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MAJOR SUPPORT FOR "THE VIETNAM WAR"
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WAS PROVIDED BY MEMBERS
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𝄞 Oh, my name, it is nothin' 𝄞
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Well, I wanted to name him after his dad,
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00:02:12,165 --> 00:02:14,966
Denton Winslow Crocker.
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00:02:15,066 --> 00:02:18,699
So that was the name
we chose.
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00:02:18,800 --> 00:02:21,066
He was a colicky little baby.
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And, uh,
so we were up night and day with him.
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And my husband was
a wonderful dad
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00:02:28,533 --> 00:02:30,699
and very loving and attentive.
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He'd walk the floor with him.
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00:02:32,765 --> 00:02:36,566
And then he said one day,
"He's a regular little mogul
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00:02:36,665 --> 00:02:39,699
the way he rules our lives."
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00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:42,000
So that's where the name
came from.
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00:02:42,099 --> 00:02:43,566
We called him Mogie.
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00:02:43,665 --> 00:02:48,265
Mogie Crocker was born June 3, 1947,
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00:02:48,365 --> 00:02:50,733
the oldest of four children.
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00:02:50,832 --> 00:02:52,633
His father was
a biology teacher,
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00:02:52,733 --> 00:02:55,865
and Mogie was raised
in college towns:
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00:02:55,966 --> 00:03:00,265
Ithaca, Amherst,
and finally Saratoga Springs,
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00:03:00,366 --> 00:03:05,066
to which the family moved in 1960,
when he was 13.
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00:03:05,165 --> 00:03:09,032
My mother read books
to all of us.
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My brother was
definitely the one
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who probably gravitated
towards them more than I did.
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00:03:14,233 --> 00:03:16,332
He really feasted on books.
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00:03:16,432 --> 00:03:19,165
Mogie was an unusual boy.
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Intelligent, independent-minded,
and too nearsighted
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00:03:22,733 --> 00:03:24,765
to do well at team sports,
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00:03:24,865 --> 00:03:28,733
he loved books about American
history and American heroes.
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00:03:28,832 --> 00:03:31,165
At 12, he started a diary
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00:03:31,265 --> 00:03:34,400
in which he kept track
of Cold War events.
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00:03:34,500 --> 00:03:36,765
"I hate Reds!" he wrote,
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00:03:36,865 --> 00:03:39,533
and he admired most those
who had proved willing
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00:03:39,633 --> 00:03:43,466
to sacrifice themselves
for a cause.
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00:03:43,566 --> 00:03:46,466
President John F. Kennedy's
call for every American
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00:03:46,566 --> 00:03:50,265
to ask what he or she could do
for their country
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00:03:50,365 --> 00:03:54,932
had mirrored ideas he'd held
since he was a small boy.
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00:03:55,033 --> 00:03:58,033
One evening when
I was reading to Denton
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before he went to sleep,
I chose a passage fromHenry V,
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00:04:04,032 --> 00:04:09,300
which is,
"He today that sheds his blood with me
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"shall be my brother.
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00:04:11,633 --> 00:04:16,466
"And gentlemen in England
now a-bed
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"shall think themselves
accurs'd
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00:04:19,165 --> 00:04:23,300
"they were not here and hold
their manhood cheap
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00:04:23,399 --> 00:04:28,300
while any speaks that fought with us upon St.
Crispin's Day."
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𝄞 If another war comes...
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00:04:33,165 --> 00:04:35,500
I think that it was that sort of thing
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00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:37,466
that made Denton want to be
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00:04:37,566 --> 00:04:43,100
part of something important
and brave.
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00:04:43,199 --> 00:04:46,199
𝄞 With God on their side.
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00:04:59,332 --> 00:05:01,966
I just stayed awake last night thinking about this thing.
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00:05:02,065 --> 00:05:05,665
The more I think of it,
I don't know what in the hell...
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00:05:05,766 --> 00:05:08,065
it looks like to me we're
getting into another Korea.
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00:05:08,165 --> 00:05:09,865
It just worries
the hell out of me.
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00:05:09,966 --> 00:05:12,533
I don't see what we can ever
hope to get out of there with
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00:05:12,632 --> 00:05:13,800
once we're committed.
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00:05:13,899 --> 00:05:15,932
I don't think it's worth
fighting for
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00:05:16,033 --> 00:05:17,466
and I don't think
we can get out.
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00:05:17,565 --> 00:05:19,132
And it's just the biggest
damn mess I ever saw.
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00:05:19,233 --> 00:05:20,766
McGEORGE BUNDY:
It is, it's an awful mess.
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00:05:20,865 --> 00:05:23,699
I just thought about ordering those kids in there,
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00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:25,432
and what in the hell am I
ordering them out there for?
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00:05:25,533 --> 00:05:26,899
One thing that has occurred to me...
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00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:28,399
What the hell is Vietnam worth to me?
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00:05:28,500 --> 00:05:30,132
What is it worth
to this country?
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00:05:30,233 --> 00:05:31,600
Yeah, yeah.
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00:05:31,699 --> 00:05:33,832
Now, of course, if you start running the communists,
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00:05:33,932 --> 00:05:35,832
they may just chase you right
into your own kitchen.
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00:05:35,932 --> 00:05:38,533
Yeah.
That's the trouble.
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00:05:38,632 --> 00:05:41,500
And that is what the rest of
that half of the world
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00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:45,033
is going to think if this thing
comes apart on us.
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00:05:45,132 --> 00:05:46,566
It's damned easy to get in a war,
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00:05:46,665 --> 00:05:48,300
but it's going to be awfully
hard to ever extricate yourself
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00:05:48,399 --> 00:05:49,432
if you get in.
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00:05:49,533 --> 00:05:50,899
It's very easy...
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00:05:51,000 --> 00:05:52,432
I'd like to hear Walter and McNamara to evaluate this thing.
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00:05:52,533 --> 00:05:53,466
To debate it?
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00:05:53,566 --> 00:05:54,832
Yeah.
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00:05:54,932 --> 00:05:56,600
All right, what's a possible time...?
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00:05:58,332 --> 00:06:01,399
Tragedy had brought Lyndon Johnson to the presidency
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00:06:01,500 --> 00:06:04,632
in November of 1963.
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00:06:04,733 --> 00:06:07,399
And he would not feel himself
fully in charge
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00:06:07,500 --> 00:06:11,399
until he had faced the voters
the following year.
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00:06:11,500 --> 00:06:14,865
But his ambitions for his
country were as great
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00:06:14,966 --> 00:06:18,266
as those of his hero,
Franklin Roosevelt.
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00:06:18,365 --> 00:06:20,332
During his years
in the White House,
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00:06:20,432 --> 00:06:22,632
he would lead the struggle
to win passage
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00:06:22,733 --> 00:06:26,800
of more than 200 important
pieces of legislation-
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00:06:26,899 --> 00:06:32,365
the Civil Rights Act of 1964,
the Voting Rights Act of 1965,
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00:06:32,466 --> 00:06:36,832
federal aid to education,
Head Start, Medicare,
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00:06:36,932 --> 00:06:40,132
and a whole series of bills
aimed at ending poverty
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00:06:40,233 --> 00:06:43,266
in America,
all intended to create
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00:06:43,365 --> 00:06:46,165
what he called
"The Great Society."
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00:06:46,266 --> 00:06:50,932
In foreign affairs,
Johnson was less self-assured.
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00:06:51,033 --> 00:06:53,199
"Foreigners are not like
the folks I'm used to,"
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00:06:53,300 --> 00:06:54,899
he once said.
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00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:57,600
To deal with them,
he retained in office
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00:06:57,699 --> 00:07:00,399
all of John Kennedy's
top advisors-
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00:07:00,500 --> 00:07:02,533
Dean Rusk at State,
132
00:07:02,632 --> 00:07:05,100
Robert McNamara at Defense,
133
00:07:05,199 --> 00:07:09,132
McGeorge Bundy as his
National Security Advisor.
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00:07:09,233 --> 00:07:14,399
"I need you," he told them,
more than his predecessor had.
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00:07:14,500 --> 00:07:16,199
Publicly, Johnson pledged
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00:07:16,300 --> 00:07:18,699
that "This nation will keep its
commitments
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00:07:18,800 --> 00:07:21,865
from South Vietnam
to West Berlin."
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00:07:21,966 --> 00:07:25,565
But privately,
Vietnam filled him with dread.
139
00:07:25,665 --> 00:07:28,033
"It's going to be
hell in a handbasket out there,"
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00:07:28,132 --> 00:07:30,832
his ambassador told him.
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00:07:30,932 --> 00:07:34,132
"I want the South Vietnamese
to get off their butts
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00:07:34,233 --> 00:07:35,899
"and get out into those jungles
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00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:40,199
and whip the hell out of some communists,"
the president said.
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00:07:40,300 --> 00:07:43,000
"And then I want 'em
to leave me alone,
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00:07:43,100 --> 00:07:45,165
"because I've got some
bigger things to do
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00:07:45,266 --> 00:07:47,300
right here at home."
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00:07:49,132 --> 00:07:52,332
Johnson had opposed the military
coup that had overthrown
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00:07:52,432 --> 00:07:56,600
and murdered South Vietnamese
president Ngo Dinh Diem,
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00:07:56,699 --> 00:08:00,165
fearing it would make
a bad situation worse.
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00:08:01,865 --> 00:08:03,466
It had.
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00:08:07,766 --> 00:08:12,432
The National Liberation Front-
the Viet Cong-
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00:08:12,533 --> 00:08:15,600
was making coordinated attacks
throughout the countryside,
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00:08:15,699 --> 00:08:19,132
some 400 of them
in just two weeks.
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00:08:43,700 --> 00:08:46,865
An estimated 40% of the South Vietnamese countryside,
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00:08:46,966 --> 00:08:49,500
and more than 50%
of the people,
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00:08:49,600 --> 00:08:53,432
were effectively
in the hands of the Viet Cong.
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00:08:53,533 --> 00:08:57,265
And the Vietnamese generals who
had overthrown Ngo Dinh Diem
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00:08:57,365 --> 00:09:00,966
were bickering among themselves.
159
00:09:01,066 --> 00:09:04,100
The assassination of Ngo
Dinh Diem set in motion
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00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:06,133
a series of coups.
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00:09:06,232 --> 00:09:10,466
Each government was less
effective than the one before.
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00:09:10,566 --> 00:09:13,966
In January 1964,
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00:09:14,066 --> 00:09:15,600
with U.S. encouragement,
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00:09:15,700 --> 00:09:20,365
General Nguyen Khanh
staged yet another coup.
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00:09:20,466 --> 00:09:25,100
In March,
Johnson sent McNamara to Vietnam with instructions
166
00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:28,533
to show the people that Khanh
was "our boy."
167
00:09:30,432 --> 00:09:33,799
Johnson said, "Let's get him out and get him speaking to people,
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00:09:33,899 --> 00:09:37,466
"and let McNamara
go with him as well
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00:09:37,566 --> 00:09:40,000
"so that people can see
that the United States
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00:09:40,100 --> 00:09:41,265
is solidly behind this man."
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00:09:41,365 --> 00:09:44,633
We fully support the people
of South Vietnam.
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00:09:44,732 --> 00:09:49,332
BUI DIEM
173
00:09:56,566 --> 00:10:03,200
When Khanh gave a tedious, long,
laborious speech ending up with,
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00:10:03,299 --> 00:10:06,033
"Vietnam,
Vietnam,
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00:10:06,133 --> 00:10:07,700
Vietnam a thousand years."
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00:10:07,799 --> 00:10:11,066
McNamara leaned over
to the microphone and said...
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00:10:14,299 --> 00:10:19,166
BUI DIEM:
178
00:10:20,533 --> 00:10:21,966
What he was saying
was something like,
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00:10:22,066 --> 00:10:25,600
"The little duck,
he wants to lie down."
180
00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:30,232
He wasn't aware of the tonal difference.
181
00:10:30,332 --> 00:10:35,700
And McNamara grabbed one fist
and held them up.
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00:10:35,799 --> 00:10:37,033
And the crowd practically
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00:10:37,133 --> 00:10:39,232
disintegrated on
the cobblestones.
184
00:10:41,365 --> 00:10:43,100
"No more of this coup shit,"
185
00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:45,765
President Johnson
told his advisors.
186
00:10:45,865 --> 00:10:49,799
But Khanh, too,
lacked popular legitimacy,
187
00:10:49,899 --> 00:10:53,466
and other generals
continued to jockey for power.
188
00:10:53,566 --> 00:10:57,033
Washington turned a deaf ear
to Buddhist calls
189
00:10:57,133 --> 00:10:59,665
for the genuinely
representative government
190
00:10:59,765 --> 00:11:03,600
they'd hoped they'd get
when Diem was overthrown.
191
00:11:03,700 --> 00:11:09,033
Between January 1964
and June of 1965,
192
00:11:09,133 --> 00:11:13,000
there would be eight
different governments.
193
00:11:13,100 --> 00:11:15,566
All of their leaders were so
close to the Americans
194
00:11:15,666 --> 00:11:18,166
that they were seen as puppets.
195
00:11:20,100 --> 00:11:22,166
One weary Johnson aide suggested
196
00:11:22,265 --> 00:11:25,033
that the national symbol
of South Vietnam
197
00:11:25,133 --> 00:11:26,932
should be a turnstile.
198
00:11:27,033 --> 00:11:29,966
These demonstrating students seem to symbolize
199
00:11:30,066 --> 00:11:33,899
the kind of anarchy that is
descending on Saigon these days.
200
00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:36,466
This kind of political
backbiting is having
201
00:11:36,566 --> 00:11:38,665
serious consequences
in the countryside,
202
00:11:38,765 --> 00:11:40,966
for until a strong government
begins to function
203
00:11:41,066 --> 00:11:42,466
here in Saigon,
204
00:11:42,566 --> 00:11:44,865
the war against the communists
will continue to founder.
205
00:11:49,966 --> 00:11:54,466
DONG SI NGUYEN:
206
00:12:23,232 --> 00:12:27,432
Ho Chi Minh was still a beloved figure in North Vietnam,
207
00:12:27,533 --> 00:12:31,265
still concerned that his country
remained fragile,
208
00:12:31,365 --> 00:12:34,799
still wary that stepping up
the conflict in the South
209
00:12:34,899 --> 00:12:39,000
might force the Americans to
take a still more active role.
210
00:12:39,100 --> 00:12:44,299
But Ho now shared power with younger,
more impatient leaders.
211
00:12:44,399 --> 00:12:48,299
There had been change and turmoil in North Vietnam,
too,
212
00:12:48,399 --> 00:12:51,832
just as there had been
in Saigon and Washington,
213
00:12:51,932 --> 00:12:54,832
though Americans knew
almost nothing about it.
214
00:12:57,533 --> 00:13:01,299
HUY DUC:
215
00:13:10,133 --> 00:13:12,765
At the Ninth Party Plenum that began in Hanoi
216
00:13:12,865 --> 00:13:16,265
on November 22, 1963,
217
00:13:16,365 --> 00:13:19,265
the day President Kennedy
was killed in Dallas,
218
00:13:19,365 --> 00:13:24,332
the Politburo had argued over
how best to proceed in the war.
219
00:13:24,432 --> 00:13:27,799
North Vietnam's
two communist patrons,
220
00:13:27,899 --> 00:13:33,466
the Soviet Union and China,
were giving them conflicting advice.
221
00:13:33,566 --> 00:13:35,399
NGUYEN NGOC:
222
00:13:48,232 --> 00:13:51,000
In two weeks of sometimes bitter debate,
223
00:13:51,100 --> 00:13:53,932
Ho Chi Minh,
who favored the Soviet strategy,
224
00:13:54,033 --> 00:13:57,799
was outmaneuvered by party
First Secretary Le Duan,
225
00:13:57,899 --> 00:14:01,365
who sided with the Chinese.
226
00:14:01,466 --> 00:14:07,066
NGUYEN NGOC:
227
00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:24,332
Le Duan believed that with Diem gone,
228
00:14:24,432 --> 00:14:26,633
and the Saigon government
in disarray,
229
00:14:26,732 --> 00:14:31,133
it was time to move quickly
in 1964.
230
00:14:31,232 --> 00:14:36,332
He proposed a two-phase plan
for victory in South Vietnam.
231
00:14:36,432 --> 00:14:39,066
The first phase would destroy
ARVN forces
232
00:14:39,165 --> 00:14:41,932
through big,
"decisive battles";
233
00:14:42,033 --> 00:14:45,732
the second, an attack on the cities,
Le Duan believed,
234
00:14:45,832 --> 00:14:49,633
would then set off
popular revolts within them.
235
00:14:49,732 --> 00:14:51,765
Party leaders and others
236
00:14:51,865 --> 00:14:54,365
suspected of having opposed
the plan
237
00:14:54,466 --> 00:14:57,765
were denounced as "revisionists,"
demoted,
238
00:14:57,865 --> 00:15:00,166
dismissed, imprisoned.
239
00:15:00,265 --> 00:15:03,832
Hundreds were sent
to "re-education camps."
240
00:15:03,932 --> 00:15:08,932
"Uncle Ho wavers," Le Duan said,
"but I have only one goal-
241
00:15:09,033 --> 00:15:10,799
final victory."
242
00:15:13,265 --> 00:15:14,966
Secretary McNamara on line 0.
243
00:15:15,066 --> 00:15:16,100
Bob?
244
00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:17,700
McNAMARA: Yes, Mr.
President?
245
00:15:17,799 --> 00:15:19,133
I hate to bother you, but...
246
00:15:19,232 --> 00:15:20,133
McNAMARA:
No trouble at all.
247
00:15:20,232 --> 00:15:21,899
Tell me, have we got anybody
248
00:15:22,000 --> 00:15:24,865
that's got a military mind that
can give us some military plans
249
00:15:24,966 --> 00:15:26,533
for winning that war?
250
00:15:26,633 --> 00:15:28,600
Let's get some more of something,
my friend,
251
00:15:28,700 --> 00:15:30,133
because I'm going to have
a heart attack
252
00:15:30,232 --> 00:15:31,332
if you don't get me something.
253
00:15:31,432 --> 00:15:33,533
We need somebody over there
that can get us
254
00:15:33,633 --> 00:15:35,000
some better plans than we got,
255
00:15:35,100 --> 00:15:38,033
because what we got is what
we've had since '54.
256
00:15:38,133 --> 00:15:39,633
We're not getting it done.
257
00:15:39,732 --> 00:15:41,133
We're-we're losing.
258
00:15:41,232 --> 00:15:43,232
McNAMARA: Well, it's one reason I want to go back.
259
00:15:43,332 --> 00:15:44,533
Kick 'em in the tail
a little bit
260
00:15:44,633 --> 00:15:45,633
will help here at this point.
261
00:15:45,732 --> 00:15:46,765
Yeah.
262
00:15:46,865 --> 00:15:49,100
What I want is somebody
to lay up some plans
263
00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:52,165
to trap these guys
and whup hell out of 'em.
264
00:15:52,265 --> 00:15:53,432
Kill some of 'em.
265
00:15:53,533 --> 00:15:55,100
That's what I want to do.
266
00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:57,200
McNAMARA: I'll try and bring something back
267
00:15:57,299 --> 00:15:58,232
that will meet
that objective.
268
00:15:58,332 --> 00:15:59,665
Okay, Bob.
269
00:15:59,765 --> 00:16:00,799
McNAMARA:
Thank you.
270
00:16:03,566 --> 00:16:06,432
When his counselors urged him to do so,
271
00:16:06,533 --> 00:16:10,732
Johnson increased the number
of American military personnel
272
00:16:10,832 --> 00:16:15,765
from 16,000 to more than 23,000
by the end of the year.
