrlichman. 580 00:29:14,033 --> 00:29:17,200 And the lunch went well, and then he said, 581 00:29:17,200 --> 00:29:19,300 "You've got to call this off. 582 00:29:19,300 --> 00:29:22,766 "This is treasonous, this is undercutting our troops. 583 00:29:22,766 --> 00:29:26,400 And if you don't, we'll put you in jail." 584 00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:28,333 BROWN: One of us said, 585 00:29:28,333 --> 00:29:30,533 "Eventually, you'll have to put us all in jail." 586 00:29:30,533 --> 00:29:34,233 And he made some joke in a kind of mock German accent about, 587 00:29:34,233 --> 00:29:37,300 "Well, we'll build the walls higher and higher." 588 00:29:37,300 --> 00:29:40,633 (chuckles): That's pretty unnerving, thank you. 589 00:29:42,166 --> 00:29:44,766 MIXNER: I was very much in the closet as a gay man. 590 00:29:44,766 --> 00:29:48,366 And I was living in total fear of that coming out. 591 00:29:48,366 --> 00:29:50,700 And before he left, he patted me on the knee 592 00:29:50,700 --> 00:29:52,733 and he said, "David, don't forget, 593 00:29:52,733 --> 00:29:57,233 we know all about you-- all about you." 594 00:29:57,233 --> 00:29:59,266 And I knew what he was talking about. 595 00:29:59,266 --> 00:30:02,533 And it was, uh, scary. 596 00:30:06,166 --> 00:30:09,366   FERNANDEZ: Over the July 4 weekend, a large group of us gathered 597 00:30:09,366 --> 00:30:12,466 in Cleveland, Ohio, to plan a march on Washington. 598 00:30:12,466 --> 00:30:15,600 We called our coalition the New Mobilization Committee 599 00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:17,566 to End the War in Vietnam, 600 00:30:17,566 --> 00:30:20,100 or simply the Mobe. 601 00:30:20,100 --> 00:30:23,233 REPORTER: The New Mobilization is a big, floppy umbrella, 602 00:30:23,233 --> 00:30:25,566 a loose, sometimes quarrelsome coalition 603 00:30:25,566 --> 00:30:28,300 of old left, new left, and ordinary liberals. 604 00:30:28,300 --> 00:30:31,133 It does not include the Yippies 605 00:30:31,133 --> 00:30:32,633 nor the Students for a Democratic Society. 606 00:30:32,633 --> 00:30:34,233 Its 60-member-plus steering committee 607 00:30:34,233 --> 00:30:36,333 does include a member of the Communist Party 608 00:30:36,333 --> 00:30:37,466 and two members of 609 00:30:37,466 --> 00:30:39,500 the Trotskyite Socialist Workers Party. 610 00:30:40,333 --> 00:30:44,000 FRANK JOYCE: If you can't handle a meeting that lasts 18 hours, 611 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:46,700 you're not ready to be in the movement. 612 00:30:46,700 --> 00:30:48,933 Now, that's kind of a joke and it's kind of funny, 613 00:30:48,933 --> 00:30:52,633 and it's also kind of true, because 614 00:30:52,633 --> 00:30:56,933 we had really incredibly intense 615 00:30:56,933 --> 00:30:59,866 and lengthy discussions and debates 616 00:30:59,866 --> 00:31:03,533 at any Mobe meeting that I was ever at. 617 00:31:03,533 --> 00:31:05,933 WEISS: I had to fight 618 00:31:05,933 --> 00:31:07,133 all the way for my points, 619 00:31:07,133 --> 00:31:11,333 and I frequently won. 620 00:31:11,333 --> 00:31:14,200 My role, which I gave to myself, 621 00:31:14,200 --> 00:31:17,666 was to make sure that any demonstration that was planned 622 00:31:17,666 --> 00:31:21,033 would be safe for families. 623 00:31:21,033 --> 00:31:22,733 If I couldn't bring my children, 624 00:31:22,733 --> 00:31:25,300 I wasn't going to go to the demonstration, 625 00:31:25,300 --> 00:31:28,533 and I wouldn't let them move off that issue 626 00:31:28,533 --> 00:31:30,100 until they agreed. 627 00:31:30,100 --> 00:31:33,033 I said we would triple our numbers 628 00:31:33,033 --> 00:31:35,166 if we let the whole family come, 629 00:31:35,166 --> 00:31:38,766 or quadruple our numbers. 630 00:31:38,766 --> 00:31:40,966 And violence was not going 631 00:31:40,966 --> 00:31:43,766 to win us any friends. 632 00:31:43,766 --> 00:31:46,700 MARGERY TABANKIN: Cora was one tough cookie. 633 00:31:46,700 --> 00:31:49,066 She was one of the only people, in combination 634 00:31:49,066 --> 00:31:50,666 with this incredible guy, 635 00:31:50,666 --> 00:31:52,200 Reverend Dick Fernandez, 636 00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:55,533 who was, like, the gentle giant of the anti-war movement. 637 00:31:55,533 --> 00:31:59,200 They were the only people who could actually hold together 638 00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:02,900 all the different wings of what was now a really massive 639 00:32:02,900 --> 00:32:05,666 anti-war movement in the country. 640 00:32:05,666 --> 00:32:07,700 FERNANDEZ: At the Cleveland meeting, we agreed 641 00:32:07,700 --> 00:32:10,933 to organize major anti-war demonstrations in November, 642 00:32:10,933 --> 00:32:14,233 a three-day protest in Washington 643 00:32:14,233 --> 00:32:18,033 and a large march and rally in San Francisco. 644 00:32:18,033 --> 00:32:20,200 We were able to figure out a way to lock arms 645 00:32:20,200 --> 00:32:23,200 going toward the fall, fanning out across the country 646 00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:26,600 to stir up interest for the fall anti-war protests. 647 00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:30,433   WEISS: The public and the press spoke of November and October 648 00:32:30,433 --> 00:32:33,166 as the Moratorium days, 649 00:32:33,166 --> 00:32:36,433 not distinguishing between the two. 650 00:32:36,433 --> 00:32:39,000 We all wanted the war in Vietnam to stop. 651 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:41,666 And we appealed to the conscience 652 00:32:41,666 --> 00:32:43,766 of the American people. 653 00:32:45,000 --> 00:32:48,600 All of the leaders had some contact with religion. 654 00:32:48,600 --> 00:32:50,200 I couldn't believe it. 655 00:32:50,200 --> 00:32:54,200 Dave Hawk and Sam Brown both went to theological seminary. 656 00:32:54,200 --> 00:32:58,033 Marge Sklencar had spent a year in a nunnery. 657 00:32:58,033 --> 00:33:00,866 Even Dave Dellinger, from the New Mobe, 658 00:33:00,866 --> 00:33:02,700 went to theological seminary. 659 00:33:02,700 --> 00:33:05,566 I mean, God must have been on our side! 660 00:33:08,333 --> 00:33:10,233 ANTHONY LAKE: I'm Tony Lake. 661 00:33:10,233 --> 00:33:12,466 Vietnam was very much a part of my early life. 662 00:33:12,466 --> 00:33:16,900 I served in Vietnam for two years at the American Embassy, 663 00:33:16,900 --> 00:33:20,600 and then as the vice consul in Hue in Central Vietnam. 664 00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:23,833 In 1969, Kissinger convinced me 665 00:33:23,833 --> 00:33:26,066 to become his special assistant. 666 00:33:26,066 --> 00:33:29,366 He told me that he was going to end the war in Vietnam, 667 00:33:29,366 --> 00:33:33,600 and he knew I was passionate by then in my belief 668 00:33:33,600 --> 00:33:36,600 that the war was a horrible mistake. 669 00:33:36,600 --> 00:33:38,833 And he was offering me the opportunity 670 00:33:38,833 --> 00:33:41,233 to work to try to end it. 671 00:33:41,233 --> 00:33:43,533 And so I agreed. 672 00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:48,966 I flew with Kissinger to the secret meetings. 673 00:33:48,966 --> 00:33:51,033   The State Department was being completely cut out, 674 00:33:51,033 --> 00:33:52,900 including the Secretary of State. 675 00:33:52,900 --> 00:33:55,433 I did not believe that was the right way to run a railroad, 676 00:33:55,433 --> 00:33:59,633 but I wasn't going to violate the secrecy 677 00:33:59,633 --> 00:34:01,866 that Kissinger had sworn me to. 678 00:34:01,866 --> 00:34:04,966 MORRIS: Kissinger asked Tony Lake and me to be his, 679 00:34:04,966 --> 00:34:07,500 what he called his special project staff 680 00:34:07,500 --> 00:34:10,033 in those talks with the North Vietnamese. 681 00:34:10,033 --> 00:34:12,566 It was a stunning venture for me, 682 00:34:12,566 --> 00:34:17,200 meeting in safe houses in Paris, completely off the record. 683 00:34:17,200 --> 00:34:19,866 LAKE: The strategy was to convince the North Vietnamese 684 00:34:19,866 --> 00:34:23,466 to withdraw their forces from South Vietnam. 685 00:34:23,466 --> 00:34:25,133 How do you do that? 686 00:34:25,133 --> 00:34:29,533 Well, the answer was to threaten them, 687 00:34:29,533 --> 00:34:33,033 and Kissinger began implementing threats 688 00:34:33,033 --> 00:34:35,433 built around the ultimatum that 689 00:34:35,433 --> 00:34:37,733 if they did not withdraw their forces, 690 00:34:37,733 --> 00:34:40,800 or agree to withdraw their forces, by November 1, 691 00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:45,733 then there would be measures of great force taken against them. 692 00:34:45,733 --> 00:34:48,833 The threats were never specific. 693 00:34:48,833 --> 00:34:51,066 It was simply "measures of great force." 694 00:34:51,066 --> 00:34:53,433 And it was clear from the face 695 00:34:53,433 --> 00:34:55,700 of the North Vietnamese negotiator 696 00:34:55,700 --> 00:35:00,133 that he was not particularly intimidated by the threat. 697 00:35:00,133 --> 00:35:05,266 They'd built their whole lives around Vietnamese independence. 698 00:35:05,266 --> 00:35:07,566 I did not believe that any blow 699 00:35:07,566 --> 00:35:10,966 short of the almost complete destruction 700 00:35:10,966 --> 00:35:14,233 of North Vietnam was going to deter 701 00:35:14,233 --> 00:35:19,133 these people and those leaders who had spent their lifetimes 702 00:35:19,133 --> 00:35:23,466 fighting against foreign domination of their country. 