1 00:00:01,566 --> 00:00:02,999 ANNOUNCER: MAJOR SUPPORT FOR "THE VIETNAM WAR" 2 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:06,499 WAS PROVIDED BY MEMBERS OF THE BETTER ANGELS SOCIETY, 3 00:00:06,500 --> 00:00:10,464 INCLUDING JONATHAN AND JEANNIE LAVINE, 4 00:00:10,465 --> 00:00:13,364 DIANE AND HAL BRIERLEY, 5 00:00:13,365 --> 00:00:15,765 AMY AND DAVID ABRAMS, 6 00:00:15,766 --> 00:00:18,264 JOHN AND CATHERINE DEBS, 7 00:00:18,265 --> 00:00:21,165 THE FULLERTON FAMILY CHARITABLE FUND, 8 00:00:21,166 --> 00:00:23,232 THE MONTRONE FAMILY, 9 00:00:23,233 --> 00:00:25,564 LYNDA AND STEWART RESNICK, 10 00:00:25,565 --> 00:00:28,331 THE PERRY AND DONNA GOLKIN FAMILY FOUNDATION, 11 00:00:28,332 --> 00:00:29,332 THE LYNCH FOUNDATION, 12 00:00:29,333 --> 00:00:32,199 THE ROGER AND ROSEMARY ENRICO FOUNDATION, 13 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:35,632 AND BY THESE ADDITIONAL FUNDERS. 14 00:00:35,633 --> 00:00:37,532 MAJOR FUNDING WAS ALSO PROVIDED 15 00:00:37,533 --> 00:00:39,265 BY DAVID H. KOCH... 16 00:00:41,566 --> 00:00:43,765 THE BLAVATNIK FAMILY FOUNDATION... 17 00:00:46,100 --> 00:00:48,532 THE PARK FOUNDATION, 18 00:00:48,533 --> 00:00:50,699 THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES, 19 00:00:50,700 --> 00:00:52,898 THE PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS, 20 00:00:52,899 --> 00:00:55,565 THE JOHN S. AND JAMES L. KNIGHT FOUNDATION, 21 00:00:55,566 --> 00:00:58,331 THE ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION, 22 00:00:58,332 --> 00:01:00,999 THE ARTHUR VINING DAVIS FOUNDATIONS, 23 00:01:01,000 --> 00:01:03,199 THE FORD FOUNDATION JUSTFILMS, 24 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:04,399 BY THE CORPORATION 25 00:01:04,400 --> 00:01:05,631 FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING, 26 00:01:05,632 --> 00:01:07,598 AND BY VIEWERS LIKE YOU. 27 00:01:07,599 --> 00:01:08,733 THANK YOU. 28 00:01:13,266 --> 00:01:15,399 ANNOUNCER: BANK OF AMERICA PROUDLY SUPPORTS 29 00:01:15,400 --> 00:01:20,298 KEN BURNS' AND LYNN NOVICK'S FILM "THE VIETNAM WAR" 30 00:01:20,299 --> 00:01:22,699 BECAUSE FOSTERING DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES 31 00:01:22,700 --> 00:01:25,298 AND CIVIL DISCOURSE AROUND IMPORTANT ISSUES 32 00:01:25,299 --> 00:01:27,598 FURTHERS PROGRESS, EQUALITY, 33 00:01:27,599 --> 00:01:29,599 AND A MORE CONNECTED SOCIETY. 34 00:01:34,066 --> 00:01:38,099 GO TO BANKOFAMERICA.COM/ BETTERCONNECTED TO LEARN MORE. 35 00:01:49,500 --> 00:01:52,299 (faint voice on radio) 36 00:01:56,765 --> 00:01:58,275 HELICOPTER PILOT: This is 2-3 arriving. 37 00:01:58,299 --> 00:02:00,700 We have them in sight and we're engaging at present time. 38 00:02:00,799 --> 00:02:01,933 MAN: Roger. 39 00:02:06,900 --> 00:02:10,099 RON FERRIZZI: Helicopters are phenomenal machines. 40 00:02:10,199 --> 00:02:12,566 You could float in the air. 41 00:02:12,665 --> 00:02:14,265 You can be like God. 42 00:02:21,466 --> 00:02:24,265 I flew below 500 feet. 43 00:02:24,365 --> 00:02:27,400 Above 500 feet was a kill zone. 44 00:02:27,500 --> 00:02:32,165 You better be below 200 feet, the lower the better. 45 00:02:34,533 --> 00:02:36,033 My job was to get shot at. 46 00:02:36,133 --> 00:02:37,800 My job was to draw enemy fire. 47 00:02:37,900 --> 00:02:39,500 I was a duck, a decoy. 48 00:02:40,633 --> 00:02:42,265 I got shot at a lot. 49 00:02:42,365 --> 00:02:44,432 I engaged the enemy a lot. 50 00:02:44,533 --> 00:02:47,233 (voice on helicopter radio) 51 00:02:47,332 --> 00:02:49,832 (gunfire) 52 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:55,033 You're screaming as loud as you can to try to cover up the sound 53 00:02:55,133 --> 00:02:57,199 of the incoming bullets 54 00:02:57,300 --> 00:02:58,900 because when they pass by your ear 55 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:00,432 you could hear the popping sound. 56 00:03:00,532 --> 00:03:03,332 You don't hear the gunshot. 57 00:03:03,432 --> 00:03:05,432 That a 50-caliber just opened up on you, 58 00:03:05,532 --> 00:03:08,099 shooting a half-inch piece of lead flying at you... 59 00:03:08,199 --> 00:03:09,399 And the aircraft was... vroom! 60 00:03:11,300 --> 00:03:13,932 You're flying, you're 90 degrees the other way 61 00:03:14,032 --> 00:03:16,000 and you're-you're shooting yourself down 62 00:03:16,099 --> 00:03:18,009 because the rotor blades are right in front of you 63 00:03:18,033 --> 00:03:19,873 and you're trying to keep the gun from jamming 64 00:03:19,966 --> 00:03:22,332 because you're running around like this. 65 00:03:22,432 --> 00:03:24,633 And if your gun jams, you're done. 66 00:03:31,332 --> 00:03:35,900 NARRATOR: Vietnam was the first real helicopter war. 67 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:41,199 Helicopter pilots flew more than 36 million sorties. 68 00:03:41,300 --> 00:03:45,099 Their crews scattered propaganda leaflets over the enemy 69 00:03:45,199 --> 00:03:49,533 and poured lethal fire into their positions; 70 00:03:49,633 --> 00:03:54,033 carried troops and supplies and artillery into battle; 71 00:03:54,133 --> 00:03:58,466 and lifted the wounded off the battlefield so swiftly 72 00:03:58,566 --> 00:04:03,000 that most reached a field hospital within 15 minutes. 73 00:04:08,733 --> 00:04:11,932 Ron Ferrizzi, a policeman's son 74 00:04:12,032 --> 00:04:15,233 from the Swampoodle neighborhood of North Philadelphia, 75 00:04:15,332 --> 00:04:19,033 got to Vietnam in November of 1967. 76 00:04:19,132 --> 00:04:22,100 He was a crew chief in a scout helicopter 77 00:04:22,199 --> 00:04:24,065 with the 1st Air Cavalry, 78 00:04:24,165 --> 00:04:29,332 flying out of Landing Zone Two-Bits in the Central Highlands. 79 00:04:29,432 --> 00:04:32,266 One day, after returning from a combat mission, 80 00:04:32,365 --> 00:04:36,466 he was approached by a journalist. 81 00:04:36,566 --> 00:04:38,199 FERRIZZI: And there was this... 82 00:04:38,300 --> 00:04:41,266 there was a beautiful woman. 83 00:04:41,365 --> 00:04:44,466 You know, round eye woman... statuesque, round eye woman 84 00:04:44,566 --> 00:04:49,132 with nice hair and she looked pretty. 85 00:04:49,233 --> 00:04:51,466 Wow! 86 00:04:51,566 --> 00:04:54,300 She said, "Can I ask you a couple of questions? 87 00:04:54,399 --> 00:04:56,865 "What was it like out there? 88 00:04:56,966 --> 00:04:59,699 "How does it feel that a 50-caliber just opened up 89 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:02,533 shooting a half-inch piece of lead at you?" 90 00:05:04,432 --> 00:05:06,533 When you... it's hard to describe. 91 00:05:06,632 --> 00:05:09,733 It's shitty. 92 00:05:09,833 --> 00:05:13,365 I mean, isn't it... isn't it apparent what it's like? 93 00:05:14,333 --> 00:05:16,165 You want to know what it's like? 94 00:05:16,266 --> 00:05:17,466 Go look at it. 95 00:05:17,565 --> 00:05:18,466 Go out there. 96 00:05:18,565 --> 00:05:20,332 Go see the bodies. 97 00:05:20,432 --> 00:05:22,132 I was ready to whack her. 98 00:05:22,233 --> 00:05:23,766 I wanted to blast her. 99 00:05:23,865 --> 00:05:24,899 I was ready to... whoa! 100 00:05:25,000 --> 00:05:26,041 "You want to know what it's like? 101 00:05:26,065 --> 00:05:26,966 "Boom! There it is. 102 00:05:27,065 --> 00:05:28,305 "I'll give it to you right now! 103 00:05:28,365 --> 00:05:29,875 "You want to feel it? You want to see it? 104 00:05:29,899 --> 00:05:31,541 "I'll give it to you if that's what you want. 105 00:05:31,565 --> 00:05:33,266 Is that what you want?" 106 00:05:33,365 --> 00:05:34,966 I don't want to tell you what it's like 107 00:05:35,066 --> 00:05:36,533 because I don't want to remember it. 108 00:05:36,632 --> 00:05:40,066 That's the insanity that it brings out. 109 00:05:52,266 --> 00:05:56,066 (Big Brother and the Holding Company playing "Summertime") 110 00:06:09,466 --> 00:06:14,000 LYNDON JOHNSON: The enemy has been defeated in battle after battle. 111 00:06:14,100 --> 00:06:18,332 He continues to hope that America's will to persevere 112 00:06:18,432 --> 00:06:19,966 can be broken. 113 00:06:22,165 --> 00:06:25,766 Well, he is wrong. 114 00:06:25,865 --> 00:06:27,966 JANIS JOPLIN: ♪ Summer... 115 00:06:28,065 --> 00:06:32,399 NARRATOR: 1968 would prove to be a watershed year 116 00:06:32,500 --> 00:06:37,266 in the history of the Vietnam War and the United States. 117 00:06:37,365 --> 00:06:39,233 As the year began, 118 00:06:39,332 --> 00:06:44,365 there were 485,600 American troops in Vietnam 119 00:06:44,466 --> 00:06:46,800 and American leaders promised 120 00:06:46,899 --> 00:06:49,365 that victory was finally in sight, 121 00:06:49,466 --> 00:06:53,365 that there really was "light at the end of the tunnel." 