273
00:16:15,865 --> 00:16:18,899
But he wanted his own team
in Saigon.
274
00:16:19,000 --> 00:16:21,432
He replaced Henry Cabot Lodge,
275
00:16:21,533 --> 00:16:25,066
making General Maxwell Taylor
his ambassador,
276
00:16:25,166 --> 00:16:29,865
and selected 49-year-old
General William Westmoreland,
277
00:16:29,966 --> 00:16:33,700
a decorated commander
from WWII and Korea,
278
00:16:33,799 --> 00:16:36,665
to lead the American
military effort.
279
00:16:36,765 --> 00:16:41,000
The president hoped to force
Hanoi to abandon its support
280
00:16:41,100 --> 00:16:43,165
for the guerrilla struggle
in the South
281
00:16:43,265 --> 00:16:47,165
by gradually escalating
military pressure.
282
00:16:47,265 --> 00:16:51,799
He authorized American pilots
to bomb North Vietnamese troops
283
00:16:51,899 --> 00:16:56,500
and installations in the
neighboring country of Laos.
284
00:16:56,600 --> 00:16:58,432
And he directed the military
285
00:16:58,533 --> 00:17:00,700
to oversee South Vietnamese
shelling
286
00:17:00,799 --> 00:17:06,333
of North Vietnamese islands
and raids on coastal bases.
287
00:17:06,432 --> 00:17:09,932
All of it was to be conducted
in secret.
288
00:17:10,032 --> 00:17:12,633
The American people
were not to be told.
289
00:17:12,732 --> 00:17:15,932
It was an election year.
290
00:17:16,032 --> 00:17:19,700
Meanwhile,
the Joint Chiefs of Staff felt strongly
291
00:17:19,799 --> 00:17:21,365
that the United States
was fighting
292
00:17:21,465 --> 00:17:23,165
on the enemy's terms
293
00:17:23,266 --> 00:17:27,066
and urged far more drastic
and dramatic action-
294
00:17:27,165 --> 00:17:31,432
air strikes against "critical targets"
in North Vietnam itself
295
00:17:31,532 --> 00:17:35,732
and the deployment of U.S.
forces in South Vietnam-
296
00:17:35,833 --> 00:17:37,665
boots on the ground.
297
00:17:37,766 --> 00:17:41,932
Johnson refused,
fearing that such aggressive moves
298
00:17:42,032 --> 00:17:44,200
would pull China
into the conflict
299
00:17:44,299 --> 00:17:49,200
just as it had entered
the Korean War in 1950.
300
00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:51,299
They say get in or get out.
301
00:17:51,400 --> 00:17:52,266
McGEORGE BUNDY:
Yeah.
302
00:17:52,365 --> 00:17:53,633
And I told them,
303
00:17:53,732 --> 00:17:55,833
we haven't got any Congress
that will go with us,
304
00:17:55,932 --> 00:17:58,232
and we haven't got any
mothers that will go with us
305
00:17:58,333 --> 00:18:00,266
in the war,
and I got to win an election
306
00:18:00,365 --> 00:18:04,333
and then you can make
a decision.
307
00:18:06,532 --> 00:18:08,133
Polls showed him with a commanding lead
308
00:18:08,232 --> 00:18:10,333
over his likely
Republican opponent,
309
00:18:10,432 --> 00:18:14,066
Senator Barry F. Goldwater
of Arizona,
310
00:18:14,165 --> 00:18:17,833
a blunt,
uncompromising critic of what he charged
311
00:18:17,932 --> 00:18:20,000
was the administration's
weakness
312
00:18:20,099 --> 00:18:22,700
in the face of
communist aggression.
313
00:18:22,799 --> 00:18:24,965
Why does he put off facing the question
314
00:18:25,066 --> 00:18:28,032
of what to do about Vietnam?
315
00:18:28,133 --> 00:18:31,266
Does he hope that he can wait
until after the election
316
00:18:31,365 --> 00:18:33,865
to confront the American public
with the...
317
00:18:33,965 --> 00:18:37,365
Here were these communists who were overrunning Southeast Asia
318
00:18:37,465 --> 00:18:40,633
and Johnson's doing nothing
about it.
319
00:18:40,732 --> 00:18:41,900
My opponent has not told you
320
00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:43,465
what he plans to do
about the Cold War.
321
00:18:43,566 --> 00:18:46,799
I rode around the back
of a flatbed truck in Perkasie
322
00:18:46,900 --> 00:18:48,732
with a bunch of my classmates
323
00:18:48,833 --> 00:18:51,099
singing Barry Goldwater
campaign songs
324
00:18:51,200 --> 00:18:54,432
because Lyndon Johnson
was not tough enough
325
00:18:54,532 --> 00:18:56,165
on those communists.
326
00:18:58,532 --> 00:19:01,665
Johnson felt he did not yet have the political capital
327
00:19:01,766 --> 00:19:06,365
to take further action in Vietnam,
but he asked his aide,
328
00:19:06,465 --> 00:19:10,200
William Bundy,
to draft a congressional resolution
329
00:19:10,299 --> 00:19:13,333
authorizing him to use
force if needed
330
00:19:13,432 --> 00:19:16,732
to be sent to Capitol Hill
when the time was right.
331
00:19:20,532 --> 00:19:24,865
On July 30, 1964,
South Vietnamese ships
332
00:19:24,965 --> 00:19:27,599
under the direction
of the U.S. military
333
00:19:27,700 --> 00:19:32,833
shelled two North Vietnamese
islands in the Gulf of Tonkin.
334
00:19:32,932 --> 00:19:37,833
The tiny North Vietnamese Navy
was put on high alert.
335
00:19:37,932 --> 00:19:40,900
What followed was one of the
most controversial
336
00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:44,400
and consequential events
in American history.
337
00:19:44,500 --> 00:19:47,266
On the afternoon of August 2,
338
00:19:47,365 --> 00:19:50,865
the destroyerU.S.S. Maddox
was moving slowly
339
00:19:50,965 --> 00:19:53,266
through international waters
in the gulf
340
00:19:53,365 --> 00:19:57,099
on an intelligence-gathering
mission in support
341
00:19:57,200 --> 00:20:01,066
of further South Vietnamese
action against the North.
342
00:20:01,165 --> 00:20:05,465
The commander of a North
Vietnamese torpedo-boat squadron
343
00:20:05,566 --> 00:20:08,133
moved to attack theMaddox.
344
00:20:08,232 --> 00:20:13,099
The Americans opened fire
and missed.
345
00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:17,066
North Vietnamese
torpedoes also missed.
346
00:20:17,165 --> 00:20:20,932
But carrier-based U.S. planes
damaged
347
00:20:21,032 --> 00:20:23,000
two of the North Vietnamese
boats
348
00:20:23,099 --> 00:20:26,099
and left a third
dead in the water.
349
00:20:26,200 --> 00:20:30,532
Ho Chi Minh was shocked to hear
of his navy's attack
350
00:20:30,633 --> 00:20:34,099
and demanded to know
who had ordered it.
351
00:20:34,200 --> 00:20:36,833
The officer on duty was
officially reprimanded
352
00:20:36,932 --> 00:20:38,833
for impulsiveness.
353
00:20:38,932 --> 00:20:43,532
No one may ever know who gave
the order to attack.
354
00:20:43,633 --> 00:20:47,599
To this day,
even the Vietnamese cannot agree.
355
00:20:47,700 --> 00:20:51,432
But some believe it was Le Duan.
356
00:20:51,532 --> 00:20:54,266
HUY DUC:
357
00:21:36,766 --> 00:21:37,865
Back in Washington,
358
00:21:37,965 --> 00:21:40,932
the Joint Chiefs urged
immediate retaliation
359
00:21:41,032 --> 00:21:42,799
against North Vietnam.
360
00:21:42,900 --> 00:21:45,633
The president refused.
361
00:21:45,732 --> 00:21:48,200
Instead,
the White House issued a warning
362
00:21:48,299 --> 00:21:51,299
about the "grave consequences"
that would follow
363
00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:55,099
what it called "any further
unprovoked" attacks-
364
00:21:55,200 --> 00:21:59,299
even though Johnson knew the
attack had been provoked
365
00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:04,099
by the South Vietnamese raids
on North Vietnam's islands.
366
00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:08,000
Both sides were playing
a dangerous game.
367
00:22:08,099 --> 00:22:14,000
On August 4,
American radio operators mistranslated
368
00:22:14,099 --> 00:22:15,766
North Vietnamese radio traffic
369
00:22:15,865 --> 00:22:21,633
and concluded a new military
operation was imminent.
370
00:22:21,732 --> 00:22:23,799
Actually,
Hanoi had simply called upon
371
00:22:23,900 --> 00:22:27,965
torpedo boat commanders
to be ready for a new raid
372
00:22:28,066 --> 00:22:30,432
by the South Vietnamese.
373
00:22:30,532 --> 00:22:35,133
TheMad dox and another destroyer,
theTurner Joy,
374
00:22:35,232 --> 00:22:38,232
braced for a fresh attack.
375
00:22:38,333 --> 00:22:39,965
So did the White House.
376
00:22:40,066 --> 00:22:41,665
Go ahead, Mac.
377
00:22:41,766 --> 00:22:44,232
McNAMARA: I-I personally would recommend to you,
378
00:22:44,333 --> 00:22:46,200
after a second attack
on our ships,
379
00:22:46,299 --> 00:22:50,099
that we do retaliate against
the coast of North Vietnam
380
00:22:50,200 --> 00:22:51,665
some way or other...
381
00:22:51,766 --> 00:22:55,266
What I was thinking about when I was eating breakfast:
382
00:22:55,365 --> 00:22:58,133
when they move on us
and they shoot at us,
383
00:22:58,232 --> 00:22:59,799
I think we not only ought
to shoot at them,
384
00:22:59,900 --> 00:23:02,266
but almost simultaneously
pull one of these things
385
00:23:02,365 --> 00:23:04,333
that you've been doing on one
of their bridges or something.
386
00:23:04,432 --> 00:23:05,532
McNAMARA:
Exactly.
387
00:23:05,633 --> 00:23:07,299
I quite agree with you, Mr.
President.
388
00:23:07,400 --> 00:23:08,965
But I wish we could have something
389
00:23:09,066 --> 00:23:10,900
that we've already picked out,
390
00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:14,465
and just hit about three of them damn quick,
right after.
391
00:23:14,566 --> 00:23:17,900
No second attack ever happened,
392
00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:22,133
but at the time,
anxious American sonar operators
393
00:23:22,232 --> 00:23:26,932
aboard theMaddo x andTurner Joy convinced themselves one had.
394
00:23:27,032 --> 00:23:31,665
The attack was probable but not certain,
Johnson was told,
395
00:23:31,766 --> 00:23:34,766
and since it had
probably occurred,
396
00:23:34,865 --> 00:23:38,965
the president decided
it should not go unanswered.
397
00:23:41,333 --> 00:23:44,700
Aggression by terror against the peaceful villagers
398
00:23:44,799 --> 00:23:49,299
of South Vietnam has now been
joined by open aggression
399
00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:53,532
on the high seas against
the United States of America.
400
00:23:53,633 --> 00:23:57,400
Yet our response,
for the present,
401
00:23:57,500 --> 00:23:59,965
will be limited and fitting.
402
00:24:00,066 --> 00:24:05,500
We Americans know,
although others appear to forget,
403
00:24:05,599 --> 00:24:08,232
the risk of spreading conflict.
404
00:24:08,333 --> 00:24:13,833
We still seek no wider war.
405
00:24:13,932 --> 00:24:17,299
If that came to be where we would be called upon
406
00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:20,266
to carry out our
responsibilities,
407
00:24:20,365 --> 00:24:22,965
and having been well trained
for this,
408
00:24:23,066 --> 00:24:24,633
I never really gave it much
thought.
409
00:24:24,732 --> 00:24:27,000
It was part of my duty.
410
00:24:27,099 --> 00:24:30,566
Lieutenant Everett Alvarez from Salinas, California,
411
00:24:30,665 --> 00:24:34,200
was aboard the U.S.S. carrier
Constellation.
412
00:24:34,299 --> 00:24:37,865
His squadron of
Skyhawk A-4 planes
413
00:24:37,965 --> 00:24:40,566
was ordered to attack
torpedo boat installations
414
00:24:40,665 --> 00:24:45,200
and oil facilities
near the port of Hon Gai.
415
00:24:45,299 --> 00:24:50,066
For the first time,
American pilots were going to drop bombs
416
00:24:50,165 --> 00:24:52,200
on North Vietnam.
417
00:24:53,465 --> 00:24:54,700
When we approached the target
418
00:24:54,799 --> 00:24:56,432
coming down from altitude,
419
00:24:56,532 --> 00:24:59,633
it was obvious that they could
pick us up on their radar.
420
00:24:59,732 --> 00:25:02,266
I remember my knees shaking.
421
00:25:02,365 --> 00:25:05,266
And I was saying, "Holy smokes,
I'm going into war."
422
00:25:07,133 --> 00:25:09,200
"This is war."
423
00:25:10,299 --> 00:25:11,932
I was a bit scared.
424
00:25:12,032 --> 00:25:16,766
Once we went in
and they started firing at us,
425
00:25:16,865 --> 00:25:19,165
the fear went away.
426
00:25:19,266 --> 00:25:23,932
Everything became smooth,
deathly quiet in the cockpit.
427
00:25:24,032 --> 00:25:26,766
It was sort of like a symphony
428
00:25:26,865 --> 00:25:32,266
in the sense that my plane was
just like a ballet in the sky,
429
00:25:32,365 --> 00:25:35,865
and I was just performing
what I was doing.
430
00:25:38,066 --> 00:25:39,099
And then I got hit.
431
00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:40,266
Mayday, Mayday.
432
00:25:41,633 --> 00:25:45,333
Coastal militiamen captured Alvarez
433
00:25:45,432 --> 00:25:47,865
and turned him over to the
North Vietnamese military.
434
00:25:47,965 --> 00:25:53,700
One fella was yelling at me in Vietnamese and saying something.
435
00:25:53,799 --> 00:25:56,766
I started talking to him
in Spanish.
436
00:25:56,865 --> 00:25:58,732
Don't ask me why.
437
00:25:58,833 --> 00:26:01,932
It seemed like a good idea
at the time.
438
00:26:03,865 --> 00:26:09,000
After when they discovered
U.S.A. on my ID card
439
00:26:09,099 --> 00:26:14,000
and then they started speaking
to me in English.
440
00:26:14,099 --> 00:26:18,200
Alvarez assumed he would be treated as a prisoner of war.
441
00:26:18,299 --> 00:26:20,532
I was sticking to the code of conduct,
442
00:26:20,633 --> 00:26:22,900
which is giving them name,
rank, service number,
443
00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:24,232
and date of birth.
444
00:26:25,766 --> 00:26:29,766
But they quickly reminded me
that there was no state of war,
445
00:26:29,865 --> 00:26:32,400
no declaration of war.
446
00:26:32,500 --> 00:26:36,232
So I could not be considered
a prisoner of war.
447
00:26:37,766 --> 00:26:39,165
I recall thinking about it,
448
00:26:39,266 --> 00:26:40,865
and I says, "You know what?
449
00:26:40,965 --> 00:26:42,400
They're right."
450
00:26:42,500 --> 00:26:45,766
Everett Alvarez was the first American airman
451
00:26:45,865 --> 00:26:49,232
to be shot out of the sky
over North Vietnam
452
00:26:49,333 --> 00:26:52,032
and the first to be
imprisoned there.
453
00:26:54,566 --> 00:26:56,865
Now,
the president sent up to Capitol Hill
454
00:26:56,965 --> 00:27:00,665
the resolution he had asked
his aide William Bundy to draft
455
00:27:00,766 --> 00:27:03,200
two months earlier.
456
00:27:03,299 --> 00:27:07,133
Johnson is sort of prepositioned to move anyway,
457
00:27:07,232 --> 00:27:11,000
and it gives him really
the incident that he needs
458
00:27:11,099 --> 00:27:13,665
to go to Congress
and ask for a resolution
459
00:27:13,766 --> 00:27:15,799
that will allow him to deal
with what he sees
460
00:27:15,900 --> 00:27:17,566
as aggression in Vietnam.
461
00:27:17,665 --> 00:27:20,000
And what he gets is the
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution,
462
00:27:20,099 --> 00:27:23,700
which is, what he says,
like "Grandma's nightshirt"-
463
00:27:23,799 --> 00:27:25,232
it covers everything.
464
00:27:25,333 --> 00:27:29,700
I think what Johnson is looking
for is the opportunity,
465
00:27:29,799 --> 00:27:33,599
the right time to send a message
to North Vietnam
466
00:27:33,700 --> 00:27:37,665
that we're serious about
supporting South Vietnam.
467
00:27:37,766 --> 00:27:39,865
That message is sent,
468
00:27:39,965 --> 00:27:41,700
I think we misread the enemy
469
00:27:41,799 --> 00:27:44,066
because they're just as serious
as we are.
470
00:27:45,465 --> 00:27:48,566
On August 7, 1964,
471
00:27:48,665 --> 00:27:52,333
by a vote of 88-2,
the Senate passed
472
00:27:52,432 --> 00:27:56,465
what came to be called
the Tonkin Gulf Resolution.
473
00:27:56,566 --> 00:28:00,833
In the House,
not a single congressman opposed it.
474
00:28:00,932 --> 00:28:04,732
Senator Goldwater could
no longer plausibly claim
475
00:28:04,833 --> 00:28:06,900
Johnson was failing
to fight back
476
00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:10,732
against North Vietnam,
while those voters concerned
477
00:28:10,833 --> 00:28:12,865
that the United States
was in danger
478
00:28:12,965 --> 00:28:15,299
of becoming too deeply involved
479
00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:19,299
admired the president's
measured response.
480
00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:23,133
Support for Johnson's handling
of the war jumped overnight
481
00:28:23,232 --> 00:28:26,700
from 42% to 72%.
482
00:28:26,799 --> 00:28:29,799
The American public believed
their president.
483
00:28:30,900 --> 00:28:34,432
Le Duan and his comrades
in Hanoi did not.
484
00:28:34,532 --> 00:28:37,165
They had little faith
in the president's claim
485
00:28:37,266 --> 00:28:39,299
that he sought no wider war.
486
00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:42,299
They resolved to step up
their efforts
487
00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:43,900
to win the struggle in the South
488
00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:47,032
before the United States
escalated its presence
489
00:28:47,133 --> 00:28:49,465
by sending in combat troops.
490
00:28:50,732 --> 00:28:52,732
For the first time,
491
00:28:52,833 --> 00:28:55,432
Hanoi began sending
North Vietnamese regulars
492
00:28:55,532 --> 00:28:58,165
into the South,
down the network of paths
493
00:28:58,266 --> 00:29:01,500
they had hacked out
of the Laotian jungle-
494
00:29:01,599 --> 00:29:03,599
the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
495
00:29:04,865 --> 00:29:06,633
This is Bien Hoa Air Base,
496
00:29:06,732 --> 00:29:08,266
the biggest in South Vietnam,
497
00:29:08,365 --> 00:29:12,032
hours after being hit
by a communist mortar barrage.
498
00:29:12,133 --> 00:29:15,200
On November 1, Viet Cong guerrillas shelled
499
00:29:15,299 --> 00:29:19,365
the American airbase at Bien Hoa
near Saigon.
500
00:29:19,465 --> 00:29:21,766
Five Americans died.
501
00:29:21,865 --> 00:29:23,900
Thirty were wounded.