703 00:35:25,733 --> 00:35:27,266 MORRIS: The approaches to the North Vietnamese 704 00:35:27,266 --> 00:35:30,300 had not yielded very much of any value. 705 00:35:30,300 --> 00:35:35,133 So, if I had to characterize the late summer of 1969, 706 00:35:35,133 --> 00:35:39,100 it would be a kind of frustration and dismay, 707 00:35:39,100 --> 00:35:42,500 and that inevitably made for the planning 708 00:35:42,500 --> 00:35:45,866 for a resort to extreme violence. 709 00:35:47,966 --> 00:35:51,433 WELLS: The plan for a dramatic escalation of the war 710 00:35:51,433 --> 00:35:54,500 was known as Operation Duck Hook. 711 00:35:54,500 --> 00:35:56,700 And I'm not sure how they came up with that name. 712 00:35:56,700 --> 00:35:59,066 It's a golf term for slicing it to the left 713 00:35:59,066 --> 00:36:00,633 when you hit a golf ball. 714 00:36:00,633 --> 00:36:02,700 EISENBERG: Duck Hook was a plan that Kissinger 715 00:36:02,700 --> 00:36:06,033 and his staff are working on. 716 00:36:06,033 --> 00:36:08,000 For Kissinger, the idea is that 717 00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:12,033 you're going to hit North Vietnam very hard, 718 00:36:12,033 --> 00:36:15,366 very dramatically, get a lot of casualties, 719 00:36:15,366 --> 00:36:16,466 scare them out of their wits, 720 00:36:16,466 --> 00:36:19,200 and then pray 721 00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:21,900 that the North Vietnamese will now accept their terms. 722 00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:26,766 MORRIS: A special working group was assembled 723 00:36:26,766 --> 00:36:28,500 and came to be known in some quarters 724 00:36:28,500 --> 00:36:30,333 as the September Group. 725 00:36:30,333 --> 00:36:33,333 It was strictly select people from the NSC staff 726 00:36:33,333 --> 00:36:36,433 handpicked by Kissinger. 727 00:36:36,433 --> 00:36:39,066 Its marching orders were very clear, and had been cast 728 00:36:39,066 --> 00:36:42,000 by Kissinger himself, which was his famous remark, 729 00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:44,700 "I can't believe that a fourth-rate power 730 00:36:44,700 --> 00:36:47,300 like North Vietnam does not have a breaking point." 731 00:36:49,033 --> 00:36:52,333 We'd formulated plans for a very, very punishing blow. 732 00:36:52,333 --> 00:36:54,833 And those plans were very sophisticated 733 00:36:54,833 --> 00:36:58,366 and detailed in military terms. 734 00:36:58,366 --> 00:37:01,433 LAKE: The military planning was being done 735 00:37:01,433 --> 00:37:04,666 in the military section of the NSC staff. 736 00:37:04,666 --> 00:37:07,800   I do remember looking at a draft, 737 00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:09,033 and I do remember 738 00:37:09,033 --> 00:37:11,300 that it referred to the bombing of the dikes 739 00:37:11,300 --> 00:37:15,266 around the Red River in North Vietnam, and being appalled 740 00:37:15,266 --> 00:37:17,400   at the thought of the devastation that would cause. 741 00:37:19,200 --> 00:37:20,766 ELLSBERG: The plans for escalation, 742 00:37:20,766 --> 00:37:22,666 code-named Duck Hook, 743 00:37:22,666 --> 00:37:25,433 called for all kinds of escalations and options, 744 00:37:25,433 --> 00:37:29,133 including going into Cambodia and Laos, 745 00:37:29,133 --> 00:37:32,333 and possibly a full invasion of North Vietnam. 746 00:37:32,333 --> 00:37:34,966 Definitely for an expansion of bombing 747 00:37:34,966 --> 00:37:38,600 to all areas of North Vietnam, up to the northernmost areas 748 00:37:38,600 --> 00:37:41,200 on the border with China, 749 00:37:41,200 --> 00:37:44,633 including the use of nuclear weapons. 750 00:37:44,633 --> 00:37:50,933 ♪ ♪ 751 00:37:50,933 --> 00:37:53,666 Only a handful of people in the White House 752 00:37:53,666 --> 00:37:56,400 and the Pentagon knew that the war was on the verge 753 00:37:56,400 --> 00:38:01,866 of becoming much larger and possibly nuclear. 754 00:38:01,866 --> 00:38:04,533 MORRIS: The massive, savage blow that we contemplated 755 00:38:04,533 --> 00:38:06,366 in the September Group was going to kill 756 00:38:06,366 --> 00:38:08,033 hundreds of thousands of people. 757 00:38:08,033 --> 00:38:10,066 It was going to risk confrontation 758 00:38:10,066 --> 00:38:11,466 with the great powers. 759 00:38:11,466 --> 00:38:15,333 It was an extraordinarily risky and punishing option. 760 00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:19,666 I think Kissinger and Nixon were ruthless. 761 00:38:19,666 --> 00:38:22,266 I think, in many respects, they were savage. 762 00:38:22,266 --> 00:38:24,066 I think they were expedient. 763 00:38:24,066 --> 00:38:28,833 I think that for both men, the end justified the means. 764 00:38:28,833 --> 00:38:32,933 And I think that they were, if not blind, 765 00:38:32,933 --> 00:38:37,366 relatively insensate to the sheer depth and breadth 766 00:38:37,366 --> 00:38:41,566 and horror of the human cost. 767 00:38:47,500 --> 00:38:49,433 HARTSOUGH: When I heard that there were some young people 768 00:38:49,433 --> 00:38:52,366 organizing what they called the Vietnam Moratorium, 769 00:38:52,366 --> 00:38:54,733 and their office was over on Vermont Avenue, 770 00:38:54,733 --> 00:38:56,700 I went over to visit them. 771 00:38:56,700 --> 00:39:00,200 And it was really inspiring. 772 00:39:00,200 --> 00:39:03,233 They were in touch with student groups and church groups, 773 00:39:03,233 --> 00:39:06,033 community people, all over the country. 774 00:39:06,033 --> 00:39:08,133 ("Turn! Turn! Turn!" by The Byrds playing) 775 00:39:08,133 --> 00:39:10,566 LIBBY: The people in the office were fantastic. 776 00:39:10,566 --> 00:39:13,433 They were bright and they were funny, 777 00:39:13,433 --> 00:39:17,433 and they all came from somewhere different. 778 00:39:17,433 --> 00:39:20,866   You got there early and fueled yourself on coffee 779 00:39:20,866 --> 00:39:24,133 and soda and cheap food, 780 00:39:24,133 --> 00:39:28,100 and worked until midnight, 1:00, or 2:00, every day. 781 00:39:29,233 --> 00:39:31,600 There was George Wiley, 782 00:39:31,600 --> 00:39:34,866 who ran the Poor People's Campaign. 783 00:39:34,866 --> 00:39:37,766 There were numerous people out of the Civil Rights Movement, 784 00:39:37,766 --> 00:39:40,400 like Fannie Lou Hamer. 785 00:39:40,400 --> 00:39:43,933 Paul Newman came in to kind of cheer us up at times, 786 00:39:43,933 --> 00:39:48,400 but also to use his network to help raise money 787 00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:51,900 and visibility and keep things going. 788 00:39:51,900 --> 00:39:54,500 MIXNER: Bill Clinton was working 789 00:39:54,500 --> 00:39:57,000 with Senator Fulbright as an intern. 790 00:39:57,000 --> 00:40:01,400 He came over, and Clinton and I hit it off instantly 791 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:02,866 and became friends. 792 00:40:02,866 --> 00:40:05,466 Big country man, big hillbilly. 793 00:40:05,466 --> 00:40:09,033 And I mean, it was so clear that he wanted to be president. 794 00:40:10,100 --> 00:40:12,433 BROWN: A regular volunteer in our office, Betty Ann Ottinger, 795 00:40:12,433 --> 00:40:15,233 Dick Ottinger's wife, was den mother to us all. 796 00:40:15,233 --> 00:40:16,933 She was ten or 15 years older, 797 00:40:16,933 --> 00:40:18,800 and she was in the office every day. 798 00:40:18,800 --> 00:40:20,800 Wife of a congressman. 799 00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:25,466 ♪ ♪ 800 00:40:25,466 --> 00:40:28,166 MIXNER: I was put in charge of labor. 801 00:40:28,166 --> 00:40:31,566 The big unions had been very pro-war, the rank and file. 802 00:40:31,566 --> 00:40:34,733 But these were the people we needed. 803 00:40:34,733 --> 00:40:38,600 A man named Bill Dodds was Walter Reuther's top aide 804 00:40:38,600 --> 00:40:41,000 at the United Automobile Workers. 805 00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:44,200 And I went to Bill, and Bill had behind him 806 00:40:44,200 --> 00:40:47,033 Ben Shahn's lithograph of Gandhi, 807 00:40:47,033 --> 00:40:49,333 and I knew I was in the right place. 808 00:40:49,333 --> 00:40:51,333 And I said, "Bill, we're not going to stop this war 809 00:40:51,333 --> 00:40:52,633 "until labor comes. 810 00:40:52,633 --> 00:40:54,900 "And the only one that can make it a reality 811 00:40:54,900 --> 00:40:57,666 "is Mr. Reuther and his brother Victor. 812 00:40:57,666 --> 00:40:59,733 How do we do this?" 813 00:40:59,733 --> 00:41:01,133 He said, "First of all, 814 00:41:01,133 --> 00:41:02,800 "you have to understand there is strong support 815 00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:06,033 "in the UAW members for the war, so if it's not done right, 816 00:41:06,033 --> 00:41:10,066 Mr. Reuther could get hurt very badly." 817 00:41:10,066 --> 00:41:13,900 But we hammered out an agreement where Walter Reuther would be 818 00:41:13,900 --> 00:41:17,300 the first major labor leader to come out against the war. 819 00:41:17,300 --> 00:41:21,400 So Sam Brown came with me, and we met with Mr. Reuther, 820 00:41:21,400 --> 00:41:23,933 and outlined what he would do and what he wouldn't do. 821 00:41:23,933 --> 00:41:26,466 And I'll never forget, he hugged us and said, 822 00:41:26,466 --> 00:41:27,933 "I'm so proud of you. 823 00:41:27,933 --> 00:41:30,300 "You remind me of Victor and I in the early years 824 00:41:30,300 --> 00:41:32,300 of the labor movement." 