122 00:06:53,466 --> 00:06:58,266 JOPLIN: ♪ Don't you cry... 123 00:06:58,365 --> 00:07:02,365 NARRATOR: But then, North Vietnam would mount a massive offensive 124 00:07:02,466 --> 00:07:05,766 that would result in a terrible defeat for them, 125 00:07:05,865 --> 00:07:08,600 that in the long run would turn out to have been 126 00:07:08,699 --> 00:07:12,000 a still-greater victory. 127 00:07:12,100 --> 00:07:15,865 America itself would be convulsed by assassinations 128 00:07:15,966 --> 00:07:20,132 and battles in the streets over the war and civil rights. 129 00:07:22,399 --> 00:07:23,865 An American president, 130 00:07:23,966 --> 00:07:27,466 a master politician used to getting things done, 131 00:07:27,565 --> 00:07:31,132 would continue to find himself besieged by problems 132 00:07:31,233 --> 00:07:34,266 he could not solve. 133 00:07:34,365 --> 00:07:36,233 JOPLIN: ♪ You're gonna rise... 134 00:07:36,332 --> 00:07:39,199 NARRATOR: Robert Kennedy, the brother of the slain president 135 00:07:39,300 --> 00:07:42,832 who had escalated American presence in Vietnam, 136 00:07:42,932 --> 00:07:47,800 wrote an editorial that year that seemed to speak for many. 137 00:07:47,899 --> 00:07:51,699 "Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world," he said, 138 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:55,533 quoting the poet William Butler Yeats. 139 00:07:55,632 --> 00:07:59,566 "Things fall apart; the center cannot hold." 140 00:07:59,665 --> 00:08:03,432 JOPLIN: ♪ No, no, no, don't you cry 141 00:08:06,865 --> 00:08:12,699 ♪ Cry. 142 00:08:17,266 --> 00:08:18,442 General Westmoreland, when you said 143 00:08:18,466 --> 00:08:20,100 that you'd never been more encouraged 144 00:08:20,199 --> 00:08:23,165 in the four years that you have been in Vietnam, 145 00:08:23,266 --> 00:08:24,699 some critics, on the other hand, 146 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:26,932 have never been more discouraged. 147 00:08:27,033 --> 00:08:29,533 I wonder if you could detail one or two or three things 148 00:08:29,632 --> 00:08:32,265 that cause you to be so encouraged. 149 00:08:32,365 --> 00:08:35,533 I could quote a number of meaningful statistics 150 00:08:35,633 --> 00:08:38,633 such as the roads that are being opened, 151 00:08:38,732 --> 00:08:42,066 increasing number of enemy that have been killed 152 00:08:42,165 --> 00:08:45,500 and other statistical information, 153 00:08:45,600 --> 00:08:47,141 which suggests that we are making progress 154 00:08:47,165 --> 00:08:48,533 and we are winning. 155 00:08:48,633 --> 00:08:54,232 And I find an attitude of confidence and growing optimism. 156 00:08:54,332 --> 00:08:56,600 It prevails all over the country. 157 00:08:56,700 --> 00:08:59,232 And, to me, this is the most significant evidence 158 00:08:59,332 --> 00:09:04,932 I can give you that constant, real progress is being made. 159 00:09:08,765 --> 00:09:12,232 (man speaking Vietnamese) 160 00:09:13,865 --> 00:09:16,865 NARRATOR: On the evening of January 1, 1968, 161 00:09:16,966 --> 00:09:21,232 Ho Chi Minh broadcast a poem over Radio Hanoi. 162 00:09:22,265 --> 00:09:26,500 HO CHI MINH: 163 00:09:30,200 --> 00:09:32,265 NARRATOR: Communist commanders took this to mean 164 00:09:32,365 --> 00:09:34,265 that the ultimate battle, 165 00:09:34,365 --> 00:09:37,033 the General Offensive and General Uprising 166 00:09:37,133 --> 00:09:41,665 they had been planning for months, was imminent. 167 00:09:41,765 --> 00:09:44,365 Party First Secretary Le Duan, 168 00:09:44,466 --> 00:09:47,033 who had insisted on the offensive 169 00:09:47,133 --> 00:09:49,600 and had purged those opposed, 170 00:09:49,700 --> 00:09:53,399 believed it would finally bring about an end to the war. 171 00:09:53,500 --> 00:09:57,865 Viet Cong units supported by North Vietnamese troops 172 00:09:57,966 --> 00:10:01,332 were to simultaneously attack cities and bases 173 00:10:01,432 --> 00:10:03,265 all over the South. 174 00:10:03,365 --> 00:10:07,133 Le Duan promised those troops that when the fighting started, 175 00:10:07,232 --> 00:10:10,466 the people of South Vietnam would rise up 176 00:10:10,566 --> 00:10:12,966 and overthrow the Saigon government, 177 00:10:13,066 --> 00:10:16,365 just as the Vietnamese had risen up against the Japanese 178 00:10:16,466 --> 00:10:19,700 in August of 1945. 179 00:10:19,799 --> 00:10:24,299 With Saigon defeated, the Americans would have no choice 180 00:10:24,399 --> 00:10:27,299 but to withdraw from Vietnam. 181 00:10:27,399 --> 00:10:30,500 The surprise attacks would begin at the end of the month, 182 00:10:30,600 --> 00:10:36,832 at the start of the Lunar New Year celebration called Tet. 183 00:10:37,700 --> 00:10:40,665 HO HUU LAN: 184 00:10:48,832 --> 00:10:51,765 NARRATOR: The Viet Cong were already infiltrating 185 00:10:51,865 --> 00:10:54,665 scores of cities and towns. 186 00:10:54,765 --> 00:10:57,832 Tens of thousands of North Vietnamese troops 187 00:10:57,932 --> 00:11:01,265 were now in place in South Vietnam. 188 00:11:01,365 --> 00:11:05,700 Tons of smuggled Chinese and Soviet-made weapons 189 00:11:05,799 --> 00:11:09,865 had been spirited towards intended targets in sampans 190 00:11:09,966 --> 00:11:12,899 and flower carts and false-bottomed trucks, 191 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:18,365 and then buried in paddy fields and garbage dumps and cemeteries 192 00:11:18,466 --> 00:11:21,399 until the moment came for them to be retrieved. 193 00:11:22,466 --> 00:11:26,000 LE VAN CHO: 194 00:11:51,932 --> 00:11:54,466 NARRATOR: More than 10,000 American military 195 00:11:54,566 --> 00:11:57,033 and civilian intelligence officers were at work 196 00:11:57,133 --> 00:11:59,365 in South Vietnam, 197 00:11:59,466 --> 00:12:03,100 and here and there, hints of what was to come 198 00:12:03,200 --> 00:12:05,700 filtered up the chain of command. 199 00:12:05,799 --> 00:12:09,600 Enemy units were moving around in inexplicable ways; 200 00:12:09,700 --> 00:12:12,899 captured enemy reports described coming attacks 201 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:14,166 on different cities; 202 00:12:14,265 --> 00:12:18,100 11 agents were caught in the city of Qui Nhon 203 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:22,166 carrying prerecorded tapes calling on the local people 204 00:12:22,265 --> 00:12:25,399 to rise up against the Saigon government. 205 00:12:25,500 --> 00:12:27,732 All of these things were saying to us, 206 00:12:27,832 --> 00:12:29,332 "Something's going to happen." 207 00:12:29,432 --> 00:12:31,700 But we don't know exactly what. 208 00:12:31,799 --> 00:12:35,700 NARRATOR: General Westmoreland thought he knew. 209 00:12:35,799 --> 00:12:37,700 "I believe that the enemy will attempt 210 00:12:37,799 --> 00:12:41,466 a country-wide show of strength just prior to Tet," 211 00:12:41,566 --> 00:12:45,966 he cabled Washington, "with Khe Sanh being the main event." 212 00:12:46,066 --> 00:12:47,942 ("Voodoo Chile" by the Jimi Hendrix Experience playing) 213 00:12:47,966 --> 00:12:50,500 Some 30,000 North Vietnamese troops had gathered 214 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:55,033 near Khe Sanh, the westernmost strongpoint below the DMZ 215 00:12:55,133 --> 00:12:58,899 that was being held by just 6,000 Marines. 216 00:12:59,000 --> 00:13:02,232 Westmoreland believed North Vietnam wanted to isolate 217 00:13:02,332 --> 00:13:05,332 and annihilate the U.S. forces there, 218 00:13:05,432 --> 00:13:09,700 just as the Viet Minh had done to the French at Dien Bien Phu 219 00:13:09,799 --> 00:13:11,899 14 years earlier. 220 00:13:12,000 --> 00:13:16,133 Enemy attacks elsewhere, Westmoreland was sure, 221 00:13:16,232 --> 00:13:18,466 would only be a diversion. 222 00:13:18,566 --> 00:13:23,232 One American general, Frederick C. Weyand, was not so sure. 223 00:13:23,332 --> 00:13:27,100 He was able to persuade Westmoreland to let him pull 224 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:30,033 half his troops back from the Cambodian border 225 00:13:30,133 --> 00:13:36,133 to take up defensive positions outside Saigon just in case. 226 00:13:36,232 --> 00:13:38,633 ROBERT GORALSKI: This is an underground bunker at Khe Sanh, 227 00:13:38,732 --> 00:13:40,533 one of two cement havens left 228 00:13:40,633 --> 00:13:42,000 from the earlier days of the war 229 00:13:42,100 --> 00:13:43,765 when the Special Forces held this base. 230 00:13:43,865 --> 00:13:46,533 It is dark, dank, dreary. 231 00:13:46,633 --> 00:13:52,600 You feel something in the air, about the buildup. 232 00:13:52,700 --> 00:13:54,066 I don't know, you could... 233 00:13:54,165 --> 00:13:57,000 you could almost feel them working around you at night. 