502
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:28,165
Five B-57 bombers were destroyed
on the ground
503
00:29:28,266 --> 00:29:30,165
and 15 more were damaged.
504
00:29:30,266 --> 00:29:31,965
Mr.
Ambassador,
505
00:29:32,066 --> 00:29:34,099
do you think this shows
any new capability
506
00:29:34,200 --> 00:29:36,232
that they've got,
the Viet Cong?
507
00:29:36,333 --> 00:29:38,665
Uh,
I would simply say they've never done this before.
508
00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:43,833
The Joint Chiefs advised the president to mount
509
00:29:43,932 --> 00:29:48,432
an immediate all-out air attack
on 94 targets in the North
510
00:29:48,532 --> 00:29:51,766
and to send in regular
Army and Marine units-
511
00:29:51,865 --> 00:29:55,833
not more advisors-
to South Vietnam as well.
512
00:29:55,932 --> 00:29:57,333
He would not do it.
513
00:29:57,432 --> 00:29:59,932
The election was
just two days away.
514
00:30:02,266 --> 00:30:06,400
Lyndon Baines Johnson won the
presidency in his own right,
515
00:30:06,500 --> 00:30:08,500
and he won it by a landslide.
516
00:30:10,333 --> 00:30:12,700
Within a month,
the president would approve
517
00:30:12,799 --> 00:30:15,400
what was called
a "graduated response"-
518
00:30:15,500 --> 00:30:19,400
limited air attacks on
the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos
519
00:30:19,500 --> 00:30:22,465
and "tit for tat"
retaliatory raids
520
00:30:22,566 --> 00:30:25,465
on North Vietnamese targets.
521
00:30:25,566 --> 00:30:29,465
But he refused to undertake
sustained bombing of the North
522
00:30:29,566 --> 00:30:33,566
until the South Vietnamese
got their own house in order.
523
00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:40,500
In private,
Johnson doubted that airpower alone would ever work
524
00:30:40,599 --> 00:30:43,066
and believed that he would
eventually have to send in
525
00:30:43,165 --> 00:30:44,432
ground troops,
526
00:30:44,532 --> 00:30:48,165
though he was not yet willing
publicly to say so.
527
00:30:54,133 --> 00:30:57,900
In the fall of '64, Denton was 17
528
00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:02,333
and he was determined
to go into the service.
529
00:31:02,432 --> 00:31:06,299
Mogie Crocker had been restless since the summer.
530
00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:09,465
After the Gulf of Tonkin incident,
he had confided
531
00:31:09,566 --> 00:31:12,099
to his sister that he wanted
to join the Navy,
532
00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:15,665
but he knew his parents would
not sign the consent form
533
00:31:15,766 --> 00:31:20,266
that would have allowed
a 17-year-old to enlist.
534
00:31:20,365 --> 00:31:24,099
He was talking about
wanting to go into the service
535
00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:26,633
and that his attempts
to go underage had failed.
536
00:31:26,732 --> 00:31:30,165
And that he wanted my parents
to support him in that.
537
00:31:30,266 --> 00:31:32,665
His parents tried to persuade him
538
00:31:32,766 --> 00:31:34,833
that he could be more useful
to his country
539
00:31:34,932 --> 00:31:39,500
with a college education
than as just another private.
540
00:31:39,599 --> 00:31:42,365
Mogie was adamant.
541
00:31:42,465 --> 00:31:46,032
Monday morning he left for school.
542
00:31:46,133 --> 00:31:48,766
And I watched him leave.
543
00:31:48,865 --> 00:31:50,799
But that night he didn't
come in for supper
544
00:31:50,900 --> 00:31:52,000
and he hadn't called.
545
00:31:52,099 --> 00:31:55,465
The day that my brother
ran away has to be
546
00:31:55,566 --> 00:31:59,865
one of the most bizarre
experiences in my life.
547
00:31:59,965 --> 00:32:03,099
I eventually happened
to look in my piggy bank
548
00:32:03,200 --> 00:32:06,732
and he had taken the money I had
and left a note for me.
549
00:32:06,833 --> 00:32:09,500
He had promised
he would pay me back.
550
00:32:09,599 --> 00:32:12,333
He was gone about four months
551
00:32:12,432 --> 00:32:15,732
and said that he would not
come home
552
00:32:15,833 --> 00:32:18,266
unless we agreed
to sign for him.
553
00:32:18,365 --> 00:32:22,599
And he wouldn't be 18
until June.
554
00:32:22,700 --> 00:32:26,066
But we did agree
and he did come home.
555
00:32:26,165 --> 00:32:30,665
My husband felt it was
an honor-bound agreement.
556
00:32:30,766 --> 00:32:33,766
I was hoping that
I could change his mind.
557
00:32:38,665 --> 00:32:42,465
To my mind, the Marine Corps represented the very best.
558
00:32:42,566 --> 00:32:43,932
And it does.
559
00:32:44,032 --> 00:32:46,532
They are the best.
560
00:32:46,633 --> 00:32:49,099
And I wanted to be
part of the best.
561
00:32:49,200 --> 00:32:50,865
I was competitive.
562
00:32:50,965 --> 00:32:52,032
I was pugnacious.
563
00:32:52,133 --> 00:32:54,133
But I wanted to get
in the Marine Corps
564
00:32:54,232 --> 00:32:56,833
and go to the first war
I could find.
565
00:32:56,932 --> 00:33:00,200
Lieutenant Philip Brady, from Port Washington, New York,
566
00:33:00,299 --> 00:33:03,066
arrived in Saigon
just a few days
567
00:33:03,165 --> 00:33:05,400
after Lyndon Johnson's election,
568
00:33:05,500 --> 00:33:08,133
one of the new advisors sent
to help shore up
569
00:33:08,232 --> 00:33:11,066
the South Vietnamese military.
570
00:33:11,165 --> 00:33:15,432
We must ensure that women and
children are not injured.
571
00:33:15,532 --> 00:33:18,833
General Westmoreland himself greeted the newcomers.
572
00:33:18,932 --> 00:33:22,799
He was an impressive-looking man
with an impressive record.
573
00:33:22,900 --> 00:33:27,099
Many of the men he'd led in Tunisia,
Sicily, and Normandy
574
00:33:27,200 --> 00:33:30,799
during World War II
called him Superman.
575
00:33:30,900 --> 00:33:33,066
He'd fought with distinction
in Korea,
576
00:33:33,165 --> 00:33:35,900
commanded the 101st Airborne,
577
00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:38,732
served as superintendent
of West Point.
578
00:33:38,833 --> 00:33:40,165
TIME magazine called him
579
00:33:40,266 --> 00:33:44,665
"the sinewy personification
of the American fighting man."
580
00:33:44,766 --> 00:33:45,900
But at the same time,
581
00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:48,099
win the hearts and the minds
of the people.
582
00:33:48,200 --> 00:33:50,865
General Westmoreland told us that we were down
583
00:33:50,965 --> 00:33:53,633
on the five-yard line and
we just needed a few more
584
00:33:53,732 --> 00:33:57,633
to go get the touchdown.
585
00:33:57,732 --> 00:34:00,732
Then I went out
and then I got on the ground.
586
00:34:00,833 --> 00:34:03,465
And then I found out,
"Don't you realize?
587
00:34:03,566 --> 00:34:05,865
We're losing this war."
588
00:34:05,965 --> 00:34:10,532
Lieutenant Brady was assigned to assist Captain Frank Eller,
589
00:34:10,632 --> 00:34:12,900
senior advisor
to the 4th Battalion
590
00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:16,199
of the Vietnamese Marine Corps,
an elite unit
591
00:34:16,300 --> 00:34:20,532
whose members called themselves
the "Killer Sharks."
592
00:34:20,632 --> 00:34:24,400
You were told that you were
going over there to guide,
593
00:34:24,500 --> 00:34:28,632
educate,
and elevate essentially these "little fellas"
594
00:34:28,733 --> 00:34:30,699
on how to fight a war
595
00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:33,865
when, in fact,
they knew exactly how to fight the war.
596
00:34:33,965 --> 00:34:36,065
You were just an appendage.
597
00:34:36,166 --> 00:34:39,766
You were there simply to guide
assets that they didn't have:
598
00:34:39,865 --> 00:34:44,199
American artillery,
American air strikes.
599
00:34:44,300 --> 00:34:46,900
Brady did his best to get to know
600
00:34:47,000 --> 00:34:49,266
the South Vietnamese
marines in his unit.
601
00:34:50,965 --> 00:34:55,500
TRAN NGOC TOAN
602
00:35:16,500 --> 00:35:20,266
Lieutenant Tran Ngoc Toan, the son of a trucker,
603
00:35:20,365 --> 00:35:22,699
had escaped life with
a hostile stepmother
604
00:35:22,800 --> 00:35:27,365
by entering the South Vietnamese
Military Academy at Dalat.
605
00:35:27,465 --> 00:35:31,800
He'd been fighting the Viet
Cong for more than two years.
606
00:35:31,900 --> 00:35:33,233
Toan was one of
the junior officers.
607
00:35:33,333 --> 00:35:34,699
I think he was a...
608
00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:36,132
I think he was
a company commander.
609
00:35:36,233 --> 00:35:38,432
I knew him, I liked him.
610
00:35:38,532 --> 00:35:41,599
He was a Dalat graduate,
which is like their West Point.
611
00:35:41,699 --> 00:35:43,500
Very dedicated.
612
00:35:53,565 --> 00:35:58,166
Brady, Toan, and the 4th South Vietnamese Marine Battalion
613
00:35:58,266 --> 00:36:01,465
were stationed near the Bien Hoa
Airbase in reserve,
614
00:36:01,565 --> 00:36:05,432
waiting to be called
into action.
615
00:36:05,532 --> 00:36:07,333
There were new rumors now,
616
00:36:07,432 --> 00:36:11,965
of larger enemy units moving
through the countryside.
617
00:36:12,065 --> 00:36:14,965
Le Duan's plan to win a
quick and decisive victory
618
00:36:15,065 --> 00:36:16,800
was underway.
619
00:36:21,733 --> 00:36:25,333
NGUYEN VAN TONG:
620
00:37:15,166 --> 00:37:17,666
Nguyen Van Tong was a political officer
621
00:37:17,766 --> 00:37:20,833
in the newly created
Viet Cong 9th Division,
622
00:37:20,932 --> 00:37:24,865
one of perhaps 2,000 Viet Cong
and North Vietnamese troops
623
00:37:24,965 --> 00:37:29,733
who had for weeks been quietly
filtering into Phuoc Tuy,
624
00:37:29,833 --> 00:37:31,766
a supposedly "pacified" province
625
00:37:31,865 --> 00:37:35,233
less than 40 miles southeast
of Saigon.
626
00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:39,632
NGUYEN VAN TONG:
627
00:37:56,365 --> 00:37:59,599
The target for Tong and his comrades
628
00:37:59,699 --> 00:38:02,500
was the strategic hamlet
of Binh Gia,
629
00:38:02,599 --> 00:38:07,000
home to some 6,000 Catholic
anticommunist refugees.
630
00:38:08,632 --> 00:38:11,333
Their plan was to seize
the hamlet
631
00:38:11,432 --> 00:38:15,166
and then annihilate the forces
Saigon was sure to send
632
00:38:15,266 --> 00:38:16,766
to retake it.
633
00:38:16,865 --> 00:38:19,233
To ensure success,
634
00:38:19,333 --> 00:38:22,733
tons of heavy weapons
were smuggled onto the coast
635
00:38:22,833 --> 00:38:24,699
under cover of darkness-
636
00:38:24,800 --> 00:38:27,865
mortars, machine guns,
recoilless rifles
637
00:38:27,965 --> 00:38:30,766
capable of blasting tanks.
638
00:38:30,865 --> 00:38:33,465
The communists
had never attempted
639
00:38:33,565 --> 00:38:36,432
anything on this scale before.
640
00:38:36,532 --> 00:38:39,733
Before dawn on December 28,
641
00:38:39,833 --> 00:38:43,932
Viet Cong advance units easily
overwhelmed the village militia
642
00:38:44,032 --> 00:38:45,766
and occupied Binh Gia.
643
00:38:48,733 --> 00:38:51,699
When two crack South Vietnamese
Ranger companies
644
00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:53,932
were helicoptered in
the next day,
645
00:38:54,032 --> 00:38:58,000
they were ambushed
and shot to pieces.
646
00:38:58,099 --> 00:39:00,400
On the morning of the 30th,
647
00:39:00,500 --> 00:39:03,766
Philip Brady,
his friend Tran Ngoc Toan,
648
00:39:03,865 --> 00:39:07,699
and the 4th Marine Battalion
were flown in to relieve
649
00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:10,365
and reinforce the Rangers.
650
00:39:10,465 --> 00:39:13,932
The enemy withdrew
east of the village.
651
00:39:18,733 --> 00:39:22,666
NGUYEN VAN TONG:
652
00:39:43,465 --> 00:39:47,932
All of a sudden you could see
the tracers come out
653
00:39:48,032 --> 00:39:51,532
of the plantation,
hit the helicopter, it crashed.
654
00:39:51,632 --> 00:39:54,632
We were ordered to go down
and retrieve the remains
655
00:39:54,733 --> 00:39:56,565
the following morning.
656
00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:00,465
NGUYEN VAN TONG:
657
00:40:30,699 --> 00:40:33,233
The lead company got to the remains
658
00:40:33,333 --> 00:40:37,166
and then was pounced on
and mauled badly.
659
00:40:41,465 --> 00:40:44,865
Twelve South Vietnamese Marines from Toan's unit were killed
660
00:40:44,965 --> 00:40:47,465
getting to the downed
helicopter.
661
00:40:47,565 --> 00:40:49,333
Their comrades wrapped them
in ponchos
662
00:40:49,432 --> 00:40:53,632
and laid them out
next to the dead Americans.
663
00:40:53,733 --> 00:40:56,500
An American chopper
dropped into the clearing.
664
00:40:56,599 --> 00:40:59,132
The American crew jumped out
under fire,
665
00:40:59,233 --> 00:41:01,365
picked up the four Americans,
666
00:41:01,465 --> 00:41:05,132
climbed back into their chopper,
and took off again.
667
00:41:06,099 --> 00:41:11,465
TRAN NGOC TOAN:
668
00:41:16,199 --> 00:41:21,400
For three hours, Toan and his men stayed with their own dead
669
00:41:21,500 --> 00:41:25,666
waiting for a helicopter to
carry them off the battlefield.
670
00:41:27,432 --> 00:41:30,666
Meanwhile, I am getting a little bit antsy
671
00:41:30,766 --> 00:41:33,099
because, first of all,
we're losing light.
672
00:41:33,199 --> 00:41:36,833
Second of all,
we are now outside of artillery range.
673
00:41:36,932 --> 00:41:39,266
We've got to get out of there.
674
00:41:39,365 --> 00:41:41,565
TRAN NGOC TOAN:
675
00:41:49,666 --> 00:41:52,733
I went to the Major Nho, his name was, and I said,
676
00:41:52,833 --> 00:41:55,932
"Major,
we have to get out of here now."
677
00:41:56,032 --> 00:42:00,432
And Nho said,
"Don't you forget I am a major,
678
00:42:00,532 --> 00:42:01,599
and you are a lieutenant,"
679
00:42:01,699 --> 00:42:04,833
turned on his heel
and walked away.
680
00:42:04,932 --> 00:42:10,266
Ten minutes later
all hell broke loose.
681
00:42:13,132 --> 00:42:14,465
TRAN NGOC TOAN:
682
00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:33,266
The shelling eventually died down.
683
00:42:33,365 --> 00:42:35,766
But then bugles blew,
684
00:42:35,865 --> 00:42:38,365
and wave after wave
of enemy troops
685
00:42:38,465 --> 00:42:40,632
advanced toward
the badly outnumbered men.
686
00:42:43,965 --> 00:42:47,465
It was as if you turned a soundtrack of shooting...
687
00:42:50,833 --> 00:42:52,865
And just went
688
00:42:52,965 --> 00:42:54,032
Just like that.
689
00:42:54,132 --> 00:42:55,833
All of a sudden it
came out of nowhere.
690
00:42:59,465 --> 00:43:02,766
We used what little air strikes
we had left with helicopters,
691
00:43:02,865 --> 00:43:07,099
calling in the strikes on our
position to slow it down.
692
00:43:07,199 --> 00:43:10,266
There was no way.
693
00:43:10,365 --> 00:43:12,300
TRAN NGOC TOAN:
694
00:43:47,599 --> 00:43:50,699
What we did was we tried to get out.
695
00:43:50,800 --> 00:43:53,733
Twenty-six of us broke through.
696
00:43:53,833 --> 00:43:56,599
Eleven ultimately made it.
697
00:43:57,733 --> 00:43:58,932
All that night,
698
00:43:59,032 --> 00:44:01,132
the Viet Cong moved among
the trees,
699
00:44:01,233 --> 00:44:02,965
carrying away their wounded
700
00:44:03,065 --> 00:44:05,965
and shooting any South
Vietnamese troops
701
00:44:06,065 --> 00:44:08,233
they found alive.
702
00:44:08,333 --> 00:44:09,900
TRAN NGOC TOAN:
703
00:44:34,800 --> 00:44:36,800
Cradling his rifle in his arms,
704
00:44:36,900 --> 00:44:40,532
Toan began trying to
crawl toward Binh Gia.
705
00:44:40,632 --> 00:44:43,833
He was not found for three days.
706
00:44:45,132 --> 00:44:49,766
TRAN NGOC TOAN:
707
00:45:16,900 --> 00:45:21,432
When it was all over, five Americans had died at Binh Gia.
708
00:45:21,532 --> 00:45:26,432
Thirty-two Viet Cong bodies had
been left on the battlefield.
709
00:45:26,532 --> 00:45:30,065
200 South Vietnamese
were killed;
710
00:45:30,166 --> 00:45:34,699
200 more were wounded.
711
00:45:34,800 --> 00:45:39,065
NGUYEN VAN TONG:
712
00:45:49,599 --> 00:45:52,300
What it really said was
713
00:45:52,400 --> 00:45:56,699
they were capable of
marshaling this kind of force.
714
00:45:56,800 --> 00:45:58,900
The Vietnamese officers
I talked to in the Marine Corps
715
00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:01,666
figured they had six months
before the end.
716
00:46:01,766 --> 00:46:05,233
The big question after Binh Gia,
717
00:46:05,333 --> 00:46:07,632
an American officer
at headquarters said,
718
00:46:07,733 --> 00:46:10,699
is how a thousand or more
enemy troops
719
00:46:10,800 --> 00:46:14,233
"could wander around the
countryside so close to Saigon
720
00:46:14,333 --> 00:46:16,199
"without being discovered.
721
00:46:16,300 --> 00:46:21,132
That tells you something
about this war."
722
00:46:21,233 --> 00:46:23,632
Hanoi was exultant.
723
00:46:23,733 --> 00:46:26,833
Ho Chi Minh called it
"a little Dien Bien Phu."
724
00:46:26,932 --> 00:46:31,300
Le Duan was convinced
his strategy was working.
725
00:46:31,400 --> 00:46:34,666
"The liberation war
of South Vietnam has progressed
726
00:46:34,766 --> 00:46:37,266
by leaps and bounds,"
he said.
727
00:46:37,365 --> 00:46:40,800
"After the battle of Ap Bac
two years ago,
728
00:46:40,900 --> 00:46:44,733
"the enemy knew it would be
difficult to defeat us.