825 00:41:32,300 --> 00:41:34,733 And I said, "I can't think of any greater compliment 826 00:41:34,733 --> 00:41:36,933 that you could have given us, Mr. Reuther." 827 00:41:36,933 --> 00:41:39,400 And we're walking through the door, 828 00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:41,900 and he has his arms on Sam and my shoulder, 829 00:41:41,900 --> 00:41:45,200 he said, "Did I ever tell you about going to the dentist?" 830 00:41:45,200 --> 00:41:46,933 And I thought, "What the (muted) is this? 831 00:41:46,933 --> 00:41:48,200 Is it some sort of joke?" 832 00:41:48,200 --> 00:41:49,533 And he said, "I hated to go to the dentist 833 00:41:49,533 --> 00:41:51,066 "more than anything in the world. 834 00:41:51,066 --> 00:41:52,800 "But finally, I got this toothache 835 00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:54,366 "that I couldn't live with. 836 00:41:54,366 --> 00:41:55,766 "So I went in and I got in that chair. 837 00:41:55,766 --> 00:41:57,666 "And that dentist came at me 838 00:41:57,666 --> 00:42:00,933 (drill whirring) "with that buzz saw towards my tooth. 839 00:42:00,933 --> 00:42:03,766 "And I grabbed him by the (muted) 840 00:42:03,766 --> 00:42:07,433 "and squeezed them hard and looked him in the eyes and said, 841 00:42:07,433 --> 00:42:10,533 'We're not going to hurt each other, are we, Doctor?'" 842 00:42:10,533 --> 00:42:12,466 I knew what that story was about. 843 00:42:12,466 --> 00:42:15,000 It was, like, "Don't you (muted) me, 844 00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:17,466 or I'll have you both by the balls." 845 00:42:17,466 --> 00:42:20,900 And I said, "Mr. Reuther, that story is not wasted on us." 846 00:42:20,900 --> 00:42:23,166 And he said, "I thought you would get it, David. 847 00:42:23,166 --> 00:42:24,866 I thought you would." 848 00:42:24,866 --> 00:42:30,533 ♪ Come, senators, congressmen, please heed the call ♪ 849 00:42:30,533 --> 00:42:32,566 ♪ Don't stand in the doorway ♪ 850 00:42:32,566 --> 00:42:34,100 ♪ Don't block up the hall ♪ 851 00:42:34,100 --> 00:42:36,266 MIXNER: We got a huge number of endorsements 852 00:42:36,266 --> 00:42:38,100 which had never before come out publicly 853 00:42:38,100 --> 00:42:42,100 as a unified opposition to the war. 854 00:42:42,100 --> 00:42:44,200 Congressman Don Riegle, 855 00:42:44,200 --> 00:42:46,533 Congressman Pete McCloskey. 856 00:42:46,533 --> 00:42:48,433 Senator Hatfield, McGovern. 857 00:42:48,433 --> 00:42:50,766 And we got it being for immediate withdrawal. 858 00:42:50,766 --> 00:42:52,033 We didn't budge on that. 859 00:42:52,033 --> 00:42:54,200 And I remember one senator saying, 860 00:42:54,200 --> 00:42:55,533 "David, you can't do that." 861 00:42:55,533 --> 00:42:57,166 And I said, "Well, we have to." 862 00:42:57,166 --> 00:42:58,500 And they said, "Well, how would you do it? 863 00:42:58,500 --> 00:43:00,566 It's just not practical." 864 00:43:00,566 --> 00:43:03,333 And I said, "It's real easy, stop making it complex. 865 00:43:03,333 --> 00:43:05,700 "You put them on ships and planes, 866 00:43:05,700 --> 00:43:07,833 and you point them East, and you bring them home." 867 00:43:07,833 --> 00:43:14,666 ♪ For the times, they are a-changin' ♪ 868 00:43:18,433 --> 00:43:20,900 Sit down, please-- good. 869 00:43:20,900 --> 00:43:23,133 REPORTER: Mr. President, what is your view, sir, 870 00:43:23,133 --> 00:43:24,900 concerning the student moratorium 871 00:43:24,900 --> 00:43:27,533 and other campus demonstrations 872 00:43:27,533 --> 00:43:31,533 being planned for this fall against the Vietnam War? 873 00:43:31,533 --> 00:43:34,933 I understand that there has been and continues to be 874 00:43:34,933 --> 00:43:37,000 opposition to the war in Vietnam 875 00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:40,333 on the campuses and also in the nation. 876 00:43:40,333 --> 00:43:46,233 As far as this kind of activity is concerned, we expect it. 877 00:43:46,233 --> 00:43:48,100 However, under no circumstances 878 00:43:48,100 --> 00:43:50,866 will I be affected whatever by it. 879 00:43:50,866 --> 00:43:52,566 (reporters talking) 880 00:43:52,566 --> 00:43:54,166 HAWK: As soon as he said, 881 00:43:54,166 --> 00:43:58,700 "Under no circumstances will I be affected by it whatsoever," 882 00:43:58,700 --> 00:44:06,600 we knew that it was much too harsh and cavalier a statement. 883 00:44:06,600 --> 00:44:09,266 So we seized on it. (laughs) 884 00:44:09,266 --> 00:44:11,100 BROWN: Good morning. 885 00:44:11,100 --> 00:44:12,966 I'm Sam Brown, one of the co-coordinators 886 00:44:12,966 --> 00:44:15,400 of the Vietnam Moratorium Committee. 887 00:44:15,400 --> 00:44:19,900 HAWK: We immediately called a press conference, 888 00:44:19,900 --> 00:44:24,633 which was extremely well attended, with TV cameras 889 00:44:24,633 --> 00:44:25,633 and national reporters. 890 00:44:25,633 --> 00:44:27,000 BROWN: And we intend 891 00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:30,566 to build a movement which will make it imperative 892 00:44:30,566 --> 00:44:32,766 that the United States withdraw from Vietnam. 893 00:44:32,766 --> 00:44:34,866 HAWK: Our response to Nixon ended up on 894 00:44:34,866 --> 00:44:38,033 the front page of "The Washington Post." 895 00:44:38,033 --> 00:44:42,700 At which point, newspapers editors around the country 896 00:44:42,700 --> 00:44:48,466 realized that the Moratorium was a big national story. 897 00:44:48,466 --> 00:44:52,800 ♪ ♪ 898 00:45:00,366 --> 00:45:04,100 LAKE: I was there when Kissinger told Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin 899 00:45:04,100 --> 00:45:06,666 that the train has left the station, i.e., 900 00:45:06,666 --> 00:45:10,100 that we were now going to go after the North Vietnamese 901 00:45:10,100 --> 00:45:13,266 with measures of great force, if the Soviets didn't help us 902 00:45:13,266 --> 00:45:16,800 by making the North Vietnamese agree. 903 00:45:16,800 --> 00:45:19,200 WELLS: If the North Vietnamese did not come to 904 00:45:19,200 --> 00:45:23,000 satisfactory peace terms by November 1, 905 00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:26,866 they were going to dramatically escalate the war: 906 00:45:26,866 --> 00:45:28,733 Operation Duck Hook, 907 00:45:28,733 --> 00:45:31,366 what Kissinger called "a savage punishing blow," 908 00:45:31,366 --> 00:45:35,733 possibly even using nuclear devices. 909 00:45:35,733 --> 00:45:40,900 ELLSBERG: We had no notion that as of October 1969, 910 00:45:40,900 --> 00:45:44,433 the possibility of nuclear war lay weeks ahead. 911 00:45:49,066 --> 00:45:55,966 (bell tolling) 912 00:45:55,966 --> 00:45:59,200 REPORTER: The Mennonite bell at Bethel College was rung once 913 00:45:59,200 --> 00:46:02,866 for each of the American men killed in the war. 914 00:46:02,866 --> 00:46:05,400 It is still ringing tonight. 915 00:46:05,400 --> 00:46:07,900 It will still be ringing tomorrow. 916 00:46:07,900 --> 00:46:10,366 (bell continues) 917 00:46:10,366 --> 00:46:13,366 (crowd cheering, shouting) 918 00:46:13,366 --> 00:46:15,066 A dove was released 919 00:46:15,066 --> 00:46:17,933 above Chicago's Civic Center this afternoon, 920 00:46:17,933 --> 00:46:20,300 symbolizing, in its flight to freedom, 921 00:46:20,300 --> 00:46:22,700 the hopes of 5,000 peace demonstrators 922 00:46:22,700 --> 00:46:25,066 gathered in the plaza below. 923 00:46:25,066 --> 00:46:28,533 (crowd singing "Let the Sunshine In") 924 00:46:28,533 --> 00:46:30,366 REPORTER: They came across the Charles River from Harvard 925 00:46:30,366 --> 00:46:33,633 and they marched from M.I.T. and Boston University. 926 00:46:33,633 --> 00:46:35,700 They came from almost all of the city's 927 00:46:35,700 --> 00:46:38,033 colleges and universities, and despite their numbers, 928 00:46:38,033 --> 00:46:39,333 their marches were peaceful. 929 00:46:39,333 --> 00:46:42,166 Perhaps 100,000 came. 930 00:46:42,166 --> 00:46:43,600 At any rate, never before 931 00:46:43,600 --> 00:46:45,833 has Boston seen so many demonstrate 932 00:46:45,833 --> 00:46:47,100 so peacefully for peace. 933 00:46:47,100 --> 00:46:51,800 ("Chimes of Freedom" by the Byrds playing) 934 00:46:51,800 --> 00:46:54,400 LIBBY: It was a really beautiful day. 935 00:46:54,400 --> 00:46:58,166 All of a sudden, it is real. 936 00:46:58,166 --> 00:47:01,533 And that was, like, jubilant. 937 00:47:01,533 --> 00:47:04,166 ♪ Far between sundown's finish ♪ 938 00:47:04,166 --> 00:47:08,033 ♪ And midnight's broken toll ♪ 939 00:47:08,033 --> 00:47:10,800 ♪ We ducked inside the doorway ♪ 940 00:47:10,800 --> 00:47:14,533 ♪ Thunder crashing ♪ 941 00:47:14,533 --> 00:47:16,933 ♪ ♪ 942 00:47:16,933 --> 00:47:19,133 ♪ As majestic bells of bolts ♪ 943 00:47:19,133 --> 00:47:24,200 ♪ Struck shadows in these sounds ♪ 944 00:47:24,200 --> 00:47:28,200 ♪ Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing ♪ 945 00:47:28,200 --> 00:47:31,866 ♪ ♪ 946 00:47:31,866 --> 00:47:34,666 ♪ Flashing for the warriors ♪ 947 00:47:34,666 --> 00:47:39,366 ♪ Whose strength is not to fight ♪ 948 00:47:39,366 --> 00:47:42,000 ♪ Flashing for the refugees ♪ 949 00:47:42,000 --> 00:47:44,833 ♪ On the unarmed road of flight ♪ 950 00:47:44,833 --> 00:47:48,633 ♪ And for each and every ♪ 951 00:47:48,633 --> 00:47:52,500 ♪ underdog soldier in the night ♪ 952 00:47:52,500 --> 00:47:58,966 ♪ And we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing ♪ 953 00:47:58,966 --> 00:48:02,166 MELVIN SMALL: Nothing like this had ever been seen before. 