234 00:13:57,100 --> 00:13:58,399 Who? 235 00:13:58,500 --> 00:14:00,399 Uh, the NVA. 236 00:14:02,200 --> 00:14:04,000 NARRATOR: On January 21, 237 00:14:04,100 --> 00:14:07,166 the North Vietnamese began shelling Khe Sanh. 238 00:14:07,265 --> 00:14:09,000 (mortar shrieks) 239 00:14:09,100 --> 00:14:11,365 (explosions, shouting) 240 00:14:15,666 --> 00:14:18,765 CAO XUAN DAI: 241 00:14:49,432 --> 00:14:56,832 ("You Keep Me Hangin' On" by Vanilla Fudge playing) 242 00:15:05,500 --> 00:15:08,932 (song continues, gunfire, men shouting) 243 00:15:12,966 --> 00:15:16,533 NARRATOR: When he learned of the attack on Khe Sanh, 244 00:15:16,633 --> 00:15:19,666 Lyndon Johnson made the Joint Chiefs sign a pledge 245 00:15:19,765 --> 00:15:21,765 that the base would never fall. 246 00:15:21,865 --> 00:15:26,033 "I don't want any damn 'Dinbinphoo, '" he said. 247 00:15:26,133 --> 00:15:30,299 The president had a scale-model of the battlefield installed 248 00:15:30,399 --> 00:15:33,700 in the White House so that he could follow the fighting there 249 00:15:33,799 --> 00:15:36,033 hour by hour. 250 00:15:36,133 --> 00:15:38,066 ("You Keep Me Hangin' On" continues) 251 00:15:38,165 --> 00:15:43,732 NARRATOR: But Westmoreland's and Johnson's basic assumption was wrong. 252 00:15:43,832 --> 00:15:46,500 Khe Sanh was the sideshow; 253 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:50,600 the attacks on cities and towns that were about to begin 254 00:15:50,700 --> 00:15:54,732 throughout South Vietnam would be the main event. 255 00:16:00,432 --> 00:16:03,700 But First Secretary Le Duan's basic assumptions 256 00:16:03,799 --> 00:16:06,932 were about to be tested, too. 257 00:16:07,033 --> 00:16:09,299 For the coming offensive to succeed, 258 00:16:09,399 --> 00:16:13,799 the South Vietnamese Army, the ARVN, would have to collapse, 259 00:16:13,899 --> 00:16:15,865 and the people of the South 260 00:16:15,966 --> 00:16:18,666 would have to join the revolution. 261 00:16:20,332 --> 00:16:23,600 LE CONG HUAN: 262 00:16:41,899 --> 00:16:45,799 NARRATOR: "All our thinking was focused on finishing off the enemy," 263 00:16:45,899 --> 00:16:48,566 one North Vietnamese general remembered. 264 00:16:48,665 --> 00:16:53,232 "We were intoxicated by that thought." 265 00:16:54,133 --> 00:16:56,466 HUY DUC: 266 00:17:19,833 --> 00:17:22,766 MORTON DEAN: Okay, we've got our three wounded Gis on board. 267 00:17:22,865 --> 00:17:25,965 At least one of them is hit pretty bad. 268 00:17:26,066 --> 00:17:29,566 Medic's got a busy, busy few minutes ahead of him 269 00:17:29,665 --> 00:17:31,299 before we get back. 270 00:17:31,400 --> 00:17:35,133 NARRATOR: As the date for the Tet Offensive approached, 271 00:17:35,232 --> 00:17:37,932 the war continued for the hundreds of thousands 272 00:17:38,032 --> 00:17:41,232 of Americans in country. 273 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:45,732 HAL KUSHNER: I did see the reality of war, 274 00:17:45,833 --> 00:17:49,599 a real education for a young doctor. 275 00:17:51,799 --> 00:17:56,000 The war seemed to be going very well from our point of view. 276 00:17:58,133 --> 00:18:02,732 The war seemed to be going just fine, thank you. 277 00:18:02,833 --> 00:18:07,566 NARRATOR: Captain Hal Kushner was a 26-year-old recent graduate 278 00:18:07,665 --> 00:18:11,165 of medical school from Danville, Virginia. 279 00:18:11,266 --> 00:18:13,133 The father of a three-year-old girl, 280 00:18:13,232 --> 00:18:15,432 with another baby on the way, 281 00:18:15,532 --> 00:18:17,865 he had volunteered to serve in Vietnam 282 00:18:17,965 --> 00:18:23,099 and became a flight surgeon with the 1st Air Cavalry. 283 00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:24,900 KUSHNER: And I was supposed to give 284 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,865 a lecture on the dangers of night flying, ironically. 285 00:18:27,965 --> 00:18:28,965 And I did. 286 00:18:29,000 --> 00:18:32,465 We had terrible weather that night. 287 00:18:32,566 --> 00:18:36,365 And it was dark and it was rainy and it was windy. 288 00:18:36,465 --> 00:18:37,700 As we were flying 289 00:18:37,799 --> 00:18:41,133 I saw that we had drifted west of the highway. 290 00:18:41,232 --> 00:18:44,432 And I knew that was wrong. 291 00:18:44,532 --> 00:18:46,432 NARRATOR: In the fog and rain, 292 00:18:46,532 --> 00:18:50,432 Kushner's helicopter slammed into a mountain. 293 00:18:53,165 --> 00:18:55,099 KUSHNER: And the next thing I knew 294 00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:58,165 I was hanging upside down in a burning helicopter. 295 00:18:58,266 --> 00:19:01,165 Major Porcella was dead. 296 00:19:01,266 --> 00:19:03,865 I just jumped away from the helicopter, 297 00:19:03,965 --> 00:19:08,133 and it just went whoosh, and it just burned up. 298 00:19:08,232 --> 00:19:11,099 There was an M60 machine gun on the helicopter 299 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:15,333 and the rounds had... cooking off and it was exploding. 300 00:19:15,432 --> 00:19:19,266 And one or several of the rounds went through my shoulder, 301 00:19:19,365 --> 00:19:20,532 my left shoulder. 302 00:19:22,465 --> 00:19:25,799 On the ground I saw Warrant Officer Bedworth. 303 00:19:25,900 --> 00:19:28,965 And he was hurt very badly. 304 00:19:29,066 --> 00:19:34,000 I took some branches and splinted his leg. 305 00:19:34,099 --> 00:19:40,532 So the rule is you wait with the aircraft until you get rescued. 306 00:19:40,633 --> 00:19:42,099 And we just sat there. 307 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:44,732 So we waited one day. 308 00:19:44,833 --> 00:19:46,599 We waited two days. 309 00:19:46,700 --> 00:19:50,032 We had no food or water. 310 00:19:50,133 --> 00:19:53,833 On the morning of the third day, Bedworth died. 311 00:19:53,932 --> 00:19:56,833 And he just slipped away. 312 00:19:56,932 --> 00:19:58,432 It was very, very sad. 313 00:20:00,133 --> 00:20:04,000 And I thought that my best choice was to leave the aircraft 314 00:20:04,099 --> 00:20:06,500 and try to go down the mountain. 315 00:20:06,599 --> 00:20:09,333 NARRATOR: It took the wounded Kushner four hours 316 00:20:09,432 --> 00:20:12,099 to stagger down the hill. 317 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:15,665 When he finally reached level ground, he looked back up 318 00:20:15,766 --> 00:20:20,099 and saw two American helicopters hovering above the crash site. 319 00:20:21,465 --> 00:20:24,432 Their pilots did not see him. 320 00:20:28,400 --> 00:20:30,640 KUSHNER: And I saw this peasant working in a rice paddy. 321 00:20:30,732 --> 00:20:32,766 And he saw me. 322 00:20:32,865 --> 00:20:36,500 And I had captain's bars and a Caduceus, a medical symbol, 323 00:20:36,599 --> 00:20:38,400 on my collar. 324 00:20:38,500 --> 00:20:41,266 And he said (speaking Vietnamese). 325 00:20:41,365 --> 00:20:43,400 Captain, doctor. 326 00:20:43,500 --> 00:20:49,400 He took me about another mile to a little hooch, a little house, 327 00:20:49,500 --> 00:20:52,400 and he sat me down on the front of it 328 00:20:52,500 --> 00:20:55,732 and he brought out a can of condensed milk. 329 00:20:55,833 --> 00:20:58,299 And as I was eating the stuff... 330 00:20:58,400 --> 00:21:01,333 it was just the best stuff I've ever eaten in my whole life... 331 00:21:01,432 --> 00:21:06,266 I hear another person say, "(repeating Vietnamese phrase). 332 00:21:06,365 --> 00:21:08,799 "Surrender, no kill." 333 00:21:08,900 --> 00:21:12,232 There was a squad of Viet Cong there. 334 00:21:12,333 --> 00:21:14,932 And I put my one arm up. 335 00:21:15,032 --> 00:21:18,900 And he shot me with an M2 carbine. 336 00:21:19,000 --> 00:21:21,000 And I think he was more nervous than I was. 337 00:21:21,099 --> 00:21:24,633 And he shot me right where the M60 had shot me. 338 00:21:24,732 --> 00:21:27,833 And it went right through my neck and came out the back. 339 00:21:27,932 --> 00:21:32,400 And they tied my arms very tightly in commo wire. 340 00:21:32,500 --> 00:21:36,266 He went through my wallet and he took my Geneva Convention card, 341 00:21:36,365 --> 00:21:38,566 which was white with a red cross. 342 00:21:38,665 --> 00:21:40,066 And he tore it up. 343 00:21:40,165 --> 00:21:45,833 And he said, in English, "No P.O.W. 344 00:21:45,932 --> 00:21:47,865 Criminal. Criminal." 345 00:21:47,965 --> 00:21:51,432 So then they took my boots. 346 00:21:51,532 --> 00:21:54,965 And we started marching. 347 00:21:55,066 --> 00:21:57,400 And then we walked for a month. 348 00:21:59,599 --> 00:22:04,099 30 days, almost always at night. 349 00:22:04,200 --> 00:22:07,665 And my feet were just lacerated. 350 00:22:07,766 --> 00:22:11,099 I didn't think I could possibly survive. 351 00:22:16,465 --> 00:22:19,200 NGUYEN NGOC: 352 00:22:40,165 --> 00:22:41,799 NARRATOR: By January 30, 353 00:22:41,900 --> 00:22:46,932 an informal 36-hour truce for Tet was in effect. 354 00:22:47,032 --> 00:22:51,665 Thousands of ARVN troops had gone home for the holiday. 