729
00:46:44,833 --> 00:46:47,766
"After Binh Gia,
the enemy realizes
730
00:46:47,865 --> 00:46:52,900
that he is in the process
of being defeated by us."
731
00:46:53,000 --> 00:46:55,699
NGUYEN VAN TONG:
732
00:47:07,532 --> 00:47:08,766
I, Lyndon Baines Johnson,
733
00:47:08,865 --> 00:47:10,800
do solemnly swear...
734
00:47:10,900 --> 00:47:14,166
Twenty-six days after the Binh Gia battle ended
735
00:47:14,266 --> 00:47:17,500
and just a week after President
Johnson's inauguration,
736
00:47:17,599 --> 00:47:20,865
McGeorge Bundy handed the
president a memorandum.
737
00:47:20,965 --> 00:47:23,032
I will to the best
of my ability.
738
00:47:23,132 --> 00:47:26,865
The current strategy was clearly not working, it said.
739
00:47:26,965 --> 00:47:30,365
The Viet Cong were on the move
and on the rise,
740
00:47:30,465 --> 00:47:33,833
supplied and now steadily
reinforced
741
00:47:33,932 --> 00:47:36,666
with soldiers
from North Vietnam.
742
00:47:36,766 --> 00:47:41,400
If an independent South Vietnam
was to survive,
743
00:47:41,500 --> 00:47:44,666
the United States needed
to act fast.
744
00:47:44,766 --> 00:47:48,666
The administration faced two choices,
Bundy said.
745
00:47:48,766 --> 00:47:51,233
It could go along
as it had been going
746
00:47:51,333 --> 00:47:55,266
and try to negotiate some kind
of face-saving settlement.
747
00:47:55,365 --> 00:48:00,166
Or they could use still more
American military power
748
00:48:00,266 --> 00:48:03,900
to force the North to abandon
its goal of uniting the country.
749
00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:08,166
Bundy and McNamara favored
that option.
750
00:48:08,266 --> 00:48:11,132
Unless the president chose it,
they said,
751
00:48:11,233 --> 00:48:13,132
South Vietnam would fall.
752
00:48:13,233 --> 00:48:16,900
"I don't think anything,"
Johnson told McNamara,
753
00:48:17,000 --> 00:48:19,800
"is going to be as bad
as losing."
754
00:48:24,666 --> 00:48:27,166
Then,
a little over a week later,
755
00:48:27,266 --> 00:48:30,766
guerrillas struck an American
helicopter base at Pleiku
756
00:48:30,865 --> 00:48:32,565
in the Central Highlands,
757
00:48:32,666 --> 00:48:37,365
killing eight American advisors
and wounding over 100 more.
758
00:48:37,465 --> 00:48:39,400
McNAMARA:
Approximately 24 hours ago,
759
00:48:39,500 --> 00:48:41,900
the first attack in
the Pleiku area...
760
00:48:42,000 --> 00:48:44,599
Johnson immediately approved an air strike
761
00:48:44,699 --> 00:48:47,500
on a North Vietnamese
army barracks.
762
00:48:48,733 --> 00:48:52,132
On February 10, 1965,
763
00:48:52,233 --> 00:48:55,400
the Viet Cong blew up a hotel
in Qui Nhon,
764
00:48:55,500 --> 00:49:01,932
killing 23 Americans and pinning
21 more beneath the rubble.
765
00:49:02,032 --> 00:49:05,400
Johnson ordered
another airstrike.
766
00:49:05,500 --> 00:49:08,900
Anxiety about what
seemed to be happening
767
00:49:09,000 --> 00:49:11,500
spread around the world.
768
00:49:11,599 --> 00:49:14,432
France,
which had spent nearly a century in Vietnam,
769
00:49:14,532 --> 00:49:18,800
now called for an end to all
foreign involvement there.
770
00:49:18,900 --> 00:49:22,432
The British prime minister
urged restraint.
771
00:49:22,532 --> 00:49:26,166
Many leaders of the president's
own party agreed,
772
00:49:26,266 --> 00:49:28,766
though not in public.
773
00:49:28,865 --> 00:49:30,932
In a private memorandum,
774
00:49:31,032 --> 00:49:33,565
Johnson's own vice president,
Hubert Humphrey,
775
00:49:33,666 --> 00:49:36,932
warned him that widening
the war would undercut
776
00:49:37,032 --> 00:49:41,666
the Great Society,
damage America's image overseas,
777
00:49:41,766 --> 00:49:46,199
and end any hope of improving
relations with the Soviet Union.
778
00:49:47,599 --> 00:49:49,900
Johnson never responded.
779
00:49:50,000 --> 00:49:53,032
Instead, on March 2, 1965,
780
00:49:53,132 --> 00:49:56,666
the United States began
a systematic bombardment
781
00:49:56,766 --> 00:49:58,666
of targets in North Vietnam,
782
00:49:58,766 --> 00:50:02,699
code-named
Operation Rolling Thunder.
783
00:50:04,699 --> 00:50:07,766
It was meant to be a "mounting
crescendo" of air raids,
784
00:50:07,865 --> 00:50:09,365
Ambassador Taylor wrote,
785
00:50:09,465 --> 00:50:12,500
intended to bolster morale
in the South
786
00:50:12,599 --> 00:50:17,300
and destroy morale in the North.
787
00:50:17,400 --> 00:50:20,365
The thesis behind Rolling Thunder,
788
00:50:20,465 --> 00:50:26,065
as I understood it,
was that as we ratcheted up the tempo
789
00:50:26,166 --> 00:50:30,733
and the volume of this effort
against the North Vietnamese,
790
00:50:30,833 --> 00:50:33,699
sooner or later
they would cry uncle.
791
00:50:36,365 --> 00:50:39,065
And there'd be a pause,
792
00:50:39,166 --> 00:50:43,699
and we would begin to negotiate
our way out of this situation.
793
00:50:43,800 --> 00:50:46,599
This became an article of faith.
794
00:50:46,699 --> 00:50:50,465
And this article of faith
was a fallacious assumption.
795
00:50:50,565 --> 00:50:53,000
They weren't going to give up.
796
00:50:53,099 --> 00:50:57,365
They read us better
than we read them.
797
00:50:57,465 --> 00:51:01,400
The president insisted on strict secrecy-
798
00:51:01,500 --> 00:51:04,699
the American people were not
to be told
799
00:51:04,800 --> 00:51:08,099
that the administration had
changed its policy
800
00:51:08,199 --> 00:51:12,032
from retaliatory airstrikes
to systematic bombing;
801
00:51:12,132 --> 00:51:15,365
that he had, in fact,
widened the war.
802
00:51:15,465 --> 00:51:19,065
They jointly agreed that
joint retaliatory action
803
00:51:19,166 --> 00:51:20,666
was required.
804
00:51:20,766 --> 00:51:24,500
General Westmoreland, who had initially been hesitant
805
00:51:24,599 --> 00:51:27,300
about committing ground troops
to Vietnam,
806
00:51:27,400 --> 00:51:32,000
now asked for two battalions of Marines-
3,500 men-
807
00:51:32,099 --> 00:51:34,432
to protect the Danang airbase
808
00:51:34,532 --> 00:51:38,000
from which fighter-bombers
were hitting the North.
809
00:51:38,099 --> 00:51:42,032
Ambassador Taylor,
who had once called for ground troops,
810
00:51:42,132 --> 00:51:44,733
now objected to the whole idea.
811
00:51:44,833 --> 00:51:48,266
"Once you put that first soldier ashore,"
he wrote,
812
00:51:48,365 --> 00:51:52,266
"you never know how many others
are going to follow him."
813
00:51:52,365 --> 00:51:56,266
But the president felt he had no
choice but to give Westmoreland
814
00:51:56,365 --> 00:51:58,400
what he asked for.
815
00:51:58,500 --> 00:52:03,432
He knew he would be blamed
if more American advisors died.
816
00:52:03,532 --> 00:52:07,500
"I feel like a jackass caught
in a Texas hailstorm,"
817
00:52:07,599 --> 00:52:09,099
he complained.
818
00:52:09,199 --> 00:52:14,333
"I can't run, I can't hide,
and I can't make it stop."
819
00:52:15,900 --> 00:52:17,800
In March of 1965,
820
00:52:17,900 --> 00:52:20,699
Johnson finally took the action
he had managed to avoid
821
00:52:20,800 --> 00:52:22,865
for so long.
822
00:52:22,965 --> 00:52:25,166
𝄞 Kiss me goodbye...
823
00:52:25,266 --> 00:52:28,266
He was putting American ground troops in Vietnam.
824
00:52:31,032 --> 00:52:36,500
𝄞 Goodbye, my sweetheart; hello, Vietnam 𝄞
825
00:52:36,599 --> 00:52:40,333
The government of South Vietnam was not even consulted;
826
00:52:40,432 --> 00:52:44,900
the United States of America
had larger considerations.
827
00:52:47,032 --> 00:52:51,500
Clearly, we saw it in terms of the Cold War.
828
00:52:51,599 --> 00:52:55,666
Assistant Secretary of Defense
John McNaughton said...
829
00:52:55,766 --> 00:52:57,266
He said our interests there
830
00:52:57,365 --> 00:53:02,766
were 70% to avoid humiliation,
831
00:53:02,865 --> 00:53:06,599
20% to contain China,
832
00:53:06,699 --> 00:53:10,099
and ten percent to help
the Vietnamese.
833
00:53:12,400 --> 00:53:15,065
Johnson quietly told his good friend,
834
00:53:15,166 --> 00:53:17,365
Senator Richard Russell
of Georgia,
835
00:53:17,465 --> 00:53:19,800
what was about to happen.
836
00:53:19,900 --> 00:53:22,599
I guess we got no choice, but it scares the death out of me.
837
00:53:22,699 --> 00:53:23,965
I think everybody's going
to think,
838
00:53:24,065 --> 00:53:25,532
"We're landing the Marines.
839
00:53:25,632 --> 00:53:27,300
We're off to battle."
840
00:53:27,400 --> 00:53:28,932
Of course,
if they come up there,
841
00:53:29,032 --> 00:53:30,166
they're going to get them
in a fight.
842
00:53:30,266 --> 00:53:31,599
And if they ruin
those airplanes,
843
00:53:31,699 --> 00:53:33,599
everybody is going to give me
hell for not securing them,
844
00:53:33,699 --> 00:53:35,432
just like they did last
time they made a raid.
845
00:53:35,532 --> 00:53:36,833
Yeah.
846
00:53:36,932 --> 00:53:38,132
What do you... what do you think?
847
00:53:38,233 --> 00:53:39,900
Well, Mr.
President,
848
00:53:40,000 --> 00:53:41,065
it scares the life out of me.
849
00:53:41,166 --> 00:53:42,565
But I don't know how
to back up now.
850
00:53:42,666 --> 00:53:44,865
It looks to me like we just got
in this thing,
851
00:53:44,965 --> 00:53:46,065
and there's no way out.
852
00:53:46,166 --> 00:53:47,432
I don't know.
853
00:53:47,532 --> 00:53:50,432
Dick,
the great trouble I'm under...
854
00:53:50,532 --> 00:53:53,599
A man can fight
if he can see daylight
855
00:53:53,699 --> 00:53:55,233
down the road somewhere.
856
00:53:55,333 --> 00:53:57,199
But there ain't no daylight
in Vietnam.
857
00:53:57,300 --> 00:53:59,233
There's not a bit.
858
00:54:01,800 --> 00:54:05,599
On March 8, 1965, Dr. Phan Huy Quat,
859
00:54:05,699 --> 00:54:08,733
yet another prime minister
of South Vietnam,
860
00:54:08,833 --> 00:54:12,699
called his chief of staff,
Bui Diem.
861
00:54:12,800 --> 00:54:14,333
BUI DIEM:
862
00:54:46,400 --> 00:54:48,699
The Marines were landing at Danang
863
00:54:48,800 --> 00:54:52,965
on the east coast of South Vietnam,
some 100 miles south
864
00:54:53,065 --> 00:54:55,065
of the demilitarized zone
865
00:54:55,166 --> 00:54:58,199
that divided the North
from the South.
866
00:54:58,300 --> 00:55:01,833
They were prepared to fight
their way ashore.
867
00:55:01,932 --> 00:55:03,900
They did not need to.
868
00:55:05,599 --> 00:55:06,733
What struck me
869
00:55:06,833 --> 00:55:11,900
was how beautiful
Vietnam was to look at.
870
00:55:13,865 --> 00:55:16,900
There were just
these endless acres
871
00:55:17,000 --> 00:55:19,300
of these jade-green
rice paddies.
872
00:55:19,400 --> 00:55:23,465
And these lovely villages
inside these groves
873
00:55:23,565 --> 00:55:26,132
of bamboo and palm trees.
874
00:55:26,233 --> 00:55:31,333
And way off in the distance
these bluish jungled mountains,
875
00:55:31,432 --> 00:55:34,500
and they looked like Shangri-La.
876
00:55:34,599 --> 00:55:38,699
And I remember seeing this line
of Vietnamese women,
877
00:55:38,800 --> 00:55:40,599
or schoolgirls I think
they were.
878
00:55:40,699 --> 00:55:43,800
They actually looked
like angels come to earth
879
00:55:43,900 --> 00:55:45,199
or something like that.
880
00:55:45,300 --> 00:55:50,632
So it was really quite striking
but a little unsettling
881
00:55:50,733 --> 00:55:51,800
because...
882
00:55:51,900 --> 00:55:53,432
so how can a place like this-
883
00:55:53,532 --> 00:55:56,932
so beautiful and so enchanting-
be at war?
884
00:55:58,333 --> 00:56:00,532
My father was very happy.
885
00:56:00,632 --> 00:56:03,599
We're such a small
and poor country
886
00:56:03,699 --> 00:56:08,166
and the Americans have decided
to come in to save us
887
00:56:08,266 --> 00:56:11,800
not only with their money,
their resources,
888
00:56:11,900 --> 00:56:14,766
but even with their own lives.
889
00:56:14,865 --> 00:56:16,632
We were very grateful.
890
00:56:16,733 --> 00:56:18,032
We thought the...
891
00:56:18,132 --> 00:56:21,032
sure enough with this power,
the Americans are going to win.
892
00:56:21,132 --> 00:56:25,065
Seeing foreign troops marching past his village,
893
00:56:25,166 --> 00:56:30,733
an old man emerged from his home shouting,
"Vivent les Français!"
894
00:56:30,833 --> 00:56:33,865
He thought the French
had returned.
895
00:56:35,233 --> 00:56:36,632
"The problem around here,"
896
00:56:36,733 --> 00:56:41,065
a Marine captain leading
a patrol told a reporter,
897
00:56:41,166 --> 00:56:44,000
"is who the hell is who?"
898
00:56:44,099 --> 00:56:47,965
As a voting member of Saigon Mission Council,
899
00:56:48,065 --> 00:56:52,532
I was opposed to the entry of
American ground combat forces.
900
00:56:54,599 --> 00:56:58,865
I felt if the Vietnamese
had to beat them off
901
00:56:58,965 --> 00:57:02,166
with a bloody stump,
they had to do it themselves.
902
00:57:02,266 --> 00:57:06,333
We had to do everything
we humanly could to help them,
903
00:57:06,432 --> 00:57:09,132
but we could not
win it for them.
904
00:57:10,766 --> 00:57:14,766
So,
I think we crossed the River Styx at that point.
905
00:57:16,699 --> 00:57:20,166
TRAN NGOC TOAN:
906
00:57:41,932 --> 00:57:44,632
The first protest I went to against the war in Vietnam
907
00:57:44,733 --> 00:57:48,865
was a protest
at a Dow Chemical facility.
908
00:57:51,900 --> 00:57:54,500
Dow was manufacturing napalm.
909
00:57:54,599 --> 00:57:57,599
They were dropping napalm
on villages in Vietnam.
910
00:57:57,699 --> 00:58:00,233
It was a very disappointing
experience
911
00:58:00,333 --> 00:58:03,400
because only 40 people came.
912
00:58:03,500 --> 00:58:06,099
And we seemed very out of place
913
00:58:06,199 --> 00:58:09,266
and very ineffectual, impotent,
914
00:58:09,365 --> 00:58:13,432
standing outside
with 40 people.
915
00:58:13,532 --> 00:58:18,099
Most Americans understood little about Indochina,
916
00:58:18,199 --> 00:58:21,833
rarely knew anyone actually
involved in the fighting,
917
00:58:21,932 --> 00:58:25,233
saw no reason to question
the government's assertion
918
00:58:25,333 --> 00:58:28,065
that the United States had
vital interests
919
00:58:28,166 --> 00:58:30,733
8,000 miles from home.
920
00:58:32,432 --> 00:58:35,465
Still,
there was a small but growing number of people
921
00:58:35,565 --> 00:58:39,432
who had begun to oppose the war
for any number of reasons-
922
00:58:39,532 --> 00:58:43,965
because they thought it
unjust or immoral,
923
00:58:44,065 --> 00:58:46,800
believed it was unconstitutional
924
00:58:46,900 --> 00:58:50,532
or simply not
in the national interest.
925
00:58:50,632 --> 00:58:53,965
𝄞 Oh I marched to the battle of New Orleans 𝄞
926
00:58:54,065 --> 00:58:56,932
Two weeks after the Marines landed at Danang,
927
00:58:57,032 --> 00:59:00,800
members of the University
of Michigan faculty organized
928
00:59:00,900 --> 00:59:03,766
a night-long discussion
between professors
929
00:59:03,865 --> 00:59:09,300
and some 3,000 students about
the escalation of the war.
930
00:59:09,400 --> 00:59:11,065
The demonstration was called
a teach-in
931
00:59:11,166 --> 00:59:12,900
because the idea originated
932
00:59:13,000 --> 00:59:14,699
with a group of university
professors.
933
00:59:14,800 --> 00:59:18,065
What do you hope to accomplish?
934
00:59:18,166 --> 00:59:20,733
I'd like to open up communication between people
935
00:59:20,833 --> 00:59:23,000
and the government because
I believe
936
00:59:23,099 --> 00:59:25,000
that they are not telling us
what is going on,
937
00:59:25,099 --> 00:59:27,465
and the people have the right to know,
and we have the right
938
00:59:27,565 --> 00:59:29,300
to tell the government
what we think.
939
00:59:29,400 --> 00:59:34,300
Soon, there were teach-ins on most major university campuses.
940
00:59:34,400 --> 00:59:37,565
There is no morally
wonderful way out.
941
00:59:37,666 --> 00:59:42,599
NYU in Manhattan, the University of Wisconsin in Madison,
942
00:59:42,699 --> 00:59:47,432
the University of
California in Berkeley.
943
00:59:47,532 --> 00:59:50,666
The teach-ins were really
raucous affairs.
944
00:59:50,766 --> 00:59:53,300
A lot of contention.
945
00:59:53,400 --> 00:59:54,733
We want to discuss
946
00:59:54,833 --> 00:59:57,632
is what's wrong with the Vietnam War,
and...
947
00:59:57,733 --> 00:59:59,565
𝄞 And so many others
948
00:59:59,666 --> 01:00:01,266
𝄞 But I ain't marchin' anymore
949
01:00:01,365 --> 01:00:02,766
Do you endorse
950
01:00:02,865 --> 01:00:04,766
the administration's policy
in South Vietnam?
951
01:00:04,865 --> 01:00:06,465
Whole-heartedly.
952
01:00:06,565 --> 01:00:07,932
There were plenty of times
953
01:00:08,032 --> 01:00:09,932
when people who were supportive
of the war
954
01:00:10,032 --> 01:00:11,333
came to these teach-ins
955
01:00:11,432 --> 01:00:14,465
to try to give an alternative
anticommunist point of view.