954 00:48:02,166 --> 00:48:05,433 On October 15, 1969, 955 00:48:05,433 --> 00:48:08,666 there were demonstrations, vigils, 956 00:48:08,666 --> 00:48:11,033 marches, appeals, 957 00:48:11,033 --> 00:48:14,166 in at least 200 cities, 958 00:48:14,166 --> 00:48:18,033 involving at least two million people, 959 00:48:18,033 --> 00:48:20,833 and maybe as many as three million people. 960 00:48:20,833 --> 00:48:23,333 And it went from the East Coast, from Maine, 961 00:48:23,333 --> 00:48:25,066 from New England, all the way 962 00:48:25,066 --> 00:48:27,533 to the Golden Gate Bridge. 963 00:48:27,533 --> 00:48:32,533 (song ends) 964 00:48:32,533 --> 00:48:34,666 The word "protester" generally evokes an image 965 00:48:34,666 --> 00:48:36,666 of long hair and love beads. 966 00:48:36,666 --> 00:48:38,866 But today, the crowds that marched 967 00:48:38,866 --> 00:48:41,266 and chanted and cheered the speeches looked more 968 00:48:41,266 --> 00:48:46,366 like a cross-section picked by the Census Bureau. 969 00:48:46,366 --> 00:48:48,700 I speak for Business Executives Move for Vietnam Peace, 970 00:48:48,700 --> 00:48:51,166 of which I am a co-founder, 971 00:48:51,166 --> 00:48:53,133 and which has some 2,600 executives 972 00:48:53,133 --> 00:48:56,866 who have endorsed and who support the Vietnam Moratorium. 973 00:48:56,866 --> 00:48:59,833 We're proud, we business executives, 974 00:48:59,833 --> 00:49:02,300 to stand behind them and support them 975 00:49:02,300 --> 00:49:05,266 in this remarkable popular effort 976 00:49:05,266 --> 00:49:08,000 which they have launched and which is now taking on 977 00:49:08,000 --> 00:49:10,766 the proportions of a tidal wave. 978 00:49:10,766 --> 00:49:13,966 MAN: Alan Robert Haugen, Grass Valley. 979 00:49:13,966 --> 00:49:16,666 WOMAN: Roy Lockhart, Vallejo. 980 00:49:16,666 --> 00:49:18,666 MAN: Gary Allaen Machado, Oakland. 981 00:49:18,666 --> 00:49:21,966 HAMER (on loudspeaker): Bring those men home from Vietnam! 982 00:49:21,966 --> 00:49:23,766 I am sick of the racist war 983 00:49:23,766 --> 00:49:27,466 in Vietnam when we don't have justice 984 00:49:27,466 --> 00:49:29,266 in the United States. (crowd cheering) 985 00:49:29,266 --> 00:49:30,900 ♪ All the world over ♪ 986 00:49:30,900 --> 00:49:32,966 ♪ So easy to see ♪ 987 00:49:32,966 --> 00:49:37,566 ♪ People everywhere just wanna be free ♪ 988 00:49:37,566 --> 00:49:40,966 ♪ Listen, please, listen, that's the way it should be ♪ 989 00:49:40,966 --> 00:49:42,433 ♪ Peace in the valley ♪ 990 00:49:42,433 --> 00:49:45,800 ♪ People got to be free ♪ 991 00:49:45,800 --> 00:49:49,766 We ask every citizen to examine his own conscience. 992 00:49:49,766 --> 00:49:51,033 ♪ See that train over there? ♪ 993 00:49:51,033 --> 00:49:53,366 GAME ANNOUNCER: Welcome to the fourth game 994 00:49:53,366 --> 00:49:55,866 of the 1969 World Series. 995 00:49:55,866 --> 00:49:57,900 The amazing New York Mets, 996 00:49:57,900 --> 00:49:59,733 underdogs when this series began, 997 00:49:59,733 --> 00:50:02,566 now lead the Baltimore Orioles two games to one. 998 00:50:02,566 --> 00:50:05,333 (bat hits, crowd cheers) 999 00:50:05,333 --> 00:50:08,966 ("Chimes of Freedom" by Bob Dylan playing) 1000 00:50:08,966 --> 00:50:13,000 ♪ Far between sundown's finish ♪ 1001 00:50:13,000 --> 00:50:16,500 ♪ And midnight's broken toll ♪ 1002 00:50:16,500 --> 00:50:20,066 ♪ We ducked inside the doorways ♪ 1003 00:50:20,066 --> 00:50:24,633 ♪ Thunder went crashing ♪ 1004 00:50:24,633 --> 00:50:27,300 ♪ As majestic bells of bolts ♪ 1005 00:50:27,300 --> 00:50:29,066 TABANKIN: The brilliance of the Moratorium 1006 00:50:29,066 --> 00:50:32,666 was that it put front and center 1007 00:50:32,666 --> 00:50:35,466 real Americans from real America. 1008 00:50:35,466 --> 00:50:39,500 What a brilliant idea to mainstream it and give it a face 1009 00:50:39,500 --> 00:50:42,400 in the public that was not as threatening 1010 00:50:42,400 --> 00:50:45,600 and was more understandable to the average person. 1011 00:50:45,600 --> 00:50:47,600 "This is for everybody." 1012 00:50:47,600 --> 00:50:52,600 ♪ And we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing ♪ 1013 00:50:52,600 --> 00:50:59,700 ♪ ♪ 1014 00:50:59,700 --> 00:51:04,300 (song ends) 1015 00:51:04,300 --> 00:51:07,400 EISENBERG: Nixon is very disturbed by the Moratorium, 1016 00:51:07,400 --> 00:51:11,066 even though he announces that he's paying no attention to it. 1017 00:51:11,066 --> 00:51:14,900 And he's very, very worried about the second demonstration 1018 00:51:14,900 --> 00:51:17,200 that's coming in November. 1019 00:51:17,200 --> 00:51:18,900 WELLS: Nixon was concerned that the 1020 00:51:18,900 --> 00:51:23,900 protests in the fall of '69 undercut the credibility 1021 00:51:23,900 --> 00:51:26,433 of his ultimatum by convincing the North Vietnamese 1022 00:51:26,433 --> 00:51:29,366 that he would not have enough domestic support 1023 00:51:29,366 --> 00:51:31,000 to carry out his ultimatum, 1024 00:51:31,000 --> 00:51:33,100 and that if he dramatically escalated the war, 1025 00:51:33,100 --> 00:51:34,700 the country might explode. 1026 00:51:36,133 --> 00:51:38,466 SMALL: Nixon folded. 1027 00:51:38,466 --> 00:51:41,133 He did not go through with Operation Duck Hook 1028 00:51:41,133 --> 00:51:44,700 because he didn't think the American public would settle 1029 00:51:44,700 --> 00:51:48,066 for the kind of military escalation that he had in mind. 1030 00:51:48,066 --> 00:51:51,000 LAKE: I know that Kissinger was very unhappy, 1031 00:51:51,000 --> 00:51:54,233 but do not ask me to get into the mind of Richard Nixon 1032 00:51:54,233 --> 00:51:57,166 and tell you exactly what was going through it. 1033 00:51:57,166 --> 00:52:01,666 ♪ ♪ 1034 00:52:17,233 --> 00:52:22,566 ♪ ♪ 1035 00:52:29,400 --> 00:52:33,533 WILLIAM BURR: Nixon and Kissinger ordered a secret worldwide nuclear alert, 1036 00:52:33,533 --> 00:52:35,800 in the hope that it would lend credibility 1037 00:52:35,800 --> 00:52:39,533 to their prior warnings to Moscow and Hanoi. 1038 00:52:39,533 --> 00:52:43,133 It was to be what Nixon called "a special reminder" 1039 00:52:43,133 --> 00:52:45,933 of how far he might go. 1040 00:52:45,933 --> 00:52:51,300 ♪ ♪ 1041 00:52:51,300 --> 00:52:54,066 JOE URGO: After serving in Vietnam, 1042 00:52:54,066 --> 00:53:00,700 in 1969, I was assigned to a base in Atlantic City. 1043 00:53:00,700 --> 00:53:05,300 And we had nuclear bunkers with nuclear weapons at this base. 1044 00:53:08,533 --> 00:53:11,933 In the fall of 1969, 1045 00:53:11,933 --> 00:53:13,866 between the October 15 Moratorium 1046 00:53:13,866 --> 00:53:16,800 and the November 15 Moratorium, 1047 00:53:16,800 --> 00:53:20,400 all of a sudden, we go on this alert. 1048 00:53:20,400 --> 00:53:24,033 We had F-106 fighter interceptor jets, 1049 00:53:24,033 --> 00:53:27,233 and the planes are sitting out on the taxiway 1050 00:53:27,233 --> 00:53:29,566 loaded with nuclear weapons. 1051 00:53:29,566 --> 00:53:32,133 Nobody was explaining anything to us, 1052 00:53:32,133 --> 00:53:35,733 and I was freaked out by this-- 1053 00:53:35,733 --> 00:53:37,866 seeing those planes out of the hangar 1054 00:53:37,866 --> 00:53:39,100 loaded with nuclear weapons. 1055 00:53:39,100 --> 00:53:42,533 ♪ ♪ 1056 00:53:42,533 --> 00:53:44,800 ELLSBERG: Nixon ordered 1057 00:53:44,800 --> 00:53:47,200 a Strategic Air Command-- SAC-- alert 1058 00:53:47,200 --> 00:53:48,800 that would make it look as though 1059 00:53:48,800 --> 00:53:51,700 we were on the edge of launching nuclear war, 1060 00:53:51,700 --> 00:53:55,366   done in a way that would not be visible to the American people, 1061 00:53:55,366 --> 00:53:59,066 Nixon demanded, but would be visible to the Soviets. 1062 00:53:59,066 --> 00:54:02,400 BURR: There was a risk that the Soviets could see 1063 00:54:02,400 --> 00:54:03,733 the nuclear alert as threatening, 1064 00:54:03,733 --> 00:54:05,166 but it was a risk that 1065 00:54:05,166 --> 00:54:09,233 Nixon and Kissinger apparently thought was worth taking. 1066 00:54:09,233 --> 00:54:12,566 It involved military operations around the world 1067 00:54:12,566 --> 00:54:18,133 carried out between October 13 and October 30, 1969. 1068 00:54:18,133 --> 00:54:21,466 The activities included movements of aircraft carriers 1069 00:54:21,466 --> 00:54:23,233 and ballistic missile submarines 1070 00:54:23,233 --> 00:54:25,633 to destroyers and to the shadowing 1071 00:54:25,633 --> 00:54:30,400 of Soviet merchant ships sailing towards Haiphong Harbor. 1072 00:54:30,400 --> 00:54:34,866 Beginning on October 27, the SAC plan put six B-52s 1073 00:54:34,866 --> 00:54:38,466 in the air for 18-hour stretches each day 1074 00:54:38,466 --> 00:54:40,366 for three days in a row, 1075 00:54:40,366 --> 00:54:42,466 all over Northern Alaska. 1076 00:54:42,466 --> 00:54:47,200 Nixon assumed that he could bend Cold War adversaries 1077 00:54:47,200 --> 00:54:51,266 to his will by making them fear that he was crazy enough 1078 00:54:51,266 --> 00:54:54,366 to launch a nuclear attack. 