355 00:22:54,165 --> 00:22:56,000 The enemy had not. 356 00:22:57,266 --> 00:23:00,465 NGUYEN VAN TONG: 357 00:23:23,432 --> 00:23:26,766 NARRATOR: That same day, Marine Corporal Roger Harris 358 00:23:26,865 --> 00:23:30,165 was scheduled to fly out of Vietnam. 359 00:23:30,266 --> 00:23:33,200 His 13-month tour was over. 360 00:23:33,299 --> 00:23:36,532 But he and his unit were still hunkered down 361 00:23:36,633 --> 00:23:42,299 under constant shelling at Camp Carroll, just south of the DMZ. 362 00:23:44,165 --> 00:23:46,000 HARRIS: Well, once I had my orders, you know, 363 00:23:46,099 --> 00:23:48,365 I said goodbye to all my friends. 364 00:23:48,465 --> 00:23:51,665 And then I went over to the landing zone. 365 00:23:51,766 --> 00:23:54,700 So when the helicopters come in, 366 00:23:54,799 --> 00:23:57,665 I put the body bags on the helicopter. 367 00:23:57,766 --> 00:23:59,965 And I got on with the bodies. 368 00:24:02,099 --> 00:24:04,665 We landed in Dong Ha, which was division headquarters. 369 00:24:04,766 --> 00:24:08,200 And we got about 200 meters from the airstrip, 370 00:24:08,299 --> 00:24:10,799 the airstrip started getting hit. 371 00:24:13,232 --> 00:24:16,665 I'm just thinking personally that God realizes 372 00:24:16,766 --> 00:24:19,400 that he made a mistake because some of the guys that got killed 373 00:24:19,500 --> 00:24:22,432 that were with me were good Christians that never had sex, 374 00:24:22,532 --> 00:24:24,333 didn't swear, you know. 375 00:24:24,432 --> 00:24:27,200 And, you know, I had been this sinner. 376 00:24:27,299 --> 00:24:30,200 And I'm thinking God realized he made a mistake. 377 00:24:30,299 --> 00:24:33,365 He killed the Christians and I got away. 378 00:24:33,465 --> 00:24:35,766 And so now Death is following me. 379 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:39,120 And they told us that in another hour or so 380 00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:40,766 a plane was going to come in. 381 00:24:40,865 --> 00:24:44,266 When it came in, then the artillery started coming in. 382 00:24:44,365 --> 00:24:47,066 And we jumped on and took off. 383 00:24:49,165 --> 00:24:51,099 And it landed in Danang. 384 00:24:51,200 --> 00:24:54,032 And then the sun came up and we went to the airstrip 385 00:24:54,133 --> 00:24:55,133 and we boarded airplanes. 386 00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:56,932 And we were sitting there. 387 00:24:57,032 --> 00:25:00,165 Everybody's giving each other pounds and slapping five. 388 00:25:00,266 --> 00:25:01,732 We made it. 389 00:25:01,833 --> 00:25:03,365 And then all of a sudden... 390 00:25:03,465 --> 00:25:06,566 (imitates whistles and explosions) 391 00:25:06,665 --> 00:25:12,633 Danang airstrip starts getting hit, artillery's coming in. 392 00:25:12,732 --> 00:25:16,665 And I'm thinking, "It's all coming after me." 393 00:25:16,766 --> 00:25:19,465 It's all about me, you know. 394 00:25:19,566 --> 00:25:22,266 God doesn't want me to make it out of here. 395 00:25:23,900 --> 00:25:29,000 NARRATOR: In the early morning hours of January 31, 1968, 396 00:25:29,099 --> 00:25:33,665 84,000 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops attacked 397 00:25:33,766 --> 00:25:38,333 36 of South Vietnam's 44 provincial capitals, 398 00:25:38,432 --> 00:25:41,633 dozens of American and ARVN military bases 399 00:25:41,732 --> 00:25:44,833 and the six largest cities in the country, 400 00:25:44,932 --> 00:25:48,165 including Hue, Danang, and Saigon. 401 00:25:48,266 --> 00:25:49,766 (automatic gunfire) 402 00:25:49,865 --> 00:25:52,165 Their goal, their commanders told them, 403 00:25:52,266 --> 00:25:55,732 was to "crack the sky and shake the earth." 404 00:26:00,099 --> 00:26:03,833 (shouting, explosions) 405 00:26:07,599 --> 00:26:12,165 In Saigon, General Westmoreland mistook the first explosions 406 00:26:12,266 --> 00:26:13,932 as holiday firecrackers. 407 00:26:17,833 --> 00:26:21,333 His deputy commander, General Creighton W. Abrams, 408 00:26:21,432 --> 00:26:25,833 was asleep, and his aides did not bother to wake him. 409 00:26:25,932 --> 00:26:30,266 Not a single top commander was present at "Pentagon East," 410 00:26:30,365 --> 00:26:33,932 the sprawling MACV headquarters at Tan Son Nhut Air Base 411 00:26:34,032 --> 00:26:36,200 on the outskirts of Saigon, 412 00:26:36,299 --> 00:26:40,232 when mortars and rockets began cratering the runways. 413 00:27:04,833 --> 00:27:06,266 It's moving. 414 00:27:20,833 --> 00:27:25,333 NARRATOR: Viet Cong soldiers spread out to attack specific targets 415 00:27:25,432 --> 00:27:27,133 in and around the capital. 416 00:27:27,232 --> 00:27:32,099 The war had come to the streets of Saigon. 417 00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:36,165 Had General Weyand not insisted on stationing troops 418 00:27:36,266 --> 00:27:37,500 around the city, 419 00:27:37,599 --> 00:27:41,633 Saigon itself would have been in far greater danger. 420 00:27:44,566 --> 00:27:47,432 DUONG VAN MAI ELLIOTT: We heard gunfire 421 00:27:47,532 --> 00:27:51,400 and our first reaction was, "Must be another coup d'état." 422 00:27:51,500 --> 00:27:52,865 (gunfire) 423 00:27:52,965 --> 00:27:57,266 And then we heard that the Viet Cong had attacked Saigon 424 00:27:57,365 --> 00:27:58,833 and were still attacking. 425 00:27:58,932 --> 00:28:02,965 It came as a total shock because we always thought 426 00:28:03,066 --> 00:28:08,066 Saigon was safe, the safest place in all of South Vietnam. 427 00:28:13,066 --> 00:28:15,532 NARRATOR: One Viet Cong squad made it 428 00:28:15,633 --> 00:28:17,400 all the way to the Presidential Palace, 429 00:28:17,500 --> 00:28:20,700 but was stopped by South Vietnamese tanks. 430 00:28:24,000 --> 00:28:27,333 The survivors holed up in a building across the street 431 00:28:27,432 --> 00:28:31,665 and were shot by ARVN troops and American MPs. 432 00:28:35,365 --> 00:28:42,032 All over Saigon, nothing was going according to plan. 433 00:28:42,133 --> 00:28:46,599 Viet Cong units were taking heavy losses from U.S. troops 434 00:28:46,700 --> 00:28:49,833 and determined South Vietnamese forces. 435 00:28:58,900 --> 00:29:01,633 (shouting) 436 00:29:04,732 --> 00:29:06,532 NGUYEN THANH TUNG: 437 00:29:31,766 --> 00:29:34,133 (indistinct chatter on radio) 438 00:29:47,599 --> 00:29:49,500 ("The Blue Danube" playing on radio) 439 00:29:49,599 --> 00:29:51,476 DON WEBSTER: This is the main Vietnamese language radio station 440 00:29:51,500 --> 00:29:52,766 in Saigon. 441 00:29:52,865 --> 00:29:55,900 And right now there are an undisclosed number of VC inside 442 00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:57,133 occupying the station. 443 00:29:57,232 --> 00:29:59,833 NARRATOR: The Viet Cong managed to seize 444 00:29:59,932 --> 00:30:02,665 South Vietnam's national radio station 445 00:30:02,766 --> 00:30:06,732 and prepared to broadcast a taped message from Ho Chi Minh 446 00:30:06,833 --> 00:30:09,965 calling upon the people to rise up. 447 00:30:11,365 --> 00:30:14,566 But a technician radioed to the transmitting tower 448 00:30:14,665 --> 00:30:18,400 to cut them off and broadcast Viennese waltzes 449 00:30:18,500 --> 00:30:20,865 and Beatles songs instead. 450 00:30:20,965 --> 00:30:23,465 ("Tomorrow Never Knows" by the Beatles playing) 451 00:30:23,566 --> 00:30:29,133 ♪ Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream ♪ 452 00:30:29,232 --> 00:30:32,532 ♪ It is not dying 453 00:30:32,633 --> 00:30:37,465 ♪ It is not dying 454 00:30:37,566 --> 00:30:44,333 ♪ But listen to the color of your dreams ♪ 455 00:30:44,432 --> 00:30:52,432 ♪ It is not living, it is not living ♪ 456 00:30:53,133 --> 00:30:54,766 (song continues) 457 00:31:02,700 --> 00:31:07,465 NARRATOR: The Saigon suburb of Bien Hoa was under attack, too. 458 00:31:07,566 --> 00:31:11,165 Enemy forces were assaulting both the airbase there 459 00:31:11,266 --> 00:31:12,799 and Long Binh, 460 00:31:12,900 --> 00:31:17,000 the largest American installation in Vietnam. 461 00:31:19,532 --> 00:31:25,000 BRADY: There were VC moving on the house, moving everywhere. 462 00:31:25,099 --> 00:31:29,266 A lot of shooting, a lot of confusion going on. 463 00:31:29,365 --> 00:31:32,032 And we were shooting out the window. 464 00:31:32,133 --> 00:31:34,900 And my wife was reloading. 465 00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:37,500 When we ran out of ammunition, we'd sli... 466 00:31:37,599 --> 00:31:41,266 slide the magazine down the tiles 467 00:31:41,365 --> 00:31:43,165 and she was down there at the other end 468 00:31:43,266 --> 00:31:45,865 filling 'em up and sliding 'em back. 469 00:31:47,900 --> 00:31:50,700 NARRATOR: Viet Cong commandos managed to slip through the wire 470 00:31:50,799 --> 00:31:55,133 at Long Binh and blow up a huge ammunition dump. 471 00:31:55,232 --> 00:31:58,865 A mushroom cloud rose above the airfield, 472 00:31:58,965 --> 00:32:01,566 so vast that some of the Americans thought there had been 473 00:32:01,665 --> 00:32:03,700 a nuclear explosion. 