956
01:00:14,565 --> 01:00:16,766
They were often shouted down.
957
01:00:18,833 --> 01:00:22,699
The bombing of the North and the Marines' arrival
958
01:00:22,800 --> 01:00:26,800
also drew protestors
to Washington that spring.
959
01:00:26,900 --> 01:00:28,532
The demonstration was organized
960
01:00:28,632 --> 01:00:33,365
by the Students for a Democratic Society-
the SDS.
961
01:00:33,465 --> 01:00:38,266
I saw SDS calling for a
demonstration at the White House
962
01:00:38,365 --> 01:00:40,900
in the spring of 1965.
963
01:00:41,000 --> 01:00:44,032
I didn't want to go because
I didn't want to be disappointed
964
01:00:44,132 --> 01:00:45,666
in the same way again and,
you know,
965
01:00:45,766 --> 01:00:47,333
go all the way to Washington
966
01:00:47,432 --> 01:00:49,132
and stand outside the White
House with 40 people.
967
01:00:50,865 --> 01:00:53,833
25,000 people attended
that rally.
968
01:00:56,233 --> 01:00:58,166
And that suddenly told me
969
01:00:58,266 --> 01:01:01,766
and others I was working
with at the time
970
01:01:01,865 --> 01:01:05,565
that it might be possible
to build an antiwar movement.
971
01:01:11,099 --> 01:01:13,000
It was quite astounding to think
972
01:01:13,099 --> 01:01:15,833
that he had that degree
of commitment.
973
01:01:15,932 --> 01:01:18,065
And it made sense
974
01:01:18,166 --> 01:01:23,400
in what we knew of him,
as drastic as it was.
975
01:01:25,000 --> 01:01:27,565
Nothing Mogie Crocker's parents could say or do
976
01:01:27,666 --> 01:01:29,632
since Mogie had come home
977
01:01:29,733 --> 01:01:32,199
shook his determination
to serve,
978
01:01:32,300 --> 01:01:34,233
and recent developments
in Vietnam
979
01:01:34,333 --> 01:01:36,965
had only strengthened
his resolve.
980
01:01:37,065 --> 01:01:41,199
He wanted to become a
paratrooper and get into combat.
981
01:01:41,300 --> 01:01:43,766
His parents finally,
reluctantly,
982
01:01:43,865 --> 01:01:46,733
agreed to let him go,
and on March 15,
983
01:01:46,833 --> 01:01:50,532
a week after the first
Marines landed at Danang,
984
01:01:50,632 --> 01:01:55,800
Denton Crocker, Jr.
entered the United States Army.
985
01:01:55,900 --> 01:01:59,132
So Denton bounced down the steps one morning
986
01:01:59,233 --> 01:02:02,432
and was off to Fort Dix.
987
01:02:02,532 --> 01:02:06,132
It was in a way a sort of relief,
actually,
988
01:02:06,233 --> 01:02:09,099
that the conflict
and the anxiety
989
01:02:09,199 --> 01:02:12,500
over whether he would
or would not go was done.
990
01:02:12,599 --> 01:02:13,965
And he was happy.
991
01:02:14,065 --> 01:02:17,500
And we just tried to believe
that this was the right thing
992
01:02:17,599 --> 01:02:19,465
for him to do.
993
01:02:26,900 --> 01:02:31,099
LE MINH KHUE:
994
01:03:09,733 --> 01:03:13,099
Le Minh Khue was orphaned as a small girl,
995
01:03:13,199 --> 01:03:16,132
her parents victims
of the brutal land reforms
996
01:03:16,233 --> 01:03:18,900
the communists had imposed.
997
01:03:19,000 --> 01:03:21,500
She was raised by her aunt
and uncle,
998
01:03:21,599 --> 01:03:25,699
who encouraged her to read
American literature.
999
01:03:25,800 --> 01:03:30,532
She was 16 when
Operation Rolling Thunder began.
1000
01:03:30,632 --> 01:03:35,233
LE MINH KHUE:
1001
01:04:05,900 --> 01:04:08,465
Khue was assigned to an organization called
1002
01:04:08,565 --> 01:04:11,365
the "Youth Shock Brigades
Against the Americans
1003
01:04:11,465 --> 01:04:13,400
for National Salvation,"
1004
01:04:13,500 --> 01:04:16,865
and along with thousands
of other young people
1005
01:04:16,965 --> 01:04:21,199
was sent south to work keeping
open the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
1006
01:04:23,400 --> 01:04:27,065
LE MINH KHUE:
1007
01:05:00,766 --> 01:05:02,666
As Johnson had feared,
1008
01:05:02,766 --> 01:05:06,500
it quickly became clear
that the bombing campaign alone
1009
01:05:06,599 --> 01:05:08,266
was not working.
1010
01:05:08,365 --> 01:05:12,565
Troops and supplies continued
steadily to filter down
1011
01:05:12,666 --> 01:05:14,865
the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
1012
01:05:14,965 --> 01:05:17,699
General Westmoreland
and the Joint Chiefs
1013
01:05:17,800 --> 01:05:21,333
called for more men,
tens of thousands of them.
1014
01:05:21,432 --> 01:05:24,666
The president was cautious.
1015
01:05:24,766 --> 01:05:27,500
He wanted to do "enough,
but not too much," he said.
1016
01:05:27,599 --> 01:05:31,500
But he quietly agreed to send
two more Marine battalions
1017
01:05:31,599 --> 01:05:37,065
and changed their mission from
base security to active combat.
1018
01:05:37,166 --> 01:05:38,432
For the first time,
1019
01:05:38,532 --> 01:05:40,965
American troops were being asked
1020
01:05:41,065 --> 01:05:44,166
to fight on their own
in Vietnam.
1021
01:05:44,266 --> 01:05:47,699
Johnson did not want
that fact revealed
1022
01:05:47,800 --> 01:05:50,233
to the American public either.
1023
01:05:50,333 --> 01:05:52,065
But the bombing of the North
1024
01:05:52,166 --> 01:05:54,632
and rumors of harsher measures
to come
1025
01:05:54,733 --> 01:05:58,065
had heightened concern around
the world.
1026
01:05:58,166 --> 01:06:00,965
UN Secretary-General U Thant
had proposed
1027
01:06:01,065 --> 01:06:03,300
a three-month ceasefire.
1028
01:06:03,400 --> 01:06:06,199
Great Britain,
America's closest ally,
1029
01:06:06,300 --> 01:06:10,032
publicly offered to reconvene
the Geneva Talks
1030
01:06:10,132 --> 01:06:13,065
that had divided Vietnam
in 1954,
1031
01:06:13,166 --> 01:06:16,666
with the goal of reuniting it.
1032
01:06:16,766 --> 01:06:19,865
The people of South Vietnam be allowed to guide
1033
01:06:19,965 --> 01:06:21,300
their own country...
1034
01:06:21,400 --> 01:06:24,666
On April 7, at Johns Hopkins University,
1035
01:06:24,766 --> 01:06:26,965
Johnson sought to persuade
the world
1036
01:06:27,065 --> 01:06:29,333
of America's good intentions
1037
01:06:29,432 --> 01:06:33,800
and again to calm American
fears of a wider war.
1038
01:06:35,400 --> 01:06:39,266
In recent months,
attacks on South Vietnam were stepped up.
1039
01:06:39,365 --> 01:06:44,233
Thus,
it became necessary for us to increase our response
1040
01:06:44,333 --> 01:06:47,532
and to make attacks by air.
1041
01:06:47,632 --> 01:06:51,233
This is not a change of purpose.
1042
01:06:51,333 --> 01:06:56,733
It is a change in what we
believe that purpose requires.
1043
01:06:56,833 --> 01:07:00,699
Nothing was said about the new orders sending Marines
1044
01:07:00,800 --> 01:07:03,365
directly into combat.
1045
01:07:03,465 --> 01:07:08,166
Instead,
the president called for "unconditional discussions"
1046
01:07:08,266 --> 01:07:11,599
with Hanoi,
and as an old New Dealer,
1047
01:07:11,699 --> 01:07:14,432
proposed a massive
development program
1048
01:07:14,532 --> 01:07:16,500
for all of Southeast Asia.
1049
01:07:16,599 --> 01:07:19,233
The vast Mekong River can provide
1050
01:07:19,333 --> 01:07:20,900
food and water and power
1051
01:07:21,000 --> 01:07:24,500
on a scale to dwarf
even our own TVA.
1052
01:07:26,632 --> 01:07:28,766
I was outside of the village.
1053
01:07:28,865 --> 01:07:31,132
We're getting some fire
from the village.
1054
01:07:31,233 --> 01:07:33,465
I had the little
transistor radio.
1055
01:07:33,565 --> 01:07:36,632
And I'm sitting there
listening to LBJ.
1056
01:07:36,733 --> 01:07:38,599
...will use our power with restraint
1057
01:07:38,699 --> 01:07:40,699
and with all the wisdom...
1058
01:07:40,800 --> 01:07:44,233
At the same time we got to lay
some nape on the village.
1059
01:07:44,333 --> 01:07:46,132
So I'm calling in the nape
1060
01:07:46,233 --> 01:07:49,632
and listening to the president
talk peace.
1061
01:07:49,733 --> 01:07:52,766
We will try to keep conflict from spreading.
1062
01:07:52,865 --> 01:07:55,565
It was surreal.
1063
01:07:55,666 --> 01:07:57,699
We have no desire to devastate
1064
01:07:57,800 --> 01:08:02,032
that which the people
of North Vietnam have built
1065
01:08:02,132 --> 01:08:05,300
with toil and sacrifice.
1066
01:08:05,400 --> 01:08:11,432
This war, like most wars,
is filled with terrible irony.
1067
01:08:11,532 --> 01:08:13,233
What do the people
of North Vietnam want?
1068
01:08:18,233 --> 01:08:22,300
Hanoi denounced the president's offer as a trick.
1069
01:08:22,399 --> 01:08:25,399
Johnson's advisors and
the Joint Chiefs of Staff
1070
01:08:25,500 --> 01:08:29,600
continued to debate how many men
would actually be needed
1071
01:08:29,699 --> 01:08:33,000
and how rapidly
they should be deployed.
1072
01:08:33,100 --> 01:08:37,466
Meanwhile,
the president sent the first Army combat troops
1073
01:08:37,565 --> 01:08:38,765
to the country.
1074
01:08:38,865 --> 01:08:41,065
It was increasingly clear
1075
01:08:41,166 --> 01:08:44,966
that the United States was in it
for the long haul.
1076
01:08:48,832 --> 01:08:56,065
You can't just be a neutral
witness to something like war.
1077
01:09:03,865 --> 01:09:07,800
It crawls down your throat.
1078
01:09:07,899 --> 01:09:13,033
It eats you alive from
the inside and the out.
1079
01:09:17,432 --> 01:09:22,100
It's not something that you can
stand back and be neutral
1080
01:09:22,199 --> 01:09:28,466
and objective and all of those
things we try to be
1081
01:09:28,565 --> 01:09:32,100
as reporters, journalists,
photographers.
1082
01:09:34,699 --> 01:09:37,432
It doesn't work that way.
1083
01:09:39,932 --> 01:09:43,966
MAN...defense and they're real quick... and check it out...
1084
01:09:44,065 --> 01:09:47,765
The growing presence of American combat troops in Vietnam
1085
01:09:47,865 --> 01:09:51,832
attracted flocks of journalists.
1086
01:09:51,932 --> 01:09:54,033
There was no press censorship,
1087
01:09:54,132 --> 01:09:57,466
as there had been
in World War II.
1088
01:09:57,565 --> 01:10:01,865
Reporters just had to agree
to follow military guidelines
1089
01:10:01,966 --> 01:10:04,300
so as not to compromise
the security
1090
01:10:04,399 --> 01:10:06,666
of ongoing operations.
1091
01:10:06,765 --> 01:10:09,065
It was dangerous work.
1092
01:10:09,166 --> 01:10:13,500
More than 200 journalists
and photographers would die
1093
01:10:13,600 --> 01:10:16,699
covering the fighting
in Southeast Asia.
1094
01:10:16,800 --> 01:10:20,065
Joseph Lee Galloway
was a young UPI reporter
1095
01:10:20,166 --> 01:10:23,466
from Refugio, Texas.
1096
01:10:23,565 --> 01:10:27,300
He stopped in Saigon just long
enough to get his credentials.
1097
01:10:27,399 --> 01:10:30,399
Then he headed for Danang.
1098
01:10:30,500 --> 01:10:33,699
The Marines originally came ashore there
1099
01:10:33,800 --> 01:10:36,332
to guard the airbase.
1100
01:10:36,432 --> 01:10:42,432
And they quickly figured out
you can't just guard an airbase.
1101
01:10:42,533 --> 01:10:44,265
You've got to spread out
1102
01:10:44,365 --> 01:10:45,632
because they're going
to mortar it,
1103
01:10:45,733 --> 01:10:47,565
they're going to shoot rockets.
1104
01:10:47,666 --> 01:10:51,365
So you've got to reach out
15 or 20 miles.
1105
01:10:51,466 --> 01:10:55,399
That means you've got to run
operations that far out.
1106
01:10:55,500 --> 01:10:56,966
And once you're doing that,
1107
01:10:57,065 --> 01:10:59,365
you're no longer guarding
an airbase...
1108
01:11:01,265 --> 01:11:04,466
...you're operating
in hostile territory.
1109
01:11:13,565 --> 01:11:16,000
NGUYEN THANH SON:
1110
01:11:35,000 --> 01:11:39,300
It wasn't so much the Viet Cong that were intimidating
1111
01:11:39,399 --> 01:11:42,666
at that point
as it was the terrain.
1112
01:11:42,765 --> 01:11:47,399
Going from Point A to Point B
in the jungle
1113
01:11:47,500 --> 01:11:48,800
was so difficult.
1114
01:11:48,899 --> 01:11:53,233
As it happened to me once,
it took four hours
1115
01:11:53,332 --> 01:11:55,432
to move a half a mile,
1116
01:11:55,533 --> 01:11:58,733
cutting through this bush
with machetes.
1117
01:12:01,000 --> 01:12:06,899
The Viet Cong knew the terrain far better than the Marines did,
1118
01:12:07,000 --> 01:12:10,699
and ran circles around them.
1119
01:12:23,000 --> 01:12:28,332
MOGIE CROCKER
Fort Dix, June 10, 1965.
1120
01:12:28,432 --> 01:12:30,000
Dear Mum,
1121
01:12:30,100 --> 01:12:34,000
Basic is now all over and I am
presently waiting for orders.
1122
01:12:34,100 --> 01:12:36,300
Waiting for orders could be
very dull
1123
01:12:36,399 --> 01:12:38,132
but I have found there are
excellent chances
1124
01:12:38,233 --> 01:12:39,966
to do some reading.
1125
01:12:40,065 --> 01:12:42,233
Recently I have read
Wuthering Heights,
1126
01:12:42,332 --> 01:12:47,100
Animal Farm, Seven Pillars of Wisdom,
andLord Jim.
1127
01:12:47,199 --> 01:12:48,899
I hope you are all well.
1128
01:12:49,000 --> 01:12:50,500
Love, Mogie.
1129
01:12:52,300 --> 01:12:54,932
Mogie Crocker was allowed two weeks at home
1130
01:12:55,033 --> 01:12:57,832
before shipping out to Vietnam.
1131
01:12:59,666 --> 01:13:01,432
We were at dinner one evening
1132
01:13:01,533 --> 01:13:04,800
just talking, I guess,
in generalities about the war
1133
01:13:04,899 --> 01:13:07,132
and the general situation.
1134
01:13:07,233 --> 01:13:11,932
And Mogie said,
"Of course if I were a Vietnamese,
1135
01:13:12,033 --> 01:13:14,832
I would be on the
side of the Viet Cong."
1136
01:13:14,932 --> 01:13:18,666
That... I puzzled over that.
1137
01:13:18,765 --> 01:13:22,100
I suppose relating like
to our American Revolution
1138
01:13:22,199 --> 01:13:25,666
that he saw their need
for their own freedom.
1139
01:13:25,765 --> 01:13:27,932
But as an American citizen,
1140
01:13:28,033 --> 01:13:32,832
he saw the larger picture
of trying to prevent communism.
1141
01:13:32,932 --> 01:13:35,666
I remember one night in particular
1142
01:13:35,765 --> 01:13:37,432
he and I were up late.
1143
01:13:37,533 --> 01:13:42,600
And he suddenly leaned his head
in his hands.
1144
01:13:42,699 --> 01:13:45,832
And he said,
"I don't want to go back."
1145
01:13:47,065 --> 01:13:49,399
I was dumbstruck.
1146
01:13:49,500 --> 01:13:55,100
And said to him,
"But this is what you want to do."
1147
01:13:55,199 --> 01:13:58,632
It had never occurred to me
that he was torn about this,
1148
01:13:58,733 --> 01:14:02,199
that he was afraid
and yet was determined to go.
1149
01:14:12,800 --> 01:14:16,565
In South Vietnam, things were steadily growing worse.
1150
01:14:18,666 --> 01:14:21,166
𝄞 Well, you've got your diamond. 𝄞
1151
01:14:21,265 --> 01:14:24,332
In May, the Viet Cong,
1152
01:14:24,432 --> 01:14:28,132
supported now by four regiments
of North Vietnamese regulars-
1153
01:14:28,233 --> 01:14:30,733
approximately 5,000 men-
1154
01:14:30,832 --> 01:14:34,600
were destroying the equivalent
of a South Vietnamese battalion
1155
01:14:34,699 --> 01:14:36,432
every week.
1156
01:14:36,533 --> 01:14:38,365
𝄞 But don't play with me
1157
01:14:38,466 --> 01:14:40,600
𝄞 Because you're playing with fire.
𝄞
1158
01:14:40,699 --> 01:14:45,699
South Vietnam now seemed only weeks from complete collapse.
1159
01:14:45,800 --> 01:14:49,466
Desperate,
General Westmoreland requested
1160
01:14:49,565 --> 01:14:54,533
tens of thousands of more
American troops right away.
1161
01:14:54,632 --> 01:14:57,365
But neither the
continuing bombing
1162
01:14:57,466 --> 01:15:01,166
nor the growing likelihood of
full-scale American intervention
1163
01:15:01,265 --> 01:15:04,565
seemed to intimidate Hanoi.
1164
01:15:04,666 --> 01:15:07,533
Le Duan,
having failed to win the war
1165
01:15:07,632 --> 01:15:10,332
before the United States sent in
ground troops,
1166
01:15:10,432 --> 01:15:13,565
was now persuaded
the American public,
1167
01:15:13,666 --> 01:15:17,100
like the French public before them,
would eventually weary
1168
01:15:17,199 --> 01:15:22,832
of a costly,
bloody war being waged so far from home.
1169
01:15:22,932 --> 01:15:28,000
By contrast, he said,
"The North will not count the cost."
1170
01:15:28,100 --> 01:15:30,666
Le Duan's confidence
was bolstered
1171
01:15:30,765 --> 01:15:33,332
by the help American
intervention had forced
1172
01:15:33,432 --> 01:15:37,000
the Soviet Union and China
to offer him.
1173
01:15:37,100 --> 01:15:41,265
Moscow agreed to supply vast
amounts of modern weaponry
1174
01:15:41,365 --> 01:15:42,733
and materiel.
1175
01:15:42,832 --> 01:15:47,666
Hanoi would eventually become
the most heavily defended city
1176
01:15:47,765 --> 01:15:49,033
on Earth.