1079 00:54:54,366 --> 00:54:56,600 It remains to be learned what exactly Moscow 1080 00:54:56,600 --> 00:54:57,833 made of the alert. 1081 00:54:57,833 --> 00:54:59,800 What is known is that the nuclear ploy 1082 00:54:59,800 --> 00:55:03,633 failed to move the Soviets, and that failure marked 1083 00:55:03,633 --> 00:55:06,066 a turning point in the administration's strategy 1084 00:55:06,066 --> 00:55:08,633 for exiting from Vietnam. 1085 00:55:08,633 --> 00:55:11,533 Good evening, my fellow Americans. 1086 00:55:11,533 --> 00:55:14,900 Tonight I want to talk to you on a subject of deep concern 1087 00:55:14,900 --> 00:55:17,800 to all Americans and to many people 1088 00:55:17,800 --> 00:55:20,300 in all parts of the world: the war in Vietnam. 1089 00:55:20,300 --> 00:55:25,166 EISENBERG: Nixon had planned to give a speech on November 3, 1090 00:55:25,166 --> 00:55:27,666 and the speech that he had intended to give 1091 00:55:27,666 --> 00:55:32,000 was supposed to be announcing his escalation of the war. 1092 00:55:32,000 --> 00:55:34,300 But that's no longer in the hopper, 1093 00:55:34,300 --> 00:55:37,666 and so now he is very clear that he's going to direct 1094 00:55:37,666 --> 00:55:41,566 his November speech really to the question of 1095 00:55:41,566 --> 00:55:43,300 how to defuse the peace movement. 1096 00:55:43,300 --> 00:55:46,800 In San Francisco a few weeks ago, 1097 00:55:46,800 --> 00:55:49,266 I saw demonstrators carrying signs reading, 1098 00:55:49,266 --> 00:55:53,800 "Lose in Vietnam-- bring the boys home!" 1099 00:55:53,800 --> 00:55:55,933 As president of the United States, 1100 00:55:55,933 --> 00:55:59,666 I would be untrue to my oath of office 1101 00:55:59,666 --> 00:56:03,566 if I allowed the policy of this nation to be dictated 1102 00:56:03,566 --> 00:56:05,633 by the minority who hold that point of view 1103 00:56:05,633 --> 00:56:08,633 and who try to impose it on the nation 1104 00:56:08,633 --> 00:56:11,966 by mounting demonstrations in the street. 1105 00:56:11,966 --> 00:56:15,666 HAWK: In Nixon's November 3 speech, 1106 00:56:15,666 --> 00:56:19,366 he made very clear that the war was going to go on, 1107 00:56:19,366 --> 00:56:23,533 and that he was going to attack the opponents of the war. 1108 00:56:23,533 --> 00:56:29,233 And so tonight, to you, the great silent majority 1109 00:56:29,233 --> 00:56:33,500 of my fellow Americans, I ask for your support. 1110 00:56:33,500 --> 00:56:36,233 Let us be united for peace. 1111 00:56:36,233 --> 00:56:41,066 Let us also be united against defeat. 1112 00:56:41,066 --> 00:56:42,766 Because let us understand: 1113 00:56:42,766 --> 00:56:48,900 North Vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate the United States. 1114 00:56:48,900 --> 00:56:52,000 Only Americans can do that. 1115 00:56:52,000 --> 00:56:54,266 ♪ ♪ 1116 00:56:54,266 --> 00:56:56,166 BULL: I believe the "silent majority" speech 1117 00:56:56,166 --> 00:56:59,400 gave permission of those who were being cowed by the left 1118 00:56:59,400 --> 00:57:01,233 to stand up and say, 1119 00:57:01,233 --> 00:57:05,233 "No, you violent, anti-American people are wrong. 1120 00:57:05,233 --> 00:57:07,566 "We're standing up for America, 1121 00:57:07,566 --> 00:57:09,600 and we're standing up for this president." 1122 00:57:09,600 --> 00:57:13,800 I remember him being in a very good mood the next morning. 1123 00:57:13,800 --> 00:57:18,433 His desk was covered with a mountain of telegrams 1124 00:57:18,433 --> 00:57:23,600 congratulating the president on his speech and pledging support. 1125 00:57:23,600 --> 00:57:26,100 SMALL: Now, obviously a lot of people sent in telegrams 1126 00:57:26,100 --> 00:57:27,733 and letters to the White House, 1127 00:57:27,733 --> 00:57:29,833 but a lot of the letters that arrived at the White House 1128 00:57:29,833 --> 00:57:32,533 were a part of a secret program run by 1129 00:57:32,533 --> 00:57:34,400 the Republican National Committee. 1130 00:57:34,400 --> 00:57:37,266 EISENBERG: They want to make sure that the White House 1131 00:57:37,266 --> 00:57:41,000 is flooded with telegrams and phone calls 1132 00:57:41,000 --> 00:57:44,133 that will express vast enthusiasm 1133 00:57:44,133 --> 00:57:45,733 for what he's just said. 1134 00:57:45,733 --> 00:57:48,833 They've already developed a network for doing it. 1135 00:57:48,833 --> 00:57:52,466 They have a whole set of organizations that are in place 1136 00:57:52,466 --> 00:57:55,300 to get their members to make phone calls, 1137 00:57:55,300 --> 00:57:59,266 to send these telegrams, so that's a setup by them. 1138 00:57:59,266 --> 00:58:02,400 APPY: As a backlash to the anti-war demonstrations 1139 00:58:02,400 --> 00:58:06,633 of the fall of 1969, many powerful people 1140 00:58:06,633 --> 00:58:11,533 around the country who supported the war rallied around Nixon. 1141 00:58:11,533 --> 00:58:15,666   And he began to really successfully turn the debates 1142 00:58:15,666 --> 00:58:20,466 around Vietnam into a debate around patriotism, 1143 00:58:20,466 --> 00:58:23,333 and cast anti-war activists as unpatriotic, 1144 00:58:23,333 --> 00:58:25,666 playing a kind of divisive politics 1145 00:58:25,666 --> 00:58:30,066 that the Nixon administration was really expert at doing. 1146 00:58:30,066 --> 00:58:32,200 A massive anti-war march with a quarter- 1147 00:58:32,200 --> 00:58:33,433 to a half-million people 1148 00:58:33,433 --> 00:58:35,933 is supposed to come down Pennsylvania Avenue 1149 00:58:35,933 --> 00:58:38,366 and past the White House November 15. 1150 00:58:38,366 --> 00:58:41,433 SMALL: Nixon is going into an offensive mode 1151 00:58:41,433 --> 00:58:43,200 against the demonstrators, 1152 00:58:43,200 --> 00:58:45,566 and he knows that on November 15, 1153 00:58:45,566 --> 00:58:47,633 there is going to be a mass demonstration 1154 00:58:47,633 --> 00:58:49,000 led by the New Mobe. 1155 00:58:49,000 --> 00:58:52,733 ♪ ♪ 1156 00:58:52,733 --> 00:58:55,400 EISENBERG: The positive coverage that had been the case 1157 00:58:55,400 --> 00:58:56,566 with the Moratorium, 1158 00:58:56,566 --> 00:58:59,833 Nixon doesn't want that to happen again. 1159 00:58:59,833 --> 00:59:01,966 PAT BUCHANAN: So I wrote Nixon a memo, 1160 00:59:01,966 --> 00:59:04,033 and I said, "It's time to attack the media." 1161 00:59:04,033 --> 00:59:05,733 And I said, "The vice president of the United States 1162 00:59:05,733 --> 00:59:06,933 ought to deliver this speech," 1163 00:59:06,933 --> 00:59:08,966 and so I wrote that Agnew speech. 1164 00:59:08,966 --> 00:59:11,766 And there was one editor for that Agnew speech: 1165 00:59:11,766 --> 00:59:14,333 Richard Milhous Nixon. 1166 00:59:14,333 --> 00:59:17,900 And he said, "This'll tear the scab off those bastards." 1167 00:59:17,900 --> 00:59:21,066 And we broke out laughin'. (laughs) 1168 00:59:21,066 --> 00:59:23,366   And it did. (laughs) 1169 00:59:23,366 --> 00:59:26,866 How many marches and demonstrations would we have 1170 00:59:26,866 --> 00:59:30,233 if the marchers did not know that the ever-faithful 1171 00:59:30,233 --> 00:59:33,366 TV cameras would be there to record their antics 1172 00:59:33,366 --> 00:59:35,066 for the next news report? 1173 00:59:35,066 --> 00:59:36,900 (audience cheering and applauding) 1174 00:59:36,900 --> 00:59:39,700 EISENBERG: They get Agnew to give a major speech 1175 00:59:39,700 --> 00:59:43,033 attacking the media, and they put pressure on the media 1176 00:59:43,033 --> 00:59:48,900 to run Agnew's speech in its entirety, which they do. 1177 00:59:48,900 --> 00:59:52,300 SMALL: Nixon has his vice president, Spiro Agnew, 1178 00:59:52,300 --> 00:59:55,266 go on the attack directly against the media. 1179 00:59:55,266 --> 00:59:59,033 He attacked the elitism of the Eastern elites, 1180 00:59:59,033 --> 01:00:01,133 the people in Washington and New York. 1181 01:00:01,133 --> 01:00:02,533 He earlier had called them 1182 01:00:02,533 --> 01:00:05,033 "the nattering nabobs of negativism. 1183 01:00:05,033 --> 01:00:07,833 Who elected these people to tell you what to think?" 1184 01:00:07,833 --> 01:00:10,233 AGNEW: The views of a majority of this fraternity 1185 01:00:10,233 --> 01:00:14,900 do not-- and I repeat, not-- represent the views of America. 1186 01:00:14,900 --> 01:00:18,666 (audience applauds) 1187 01:00:18,666 --> 01:00:20,833 SMALL: It is interesting to note that journalism scholars 1188 01:00:20,833 --> 01:00:23,733 think this is the beginning of the American people 1189 01:00:23,733 --> 01:00:27,833 beginning to lose faith in their media. 1190 01:00:27,833 --> 01:00:30,166 ♪ ♪ 1191 01:00:30,166 --> 01:00:33,266 BROWN: A day or two before the November march, 1192 01:00:33,266 --> 01:00:35,500 Bill Ayers, who was then with the Weathermen, 1193 01:00:35,500 --> 01:00:41,666 he came into the office to say that their intent was 1194 01:00:41,666 --> 01:00:43,966 to mount an attack on the Justice Department 1195 01:00:43,966 --> 01:00:46,200 during the demonstration. 1196 01:00:46,200 --> 01:00:49,300 But he knew that we had been very successful 1197 01:00:49,300 --> 01:00:55,133 raising money, and that if we gave them, as I recall, $20,000, 1198 01:00:55,133 --> 01:00:57,000 they would call off the demonstration 1199 01:00:57,000 --> 01:00:58,433 at the Justice Department. 1200 01:00:58,433 --> 01:01:00,633 Straight-out blackmail. 