474 00:32:03,799 --> 00:32:07,266 The blast blew off the door of Brady's building. 475 00:32:09,865 --> 00:32:14,000 BRADY: They went up against the wire in Long Binh 476 00:32:14,099 --> 00:32:15,865 and paid a frightful price. 477 00:32:17,700 --> 00:32:19,799 There were just layers of bodies. 478 00:32:19,900 --> 00:32:22,432 The Americans just cut them down. 479 00:32:25,032 --> 00:32:26,200 Hi, this is Johnny Carson. 480 00:32:26,299 --> 00:32:27,809 As you know, this is the usual starting time 481 00:32:27,833 --> 00:32:29,133 for theTonight Show. 482 00:32:29,232 --> 00:32:32,900 But because of the critical war situation in Vietnam, 483 00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:36,099 especially around Saigon, NBC, for the next 15 minutes, 484 00:32:36,200 --> 00:32:39,165 is going to bring you a special news program via satellite. 485 00:32:39,266 --> 00:32:41,133 Just after midnight their time, 486 00:32:41,232 --> 00:32:44,000 a band of Viet Cong raiders blew up a power installation 487 00:32:44,099 --> 00:32:46,299 and attacked two police stations in Saigon. 488 00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:49,032 It all amounts to the most ambitious series 489 00:32:49,133 --> 00:32:50,965 of communist attacks yet mounted, 490 00:32:51,066 --> 00:32:53,732 spreading violence into at least ten provincial capitals, 491 00:32:53,833 --> 00:32:56,633 plus American air bases and civilian installations 492 00:32:56,732 --> 00:32:58,799 stretching the entire length of the country. 493 00:32:58,900 --> 00:33:01,766 None had greater psychological impact 494 00:33:01,865 --> 00:33:04,465 than the assault on the American embassy in Saigon. 495 00:33:07,732 --> 00:33:10,066 NARRATOR: In the first few hours of the fighting, 496 00:33:10,165 --> 00:33:14,099 19 specially trained commandos had blasted their way 497 00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:18,732 into the sprawling compound of the United States embassy. 498 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:24,465 DON NORTH: There's a... there's a rush, they're rushing the embassy. 499 00:33:24,566 --> 00:33:26,865 That's fire coming from the other side of the street now, 500 00:33:26,965 --> 00:33:28,200 outside the embassy. 501 00:33:28,299 --> 00:33:29,865 They're exchanging across the street. 502 00:33:29,965 --> 00:33:31,766 You can see the tracer bullets going past. 503 00:33:31,865 --> 00:33:34,000 (explosions, gunfire, shouting) 504 00:33:34,099 --> 00:33:36,299 That's outside the embassy. 505 00:33:39,799 --> 00:33:41,732 MAN (on radio): Uh, this is Waco, roger. 506 00:33:41,833 --> 00:33:44,365 Uh, can you get in the gates now? 507 00:33:44,465 --> 00:33:46,341 Are the gates open and can you take a force in there 508 00:33:46,365 --> 00:33:48,333 and clean out that embassy right now? 509 00:33:48,432 --> 00:33:50,400 (shouting) 510 00:34:04,099 --> 00:34:06,566 NORTH: Apparently the Viet Cong are trapped in the basement 511 00:34:06,665 --> 00:34:10,900 of this side building, an incredible situation. 512 00:34:17,333 --> 00:34:20,065 Heavy firing, incoming and outgoing. 513 00:34:20,166 --> 00:34:24,233 Don North, ABC News, at the U.S. embassy, in Saigon. 514 00:34:24,333 --> 00:34:29,532 NARRATOR: All of the intruders were eventually killed or captured. 515 00:34:30,932 --> 00:34:33,132 NORTH: What a sight. 516 00:34:33,233 --> 00:34:37,400 A small frog hopping through a pool of blood 517 00:34:37,500 --> 00:34:41,865 that's issuing from the head of a Viet Cong, 518 00:34:41,965 --> 00:34:47,965 lying on the green grassy lawn of the U.S. embassy. 519 00:34:52,432 --> 00:34:55,266 NGUYEN VAN TONG: 520 00:35:10,766 --> 00:35:15,032 NARRATOR: An American Marine and four Army MPs were killed 521 00:35:15,132 --> 00:35:16,666 at the embassy. 522 00:35:18,365 --> 00:35:20,800 REPORTER: General, how would you assess 523 00:35:20,900 --> 00:35:22,432 yesterday's activities and today's? 524 00:35:22,532 --> 00:35:24,492 What is the enemy doing? Are these major attacks? 525 00:35:24,565 --> 00:35:26,166 Or... (explosion) 526 00:35:28,065 --> 00:35:33,833 That's E.O.D. setting off a couple of M-79 duds, I believe. 527 00:35:33,932 --> 00:35:37,699 The enemy, very deceitfully, 528 00:35:37,800 --> 00:35:41,166 has taken advantage of the Tet truce, 529 00:35:41,266 --> 00:35:48,132 in order to, uh... create maximum consternation. 530 00:35:48,233 --> 00:35:50,599 In my opinion, this is diversionary... 531 00:35:50,699 --> 00:35:54,532 NARRATOR: Early wire service dispatches reported incorrectly 532 00:35:54,632 --> 00:35:59,199 that the Viet Cong had made it inside the embassy itself. 533 00:35:59,300 --> 00:36:02,365 REPORTER: Embassy ID cards were found on some of the Viet Cong. 534 00:36:02,465 --> 00:36:04,932 NARRATOR: And the first television footage did little 535 00:36:05,032 --> 00:36:09,065 to reassure the American public. 536 00:36:09,166 --> 00:36:10,608 REPORTER: Is Saigon secure right now? 537 00:36:10,632 --> 00:36:13,632 Saigon's secure as far as I know. 538 00:36:13,733 --> 00:36:15,075 There's no more fighting in the streets? 539 00:36:15,099 --> 00:36:16,376 There may be some in the outskirts still. 540 00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:19,233 I'm not sure, don't know. 541 00:36:19,333 --> 00:36:20,699 I'm not sure about that, no. 542 00:36:22,599 --> 00:36:25,365 NARRATOR: Saigon was far from secure. 543 00:36:25,465 --> 00:36:27,365 (shouting) 544 00:36:44,833 --> 00:36:46,833 (no voice) 545 00:36:51,865 --> 00:36:54,833 (distant, echoing gunfire) 546 00:36:54,932 --> 00:36:55,932 (screaming) 547 00:36:56,032 --> 00:36:57,932 Viet Cong assassination squads, 548 00:36:58,032 --> 00:37:02,032 some guided by North Vietnamese spies, 549 00:37:02,132 --> 00:37:06,099 moved through the streets with orders to kill what they called 550 00:37:06,199 --> 00:37:08,065 "blood" enemies of the people... 551 00:37:08,166 --> 00:37:10,266 (gunfire, screaming) 552 00:37:10,365 --> 00:37:16,132 bureaucrats, intelligence officers, ARVN commanders, 553 00:37:16,233 --> 00:37:20,599 and ordinary soldiers home on leave, and their families. 554 00:37:20,699 --> 00:37:24,965 DUONG VAN MAI ELLIOTT: I went home to visit my parents 555 00:37:25,065 --> 00:37:28,833 and I found them kind of huddled in their house, the doors shut, 556 00:37:28,932 --> 00:37:31,132 the windows shut, very dark. 557 00:37:31,233 --> 00:37:34,333 They were very afraid because our house was located 558 00:37:34,432 --> 00:37:36,099 near a slum. 559 00:37:36,199 --> 00:37:39,932 And we always assumed that there were a lot of Viet Cong agents 560 00:37:40,032 --> 00:37:44,699 living among the poor where they could hide very easily, 561 00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:47,766 and that they were going to come out 562 00:37:47,865 --> 00:37:50,766 and look for government officials, 563 00:37:50,865 --> 00:37:53,932 military personnel to kill. 564 00:37:54,032 --> 00:37:57,099 So my parents were very afraid. 565 00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:04,400 NGUYEN TAI: 566 00:38:19,199 --> 00:38:22,900 (gunfight) 567 00:38:35,166 --> 00:38:36,908 NARRATOR: On the second day of the fighting, 568 00:38:36,932 --> 00:38:40,599 a Viet Cong agent named Nguyen Van Lem 569 00:38:40,699 --> 00:38:43,666 was brought before Nguyen Ngoc Loan, 570 00:38:43,766 --> 00:38:46,965 the head of the South Vietnamese National Police. 571 00:38:47,065 --> 00:38:51,532 As an AP photographer and an NBC cameraman watched, 572 00:38:51,632 --> 00:38:55,500 Loan ordered another officer to shoot the captive. 573 00:38:55,599 --> 00:38:59,465 When he hesitated, Loan did the job himself. 574 00:39:14,166 --> 00:39:17,365 HOWARD TUCKNER: The Chief of South Vietnam's National Police Force, 575 00:39:17,465 --> 00:39:21,166 Brigadier General Nguyen Ngoc Loan, was waiting for him. 576 00:39:41,865 --> 00:39:43,965 JACK HORNER: Good morning, Mr. President. 577 00:39:44,065 --> 00:39:45,699 JOHNSON: Hi, Jack. 578 00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:47,666 Uh, we need guidance this morning, sir. 579 00:39:47,766 --> 00:39:50,333 Guidance? Uh, is that all you want? 580 00:39:50,432 --> 00:39:51,900 Yes, sir. No quotation? 581 00:39:52,000 --> 00:39:53,465 That's right. No attribution. 582 00:39:53,565 --> 00:39:54,599 No connection. 