1177
01:15:49,132 --> 01:15:52,265
And China agreed to send
support troops,
1178
01:15:52,365 --> 01:15:55,600
freeing North Vietnamese
soldiers for combat
1179
01:15:55,699 --> 01:15:57,265
in the South.
1180
01:15:57,365 --> 01:16:02,565
320,000 Chinese would eventually
serve behind the lines
1181
01:16:02,666 --> 01:16:05,765
in the North.
1182
01:16:05,865 --> 01:16:07,966
"We will fight,"
Le Duan promised,
1183
01:16:08,065 --> 01:16:11,332
"whatever way the
United States wants."
1184
01:16:12,500 --> 01:16:15,733
In June of 1965,
1185
01:16:15,832 --> 01:16:18,300
Secretary McNamara,
the Secretary of Defense,
1186
01:16:18,399 --> 01:16:19,666
came out to Saigon.
1187
01:16:19,765 --> 01:16:23,300
There were a lot of captains
and majors and lieutenants.
1188
01:16:23,399 --> 01:16:27,365
And every person said to Mr.
McNamara,
1189
01:16:27,466 --> 01:16:29,865
"The situation is so dire
1190
01:16:29,966 --> 01:16:32,666
we must bring in
United States forces."
1191
01:16:32,765 --> 01:16:35,666
So,
whatever doubts we may have had,
1192
01:16:35,765 --> 01:16:37,565
whatever people may say
after the fact,
1193
01:16:37,666 --> 01:16:40,466
I recall distinctly at the time
1194
01:16:40,565 --> 01:16:43,365
telling the Secretary of
Defense that I thought we needed
1195
01:16:43,466 --> 01:16:44,533
to bring troops in there.
1196
01:16:45,832 --> 01:16:47,199
For three weeks,
1197
01:16:47,300 --> 01:16:50,600
the president and his advisors
argued over how to respond
1198
01:16:50,699 --> 01:16:54,300
to Westmoreland's urgent
request for more troops,
1199
01:16:54,399 --> 01:16:58,966
differing mostly over how many
should be sent how fast.
1200
01:16:59,065 --> 01:17:03,565
Undersecretary of State
George Ball made the argument
1201
01:17:03,666 --> 01:17:06,332
against further escalation.
1202
01:17:06,432 --> 01:17:10,399
He told the president
the war could not be won.
1203
01:17:10,500 --> 01:17:13,533
The American people
will grow weary of it.
1204
01:17:13,632 --> 01:17:15,699
Our troops will get bogged down
1205
01:17:15,800 --> 01:17:18,233
"in the jungles and rice paddies,"
he warned,
1206
01:17:18,332 --> 01:17:21,899
"while we slowly
blow the country to pieces."
1207
01:17:22,000 --> 01:17:24,365
No one else agreed.
1208
01:17:24,466 --> 01:17:27,565
𝄞 But don't play with me...
1209
01:17:27,666 --> 01:17:33,132
In the end, Johnson sent Westmoreland 50,000 men.
1210
01:17:33,233 --> 01:17:38,666
But he pledged another 50,000
by the end of 1965,
1211
01:17:38,765 --> 01:17:41,699
and still more
if they were needed.
1212
01:17:41,800 --> 01:17:44,166
𝄞 Because you're playing with fire. 𝄞
1213
01:17:45,899 --> 01:17:49,832
𝄞 Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die 𝄞
1214
01:17:49,932 --> 01:17:53,332
TRAN NGOC TOAN:
1215
01:18:18,466 --> 01:18:20,199
Hold your fire!
1216
01:18:20,300 --> 01:18:21,432
Hold your fire.
1217
01:18:22,632 --> 01:18:24,300
Does the fact
1218
01:18:24,399 --> 01:18:27,332
that you are sending additional
forces to Vietnam
1219
01:18:27,432 --> 01:18:30,365
imply any change in
the existing policy
1220
01:18:30,466 --> 01:18:34,000
of using American forces to
guard American installations
1221
01:18:34,100 --> 01:18:36,265
and to act as an
emergency backup?
1222
01:18:36,365 --> 01:18:39,565
It does not imply any change
in policy whatever.
1223
01:18:39,666 --> 01:18:42,666
It does not imply any change
of objective.
1224
01:18:42,765 --> 01:18:43,865
Uh...
1225
01:18:46,065 --> 01:18:47,966
The month of June saw soldiers here
1226
01:18:48,065 --> 01:18:49,265
taking what appears to be...
1227
01:18:49,365 --> 01:18:51,899
Most television reports from Vietnam
1228
01:18:52,000 --> 01:18:55,332
echoed the newsreels Americans
had flocked to see
1229
01:18:55,432 --> 01:18:59,765
during the Second World War- enthusiastic,
unquestioning,
1230
01:18:59,865 --> 01:19:04,765
good guys fighting
and defeating bad guys.
1231
01:19:04,865 --> 01:19:09,233
But at dinnertime
on August 5, 1965,
1232
01:19:09,332 --> 01:19:12,132
Americans saw another side
of the war.
1233
01:19:13,765 --> 01:19:16,365
We're on the outskirts of the village of Cam Ne
1234
01:19:16,466 --> 01:19:18,233
with elements of the
1st Battalion...
1235
01:19:18,332 --> 01:19:21,800
CBS correspondent Morley Safer and his crew
1236
01:19:21,899 --> 01:19:25,132
went on patrol with Marines
near Danang.
1237
01:19:25,233 --> 01:19:28,332
Their orders were first
to search a cluster
1238
01:19:28,432 --> 01:19:32,332
of four villages for caches
of arms and rice
1239
01:19:32,432 --> 01:19:37,265
meant for the enemy and then
to destroy them all.
1240
01:19:40,632 --> 01:19:43,666
This is what the war
in Vietnam is all about.
1241
01:19:47,533 --> 01:19:50,966
The old and the very young.
1242
01:19:51,065 --> 01:19:53,832
The Marines have burned
1243
01:19:53,932 --> 01:19:55,832
this old couple's cottage
1244
01:19:55,932 --> 01:19:57,699
because fire was coming
from here.
1245
01:19:57,800 --> 01:19:59,432
And now when you walk
into the village
1246
01:19:59,533 --> 01:20:01,199
you see no young people at all.
1247
01:20:05,932 --> 01:20:09,100
The day's operation burned
down 150 houses,
1248
01:20:09,199 --> 01:20:12,432
wounded three women,
killed one baby,
1249
01:20:12,533 --> 01:20:17,966
wounded one Marine,
and netted these four prisoners.
1250
01:20:18,065 --> 01:20:21,033
Today's operation
is the frustration of Vietnam
1251
01:20:21,132 --> 01:20:22,932
in miniature.
1252
01:20:23,033 --> 01:20:25,365
There is little doubt
that American firepower
1253
01:20:25,466 --> 01:20:27,699
can win a military victory here.
1254
01:20:27,800 --> 01:20:32,565
But to a Vietnamese peasant
whose home is a...
1255
01:20:32,666 --> 01:20:34,899
means a lifetime
of backbreaking labor,
1256
01:20:35,000 --> 01:20:37,800
it will take more than
presidential promises
1257
01:20:37,899 --> 01:20:40,765
to convince him that
we are on his side.
1258
01:20:42,500 --> 01:20:44,365
The next morning, the president called
1259
01:20:44,466 --> 01:20:48,666
his friend Frank Stanton,
the head of CBS.
1260
01:20:48,765 --> 01:20:51,932
"Hello, Frank,
this is your president.
1261
01:20:52,033 --> 01:20:54,199
Are you trying to fuck me?"
1262
01:20:55,632 --> 01:20:59,000
Safer had defaced the American flag,
Johnson said.
1263
01:20:59,100 --> 01:21:03,466
He was probably an agent of the Kremlin,
had to be fired.
1264
01:21:03,565 --> 01:21:07,733
The Marines claimed Safer had
provided a zippo lighter
1265
01:21:07,832 --> 01:21:11,600
and asked the Marines
to burn the hut for the camera.
1266
01:21:11,699 --> 01:21:14,000
A major at the Danang Marine
press office
1267
01:21:14,100 --> 01:21:18,132
called CBS the "Communist
Broadcasting System."
1268
01:21:19,265 --> 01:21:20,666
But after the operation,
1269
01:21:20,765 --> 01:21:26,033
Safer interviewed some of the
Marines who'd burned Cam Ne.
1270
01:21:26,132 --> 01:21:28,365
Do you ever have any
private thoughts,
1271
01:21:28,466 --> 01:21:30,966
any private regrets about
some of these people
1272
01:21:31,065 --> 01:21:32,365
you are leaving homeless?
1273
01:21:32,466 --> 01:21:33,699
I feel no remorse.
1274
01:21:33,800 --> 01:21:34,899
I don't imagine
anybody else does.
1275
01:21:35,000 --> 01:21:36,199
You can't expect to do your job
1276
01:21:36,300 --> 01:21:37,699
and feel pity
for these people.
1277
01:21:39,800 --> 01:21:42,100
When some viewers registered their shock,
1278
01:21:42,199 --> 01:21:46,233
Westmoreland admitted,
"We have a genuine problem
1279
01:21:46,332 --> 01:21:50,199
"which will be with us as long
as we are in Vietnam.
1280
01:21:50,300 --> 01:21:55,332
"Commanders must exercise
restraint unnatural to war
1281
01:21:55,432 --> 01:21:59,300
and judgment not often required
of young men."
1282
01:22:05,500 --> 01:22:08,233
You kind of thought at first
1283
01:22:08,332 --> 01:22:10,966
that it was going to be like the GIs,
you know,
1284
01:22:11,065 --> 01:22:13,699
rolling through Paris
after the liberation.
1285
01:22:15,832 --> 01:22:18,600
Well, you know,
it sure didn't work out that way.
1286
01:22:20,733 --> 01:22:22,966
I can remember once going
in this one ville.
1287
01:22:23,065 --> 01:22:26,332
And I remember finding this
entire Vietnamese family
1288
01:22:26,432 --> 01:22:29,199
cowering in a bunker.
1289
01:22:30,500 --> 01:22:32,832
And they were terrified of us.
1290
01:22:36,500 --> 01:22:39,065
And I remember thinking to myself,
I said,
1291
01:22:39,166 --> 01:22:43,332
"Well,
I wonder if back in the colonial days,
1292
01:22:43,432 --> 01:22:46,533
"when the Redcoats barged into Ipswich,
Massachusetts,
1293
01:22:46,632 --> 01:22:47,666
"or wherever,
1294
01:22:47,765 --> 01:22:51,365
"if this is how Americans
must have felt
1295
01:22:51,466 --> 01:22:55,033
looking at these foreign
soldiers coming in here."
1296
01:22:55,132 --> 01:22:56,332
The Viet Cong
1297
01:22:56,432 --> 01:23:01,765
have terrorized you,
and have burned your homes.
1298
01:23:01,865 --> 01:23:04,899
We are here to help you.
1299
01:23:05,000 --> 01:23:09,265
To show how much
we are able to protect you,
1300
01:23:09,365 --> 01:23:14,600
we are going to have
the Air Force
1301
01:23:14,699 --> 01:23:19,865
hit some Viet Cong on the other
side of the valley.
1302
01:23:19,966 --> 01:23:21,832
That will be at 10:30.
1303
01:23:44,800 --> 01:23:46,865
MOGIE CROCKER
Dear Mum and Dad,
1304
01:23:46,966 --> 01:23:50,033
I am now with the 1st Brigade,
101st Airborne Division
1305
01:23:50,132 --> 01:23:51,932
in Vietnam.
1306
01:23:58,033 --> 01:23:59,865
What is taking place in America?
1307
01:23:59,966 --> 01:24:02,832
We who are in Vietnam find
these protests
1308
01:24:02,932 --> 01:24:04,600
very hard to comprehend,
1309
01:24:04,699 --> 01:24:08,265
and many people here
are quite bitter about them.
1310
01:24:08,365 --> 01:24:11,733
𝄞 Let me tell you the story in South Vietnam. 𝄞
1311
01:24:11,832 --> 01:24:13,399
MOGIE CROCKER The belief I have in our present policy
1312
01:24:13,500 --> 01:24:17,365
has been completely confirmed
by what I have seen here.
1313
01:24:17,466 --> 01:24:20,500
My chief worry is that these
pacifist bleatings
1314
01:24:20,600 --> 01:24:23,500
might effect even a small change
in government policy
1315
01:24:23,600 --> 01:24:26,265
at a time when we appear
close to success.
1316
01:24:26,365 --> 01:24:30,966
𝄞 And the war drags on.
1317
01:24:33,100 --> 01:24:37,332
As Vietnam began to be more and more chaotic,
1318
01:24:37,432 --> 01:24:42,065
I certainly wondered very much
whether we should be there.
1319
01:24:42,166 --> 01:24:44,565
But I never expressed that
to him.
1320
01:24:44,666 --> 01:24:48,033
That's one of those conflicts
that's just too difficult
1321
01:24:48,132 --> 01:24:50,800
to bring up,
or at least it was for me.
1322
01:24:57,100 --> 01:25:02,800
𝄞 Now I taught the weeping willow how to cry 𝄞
1323
01:25:02,899 --> 01:25:07,800
𝄞 And I showed the clouds how to cover up a clear blue sky.
𝄞
1324
01:25:07,899 --> 01:25:09,832
We were all excited about the arrival
1325
01:25:09,932 --> 01:25:14,565
of the 1st Cavalry Division,
an experimental unit.
1326
01:25:14,666 --> 01:25:18,865
They've been trained in
air-mobile warfare
1327
01:25:18,966 --> 01:25:25,565
using these helicopters to
the absolute maximum benefit.
1328
01:25:25,666 --> 01:25:31,632
They're moving their artillery by helicopter,
jumping it,
1329
01:25:31,733 --> 01:25:36,632
leapfrogging troops,
chasing the enemy, driving him crazy.
1330
01:25:38,932 --> 01:25:40,932
This is something new,
1331
01:25:41,033 --> 01:25:44,699
and it's going to change
the way we do war.
1332
01:25:44,800 --> 01:25:47,466
𝄞 I found her trail in Memphis... 𝄞
1333
01:25:47,565 --> 01:25:50,132
In September of 1965,
1334
01:25:50,233 --> 01:25:52,832
the newly created
1st Cavalry Division-
1335
01:25:52,932 --> 01:26:01,300
16,000 men, 1,600 vehicles,
435 helicopters-
1336
01:26:01,399 --> 01:26:06,233
had begun arriving at An Khe,
a massive base carved out
1337
01:26:06,332 --> 01:26:09,199
of the grasslands at the edge
of the Central Highlands.
1338
01:26:10,733 --> 01:26:14,065
Its heliport would come to be
called the "Golf Course."
1339
01:26:17,733 --> 01:26:21,265
As the 1st Cavalry got used
to its new surroundings,
1340
01:26:21,365 --> 01:26:25,132
thousands of North Vietnamese
regulars were slipping south
1341
01:26:25,233 --> 01:26:28,600
into the Highlands
along the Ho Chi Minh Trail,
1342
01:26:28,699 --> 01:26:32,100
joining Viet Cong units
already in place.
1343
01:26:32,199 --> 01:26:35,533
They established their own
base on and around
1344
01:26:35,632 --> 01:26:38,899
a jumble of thickly
forested mountains and ravines
1345
01:26:39,000 --> 01:26:41,733
south of the Ia Drang River.
1346
01:26:41,832 --> 01:26:44,399
On the evening of October 19,
1347
01:26:44,500 --> 01:26:47,666
communist commandos slipped
to within 40 yards
1348
01:26:47,765 --> 01:26:51,332
of the perimeter wire of
the U.S. Special Forces outpost
1349
01:26:51,432 --> 01:26:52,800
at Plei Me,
1350
01:26:52,899 --> 01:26:57,533
which was defended by a 12-man
team of U.S. Green Berets,
1351
01:26:57,632 --> 01:27:03,500
14 ARVN,
and some 400 mountain tribesmen.
1352
01:27:09,565 --> 01:27:12,265
Nine of the 12 Green Berets
were hit.
1353
01:27:12,365 --> 01:27:15,100
They managed to hold out
for two days
1354
01:27:15,199 --> 01:27:21,600
before 15 more Green Berets and
160 South Vietnamese Rangers
1355
01:27:21,699 --> 01:27:26,265
were helicoptered in,
commanded by Major Charles Beckwith,
1356
01:27:26,365 --> 01:27:30,365
known to his fellow soldiers as Chargin'
Charlie.
1357
01:27:31,466 --> 01:27:32,800
The next day,
1358
01:27:32,899 --> 01:27:35,466
Joe Galloway managed to talk
a helicopter pilot
1359
01:27:35,565 --> 01:27:38,966
into flying him
into the besieged camp.
1360
01:27:39,065 --> 01:27:43,865
That's where I met Major Charles Beckwith.
1361
01:27:43,966 --> 01:27:47,332
He said,
"I need everything in the world.
1362
01:27:47,432 --> 01:27:51,365
"And what has the Army
in its wisdom sent me
1363
01:27:51,466 --> 01:27:54,565
but a godforsaken reporter?"
1364
01:27:54,666 --> 01:27:57,699
He drug me over and showed me
1365
01:27:57,800 --> 01:28:01,565
a 30-caliber air-cooled
machine gun.
1366
01:28:01,666 --> 01:28:04,265
He showed me how to load it,
how to clear a jam.
1367
01:28:04,365 --> 01:28:08,365
"You can shoot the little brown men outside the wire,"
1368
01:28:08,466 --> 01:28:10,365
Beckwith told Galloway.
1369
01:28:10,466 --> 01:28:12,399
"You may not shoot
the little brown men
1370
01:28:12,500 --> 01:28:16,100
inside the wire; they are mine."
1371
01:28:16,199 --> 01:28:18,000
And I'm sitting there thinking,
1372
01:28:18,100 --> 01:28:20,932
"Ah,
I'm a civilian noncombatant."
1373
01:28:21,033 --> 01:28:24,300
I tried that line on Beckwith
and he said,
1374
01:28:24,399 --> 01:28:27,233
"Ain't no such thing in these mountains,
son."
1375
01:28:27,332 --> 01:28:31,432
For nearly a week, the North Vietnamese launched assault
1376
01:28:31,533 --> 01:28:34,166
after assault on Plei Me.
1377
01:28:34,265 --> 01:28:38,365
It was only after American bombs
and napalm
1378
01:28:38,466 --> 01:28:41,565
turned the surrounding terrain
into a moonscape
1379
01:28:41,666 --> 01:28:44,733
that the enemy withdrew.
1380
01:28:44,832 --> 01:28:48,800
What kind of fighters are the Viet Cong that you met here?
1381
01:28:48,899 --> 01:28:54,632
I would give anything to have
200 of them under my command.
1382
01:28:54,733 --> 01:28:56,632
They're the finest soldiers
I've ever seen.
1383
01:28:56,733 --> 01:28:57,932
The Viet Cong.
1384
01:28:58,033 --> 01:28:59,332
That's right.
1385
01:28:59,432 --> 01:29:01,100
They're dedicated,
and they're good soldiers.
1386
01:29:01,199 --> 01:29:02,632
They're the best
I've ever seen.
1387
01:29:05,600 --> 01:29:08,600
Despite the losses his men had suffered at Plei Me,
1388
01:29:08,699 --> 01:29:12,033
the North Vietnamese commander,
General Chu Huy Man,
1389
01:29:12,132 --> 01:29:14,033
was eager for another
confrontation
1390
01:29:14,132 --> 01:29:15,899
with the Americans.
1391
01:29:16,000 --> 01:29:19,466
He was determined to
learn how to fight them.