1201 01:01:00,633 --> 01:01:02,233 Extortion, whatever. 1202 01:01:02,233 --> 01:01:06,333 This was hard to believe that it was actually taking place. 1203 01:01:06,333 --> 01:01:09,066 Of course, we said, "Go away, get out of here." 1204 01:01:09,066 --> 01:01:10,933 But we knew that that was a potential 1205 01:01:10,933 --> 01:01:13,666 for incredible trouble. 1206 01:01:13,666 --> 01:01:17,133 BILL DOWNS: It's estimated that some 3,000 troops 1207 01:01:17,133 --> 01:01:20,733 will be bivouacked here under canvas during the crisis period. 1208 01:01:20,733 --> 01:01:22,633 Marines from the 2nd Marine Division, 1209 01:01:22,633 --> 01:01:24,000 which will be flown in later tonight, 1210 01:01:24,000 --> 01:01:28,333 making up the total of 9,000 troops activated. 1211 01:01:28,333 --> 01:01:30,366 They have been especially trained 1212 01:01:30,366 --> 01:01:32,933 in civil disturbance and mob control. 1213 01:01:32,933 --> 01:01:36,333 They brought their duffle bags, their M-16s... 1214 01:01:36,333 --> 01:01:38,466 MIXNER: They played for keeps. 1215 01:01:38,466 --> 01:01:40,866 I remember the trucks coming in, 1216 01:01:40,866 --> 01:01:44,166 federal troops with their bayonets and their gas masks, 1217 01:01:44,166 --> 01:01:46,666 and they put buses around the White House. 1218 01:01:46,666 --> 01:01:48,100 BULL: In preparation 1219 01:01:48,100 --> 01:01:52,266 for this huge demonstration that was expected, 1220 01:01:52,266 --> 01:01:57,266 President Nixon had the White House ringed by buses, 1221 01:01:57,266 --> 01:02:00,200 parked bumper to bumper. 1222 01:02:00,200 --> 01:02:03,566 There were troops in full gear-- full military troops, 1223 01:02:03,566 --> 01:02:05,666 not National Guard. 1224 01:02:05,666 --> 01:02:07,500 And it certainly was pretty stark 1225 01:02:07,500 --> 01:02:10,300 and quite tangible evidence 1226 01:02:10,300 --> 01:02:14,266 that this country was close to a revolution. 1227 01:02:21,533 --> 01:02:23,866 BRENDA CAVANAGH: There were many, many buses 1228 01:02:23,866 --> 01:02:28,633 with protesters from all over the states going to Washington. 1229 01:02:28,633 --> 01:02:32,533 My sister, Jill, was four years younger than me. 1230 01:02:32,533 --> 01:02:36,366 So she was 17 at the time. 1231 01:02:36,366 --> 01:02:38,200 And we took a bus to Washington. 1232 01:02:38,200 --> 01:02:45,233 Of course my sign was my husband, Dick Genest. 1233 01:02:45,233 --> 01:02:50,166 He was in the 197th Artillery of the National Guard. 1234 01:02:50,166 --> 01:02:53,933 There were five members of the New Hampshire National Guard 1235 01:02:53,933 --> 01:02:56,833 in his convoy coming home. 1236 01:02:56,833 --> 01:03:03,266 They hit a mine and killed them all instantly. 1237 01:03:03,266 --> 01:03:09,566 ♪ ♪ 1238 01:03:12,400 --> 01:03:14,233 (voice breaking): I'm sorry. I'm going to cry. 1239 01:03:15,366 --> 01:03:18,400 The pain never goes away. 1240 01:03:18,400 --> 01:03:21,400 It just takes part of your heart. 1241 01:03:21,400 --> 01:03:23,133 It's cut out. 1242 01:03:23,133 --> 01:03:24,900 That's the only way to describe it. 1243 01:03:29,400 --> 01:03:32,400 (drum beating) 1244 01:03:32,400 --> 01:03:38,966 STEWART MEACHAM: In this march we will carry the names of those 1245 01:03:38,966 --> 01:03:43,900 who are the victims of U.S. military policy in Vietnam. 1246 01:03:43,900 --> 01:03:48,433 We will carry the names of the Americans. 1247 01:03:48,433 --> 01:03:51,300 We will carry the names of the towns and the villages 1248 01:03:51,300 --> 01:03:57,033 that have been bombed and burned out of existence. 1249 01:03:57,033 --> 01:04:00,233 Through this march we commit ourselves 1250 01:04:00,233 --> 01:04:04,800 to continue our protest and our resistance 1251 01:04:04,800 --> 01:04:10,633 to this vast inhumanity until it has been ended. 1252 01:04:10,633 --> 01:04:15,800 (drum beating) 1253 01:04:15,800 --> 01:04:19,000 BOY: Well, my brother Mike was killed in the war. 1254 01:04:19,000 --> 01:04:22,100 And our, our whole family is here. 1255 01:04:22,100 --> 01:04:25,100 MAN: I'm here because there are a whole lot of 1256 01:04:25,100 --> 01:04:26,733 soldiers over in Vietnam 1257 01:04:26,733 --> 01:04:29,000 that would like to be here themselves. 1258 01:04:29,000 --> 01:04:33,600 And they can't be here so I'm here protesting. 1259 01:04:33,600 --> 01:04:37,000 WOMAN: I keep thinking of the man whose name I'm carrying 1260 01:04:37,000 --> 01:04:39,866 and of the candle I'm carrying for him. 1261 01:04:39,866 --> 01:04:41,833 It keeps flickering out. 1262 01:04:41,833 --> 01:04:45,200 And I see the candle as symbolic of his life. 1263 01:04:45,200 --> 01:04:48,633 And I'm just very moved by this one man. 1264 01:04:48,633 --> 01:04:50,733 (drum continues) 1265 01:04:50,733 --> 01:04:55,133 SUSAN MILLER: Between 47,000 and 50,000 people marched. 1266 01:04:55,133 --> 01:04:57,666 The March Against Death 1267 01:04:57,666 --> 01:05:01,733 lasted for 39 hours day and night. 1268 01:05:01,733 --> 01:05:04,033 It took between three and four hours 1269 01:05:04,033 --> 01:05:08,066 to walk the distance from Arlington, past the White House, 1270 01:05:08,066 --> 01:05:10,033 over to the Capitol grounds. 1271 01:05:10,033 --> 01:05:11,566 It was not a short walk. 1272 01:05:11,566 --> 01:05:13,633 And it was freezing. 1273 01:05:13,633 --> 01:05:18,200 I have never been so cold in my entire life. 1274 01:05:18,200 --> 01:05:20,666 (beating drum) 1275 01:05:20,666 --> 01:05:24,066 APPY: At one point during the candlelight ceremony 1276 01:05:24,066 --> 01:05:26,800 out in front of the White House, Nixon turned to his aides 1277 01:05:26,800 --> 01:05:29,500 and said "Can't we get some helicopters 1278 01:05:29,500 --> 01:05:33,366 to fly over that demonstration and blow out the candles?" 1279 01:05:33,366 --> 01:05:37,266 Which shows you the level to which he was concerned about it. 1280 01:05:37,266 --> 01:05:43,000 ♪ ♪ 1281 01:05:43,000 --> 01:05:50,266 PROTESTERS: ♪ We shall live in peace ♪ 1282 01:05:50,266 --> 01:05:54,566 ♪ We shall live in peace ♪ 1283 01:05:54,566 --> 01:06:00,933 ♪ Someday ♪ 1284 01:06:00,933 --> 01:06:09,066 ♪ Oh, deep in my heart ♪ 1285 01:06:09,066 --> 01:06:15,733 ♪ I do believe ♪ 1286 01:06:15,733 --> 01:06:21,000 ♪ We shall overcome ♪ 1287 01:06:21,000 --> 01:06:24,500 ♪ Someday ♪ 1288 01:06:24,500 --> 01:06:29,233 ♪ ♪ 1289 01:06:29,233 --> 01:06:31,300 (car honking) 1290 01:06:34,033 --> 01:06:37,833 MARY POSNER: About 35 of us got to Washington, DC, 1291 01:06:37,833 --> 01:06:43,333 any way we could to participate in the national mobilization. 1292 01:06:43,333 --> 01:06:45,033 Me and a few other students 1293 01:06:45,033 --> 01:06:47,200 crashed someplace in Washington, DC. 1294 01:06:47,200 --> 01:06:48,666 I have no idea who with. 1295 01:06:48,666 --> 01:06:52,900 And we got up early on the morning of November 15, 1296 01:06:52,900 --> 01:06:54,600 and made our way to the Mall, 1297 01:06:54,600 --> 01:06:59,466 and it was just this huge, huge crowd. 1298 01:06:59,466 --> 01:07:02,366 And we just knew we were a part of this 1299 01:07:02,366 --> 01:07:06,800 amazing group of people who all believed what we did, 1300 01:07:06,800 --> 01:07:09,100 which was a great feeling to know that 1301 01:07:09,100 --> 01:07:10,866 that many people were against the war. 1302 01:07:10,866 --> 01:07:12,466 ("Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival playing) 1303 01:07:12,466 --> 01:07:15,566 ♪ Yeah, some folks inherit star-spangled eyes ♪ 1304 01:07:15,566 --> 01:07:19,900 ♪ Ooh, they send you down to war ♪ 1305 01:07:19,900 --> 01:07:23,133 ♪ And when you ask 'em, "How much should we give?" ♪ 1306 01:07:23,133 --> 01:07:25,966 ♪ Ooh, they only answer, "More, more, more" ♪ 1307 01:07:25,966 --> 01:07:30,200 ♪ It ain't me, it ain't me ♪ 1308 01:07:30,200 --> 01:07:33,800 ♪ I ain't no military son, son ♪ 1309 01:07:33,800 --> 01:07:37,066 ♪ It ain't me, it ain't me ♪ 1310 01:07:37,066 --> 01:07:42,200 WEISS: It was a very peaceful bipartisan demonstration. 1311 01:07:42,200 --> 01:07:44,866 Charlie Goodell, a Republican member of the Senate, 1312 01:07:44,866 --> 01:07:48,533 and George McGovern, a Democratic member of the Senate, 1313 01:07:48,533 --> 01:07:54,700 literally held hands leading the demonstration. 1314 01:07:54,700 --> 01:07:58,500 (crowd chanting indistinctly) 1315 01:07:58,500 --> 01:08:00,933 DAVID CORTRIGHT: The march was led by 1316 01:08:00,933 --> 01:08:02,866 a contingent of active-duty service members 1317 01:08:02,866 --> 01:08:06,600 and then behind us was a group of veterans. 1318 01:08:06,600 --> 01:08:07,966 So if you look at the photos from those days, 1319 01:08:07,966 --> 01:08:10,533 you can see, there we are with our 1320 01:08:10,533 --> 01:08:13,900 short hair and these caps that say "G.Is. for Peace." 1321 01:08:13,900 --> 01:08:16,200 We are definitely unmistakable. 