583 00:39:54,699 --> 00:39:56,099 Give it absolutely none. 584 00:39:56,199 --> 00:39:57,666 Absolutely none. 585 00:39:57,766 --> 00:40:00,300 Your press is lying like drunken sailors every day. 586 00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:05,766 Uh, first thing I wake up this morning was trying to figure out 587 00:40:05,865 --> 00:40:08,099 after seeing CBS, watching the networks, 588 00:40:08,199 --> 00:40:11,465 reading the morning papers, was how can we win... 589 00:40:11,565 --> 00:40:14,032 possibly win... and survive as a nation 590 00:40:14,132 --> 00:40:15,965 and have to fight the press's lies. 591 00:40:16,065 --> 00:40:17,365 Yes, sir. 592 00:40:17,465 --> 00:40:18,742 I'm trying to protect my country, 593 00:40:18,766 --> 00:40:20,032 and they're all whipping me. 594 00:40:20,132 --> 00:40:22,833 Not a son of a bitch said a word about Ho Chi Minh. 595 00:40:22,932 --> 00:40:25,833 They talk about us bombing, yet these sons of bitches 596 00:40:25,932 --> 00:40:29,199 come in and bomb our embassy and 19 of them try a raid on it. 597 00:40:29,300 --> 00:40:33,532 All 19 get killed and yet they blame the embassy. 598 00:40:33,632 --> 00:40:34,699 (chuckles) 599 00:40:34,800 --> 00:40:36,599 I don't understand it. 600 00:40:36,699 --> 00:40:39,400 We think we've killed 20,000; we think we lost 400. 601 00:40:39,500 --> 00:40:43,266 We think that of course it's bad to lose anybody, 602 00:40:43,365 --> 00:40:45,032 any one of the 400, 603 00:40:45,132 --> 00:40:47,632 but we think that the Good Lord has been so good to us 604 00:40:47,733 --> 00:40:51,266 that it is a major, dramatic victory. 605 00:40:51,365 --> 00:40:53,000 And I think what would have happened 606 00:40:53,099 --> 00:40:55,199 if I'd lost 20,000 and they'd lost 400? 607 00:40:55,300 --> 00:40:56,166 I ask you that. 608 00:40:56,266 --> 00:40:57,408 Oh, it would've been terrible. 609 00:40:57,432 --> 00:40:58,565 (explosion) 610 00:40:58,666 --> 00:41:02,599 It appears that a mortar or a rocket shell came in 611 00:41:02,699 --> 00:41:06,965 and, well, there's blood on my pants. 612 00:41:07,065 --> 00:41:09,199 And I guess I'm... I'm hit. 613 00:41:09,300 --> 00:41:12,000 Well, this is the streets of Saigon, 614 00:41:12,099 --> 00:41:15,300 and that's where the war is now. 615 00:41:15,400 --> 00:41:17,032 Howard Tuckner, NBC News. 616 00:41:20,166 --> 00:41:24,233 NARRATOR: The American press focused almost entirely 617 00:41:24,333 --> 00:41:26,733 on the fighting in Saigon. 618 00:41:26,833 --> 00:41:30,599 But the Tet Offensive was happening almost everywhere. 619 00:41:32,733 --> 00:41:35,932 Most assaults were being quickly beaten back by ARVN 620 00:41:36,032 --> 00:41:38,632 and American forces. 621 00:41:38,733 --> 00:41:43,233 Everywhere the enemy was suffering terrible losses. 622 00:41:55,766 --> 00:41:57,500 (gunfire) 623 00:42:04,733 --> 00:42:07,365 LE VAN CHO: 624 00:42:32,233 --> 00:42:36,532 NARRATOR: The Americans called in massive air and artillery firepower 625 00:42:36,632 --> 00:42:40,900 to dislodge a Viet Cong regiment from the city of Ben Tre 626 00:42:41,000 --> 00:42:43,300 in the Mekong Delta. 627 00:42:43,400 --> 00:42:48,199 Afterwards, a reporter quoted an American major as having said, 628 00:42:48,300 --> 00:42:54,965 "It became necessary to destroy the town to save it." 629 00:42:55,065 --> 00:43:01,500 Right now, the Navy and the Army boats that also bring supplies 630 00:43:01,599 --> 00:43:05,300 up the Perfume River are having to undergo heavy small arms 631 00:43:05,400 --> 00:43:07,632 and mortar fire as they turn the bend in the river 632 00:43:07,733 --> 00:43:09,632 here around Hue itself. 633 00:43:09,733 --> 00:43:12,099 And the landing zone on this the south side of the river 634 00:43:12,199 --> 00:43:15,365 has been under almost constant mortar and small arms fire. 635 00:43:15,465 --> 00:43:18,733 And today, at any rate, Hue is cut off. 636 00:43:23,065 --> 00:43:26,266 NARRATOR: The longest, bloodiest battle of the Tet Offensive 637 00:43:26,365 --> 00:43:28,300 was being fought in the streets 638 00:43:28,400 --> 00:43:31,166 of one of the country's loveliest cities, 639 00:43:31,266 --> 00:43:34,965 the former imperial capital Hue. 640 00:43:35,065 --> 00:43:37,266 (gunfire) 641 00:43:40,400 --> 00:43:43,333 (shouting, gunfire) 642 00:43:51,065 --> 00:43:54,266 The Perfume River divided Hue in two. 643 00:43:54,365 --> 00:43:57,465 The enemy... North Vietnamese regulars 644 00:43:57,565 --> 00:43:59,365 and Viet Cong guerrillas... 645 00:43:59,465 --> 00:44:02,432 had taken over both sides of the city. 646 00:44:02,532 --> 00:44:06,365 Only the American advisers' compound on the south bank 647 00:44:06,465 --> 00:44:08,965 and the 1st ARVN division headquarters 648 00:44:09,065 --> 00:44:12,300 within the thick-walled Citadel on the north side 649 00:44:12,400 --> 00:44:14,166 held out against them. 650 00:44:24,400 --> 00:44:27,432 NGUYEN NGOC: 651 00:44:51,432 --> 00:44:55,199 NARRATOR: Marine Corporal Bill Ehrhart was at the end of his tour 652 00:44:55,300 --> 00:44:57,532 and was preparing to go home. 653 00:44:57,632 --> 00:44:59,733 But when his company was ordered 654 00:44:59,833 --> 00:45:03,465 to relieve the besieged American compound in Hue, 655 00:45:03,565 --> 00:45:06,733 he chose to go with his comrades. 656 00:45:06,833 --> 00:45:10,800 EHRHART: I had spent 12 months in Vietnam looking for somebody to shoot at 657 00:45:10,900 --> 00:45:13,766 and there was nobody there. 658 00:45:13,865 --> 00:45:16,833 And then all of a sudden 659 00:45:16,932 --> 00:45:20,365 it seemed like here's every NVA in the world 660 00:45:20,465 --> 00:45:23,032 trying to kill me and my pals. 661 00:45:23,132 --> 00:45:27,099 It was an entirely different kind of fight. 662 00:45:36,965 --> 00:45:40,300 NARRATOR: Ehrhart and his unit endured a bloody ambush, 663 00:45:40,400 --> 00:45:44,032 finally fought their way through to the MACV compound, 664 00:45:44,132 --> 00:45:48,500 and then began days of brutal block-by-block battle 665 00:45:48,599 --> 00:45:51,233 to retake the surrounding neighborhoods. 666 00:45:52,400 --> 00:45:54,766 Every house became a battlefield. 667 00:46:05,233 --> 00:46:08,599 "It was exhilarating," Ehrhart remembered. 668 00:46:08,699 --> 00:46:11,833 "I was scared utterly witless, 669 00:46:11,932 --> 00:46:14,365 "but it was the greatest adrenaline high 670 00:46:14,465 --> 00:46:17,032 I'd ever experienced." 671 00:46:18,532 --> 00:46:21,565 EHRHART: It was ugly, ugly fighting. 672 00:46:21,666 --> 00:46:24,932 You literally have to clear houses a room at a time, 673 00:46:25,032 --> 00:46:27,800 a floor at a time, a house at a time. 674 00:46:27,900 --> 00:46:30,932 And then you go to the next one. 675 00:46:32,465 --> 00:46:35,599 NGUYEN THI HOA: 676 00:47:01,532 --> 00:47:03,800 (gunfire) 677 00:47:14,432 --> 00:47:17,632 (soldier yelling instructions over deafening gunfight) 678 00:47:17,733 --> 00:47:19,699 (gunfight grows louder) 679 00:47:23,932 --> 00:47:25,432 (explosion, then silence) 680 00:47:28,900 --> 00:47:32,400 February 5, I was wounded by a B40 rocket. 681 00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:35,932 I was utterly stone deaf. 682 00:47:39,166 --> 00:47:43,199 Under any other circumstances I would have been evacuated. 683 00:47:43,300 --> 00:47:47,833 But I could see, I could walk, and I could shoot. 684 00:47:47,932 --> 00:47:49,132 So I stayed. 685 00:47:54,166 --> 00:47:57,166 (distant, muffled gunfire) 686 00:48:05,733 --> 00:48:09,099 (heartbeat grows louder over muted din) 687 00:48:09,199 --> 00:48:11,500 (explosion, shouting) 688 00:48:18,132 --> 00:48:20,065 NARRATOR: The fighting continued. 689 00:48:22,632 --> 00:48:25,833 (gunshots whizzing, soldiers cacophonously screaming in pain) 690 00:48:25,932 --> 00:48:30,599 "We had to blow our way through every wall of every house," 691 00:48:30,699 --> 00:48:32,199 one Marine remembered. 692 00:48:32,300 --> 00:48:37,666 "It's a shame we had to damage such a beautiful city." 693 00:48:39,766 --> 00:48:42,333 EHRHART: Of course, all these civilians have been herded 694 00:48:42,432 --> 00:48:44,266 into the university. 695 00:48:44,365 --> 00:48:47,500 They had all gone there to get the hell away 696 00:48:47,599 --> 00:48:49,575 from having grenades thrown in their living rooms. 697 00:48:49,599 --> 00:48:52,132 And one of the guys comes in and says, 698 00:48:52,233 --> 00:48:58,666 "I found this-this girl who will fuck us all for C rations." 699 00:48:58,766 --> 00:49:00,300 And I'm thinking, 700 00:49:00,400 --> 00:49:02,532 "Wait, we're in the middle of this big battle 701 00:49:02,632 --> 00:49:05,800 and I'm gonna go and..." 702 00:49:07,465 --> 00:49:13,599 But I'm 19 years old and my buddies are gonna, and I just... 703 00:49:13,699 --> 00:49:18,233 I demonstrated to myself how little courage I actually had. 704 00:49:18,333 --> 00:49:23,099 I've lived with it ever since, but I-I-I did it 705 00:49:23,199 --> 00:49:24,666 because I wasn't gonna say, 706 00:49:24,766 --> 00:49:28,266 "You guys, we shouldn't do something like this." 707 00:49:28,365 --> 00:49:32,599 Even more than the killings, 708 00:49:32,699 --> 00:49:35,833 the thing I think I'm most ashamed of 709 00:49:35,932 --> 00:49:40,400 when I think back on the time I spent there. 