1392
01:29:19,565 --> 01:29:22,865
Reinforcements streaming down
the Ho Chi Minh Trail
1393
01:29:22,966 --> 01:29:25,065
to the Ia Drang Valley included
1394
01:29:25,166 --> 01:29:29,300
a newly minted second lieutenant,
Lo Khac Tam,
1395
01:29:29,399 --> 01:29:32,565
who had volunteered to fight
in the South.
1396
01:29:54,100 --> 01:29:56,966
On the morning of November 14, 1965,
1397
01:29:57,065 --> 01:30:01,199
1st Cavalry helicopters
belonging to the 1st Battalion
1398
01:30:01,300 --> 01:30:03,399
of the 7th Regiment-
1399
01:30:03,500 --> 01:30:06,300
George Armstrong Custer's
old outfit-
1400
01:30:06,399 --> 01:30:10,033
flew west along the Ia Drang
toward the Chu Pong Massif,
1401
01:30:10,132 --> 01:30:12,033
looking for the enemy.
1402
01:30:14,199 --> 01:30:17,466
Their commander,
Kentucky-born Korean-War veteran
1403
01:30:17,565 --> 01:30:19,666
Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore,
1404
01:30:19,765 --> 01:30:22,399
had been told there was
a large enemy base camp
1405
01:30:22,500 --> 01:30:24,300
somewhere on its slopes.
1406
01:30:24,399 --> 01:30:28,132
His orders were to take his
understrength outfit-
1407
01:30:28,233 --> 01:30:34,733
29 officers and just 411 men-
find the enemy and kill him.
1408
01:30:34,832 --> 01:30:38,800
There were two clearings large
enough for Moore to bring in
1409
01:30:38,899 --> 01:30:40,800
eight choppers at once.
1410
01:30:40,899 --> 01:30:45,832
He chose the one closest to the mountain-
Landing Zone X-Ray.
1411
01:30:49,399 --> 01:30:52,800
Moore made a point of leading
from the front.
1412
01:30:52,899 --> 01:30:55,600
He was the first man
off the first chopper.
1413
01:31:00,132 --> 01:31:04,533
He sent four six-man squads
100 yards in every direction.
1414
01:31:04,632 --> 01:31:07,399
The Ia Drang Valley
was so beautiful,
1415
01:31:07,500 --> 01:31:09,533
one soldier remembered,
1416
01:31:09,632 --> 01:31:12,699
it reminded him of
a national park back home.
1417
01:31:12,800 --> 01:31:17,033
Within minutes,
Moore's men captured a deserter.
1418
01:31:17,132 --> 01:31:18,565
Terrified and trembling,
1419
01:31:18,666 --> 01:31:21,466
he said there were three
battalions of soldiers
1420
01:31:21,565 --> 01:31:25,100
on the mountain- 1,600 men.
1421
01:31:25,199 --> 01:31:28,000
They wanted very much to kill Americans,
he said,
1422
01:31:28,100 --> 01:31:31,765
but so far had been
unable to find any.
1423
01:31:31,865 --> 01:31:34,800
Moore quickly set up
a command post
1424
01:31:34,899 --> 01:31:39,166
behind one of the huge termite
mounds that dotted the clearing.
1425
01:31:39,265 --> 01:31:41,432
It would take until
mid-afternoon
1426
01:31:41,533 --> 01:31:44,966
for all of his
men to be ferried in.
1427
01:31:46,132 --> 01:31:48,033
He had no time to waste.
1428
01:31:48,132 --> 01:31:50,565
"We needed to get off
the landing zone
1429
01:31:50,666 --> 01:31:54,765
and get at them before they could hit us,"
Moore remembered.
1430
01:31:54,865 --> 01:31:58,832
He sent two companies up the
slope toward the hidden enemy.
1431
01:31:58,932 --> 01:32:02,632
Most of the North Vietnamese,
like the Americans,
1432
01:32:02,733 --> 01:32:04,365
were new to combat.
1433
01:32:05,832 --> 01:32:08,100
They were ordered
to fix bayonets.
1434
01:32:10,233 --> 01:32:11,932
LO KHAC TAM:
1435
01:32:22,800 --> 01:32:25,600
Colonel Moore had no way of knowing
1436
01:32:25,699 --> 01:32:29,100
that instead of 1,600
enemy soldiers on the mountain,
1437
01:32:29,199 --> 01:32:34,865
there were 3,000-
seven times his strength.
1438
01:32:49,132 --> 01:32:51,800
Within minutes,
the Americans found themselves
1439
01:32:51,899 --> 01:32:56,332
under attack from hundreds
of North Vietnamese soldiers.
1440
01:32:56,432 --> 01:32:59,932
In the fighting,
an overeager second lieutenant
1441
01:33:00,033 --> 01:33:03,065
led his platoon of 28 men
too far away
1442
01:33:03,166 --> 01:33:06,565
from the rest of his company
and was surrounded.
1443
01:33:09,166 --> 01:33:10,765
The lieutenant was killed.
1444
01:33:10,865 --> 01:33:15,033
The sergeant who took his place
was shot through the head.
1445
01:33:15,132 --> 01:33:19,666
By late afternoon,
only seven of the trapped platoon's men
1446
01:33:19,765 --> 01:33:23,065
were still capable
of firing back.
1447
01:33:31,699 --> 01:33:36,332
Moore was now engaged in
three simultaneous struggles-
1448
01:33:36,432 --> 01:33:40,432
to defend the landing zone,
attack the North Vietnamese,
1449
01:33:40,533 --> 01:33:44,399
and find a way to rescue
his trapped patrol.
1450
01:33:47,332 --> 01:33:51,466
That night,
Joe Galloway again managed to talk his way
1451
01:33:51,565 --> 01:33:54,300
onto a chopper taking ammunition
and water
1452
01:33:54,399 --> 01:33:56,199
to the besieged Americans.
1453
01:33:56,300 --> 01:33:59,432
As the helicopter approached
the battlefield,
1454
01:33:59,533 --> 01:34:02,065
Galloway was sitting
on a crate of grenades,
1455
01:34:02,166 --> 01:34:05,432
peering out into the darkness.
1456
01:34:05,533 --> 01:34:10,500
And I could see these little pin pricks of light
1457
01:34:10,600 --> 01:34:13,166
coming down the mountain.
1458
01:34:13,265 --> 01:34:18,065
This was the enemy approaching
for the next day's attacks.
1459
01:34:19,666 --> 01:34:22,432
We flew in there.
1460
01:34:22,533 --> 01:34:26,699
As they pulled on out,
it was dead dark.
1461
01:34:26,800 --> 01:34:29,966
And we're lying there waiting
for someone to come tell us
1462
01:34:30,065 --> 01:34:31,332
what to do.
1463
01:34:34,466 --> 01:34:39,365
And the next morning,
all of a sudden the bottom fell out.
1464
01:34:43,699 --> 01:34:47,733
There was an explosion of fire.
1465
01:34:49,166 --> 01:34:53,666
The noise is horrendous,
unimaginable.
1466
01:35:05,966 --> 01:35:08,733
And in the middle of all of this,
you know,
1467
01:35:08,832 --> 01:35:11,600
I-I just flattened out
on the ground
1468
01:35:11,699 --> 01:35:15,865
because all that was being fired
seemed to be about two,
1469
01:35:15,966 --> 01:35:19,265
two-and-a-half feet
off the ground.
1470
01:35:26,265 --> 01:35:29,033
Hundreds of enemy soldiers hurled themselves
1471
01:35:29,132 --> 01:35:30,432
at the Americans.
1472
01:35:31,932 --> 01:35:35,699
They wore webbed helmets
camouflaged with grass,
1473
01:35:35,800 --> 01:35:40,632
and as they came,
blowing whistles, screaming,
1474
01:35:40,733 --> 01:35:44,932
they looked like "little trees,"
one American remembered.
1475
01:35:45,033 --> 01:35:47,733
They were trying to overrun us.
1476
01:35:47,832 --> 01:35:50,065
And they came close.
1477
01:35:50,166 --> 01:35:52,365
They came close.
1478
01:36:08,332 --> 01:36:11,699
But we had two things
going for us.
1479
01:36:13,033 --> 01:36:16,432
We had a great commander
and great soldiers.
1480
01:36:16,533 --> 01:36:23,033
And we had air and artillery
support out the yin-yang.
1481
01:36:23,132 --> 01:36:25,800
We had it, and they didn't.
1482
01:36:29,765 --> 01:36:34,500
But using that air and artillery support could be dangerous.
1483
01:36:34,600 --> 01:36:38,533
Each of Moore's units carefully
marked its position with smoke
1484
01:36:38,632 --> 01:36:41,533
to keep from being mistaken
for the enemy
1485
01:36:41,632 --> 01:36:43,899
by American airmen overhead.
1486
01:36:46,832 --> 01:36:48,265
LO KHAC TAM:
1487
01:36:55,432 --> 01:36:59,432
Some 18,000 artillery shells would be called in
1488
01:36:59,533 --> 01:37:00,800
over the course of the battle,
1489
01:37:00,899 --> 01:37:05,865
some of them landing just
25 yards from Moore's own men.
1490
01:37:05,966 --> 01:37:11,432
Helicopter gunships fired 3,000
rockets into the enemy.
1491
01:37:11,533 --> 01:37:13,966
The forward air controller
1492
01:37:14,065 --> 01:37:17,600
called for every available
aircraft in South Vietnam
1493
01:37:17,699 --> 01:37:19,166
to come and help.
1494
01:37:19,265 --> 01:37:24,733
Warplanes,
including B-52 long-range strategic bombers,
1495
01:37:24,832 --> 01:37:28,966
were stacked at 1,000-foot
intervals above the battlefield,
1496
01:37:29,065 --> 01:37:32,199
from 7,000 to 35,000 feet,
1497
01:37:32,300 --> 01:37:36,733
impatiently awaiting targets
to strafe or bomb or burn.
1498
01:37:39,065 --> 01:37:43,733
"By God," Moore said,
"they sent us over here to kill communists
1499
01:37:43,832 --> 01:37:45,332
and that's what we're doing."
1500
01:37:51,500 --> 01:37:53,199
I looked up...
1501
01:37:55,065 --> 01:38:02,365
and there were two jets aiming
directly at our command post.
1502
01:38:02,466 --> 01:38:08,600
He's dropped two cans of napalm
and it's coming toward us,
1503
01:38:08,699 --> 01:38:12,632
loblolly, end over end.
1504
01:38:12,733 --> 01:38:17,432
And these kids, two or three of 'em,
plus a sergeant,
1505
01:38:17,533 --> 01:38:21,765
had dug a hole or two
over on the edge.
1506
01:38:21,865 --> 01:38:26,800
And I looked as the thing
exploded...
1507
01:38:30,932 --> 01:38:35,500
And two of them
were dancing in that fire.
1508
01:38:35,600 --> 01:38:39,432
And there's a rush, a roar,
1509
01:38:39,533 --> 01:38:43,600
from the air that's
being consumed
1510
01:38:43,699 --> 01:38:49,632
and drawn in as this-this
hell come to earth
1511
01:38:49,733 --> 01:38:51,399
is burning there.
1512
01:38:51,500 --> 01:38:56,666
And as that dies back a little,
then you can hear the screams.
1513
01:38:58,865 --> 01:39:03,800
And someone yells,
"Get this man's feet."
1514
01:39:03,899 --> 01:39:10,765
And I reach down
and the boots crumble,
1515
01:39:10,865 --> 01:39:14,966
and the flesh is cooked off
of his ankles.
1516
01:39:15,065 --> 01:39:19,166
And I feel those bones
in the palms of my hands.
1517
01:39:19,265 --> 01:39:21,966
I can feel it now.
1518
01:39:23,365 --> 01:39:25,966
He died two days later.
1519
01:39:26,065 --> 01:39:30,399
A kid named Jim Nakayama out of Rigby,
Idaho.
1520
01:39:45,033 --> 01:39:47,600
By 10:00 that morning,
1521
01:39:47,699 --> 01:39:51,365
American airpower had beaten
back the enemy assault.
1522
01:39:52,733 --> 01:39:54,865
The survivors
from the trapped platoon
1523
01:39:54,966 --> 01:39:57,000
were rescued that afternoon.
1524
01:39:57,100 --> 01:40:00,865
They had been pinned to the
ground and under fire
1525
01:40:00,966 --> 01:40:03,733
for so long
that they had to be coaxed
1526
01:40:03,832 --> 01:40:06,065
into getting to their feet
again.
1527
01:40:12,699 --> 01:40:14,733
On the morning of the next day,
1528
01:40:14,832 --> 01:40:18,199
enemy soldiers hurled themselves
against the same sector
1529
01:40:18,300 --> 01:40:21,399
of Moore's line four more times
1530
01:40:21,500 --> 01:40:24,899
and were obliterated by
artillery and machine gun fire.
1531
01:40:27,100 --> 01:40:29,865
The surviving North Vietnamese
and Viet Cong
1532
01:40:29,966 --> 01:40:31,966
withdrew into the forest,
1533
01:40:32,065 --> 01:40:34,932
leaving behind a ghastly ring
of their dead
1534
01:40:35,033 --> 01:40:36,832
surrounding the landing zone-
1535
01:40:36,932 --> 01:40:43,265
634 corpses, shot, blasted,
blackened by fire.
1536
01:40:46,832 --> 01:40:50,432
LO KHAC TAM:
1537
01:41:08,966 --> 01:41:11,865
After three days and two nights of combat,
1538
01:41:11,966 --> 01:41:15,132
helicopters began lifting out
the American survivors
1539
01:41:15,233 --> 01:41:18,100
and gathering up the dead.
1540
01:41:18,199 --> 01:41:19,865
When you look at them,
1541
01:41:19,966 --> 01:41:23,100
it doesn't even resemble
a human body.
1542
01:41:23,199 --> 01:41:26,365
It just,
it looks just like a mannequin.
1543
01:41:26,466 --> 01:41:29,332
You look at them and say,
"That couldn't happen to me."
1544
01:41:32,166 --> 01:41:35,166
I saw them fight at Ia Drang.
1545
01:41:35,265 --> 01:41:38,265
It always galls me
when I read or hear
1546
01:41:38,365 --> 01:41:40,466
about the World War II
generation
1547
01:41:40,565 --> 01:41:42,365
as the greatest generation.
1548
01:41:42,466 --> 01:41:45,399
These kids were just as gallant
and as courageous
1549
01:41:45,500 --> 01:41:47,699
as anybody who fought
in World War II.
1550
01:41:49,300 --> 01:41:52,100
Seventy-nine of Hal Moore's men lost their lives
1551
01:41:52,199 --> 01:41:55,632
at Landing Zone X-Ray
in the Ia Drang Valley
1552
01:41:55,733 --> 01:42:01,033
and another 121 were wounded.
1553
01:42:01,132 --> 01:42:04,500
Please convey
to the American people
1554
01:42:04,600 --> 01:42:08,733
what a tremendous fighting man
we have here.
1555
01:42:08,832 --> 01:42:14,199
He's courageous,
he's aggressive, and he's kind.
1556
01:42:14,300 --> 01:42:18,065
And he'll go where
you tell him to go.
1557
01:42:18,166 --> 01:42:20,666
And he's got self-discipline.
1558
01:42:20,765 --> 01:42:24,033
And he's got good unit
discipline.
1559
01:42:24,132 --> 01:42:26,332
He's just
an outstanding man.
1560
01:42:26,432 --> 01:42:27,932
And...
1561
01:42:29,432 --> 01:42:32,399
Having commanded this battalion
for 18 months...
1562
01:42:35,100 --> 01:42:36,966
You must excuse my emotion here,
1563
01:42:37,065 --> 01:42:42,600
but when I see some of these men
go out the way they have...
1564
01:42:50,332 --> 01:42:52,365
I haven't...
1565
01:42:52,466 --> 01:42:54,765
I can't tell you how highly
I feel for them.
1566
01:42:54,865 --> 01:42:57,500
They're tremendous.
1567
01:42:57,600 --> 01:42:59,865
Hal Moore refused to leave
1568
01:42:59,966 --> 01:43:04,600
until every single man in his
command had been accounted for.
1569
01:43:04,699 --> 01:43:09,800
He had been the first of his men
to step onto Landing Zone X-Ray,
1570
01:43:09,899 --> 01:43:13,166
and he made sure he was
the last to leave it.
1571
01:43:21,199 --> 01:43:26,800
LO KHAC TAM:
1572
01:43:50,100 --> 01:43:52,699
The North Vietnamese suffered terrible losses
1573
01:43:52,800 --> 01:43:54,233
in the Ia Drang Valley
1574
01:43:54,332 --> 01:43:58,000
and many of the survivors
were traumatized.
1575
01:43:58,100 --> 01:44:01,800
"The units were enveloped
in an atmosphere of gloom,"
1576
01:44:01,899 --> 01:44:03,865
a North Vietnamese colonel
remembered.
1577
01:44:03,966 --> 01:44:08,265
Some men would not leave
their rope hammocks.
1578
01:44:08,365 --> 01:44:10,300
Some refused to wash.
1579
01:44:10,399 --> 01:44:15,600
One soldier wrote a poem
expressive of their plight:
1580
01:44:15,699 --> 01:44:18,365
"The crab lies still
on the chopping block
1581
01:44:18,466 --> 01:44:22,500
Never knowing when the knife
will fall."
1582
01:44:28,233 --> 01:44:33,932
In the Ia Drang we killed ten of them for every one of us.
1583
01:44:35,600 --> 01:44:39,733
That's a ten-to-one kill ratio
is how the military puts that.
1584
01:44:43,132 --> 01:44:49,500
But the enemy,
he was fully prepared to pay that price
1585
01:44:49,600 --> 01:44:53,966
and more for the value
of the lessons he learned.
1586
01:44:55,666 --> 01:44:57,966
LO KHAC TAM:
1587
01:45:09,765 --> 01:45:12,800
Grab 'em by the belt buckle.
1588
01:45:12,899 --> 01:45:16,233
That means you've got to get
so close,
1589
01:45:16,332 --> 01:45:22,865
they can't use the artillery and
the aerial bombardments on you
1590
01:45:22,966 --> 01:45:25,399
for fear of killing their own.
1591
01:45:25,500 --> 01:45:30,332
Get in so close
that it's man-on-man.
1592
01:45:30,432 --> 01:45:33,500
And then everything is even.
1593
01:45:34,733 --> 01:45:38,166
The Vietnamese suffered hundreds
of dead
1594
01:45:38,265 --> 01:45:41,100
attacking Hal Moore's battalion
at LZ X-Ray.
1595
01:45:41,199 --> 01:45:46,932
But then they ambushed another
battalion a couple of days later
1596
01:45:47,033 --> 01:45:50,199
and wiped it out.
1597
01:45:50,300 --> 01:45:52,865
In the fighting near Landing Zone Albany,
1598
01:45:52,966 --> 01:45:56,865
the enemy had gotten too close
for artillery to be called in.
1599
01:45:58,300 --> 01:46:04,600
Out of some 425 Americans involved,
155 were killed.
1600
01:46:04,699 --> 01:46:09,300
124 more were wounded.
1601
01:46:09,399 --> 01:46:14,233
Both sides claimed victory
in the Ia Drang Valley.
1602
01:46:14,332 --> 01:46:17,065
The Americans talked up
the number of enemy dead
1603
01:46:17,166 --> 01:46:18,765
at Landing Zone X-Ray.
1604
01:46:18,865 --> 01:46:21,000
The ratio of losses
to your kill...
1605
01:46:22,500 --> 01:46:24,533
The North Vietnamese took their lessons
1606
01:46:24,632 --> 01:46:26,765
from Landing Zone Albany.