1322 01:08:16,200 --> 01:08:17,966 We're active-duty people in the military, 1323 01:08:17,966 --> 01:08:20,600 we have to follow orders and do our duty in the military, 1324 01:08:20,600 --> 01:08:24,100 but we're also citizens, and we oppose this war 1325 01:08:24,100 --> 01:08:26,100 and we're going to speak out against it. 1326 01:08:26,100 --> 01:08:29,966 ♪ So if you love your Uncle Sam ♪ 1327 01:08:29,966 --> 01:08:33,433 ♪ Bring 'em home, bring 'em home ♪ 1328 01:08:33,433 --> 01:08:36,933 ♪ Support our boys in Vietnam ♪ 1329 01:08:36,933 --> 01:08:40,066 BOTH: ♪ Bring 'em home, bring 'em home ♪ 1330 01:08:40,066 --> 01:08:43,533 KIRKPATRICK: ♪ Richard Nixon thinks he's slick ♪ 1331 01:08:43,533 --> 01:08:46,733 BOTH: ♪ Bring 'em home, bring 'em home ♪ 1332 01:08:46,733 --> 01:08:50,366 KIRKPATRICK: ♪ We've got to outwit that Tricky Dick ♪ 1333 01:08:50,366 --> 01:08:53,533 BOTH: ♪ Bring 'em home, bring 'em home ♪ 1334 01:08:53,533 --> 01:08:55,300 Last month, the president of the United States 1335 01:08:55,300 --> 01:08:57,833 said nothing you young kids would do 1336 01:08:57,833 --> 01:08:59,566 would have any effect on him. 1337 01:08:59,566 --> 01:09:02,666 Well, I suggest to the president of the United States, 1338 01:09:02,666 --> 01:09:04,833 if he wanna know how much effect you youngsters 1339 01:09:04,833 --> 01:09:06,633 can have on a president, 1340 01:09:06,633 --> 01:09:09,066 he should make one long-distance phone call 1341 01:09:09,066 --> 01:09:12,266 to the LBJ Ranch and ask that boy 1342 01:09:12,266 --> 01:09:14,533 how much effect you can have. 1343 01:09:14,533 --> 01:09:16,266 (cheering) 1344 01:09:16,266 --> 01:09:18,466 BULL: There were about a half a million demonstrators 1345 01:09:18,466 --> 01:09:20,866 from all over the country that gathered in Washington. 1346 01:09:20,866 --> 01:09:22,266 And it just annoyed the heck out of me 1347 01:09:22,266 --> 01:09:25,433 that here are these guys coming after President Nixon. 1348 01:09:25,433 --> 01:09:28,800 I felt, and I think so many others of us felt, 1349 01:09:28,800 --> 01:09:31,700 that they were wrong and we felt that they were 1350 01:09:31,700 --> 01:09:37,000 left-wing useful idiots of the growing left-wing movement 1351 01:09:37,000 --> 01:09:39,100 in the United States. 1352 01:09:39,100 --> 01:09:42,933 APPY: Nixon of course said that he would pay no attention 1353 01:09:42,933 --> 01:09:45,166 whatsoever to these demonstrations. 1354 01:09:45,166 --> 01:09:47,800 In effect, the only college students he was interested in 1355 01:09:47,800 --> 01:09:50,300 were the ones playing football on television. 1356 01:09:50,300 --> 01:09:52,633 But he was in fact deeply obsessed 1357 01:09:52,633 --> 01:09:55,233 with the anti-war movement 1358 01:09:55,233 --> 01:09:59,500 and was paying serious attention to the November demonstration. 1359 01:09:59,500 --> 01:10:03,533 The White House became a kind of bunker and fortress, 1360 01:10:03,533 --> 01:10:07,333 and he had military personnel stationed throughout 1361 01:10:07,333 --> 01:10:09,633 the White House itself for fear that these demonstrators 1362 01:10:09,633 --> 01:10:13,800 might actually assault the center of power. 1363 01:10:13,800 --> 01:10:16,866 (chanting): One, two, three, four, Tricky Dick, stop the war. 1364 01:10:16,866 --> 01:10:20,833 KISSINGER: You know, the White House was ringed by students. 1365 01:10:20,833 --> 01:10:23,633 (chanting continues) 1366 01:10:23,633 --> 01:10:25,000 There are facilities 1367 01:10:25,000 --> 01:10:28,466 in the White House in case of a bombing attack. 1368 01:10:28,466 --> 01:10:33,333 And I moved into one of these facilities for a few days 1369 01:10:33,333 --> 01:10:36,700 and slept in the basement of the White House. 1370 01:10:36,700 --> 01:10:39,033   MAN: When do you want it? PROTESTERS: Now! 1371 01:10:39,033 --> 01:10:41,166 MAN: What do you want? When do you want it? 1372 01:10:41,166 --> 01:10:43,600 LAKE: They were extremely concerned about their security 1373 01:10:43,600 --> 01:10:48,333 and they were concerned by the size of the demonstration, 1374 01:10:48,333 --> 01:10:50,833 and how it was helping keep 1375 01:10:50,833 --> 01:10:54,000 the issue of Vietnam front and center. 1376 01:10:54,000 --> 01:10:55,666 (protesters chanting) 1377 01:10:55,666 --> 01:10:57,466 I found it extremely painful. 1378 01:10:57,466 --> 01:10:59,966 My wife, many of my friends, 1379 01:10:59,966 --> 01:11:01,533 were outside the White House demonstrating, 1380 01:11:01,533 --> 01:11:04,000 while I was inside. 1381 01:11:04,000 --> 01:11:06,833 And I wanted to be outside. 1382 01:11:06,833 --> 01:11:10,666 RICHIE HAVENS: ♪ A long ♪ 1383 01:11:10,666 --> 01:11:17,566 ♪ Way from my home ♪ 1384 01:11:17,566 --> 01:11:20,366 ♪ Which is freedom ♪ 1385 01:11:20,366 --> 01:11:22,400 ♪ Freedom ♪ 1386 01:11:22,400 --> 01:11:25,833 ♪ Freedom! Freedom! ♪ 1387 01:11:25,833 --> 01:11:28,866 ♪ This land is your land ♪ 1388 01:11:28,866 --> 01:11:31,866 ♪ And this land is my land ♪ 1389 01:11:31,866 --> 01:11:34,500 ♪ From California ♪ 1390 01:11:34,500 --> 01:11:37,233 ♪ To the New York island ♪ 1391 01:11:37,233 --> 01:11:40,400 ♪ From the redwood forest ♪ 1392 01:11:40,400 --> 01:11:45,566 ♪ To the Gulf Stream water ♪ 1393 01:11:45,566 --> 01:11:49,333 ♪ This land was made for you and me ♪ 1394 01:11:49,333 --> 01:11:52,266 (crowd cheering and applauding) 1395 01:11:54,333 --> 01:12:01,266 CORETTA SCOTT KING: My dear peace-loving friends. 1396 01:12:01,266 --> 01:12:08,666 I want to thank you for providing me 1397 01:12:08,666 --> 01:12:13,466 with one of the most awe-inspiring experiences 1398 01:12:13,466 --> 01:12:15,933 of my life. 1399 01:12:15,933 --> 01:12:19,933 There is only one other experience 1400 01:12:19,933 --> 01:12:25,000 that reminds me of this one today 1401 01:12:25,000 --> 01:12:29,400 and that was the March on Washington in 1963. 1402 01:12:29,400 --> 01:12:30,766 (cheers and applause) 1403 01:12:30,766 --> 01:12:34,633 SEEGER: ♪ All we are saying ♪ 1404 01:12:34,633 --> 01:12:39,766 ♪ Is give peace a chance ♪ 1405 01:12:39,766 --> 01:12:41,633 ♪ All we are... ♪ 1406 01:12:41,633 --> 01:12:44,800 HAWK: We were concerned to make it 1407 01:12:44,800 --> 01:12:48,233 a hugely successful event. 1408 01:12:48,233 --> 01:12:50,100 And it was! (laughs) 1409 01:12:50,100 --> 01:12:54,066 Primarily, in my opinion, thanks to the music, 1410 01:12:54,066 --> 01:12:56,100 which was out of this world. 1411 01:12:56,100 --> 01:13:00,466 You know, a couple of hundred thousand people singing 1412 01:13:00,466 --> 01:13:03,533 "Give Peace a Chance" within earshot of the White House. 1413 01:13:03,533 --> 01:13:05,866 That was the high point of Saturday. 1414 01:13:05,866 --> 01:13:08,933 PROTESTERS: ♪ Is give peace a chance ♪ 1415 01:13:08,933 --> 01:13:11,300 SEEGER: Are ya listening, Nixon? 1416 01:13:11,300 --> 01:13:14,000 PROTESTERS: ♪ All we are saying ♪ 1417 01:13:14,000 --> 01:13:15,466 SEEGER: Are ya listening, Agnew? 1418 01:13:15,466 --> 01:13:16,866 PROTESTERS: ♪ Is give peace a chance ♪ 1419 01:13:16,866 --> 01:13:20,566 SEEGER: Are ya listening in the Pentagon? 1420 01:13:20,566 --> 01:13:25,466 PROTESTERS: ♪ All we are saying ♪ 1421 01:13:25,466 --> 01:13:29,100 ♪ Is give peace a chance ♪ 1422 01:13:29,100 --> 01:13:32,766 ♪ This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius ♪ 1423 01:13:32,766 --> 01:13:34,033 ♪ Age of Aquarius ♪ 1424 01:13:34,033 --> 01:13:35,933 MEL WAX: Here in San Francisco, 1425 01:13:35,933 --> 01:13:37,833 Moratorium Day protesters 1426 01:13:37,833 --> 01:13:40,700 assembled early for the seven-mile march 1427 01:13:40,700 --> 01:13:43,900 through downtown San Francisco to Golden Gate Park. 1428 01:13:43,900 --> 01:13:46,733 Estimates of crowd size vary, 1429 01:13:46,733 --> 01:13:49,500 but all agree it was the largest peace demonstration 1430 01:13:49,500 --> 01:13:52,133 ever held in Western United States, 1431 01:13:52,133 --> 01:13:54,666 and it was peaceful. 1432 01:13:54,666 --> 01:13:59,300 CROWD: ♪ Let the sunshine in ♪ 1433 01:13:59,300 --> 01:14:02,233 ♪ The sunshine in ♪ 1434 01:14:02,233 --> 01:14:05,033 ♪ Let the sunshine in ♪ 1435 01:14:05,033 --> 01:14:06,266 What do you want? 1436 01:14:06,266 --> 01:14:07,266 CROWD: Peace! 1437 01:14:07,266 --> 01:14:08,266 ABERNATHY: What do you want? 1438 01:14:08,266 --> 01:14:09,633 Peace! 1439 01:14:09,633 --> 01:14:11,133 ABERNATHY: When do you want it? 1440 01:14:11,133 --> 01:14:12,566 CROWD: Now! 1441 01:14:12,566 --> 01:14:13,766 ABERNATHY: When do you want it? 1442 01:14:13,766 --> 01:14:14,800 CROWD: Now! 1443 01:14:17,033 --> 01:14:21,200 ABERNATHY: Who is the one callous individual 1444 01:14:21,200 --> 01:14:27,800 who is going against the current of history and social change? 1445 01:14:27,800 --> 01:14:31,133 Nixon's the one! 1446 01:14:31,133 --> 01:14:34,466 Who writes himself telegrams? 1447 01:14:34,466 --> 01:14:35,866 (crowd laughing) 1448 01:14:35,866 --> 01:14:39,166 (guitar playing) 1449 01:14:39,166 --> 01:14:43,833 ♪ It's always the old to lead us to the wars ♪ 1450 01:14:43,833 --> 01:14:48,200 ♪ It's always the young to fall ♪ 1451 01:14:48,200 --> 01:14:52,866 ♪ Now look at all we've won with a saber and a gun ♪ 1452 01:14:52,866 --> 01:14:55,433 ♪ Tell me, is it worth it all? ♪ 1453 01:14:55,433 --> 01:14:57,933 ♪ ♪ 1454 01:14:57,933 --> 01:15:01,500 ♪ Call it peace or call it treason ♪ 1455 01:15:01,500 --> 01:15:04,600 ♪ Call it love or call it reason ♪ 1456 01:15:04,600 --> 01:15:07,766 ♪ But I ain't marchin' anymore ♪ 1457 01:15:07,766 --> 01:15:12,333 ♪ No, I ain't marchin' anymore ♪ 1458 01:15:12,333 --> 01:15:13,466 Thank you very much. 1459 01:15:13,466 --> 01:15:14,966 (cheers and applause) 1460 01:15:14,966 --> 01:15:16,500 CARL REINER: I have three words for you: 1461 01:15:16,500 --> 01:15:18,666 Crosby, Stills, and Nash. 1462 01:15:18,666 --> 01:15:21,133 (cheers and applause) 1463 01:15:21,133 --> 01:15:23,433 ("Find the Cost of Freedom" by Crosby, Stills and Nash playing) 1464 01:15:23,433 --> 01:15:24,433 (crowd clapping to beat) 1465 01:15:24,433 --> 01:15:30,966 ♪ Find the cost of freedom ♪ 1466 01:15:30,966 --> 01:15:35,966 ♪ Buried in the ground ♪ 1467 01:15:35,966 --> 01:15:38,833 ♪ Mother Earth ♪ 1468 01:15:38,833 --> 01:15:41,666 ♪ Will swallow you ♪ 1469 01:15:41,666 --> 01:15:46,366 ♪ Lay your body down ♪ 1470 01:15:46,366 --> 01:15:53,600 ♪ Find the cost of freedom ♪ 1471 01:15:53,600 --> 01:15:58,200 ♪ Buried in the ground ♪ 1472 01:15:58,200 --> 01:16:05,566 ♪ Mother Earth will swallow you ♪ 1473 01:16:05,566 --> 01:16:09,700 ♪ Lay your body down ♪ 1474 01:16:09,700 --> 01:16:12,533 We love you. Right on! 1475 01:16:12,533 --> 01:16:17,600 (cheers and applause) 1476 01:16:17,600 --> 01:16:21,100 And so it went off, the largest political demonstration 1477 01:16:21,100 --> 01:16:22,766 in American history. 