710 00:49:40,500 --> 00:49:48,099 I think it's because my mother's a woman, my wife's a woman, 711 00:49:48,199 --> 00:49:51,065 my daughter's a woman. 712 00:49:51,166 --> 00:49:52,800 (sighs) 713 00:49:57,965 --> 00:50:01,599 Somebody gets shot, not a good thing. 714 00:50:01,699 --> 00:50:04,333 You see somebody running away, 715 00:50:04,432 --> 00:50:07,900 I don't know, it could've been a VC. 716 00:50:08,000 --> 00:50:09,666 But that woman? 717 00:50:11,233 --> 00:50:13,666 Nah. 718 00:50:13,766 --> 00:50:16,465 I had every opportunity to say no. 719 00:50:16,565 --> 00:50:19,233 (gunfire) 720 00:50:19,333 --> 00:50:23,565 NARRATOR: The next day, in the midst of still another firefight, 721 00:50:23,666 --> 00:50:27,065 a lieutenant in a jeep pulled up in front of the building 722 00:50:27,166 --> 00:50:30,599 from which Ehrhart and five fellow Marines were firing 723 00:50:30,699 --> 00:50:32,132 at the enemy. 724 00:50:32,233 --> 00:50:35,199 "Come on, Ehrhart!" he shouted. 725 00:50:35,300 --> 00:50:37,166 "Chopper's on the LZ right now. 726 00:50:37,266 --> 00:50:39,865 You want to go home or not?" 727 00:50:42,000 --> 00:50:44,965 From the helicopter that lifted him up and away 728 00:50:45,065 --> 00:50:46,965 from the ruined, smoking city, 729 00:50:47,065 --> 00:50:49,500 he could see a farmer and his water buffalo 730 00:50:49,599 --> 00:50:51,965 working a flooded field 731 00:50:52,065 --> 00:50:55,900 and women in conical hats carrying twin baskets 732 00:50:56,000 --> 00:51:01,000 hurrying along between the paddies as if there were no war. 733 00:51:04,699 --> 00:51:08,632 Back in Hue, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese troops 734 00:51:08,733 --> 00:51:12,865 now found themselves trapped inside the city. 735 00:51:13,532 --> 00:51:16,465 NGUYEN NGOC: 736 00:51:29,932 --> 00:51:30,932 (gunfire) 737 00:51:34,432 --> 00:51:35,833 NARRATOR: It would take two weeks 738 00:51:35,932 --> 00:51:38,632 for the Marines to fight their way across the river 739 00:51:38,733 --> 00:51:41,365 to support the ARVN, 740 00:51:41,465 --> 00:51:42,865 who had stubbornly kept the enemy 741 00:51:42,965 --> 00:51:47,365 from overwhelming their division headquarters in the Citadel. 742 00:52:07,266 --> 00:52:10,233 DAVID BURRINGTON: What's the hardest part of it? 743 00:52:10,333 --> 00:52:12,766 Not knowing where they are, that's the worst of it. 744 00:52:12,865 --> 00:52:14,841 Riding around and running in the sewers, in the gutters, 745 00:52:14,865 --> 00:52:15,932 anywhere. 746 00:52:16,032 --> 00:52:17,599 Could be anywhere. 747 00:52:17,699 --> 00:52:19,432 Just hoping to stay alive and day to day. 748 00:52:19,532 --> 00:52:21,476 Everybody just wants to go back home and go to school. 749 00:52:21,500 --> 00:52:22,733 That's about it. 750 00:52:22,833 --> 00:52:23,841 Have you lost any friends? 751 00:52:23,865 --> 00:52:25,000 Quite a few. 752 00:52:25,099 --> 00:52:27,300 We lost one the other day, good buddy of mine. 753 00:52:27,400 --> 00:52:28,733 The whole thing stinks, really. 754 00:52:33,599 --> 00:52:37,965 (gunfire, shouting) 755 00:52:43,932 --> 00:52:45,599 HO HUU LAN: 756 00:52:55,300 --> 00:52:56,333 He's still alive. 757 00:53:05,865 --> 00:53:10,632 NGUYEN THI HOA: 758 00:53:29,233 --> 00:53:32,532 NARRATOR: After 26 days of bitter, bloody fighting, 759 00:53:32,632 --> 00:53:37,800 the flag of South Vietnam flew again above the Citadel. 760 00:53:37,900 --> 00:53:41,733 The surviving North Vietnamese and Viet Cong 761 00:53:41,833 --> 00:53:44,199 were finally permitted by their commanders 762 00:53:44,300 --> 00:53:46,132 to pull out of the city. 763 00:53:46,233 --> 00:53:50,900 Some 6,000 civilians had died in the rubble. 764 00:53:51,000 --> 00:53:58,733 Of the city's 135,000 citizens, 110,000 had lost their homes. 765 00:54:02,166 --> 00:54:05,132 All that was left of Hue, one reporter wrote, 766 00:54:05,233 --> 00:54:08,333 was "ruins divided by a river." 767 00:54:10,632 --> 00:54:12,233 JOHNSON (on TV): The biggest fact is 768 00:54:12,333 --> 00:54:16,233 that the stated purposes of the General Uprising... 769 00:54:16,333 --> 00:54:20,166 a military victory or a psychological victory... 770 00:54:20,266 --> 00:54:21,733 have failed. 771 00:54:23,199 --> 00:54:24,841 DON WEBSTER: The attack on the radio station 772 00:54:24,865 --> 00:54:26,766 started at 2:30 in the morning. 773 00:54:26,865 --> 00:54:29,900 NARRATOR: Night after night for weeks, 774 00:54:30,000 --> 00:54:33,800 American television screens had been filled with images 775 00:54:33,900 --> 00:54:36,699 of blood and violence and devastation 776 00:54:36,800 --> 00:54:39,465 the public had rarely seen before. 777 00:54:39,565 --> 00:54:42,465 GEORGE SYVERTSON: The enemy was nowhere and everywhere. 778 00:54:42,565 --> 00:54:46,266 NARRATOR: But it was one photograph that for many people 779 00:54:46,365 --> 00:54:49,365 would come to define the Tet Offensive. 780 00:54:53,766 --> 00:54:57,532 SAM HYNES: I remember he was wearing a checked shirt. 781 00:54:57,632 --> 00:55:02,233 And the photographer had come up very close 782 00:55:02,333 --> 00:55:03,766 and had pressed his shutter 783 00:55:03,865 --> 00:55:08,400 just as the officer pulled his trigger. 784 00:55:08,500 --> 00:55:11,199 So camera and gun went off together 785 00:55:11,300 --> 00:55:15,065 and you could see the man's head bulging at the side 786 00:55:15,166 --> 00:55:18,900 where the bullet was about to come out. 787 00:55:19,000 --> 00:55:22,565 We were there, face-to-face with this man who was dying, 788 00:55:22,666 --> 00:55:23,932 right now, dead. 789 00:55:24,032 --> 00:55:27,632 JAMES WILLBANKS: It's a devastating thing to see. 790 00:55:27,733 --> 00:55:30,400 And I think many Americans began to ask themselves, 791 00:55:30,500 --> 00:55:33,432 "Are we supporting the wrong guys here?" 792 00:55:33,532 --> 00:55:38,333 And it sort of brings home, I think to, to the dinner table, 793 00:55:38,432 --> 00:55:40,666 or the breakfast table if you see it in the papers, 794 00:55:40,766 --> 00:55:42,833 the brutality of this war 795 00:55:42,932 --> 00:55:46,000 and the fact that it looks like it's never going to end. 796 00:55:46,099 --> 00:55:52,266 PHAN QUANG TUE: But what we know is the price that we pay for that picture. 797 00:55:52,365 --> 00:55:54,333 It was the turning point. 798 00:55:54,432 --> 00:55:58,233 Because that put the gov... Americans to position and say, 799 00:55:58,333 --> 00:56:00,766 "Hey, look, we want to spend money 800 00:56:00,865 --> 00:56:02,365 "and the lives of our young people 801 00:56:02,465 --> 00:56:04,400 to protect such a system?" 802 00:56:13,465 --> 00:56:16,900 NARRATOR: For a month, Hal Kushner's captors had made him walk 803 00:56:17,000 --> 00:56:20,099 deeper and deeper into the Central Highlands, 804 00:56:20,199 --> 00:56:21,800 always moving at night 805 00:56:21,900 --> 00:56:24,465 so that they would not be spotted from the air. 806 00:56:26,532 --> 00:56:30,900 KUSHNER: They took me to this place that I assume was a hospital. 807 00:56:31,000 --> 00:56:32,333 It was just a series of caves 808 00:56:32,432 --> 00:56:35,365 but there were a lot of wounded lying around. 809 00:56:35,465 --> 00:56:43,000 And this female nurse came out and inspected my wound. 810 00:56:43,099 --> 00:56:47,400 And then she gave me a bamboo stick to bite on. 811 00:56:47,500 --> 00:56:50,865 She laid me down and she gave me this bamboo stick to bite on. 812 00:56:50,965 --> 00:56:53,266 And then she took this rifle-cleaning rod 813 00:56:53,365 --> 00:56:55,932 and she heated it up in a fire until it was red hot. 814 00:56:57,932 --> 00:56:59,865 And she took it and put it through my wound 815 00:56:59,965 --> 00:57:01,900 through and through. 816 00:57:02,000 --> 00:57:03,632 And it really hurt. 817 00:57:03,733 --> 00:57:06,632 It really, really, really hurt. 818 00:57:06,733 --> 00:57:09,365 And then she put Mercurochrome on the wound. 819 00:57:09,465 --> 00:57:13,666 And she gave me an aspirin tablet. 820 00:57:13,766 --> 00:57:18,565 And I... I thought, what else can they do to me? 821 00:57:18,666 --> 00:57:23,132 NARRATOR: Kushner would eventually arrive at a remote jungle camp, 822 00:57:23,233 --> 00:57:27,432 joining a handful of other American prisoners. 823 00:57:29,565 --> 00:57:32,132 And this Vietnamese officer came to me and he spoke English. 824 00:57:32,233 --> 00:57:35,333 And that was the first real English speaker that I had seen. 825 00:57:35,432 --> 00:57:37,833 And he had a little reel-to-reel tape recorder, 826 00:57:37,932 --> 00:57:40,465 battery-powered tape recorder. 