1607
01:46:34,000 --> 01:46:36,300
I don't anticipate
1608
01:46:36,399 --> 01:46:41,800
that this conflict will end
any time soon,
1609
01:46:41,899 --> 01:46:46,466
and we could find that we have
more difficult days ahead.
1610
01:46:46,565 --> 01:46:49,365
Certainly we must be
prepared for this.
1611
01:46:57,100 --> 01:47:02,000
In the fall of my senior year, November 1965,
1612
01:47:02,100 --> 01:47:05,432
was that huge battle
at the Ia Drang Valley,
1613
01:47:05,533 --> 01:47:08,432
which was the first time
there was actually confirmed
1614
01:47:08,533 --> 01:47:10,932
North Vietnamese regular
soldiers as opposed
1615
01:47:11,033 --> 01:47:12,666
to Viet Cong.
1616
01:47:12,765 --> 01:47:15,666
And of course my way of
interpreting that was,
1617
01:47:15,765 --> 01:47:17,265
"There it is, that's the proof.
1618
01:47:17,365 --> 01:47:19,265
The North Vietnamese
are the aggressors here."
1619
01:47:19,365 --> 01:47:23,765
And that's when I began thinking
in terms of
1620
01:47:23,865 --> 01:47:26,265
maybe I don't want to go
to college right away.
1621
01:47:26,365 --> 01:47:29,565
Maybe I'll join the Marines.
1622
01:47:29,666 --> 01:47:30,733
And it was always the Marines.
1623
01:47:30,832 --> 01:47:32,565
I never...
there was no question.
1624
01:47:32,666 --> 01:47:34,233
The Marine Corps is full
of little guys like me
1625
01:47:34,332 --> 01:47:35,500
with chips on our shoulder.
1626
01:47:37,132 --> 01:47:39,466
McGUIRE: 𝄞 The eastern world, it is explodin'. 𝄞
1627
01:47:39,565 --> 01:47:42,466
The battles in the Ia Drang Valley may have been declared
1628
01:47:42,565 --> 01:47:46,733
American victories, but privately,
General Westmoreland
1629
01:47:46,832 --> 01:47:50,000
and the Johnson administration
were worried.
1630
01:47:50,100 --> 01:47:53,600
In spite of the Americans'
new airborne mobility,
1631
01:47:53,699 --> 01:47:56,132
the enemy had been able
to choose
1632
01:47:56,233 --> 01:47:58,932
the place and time of battle.
1633
01:47:59,033 --> 01:48:02,600
The intelligence on which
basic decisions had been made
1634
01:48:02,699 --> 01:48:07,033
in Washington
had been uniformly bad.
1635
01:48:07,132 --> 01:48:10,166
There were now believed to be
12 Viet Cong regiments
1636
01:48:10,265 --> 01:48:13,000
in South Vietnam, not just five;
1637
01:48:13,100 --> 01:48:16,466
nine North Vietnamese regiments,
not three.
1638
01:48:17,666 --> 01:48:19,466
Despite months of bombing,
1639
01:48:19,565 --> 01:48:22,300
three times as many North
Vietnamese regulars
1640
01:48:22,399 --> 01:48:25,932
were now slipping south
of the demilitarized zone
1641
01:48:26,033 --> 01:48:28,365
as originally believed.
1642
01:48:28,466 --> 01:48:32,666
Hanoi seemed to be escalating,
too.
1643
01:48:32,765 --> 01:48:36,865
And American casualties
were climbing.
1644
01:48:36,966 --> 01:48:40,132
When Senator Fritz Hollings
visited Saigon
1645
01:48:40,233 --> 01:48:42,666
shortly after
the Ia Drang battles,
1646
01:48:42,765 --> 01:48:46,432
General Westmoreland told him,
"We're killing these people
1647
01:48:46,533 --> 01:48:48,765
at a rate of ten to one."
1648
01:48:48,865 --> 01:48:50,199
Hollings warned him,
1649
01:48:50,300 --> 01:48:53,865
"Westy,
the American people don't care about the ten.
1650
01:48:53,966 --> 01:48:56,033
They care about the one."
1651
01:48:57,932 --> 01:49:00,666
Westmoreland,
who had said he could win the war
1652
01:49:00,765 --> 01:49:04,800
in three years,
now sent an urgent cable to Washington
1653
01:49:04,899 --> 01:49:07,765
asking for 200,000 more troops.
1654
01:49:07,865 --> 01:49:09,865
McGUIRE:
𝄞 Yeah, my blood's so mad...
1655
01:49:09,966 --> 01:49:12,533
"The message came as a shattering blow,"
1656
01:49:12,632 --> 01:49:14,765
Robert McNamara remembered.
1657
01:49:14,865 --> 01:49:19,865
Once again,
he offered Johnson two options:
1658
01:49:19,966 --> 01:49:23,166
try to negotiate a compromise
with Hanoi,
1659
01:49:23,265 --> 01:49:26,865
or accede to Westmoreland's
request for more men,
1660
01:49:26,966 --> 01:49:30,233
though the chances of victory,
the secretary of defense said,
1661
01:49:30,332 --> 01:49:34,432
might be no better
than one in three.
1662
01:49:34,533 --> 01:49:37,166
And then they all sat down
1663
01:49:37,265 --> 01:49:40,132
and voted for option two.
1664
01:49:40,233 --> 01:49:42,166
McGUIRE:
𝄞 Over and over and over...
1665
01:49:42,265 --> 01:49:46,332
My bitterness about the political powers at the time
1666
01:49:46,432 --> 01:49:51,332
was, first of all, the lying.
1667
01:49:51,432 --> 01:49:54,800
I mean,
I can understand a policy error
1668
01:49:54,899 --> 01:49:57,500
that is incredibly,
incredibly painful
1669
01:49:57,600 --> 01:49:59,565
and kills a lot of people
out of a mistake
1670
01:49:59,666 --> 01:50:02,765
if they made that
with noble hearts.
1671
01:50:02,865 --> 01:50:05,233
That was, you know,
when Eisenhower and Kennedy
1672
01:50:05,332 --> 01:50:07,899
were trying to figure
things out.
1673
01:50:08,000 --> 01:50:12,233
And you read that, you know,
McNamara knew by '65-
1674
01:50:12,332 --> 01:50:14,132
it was just three years
before I was there-
1675
01:50:14,233 --> 01:50:15,466
that the war was unwinnable.
1676
01:50:15,565 --> 01:50:17,365
That's what makes me mad.
1677
01:50:17,466 --> 01:50:19,666
Making a mistake,
people can do that.
1678
01:50:19,765 --> 01:50:21,432
But covering up mistakes,
1679
01:50:21,533 --> 01:50:25,699
then you're killing people
for your own ego.
1680
01:50:25,800 --> 01:50:28,966
And that makes me mad.
1681
01:50:31,100 --> 01:50:32,600
Tens of thousands of American troops
1682
01:50:32,699 --> 01:50:36,500
continued to prepare
to deploy to Vietnam
1683
01:50:36,600 --> 01:50:37,699
from all over the country,
1684
01:50:37,800 --> 01:50:41,233
and General Westmoreland
and his commanders
1685
01:50:41,332 --> 01:50:43,432
drew up plans
for major offensives
1686
01:50:43,533 --> 01:50:46,699
in the new year of 1966.
1687
01:50:50,500 --> 01:50:54,000
Meanwhile,
hoping the Soviets might help bring Hanoi
1688
01:50:54,100 --> 01:50:57,966
to the bargaining table,
McNamara urged the president
1689
01:50:58,065 --> 01:51:02,300
to declare a halt to the bombing
of North Vietnam.
1690
01:51:02,399 --> 01:51:04,932
Over the objections
of the military,
1691
01:51:05,033 --> 01:51:07,699
who worried it would give
the enemy time to rebuild
1692
01:51:07,800 --> 01:51:12,065
its defenses,
Johnson agreed to stop the bombing
1693
01:51:12,166 --> 01:51:14,899
on Christmas Eve.
1694
01:51:15,000 --> 01:51:17,132
If it achieved nothing else,
he said,
1695
01:51:17,233 --> 01:51:19,432
it would show the American
people
1696
01:51:19,533 --> 01:51:22,865
that before he committed more
of their sons to battle,
1697
01:51:22,966 --> 01:51:26,000
"We have gone
the last mile."
1698
01:51:31,365 --> 01:51:36,832
Well, Christmas always meant a great deal in our family.
1699
01:51:36,932 --> 01:51:41,332
We sent packages to Denton,
of course.
1700
01:51:41,432 --> 01:51:43,500
Then a neighbor mentioned to me
1701
01:51:43,600 --> 01:51:48,033
that she heard a local
television station was offering
1702
01:51:48,132 --> 01:51:51,932
free tapes to be made to send
to a soldier overseas.
1703
01:51:52,033 --> 01:51:56,699
We dressed up for the cameras.
1704
01:51:56,800 --> 01:51:59,533
The idea was that we would each
just say something
1705
01:51:59,632 --> 01:52:02,865
about what we were doing
and wish him well.
1706
01:52:05,033 --> 01:52:07,533
It was a horrible day for me.
1707
01:52:07,632 --> 01:52:12,565
It made it so real that he was
far away.
1708
01:52:12,666 --> 01:52:15,932
Well, Mogie, here we are.
1709
01:52:16,033 --> 01:52:19,733
It's...
let's see what day is today.
1710
01:52:19,832 --> 01:52:21,033
Here it is, Saturday...
1711
01:52:21,132 --> 01:52:22,100
November 13.
1712
01:52:22,199 --> 01:52:24,300
November 13,
1713
01:52:24,399 --> 01:52:29,466
and station WTEN has given
us a chance to talk to you.
1714
01:52:29,565 --> 01:52:32,000
We all wish you
a Merry Christmas
1715
01:52:32,100 --> 01:52:33,332
to start out with.
1716
01:52:34,765 --> 01:52:37,100
Rand,
what do you got to say to Mogie?
1717
01:52:37,199 --> 01:52:38,466
Merry Christmas.
1718
01:52:38,565 --> 01:52:39,600
Merry Christmas.
1719
01:52:41,500 --> 01:52:42,733
Merry Christmas, darling.
1720
01:52:42,832 --> 01:52:44,100
We sent your packages
1721
01:52:44,199 --> 01:52:45,966
and there's one that's waiting
for you at home.
1722
01:52:46,065 --> 01:52:47,666
It's a record of fife
and drum music
1723
01:52:47,765 --> 01:52:50,365
that we got for you
at Williamsburg.
1724
01:52:50,466 --> 01:52:51,265
Candy?
1725
01:52:53,265 --> 01:52:59,000
My teacher isn't very nice,
and she always is crabby,
1726
01:52:59,100 --> 01:53:01,565
and I don't like school at all.
1727
01:53:01,666 --> 01:53:03,600
Now I'm a brownie.
1728
01:53:03,699 --> 01:53:05,265
Merry Christmas.
1729
01:53:06,765 --> 01:53:08,033
Happy Christmas, Mogie.
1730
01:53:08,132 --> 01:53:09,899
I think I'm getting
new skis for Christmas.
1731
01:53:10,000 --> 01:53:12,033
So when you get home,
we can get together sometime.
1732
01:53:12,132 --> 01:53:15,600
We do all wish you
a very Merry Christmas,
1733
01:53:15,699 --> 01:53:17,899
and we'll be thinking
of you on Christmas Day.
1734
01:53:20,800 --> 01:53:22,500
We miss you, sweetheart.
1735
01:53:24,600 --> 01:53:28,666
𝄞 Me and my drum.
1736
01:53:48,000 --> 01:53:52,632
𝄞 To everything,
turn, turn, turn 𝄞
1737
01:53:52,733 --> 01:53:57,399
𝄞 There is a season,
turn, turn, turn 𝄞
1738
01:53:57,500 --> 01:54:03,565
𝄞 And a time to every purpose
under heaven 𝄞
1739
01:54:05,399 --> 01:54:10,233
𝄞 A time to be born,
a time to die 𝄞
1740
01:54:10,332 --> 01:54:12,800
𝄞 A time to plant,
a time to reap 𝄞
1741
01:54:12,899 --> 01:54:16,666
𝄞 A time to kill,
a time to heal 𝄞
1742
01:54:16,765 --> 01:54:24,100
𝄞 A time to laugh,
a time to weep 𝄞
1743
01:54:24,199 --> 01:54:29,399
𝄞 To everything,
turn, turn, turn 𝄞
1744
01:54:29,500 --> 01:54:34,666
𝄞 There is a season,
turn, turn, turn 𝄞
1745
01:54:34,765 --> 01:54:40,300
𝄞 And a time to every purpose
under heaven 𝄞
1746
01:54:42,100 --> 01:54:45,800
𝄞 A time to build up,
a time to break down 𝄞
1747
01:54:45,899 --> 01:54:50,432
𝄞 A time to dance,
a time to mourn 𝄞
1748
01:54:50,533 --> 01:54:53,899
𝄞 A time to cast away stones
1749
01:54:54,000 --> 01:54:59,832
𝄞 A time to gather
stones together 𝄞
1750
01:55:01,632 --> 01:55:06,832
𝄞 To everything,
turn, turn, turn 𝄞
1751
01:55:06,932 --> 01:55:12,033
𝄞 There is a season,
turn, turn, turn 𝄞
1752
01:55:12,132 --> 01:55:17,632
𝄞 And a time to every purpose
under heaven 𝄞
1753
01:55:19,632 --> 01:55:23,233
𝄞 A time of love,
a time of hate 𝄞
1754
01:55:23,332 --> 01:55:28,466
𝄞 A time of war,
a time of peace 𝄞
1755
01:55:28,565 --> 01:55:31,265
𝄞 A time you may embrace
1756
01:55:31,365 --> 01:55:37,600
𝄞 A time to refrain
from embracing 𝄞
1757
01:55:39,132 --> 01:55:43,899
𝄞 To everything,
turn, turn, turn 𝄞
1758
01:55:44,000 --> 01:55:49,065
𝄞 There is a season,
turn, turn, turn 𝄞
1759
01:55:49,166 --> 01:55:55,065
𝄞 And a time to every purpose
under heaven 𝄞
1760
01:55:57,233 --> 01:56:00,733
𝄞 A time to gain,
a time to lose 𝄞
1761
01:56:00,832 --> 01:56:04,800
𝄞 A time to rend,
a time to sew 𝄞
1762
01:56:04,899 --> 01:56:08,832
𝄞 A time for love,
a time for hate 𝄞
1763
01:56:08,932 --> 01:56:22,466
𝄞 A time for peace, I swear it's not too late.
𝄞
1764
01:56:23,533 --> 01:56:24,533
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE FILM
1765
01:56:24,733 --> 01:56:27,400
AND FIND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES AT PBS.
ORG/VIETNAMWAR
1766
01:56:27,600 --> 01:56:31,533
AND JOIN THE CONVERSATION
USING HASHTAG VIETNAMWARPBS.
1767
01:56:31,733 --> 01:56:33,099
"THE VIETNAM WAR" IS AVAILABLE
1768
01:56:33,299 --> 01:56:34,466
ON BLU-RAY
AND DVD.
1769
01:56:34,666 --> 01:56:36,132
THE COMPANION BOOK,
SOUNDTRACK,
1770
01:56:36,332 --> 01:56:37,733
AND ORIGINAL SCORE
FROM THE FILM
1771
01:56:37,933 --> 01:56:38,665
ARE ALSO
AVAILABLE.
1772
01:56:38,865 --> 01:56:41,048
TO ORDER, VISIT SHOPPBS.
ORG
1773
01:56:41,248 --> 01:56:43,232
OR CALL
1-800-PLAY-PBS.
1774
01:56:43,432 --> 01:56:44,599
EPISODES OF
THIS SERIES ALSO
1775
01:56:44,799 --> 01:56:45,966
AVAILABLE
FOR DOWNLOAD
1776
01:56:46,166 --> 01:56:47,065
FROM iTUNES.
1777
01:56:50,332 --> 01:56:52,266
BANK OF AMERICA PROUDLY SUPPORTS
1778
01:56:52,466 --> 01:56:56,015
KEN BURNS' AND LYNN NOVICK'S
FILM "THE VIETNAM WAR"
1779
01:56:56,215 --> 01:56:59,565
BECAUSE FOSTERING
DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES
1780
01:56:59,765 --> 01:57:02,432
AND CIVIL DISCOURSE
AROUND IMPORTANT ISSUES
1781
01:57:02,632 --> 01:57:04,533
FURTHERS PROGRESS, EQUALITY,
1782
01:57:04,733 --> 01:57:06,733
AND A MORE CONNECTED SOCIETY.
1783
01:57:11,199 --> 01:57:15,233
GO TO BANKOFAMERICA.
COM/ BETTERCONNECTED TO LEARN MORE.
1784
01:57:18,699 --> 01:57:19,932
MAJOR SUPPORT FOR "THE VIETNAM WAR"
1785
01:57:20,132 --> 01:57:23,632
WAS PROVIDED BY MEMBERS
OF THE BETTER ANGELS SOCIETY,
1786
01:57:23,832 --> 01:57:27,600
INCLUDING JONATHAN
AND JEANNIE LAVINE,
1787
01:57:27,800 --> 01:57:30,249
DIANE AND HAL BRIERLEY,
1788
01:57:30,449 --> 01:57:32,699
AMY AND DAVID ABRAMS,
1789
01:57:32,899 --> 01:57:35,199
JOHN AND CATHERINE DEBS,
1790
01:57:35,399 --> 01:57:38,300
THE FULLERTON FAMILY
CHARITABLE FUND,
1791
01:57:38,500 --> 01:57:40,165
THE MONTRONE FAMILY,
1792
01:57:40,365 --> 01:57:42,499
LYNDA AND STEWART RESNICK,
1793
01:57:42,699 --> 01:57:45,466
THE PERRY AND DONNA GOLKIN
FAMILY FOUNDATION,
1794
01:57:45,666 --> 01:57:46,266
THE LYNCH FOUNDATION,
1795
01:57:46,466 --> 01:57:49,332
THE ROGER AND ROSEMARY
ENRICO FOUNDATION,
1796
01:57:49,532 --> 01:57:51,999
AND BY THESE ADDITIONAL FUNDERS.
1797
01:57:52,199 --> 01:57:54,666
MAJOR FUNDING WAS ALSO PROVIDED
1798
01:57:54,866 --> 01:57:56,399
BY DAVID H. KOCH...
1799
01:57:58,699 --> 01:58:00,966
THE BLAVATNIK
FAMILY FOUNDATION...
1800
01:58:03,300 --> 01:58:05,533
THE PARK FOUNDATION,
1801
01:58:05,733 --> 01:58:07,899
THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT
FOR THE HUMANITIES,
1802
01:58:08,099 --> 01:58:09,900
THE PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS,
1803
01:58:10,100 --> 01:58:12,765
THE JOHN S. AND JAMES L.
KNIGHT FOUNDATION,
1804
01:58:12,965 --> 01:58:15,333
THE ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION,
1805
01:58:15,533 --> 01:58:17,832
THE ARTHUR VINING DAVIS
FOUNDATIONS,
1806
01:58:18,032 --> 01:58:20,332
THE FORD FOUNDATION JUSTFILMS,
1807
01:58:20,532 --> 01:58:21,333
BY THE CORPORATION
1808
01:58:21,533 --> 01:58:23,033
FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING,
1809
01:58:23,233 --> 01:58:24,733
AND BY VIEWERS LIKE YOU.
1810
01:58:24,933 --> 01:58:25,865
THANK YOU.