1478 01:16:22,766 --> 01:16:24,233 Almost without violence. 1479 01:16:24,233 --> 01:16:25,633 Late in the afternoon, 1480 01:16:25,633 --> 01:16:27,933 several thousand demonstrators, led by a hard core 1481 01:16:27,933 --> 01:16:29,333 of militants, clashed with police 1482 01:16:29,333 --> 01:16:31,433 outside the Justice Department. 1483 01:16:31,433 --> 01:16:35,500 They were driven off with tear gas. 1484 01:16:35,500 --> 01:16:37,633 (shouting, screaming) 1485 01:16:37,633 --> 01:16:40,200 BROWN: A group of people did go attack the Justice Department, 1486 01:16:40,200 --> 01:16:42,066 but it was isolated. 1487 01:16:42,066 --> 01:16:44,200 FERNANDEZ: This was not a Sunday school picnic. 1488 01:16:44,200 --> 01:16:46,433 People were upset and angry. 1489 01:16:46,433 --> 01:16:48,766 We were part of a long train of people, 1490 01:16:48,766 --> 01:16:50,900 tried to make things right. 1491 01:16:50,900 --> 01:16:54,366 And I thought it was a terrific day for American democracy. 1492 01:16:54,366 --> 01:16:58,766 ("Something in the Air" by Thunderclap Newman playing) 1493 01:16:58,766 --> 01:17:06,266 ♪ ♪ 1494 01:17:06,266 --> 01:17:10,766 ♪ And you know that it's right ♪ 1495 01:17:10,766 --> 01:17:17,166 ♪ We have got to get it together ♪ 1496 01:17:17,166 --> 01:17:21,300 ♪ We have got to get it together ♪ 1497 01:17:21,300 --> 01:17:23,033 ♪ Now ♪ 1498 01:17:23,033 --> 01:17:24,666 MILLER: We had brought 500,000 people 1499 01:17:24,666 --> 01:17:27,233 to Washington, which at that time 1500 01:17:27,233 --> 01:17:29,066 and for quite a long time to come, 1501 01:17:29,066 --> 01:17:33,500 was the largest demonstration that had ever been organized. 1502 01:17:33,500 --> 01:17:37,766 (song resumes): ♪ And you know that it's right ♪ 1503 01:17:37,766 --> 01:17:42,333 ♪ We have got to get it together ♪ 1504 01:17:42,333 --> 01:17:47,700 ♪ We have got to get it together ♪ 1505 01:17:47,700 --> 01:17:50,266 ♪ Now ♪ 1506 01:17:50,266 --> 01:17:52,833 (song ends) 1507 01:17:55,333 --> 01:17:57,633 The White House acknowledged that the latest protests 1508 01:17:57,633 --> 01:17:59,933 generally were peaceful, but stressed again 1509 01:17:59,933 --> 01:18:02,533 that President Nixon does not intend to let policy 1510 01:18:02,533 --> 01:18:04,200 be made in the streets. 1511 01:18:04,200 --> 01:18:06,133 ♪ ♪ 1512 01:18:06,133 --> 01:18:11,466 JOYCE: It quickly set in that the war raged on. 1513 01:18:11,466 --> 01:18:15,266 That, however proud of ourselves we might have been, 1514 01:18:15,266 --> 01:18:19,566 we obviously, at that point, hadn't stopped the war. 1515 01:18:19,566 --> 01:18:25,200 ELLSBERG: The demonstrations in October and November of 1969 1516 01:18:25,200 --> 01:18:28,766 did not have the appearance of changing anything 1517 01:18:28,766 --> 01:18:31,466 because the war went on as before. 1518 01:18:31,466 --> 01:18:34,466 And none of the people who participated knew 1519 01:18:34,466 --> 01:18:37,066 that the war had been within days or weeks 1520 01:18:37,066 --> 01:18:41,533 of erupting enormously and becoming much bigger. 1521 01:18:41,533 --> 01:18:45,366 (explosion echoes) 1522 01:18:45,366 --> 01:18:47,766 The bottom line is, I believe we would have had 1523 01:18:47,766 --> 01:18:51,333 the first nuclear attacks since Nagasaki in 1969 1524 01:18:51,333 --> 01:18:56,333 had it not been for the October 15 demonstrations 1525 01:18:56,333 --> 01:18:59,966 and the demonstrations in November. 1526 01:18:59,966 --> 01:19:02,766 HAWK: At the time we had no idea. 1527 01:19:02,766 --> 01:19:07,633 It was only decades later, when the archives were released, 1528 01:19:07,633 --> 01:19:11,733 that we realized what, in fact, we had accomplished. 1529 01:19:11,733 --> 01:19:15,966 FERNANDEZ: We now know we had a big impact on Nixon and Kissinger. 1530 01:19:15,966 --> 01:19:18,333 What they thought they could get away with in November, 1531 01:19:18,333 --> 01:19:20,366 namely blowing to bits Vietnam, 1532 01:19:20,366 --> 01:19:22,300 and maybe even using nuclear weapons, 1533 01:19:22,300 --> 01:19:24,933 they had to take it off the table. 1534 01:19:24,933 --> 01:19:27,533 There were too many of us who were saying no now. 1535 01:19:27,533 --> 01:19:29,933   POSNER: And when I heard that news, 1536 01:19:29,933 --> 01:19:33,266 I, I just cannot express what that meant to me. 1537 01:19:33,266 --> 01:19:35,566 That after all these years, 1538 01:19:35,566 --> 01:19:38,933 I finally knew that what we did 1539 01:19:38,933 --> 01:19:43,700 had made such a significant difference. 1540 01:19:43,700 --> 01:19:45,900 MILLER: Nobody understood at the time 1541 01:19:45,900 --> 01:19:49,233 that we had prevented an escalation of the war 1542 01:19:49,233 --> 01:19:53,133 and actually saved people's lives. 1543 01:19:53,133 --> 01:19:55,733 It tells me that this was the most amazing 1544 01:19:55,733 --> 01:20:00,200 and most important thing I'd ever done in my life. 1545 01:20:00,200 --> 01:20:03,466 RIEGLE: The people stopped the war and made the Congress stop the war. 1546 01:20:03,466 --> 01:20:06,366 And that's what finally brought the war to the end. 1547 01:20:06,366 --> 01:20:10,200 They thought they could strongarm and bomb North Vietnam 1548 01:20:10,200 --> 01:20:13,166 into submission, and that didn't work. 1549 01:20:13,166 --> 01:20:17,466 And what we found was the limits of U.S. power 1550 01:20:17,466 --> 01:20:21,466 when you're trying to do the wrong thing in the wrong place. 1551 01:20:21,466 --> 01:20:25,500 MORRIS: And the absolutely torturous, haunting reality 1552 01:20:25,500 --> 01:20:28,433 hanging over all of this are the casualties. 1553 01:20:28,433 --> 01:20:30,800 We must remember that when Nixon is inaugurated 1554 01:20:30,800 --> 01:20:34,100 and Henry Kissinger hired, the names on that long black wall 1555 01:20:34,100 --> 01:20:38,866 in Washington were only half as long as they ended up being. 1556 01:20:38,866 --> 01:20:41,300 And absolutely agonizing, 1557 01:20:41,300 --> 01:20:45,766 the mounting casualties on the Vietnamese side. 1558 01:20:45,766 --> 01:20:48,300 And the price of Nixon's "peace with honor" 1559 01:20:48,300 --> 01:20:50,266 would be enormous. 1560 01:20:50,266 --> 01:20:54,266 And, I think, in the end, unforgivable. 1561 01:20:54,266 --> 01:20:57,700 ♪ ♪ 1562 01:20:57,700 --> 01:20:59,566 JOYCE: When I talk to young activists today, 1563 01:20:59,566 --> 01:21:04,133 one of the points I make is, you will not know in the moment 1564 01:21:04,133 --> 01:21:07,033 the real impact of what you are doing. 1565 01:21:07,033 --> 01:21:09,033 And you may not know it in a week. 1566 01:21:09,033 --> 01:21:10,666 You may not know it in a month. 1567 01:21:10,666 --> 01:21:12,466 You may not know it in a decade, 1568 01:21:12,466 --> 01:21:15,166 but you are having an impact. 1569 01:21:15,166 --> 01:21:18,633 It does matter. 1570 01:21:18,633 --> 01:21:20,133 WEISS: Never give up. 1571 01:21:20,133 --> 01:21:21,933 It's very important. 1572 01:21:21,933 --> 01:21:24,533 It's easy to get tired. 1573 01:21:24,533 --> 01:21:28,300 It's easy to get discouraged. 1574 01:21:28,300 --> 01:21:30,700 But we can't afford that. 1575 01:21:30,700 --> 01:21:32,466 So don't give up. 1576 01:21:32,466 --> 01:21:35,933 We didn't give up until it was over. 1577 01:21:35,933 --> 01:21:38,200 ♪ ♪ 1578 01:21:40,266 --> 01:21:43,066 ♪ ♪ 1579 01:21:43,066 --> 01:21:44,466 ANNOUNCER: Next time... 1580 01:21:44,466 --> 01:21:46,166 The sun's energy is absorbed 1581 01:21:46,166 --> 01:21:48,033 and transformed into heat. 1582 01:21:48,033 --> 01:21:51,233 MAN: Mária Telkes was a solar evangelist. 1583 01:21:51,233 --> 01:21:53,733 WOMAN: She really imagined this as revolutionizing 1584 01:21:53,733 --> 01:21:56,266 the way that people lived. 1585 01:21:56,266 --> 01:21:57,533 WOMAN: Nothing else would even get close 1586 01:21:57,533 --> 01:21:58,766 to the Dover sun house. 1587 01:21:58,766 --> 01:22:00,200 WOMAN: She's laying the foundation 1588 01:22:00,200 --> 01:22:02,366 for pretty much everything now 1589 01:22:02,366 --> 01:22:04,000 that we do with solar. 1590 01:22:04,000 --> 01:22:05,200 ANNOUNCER: "The Sun Queen," 1591 01:22:05,200 --> 01:22:07,966 next time on "American Experience." 1592 01:22:07,966 --> 01:22:11,000 Made possible in part by Liberty Mutual Insurance. 1593 01:22:14,433 --> 01:22:14,700 ♪ ♪ 1594 01:22:21,000 --> 01:22:23,933 ♪ ♪