827 00:57:40,565 --> 00:57:43,333 And he asked me to make a message to my family 828 00:57:43,432 --> 00:57:46,099 to let them know that I was safe. 829 00:57:46,199 --> 00:57:48,465 And I could do that if I would make a statement 830 00:57:48,565 --> 00:57:50,699 against the war. 831 00:57:50,800 --> 00:57:54,233 And I told... I told him with great bravado 832 00:57:54,333 --> 00:57:56,166 that I would rather die than make a statement 833 00:57:56,266 --> 00:57:57,766 against my country. 834 00:57:57,865 --> 00:57:59,699 And he said to me, 835 00:57:59,800 --> 00:58:04,733 "You will find dying is very easy. 836 00:58:04,833 --> 00:58:08,199 "Living will be the difficult thing. 837 00:58:08,300 --> 00:58:10,733 Living is the difficult thing." 838 00:58:14,132 --> 00:58:19,300 NARRATOR: In early March, two weeks after Hue had finally been recaptured, 839 00:58:19,400 --> 00:58:23,400 Second Lieutenant Phil Gioia of the 82nd Airborne Division 840 00:58:23,500 --> 00:58:27,000 led his platoon along the Perfume River, 841 00:58:27,099 --> 00:58:29,233 looking for weapons that might have been buried 842 00:58:29,333 --> 00:58:31,400 by the retreating enemy. 843 00:58:31,500 --> 00:58:35,400 Gioia's sergeant, Reuben Torres, 844 00:58:35,500 --> 00:58:38,365 saw something sticking up from the sandy soil. 845 00:58:38,465 --> 00:58:42,132 It was an elbow. 846 00:58:42,233 --> 00:58:46,333 So to us it seemed as though this was going to be a grave 847 00:58:46,432 --> 00:58:49,032 where the enemy had buried some of his own people 848 00:58:49,132 --> 00:58:50,900 on the withdrawal from Hue. 849 00:58:51,000 --> 00:58:53,965 Sergeant Torres said, "You know, sir, 850 00:58:54,065 --> 00:58:57,065 I think we better start to dig here." 851 00:58:57,166 --> 00:59:01,132 We found the first body and it was a woman. 852 00:59:01,233 --> 00:59:05,199 She was wearing a white blouse and black trousers. 853 00:59:05,300 --> 00:59:07,300 She had her hands tied behind her back 854 00:59:07,400 --> 00:59:10,365 and she'd been shot in the back of the head. 855 00:59:10,465 --> 00:59:13,965 Next to her was a child, who'd also been shot. 856 00:59:14,065 --> 00:59:19,199 The next person coming up was another woman. 857 00:59:19,300 --> 00:59:22,532 At that point it was clear that this-this wasn't 858 00:59:22,632 --> 00:59:24,632 enemy North Vietnamese or Viet Cong. 859 00:59:26,365 --> 00:59:29,465 NGUYEN NGOC: 860 00:59:46,632 --> 00:59:48,233 (gunfire) 861 00:59:49,932 --> 00:59:51,932 NARRATOR: Before they abandoned the city, 862 00:59:52,032 --> 00:59:54,932 the communists had systematically executed 863 00:59:55,032 --> 00:59:59,465 at least 2,800 people they called "hooligans" 864 00:59:59,565 --> 01:00:02,233 and "reactionaries." 865 01:00:02,333 --> 01:00:03,932 Hanoi would always deny 866 01:00:04,032 --> 01:00:07,365 that any innocent civilians had been killed. 867 01:00:07,465 --> 01:00:09,400 (woman sobbing) 868 01:00:10,199 --> 01:00:11,865 NGUYEN NGOC: 869 01:00:37,500 --> 01:00:39,833 (woman wailing in grief) 870 01:00:39,932 --> 01:00:44,400 HO HUU LAN: 871 01:01:13,266 --> 01:01:17,266 NARRATOR: President Johnson insisted that the Tet Offensive had been 872 01:01:17,365 --> 01:01:20,632 "a devastating defeat for the communists." 873 01:01:20,733 --> 01:01:23,500 Militarily, he was right. 874 01:01:23,599 --> 01:01:27,632 The basic assumptions on which the North Vietnamese mounted 875 01:01:27,733 --> 01:01:31,199 their offensive had all proved to be wrong. 876 01:01:31,300 --> 01:01:35,166 Hanoi's leaders had assumed the ARVN would crumble, 877 01:01:35,266 --> 01:01:40,065 that South Vietnamese soldiers would come over to their side. 878 01:01:40,166 --> 01:01:44,000 Instead, not a single unit defected. 879 01:01:45,632 --> 01:01:49,599 The civilian populace Hanoi expected to rise up 880 01:01:49,699 --> 01:01:52,132 may have been unhappy with their government, 881 01:01:52,233 --> 01:01:56,132 but they had little sympathy for communism, 882 01:01:56,233 --> 01:02:00,400 and when the fighting began, they had hidden in their homes 883 01:02:00,500 --> 01:02:04,632 to escape the fury in the streets. 884 01:02:05,500 --> 01:02:08,766 PHAM DUY TAT: 885 01:02:18,632 --> 01:02:23,132 NARRATOR: North Vietnamese general Vo Nguyen Giap, 886 01:02:23,233 --> 01:02:25,900 who had opposed the offensive from the beginning, 887 01:02:26,000 --> 01:02:29,900 later remembered that Tet had been a "costly lesson, 888 01:02:30,000 --> 01:02:34,233 paid for in blood and bone." 889 01:02:54,800 --> 01:02:58,500 NARRATOR: Of the 84,000 enemy troops who are estimated 890 01:02:58,599 --> 01:03:02,000 to have taken part in the Tet Offensive, more than half... 891 01:03:02,099 --> 01:03:07,733 as many as 58,000 men and women, most of them Viet Cong... 892 01:03:07,833 --> 01:03:12,199 are thought to have been killed or wounded or captured. 893 01:03:14,199 --> 01:03:17,400 JOHN LAURENCE: The American military command celebrated the Tet Offensive 894 01:03:17,500 --> 01:03:18,932 as a victory. 895 01:03:19,032 --> 01:03:22,132 You know, "They finally came at us, and we blew them away," 896 01:03:22,233 --> 01:03:24,632 which was basically true. 897 01:03:24,733 --> 01:03:28,132 But the administration had been telling the American public 898 01:03:28,233 --> 01:03:32,865 for most of the end of '67 and for the first month of 1968 899 01:03:32,965 --> 01:03:34,766 that the war was being won; 900 01:03:34,865 --> 01:03:39,865 that the NLF and the North Vietnamese were ground down 901 01:03:39,965 --> 01:03:42,833 to such an extent that we could see the end of the war, 902 01:03:42,932 --> 01:03:44,266 a victory. 903 01:03:44,365 --> 01:03:47,865 The Tet Offensive has forced our generals to re-evaluate... 904 01:03:47,965 --> 01:03:51,865 So when Tet hit, it contradicted everything 905 01:03:51,965 --> 01:03:54,865 that the administration and the Saigon country team 906 01:03:54,965 --> 01:03:57,666 had been telling the American public through its journalists 907 01:03:57,766 --> 01:03:59,865 for the previous four or five months. 908 01:03:59,965 --> 01:04:02,766 John Laurence, CBS News, Saigon. 909 01:04:02,865 --> 01:04:04,705 ("White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane playing) 910 01:04:04,800 --> 01:04:09,833 BRADY: It broke the will of the United States to fight that war. 911 01:04:09,932 --> 01:04:15,465 It was such a shock that it stripped away the last vestiges 912 01:04:15,565 --> 01:04:19,300 of the fiction and fanciful interpretations 913 01:04:19,400 --> 01:04:23,266 that had led us down this primrose path into disaster. 914 01:04:23,365 --> 01:04:28,233 After that nobody could be convinced. 915 01:04:28,333 --> 01:04:32,266 And then the most ferocious possible argument erupted 916 01:04:32,365 --> 01:04:33,699 inside the U.S. government 917 01:04:33,800 --> 01:04:38,733 because the hawks on the war were saying, 918 01:04:38,833 --> 01:04:44,166 "Tet was North Vietnam's last gasp. 919 01:04:44,266 --> 01:04:47,465 "It was their last shot at winning the war, 920 01:04:47,565 --> 01:04:49,300 "and they failed. 921 01:04:49,400 --> 01:04:53,632 We beat them, and that's the end of them." 922 01:04:53,733 --> 01:04:58,465 And we said, "After all these years of war, 923 01:04:58,565 --> 01:05:01,065 "if that's what they are able to do, 924 01:05:01,166 --> 01:05:05,432 "we ought to learn some lesson about their commitment 925 01:05:05,532 --> 01:05:08,233 to this war as well and the cost to us." 926 01:05:08,333 --> 01:05:12,000 NARRATOR: On March 10, theNew York Times reported 927 01:05:12,099 --> 01:05:16,800 that the Army was requesting 206,000 additional troops 928 01:05:16,900 --> 01:05:18,632 for Vietnam. 929 01:05:18,733 --> 01:05:21,432 But if the United States had been winning the war, 930 01:05:21,532 --> 01:05:25,699 many Americans asked, if Tet had in fact been a disaster 931 01:05:25,800 --> 01:05:29,865 for the enemy, why were still more men needed? 932 01:05:29,965 --> 01:05:33,465 More and more members of the president's own party 933 01:05:33,565 --> 01:05:37,065 now felt free to express their doubts. 934 01:05:37,166 --> 01:05:41,132 "Our enemy has finally shattered the mask of official illusion," 935 01:05:41,233 --> 01:05:43,632 Senator Robert Kennedy said. 936 01:05:43,733 --> 01:05:46,833 "Unable to defeat him or break his will, 937 01:05:46,932 --> 01:05:50,865 we must actively seek a peaceful settlement." 938 01:05:50,965 --> 01:05:52,666 ...can cope with its problems. 939 01:05:52,766 --> 01:05:57,300 NARRATOR: Walter Cronkite, the respected anchor of theCBS Evening News, 940 01:05:57,400 --> 01:06:00,166 had come home from covering the Tet Offensive 941 01:06:00,266 --> 01:06:04,333 convinced victory was no longer possible. 942 01:06:04,432 --> 01:06:07,000 We have been too often disappointed by the optimism 943 01:06:07,099 --> 01:06:10,233 of the American leaders, both in Vietnam and Washington, 944 01:06:10,333 --> 01:06:13,666 to have faith any longer in the silver linings they find 945 01:06:13,766 --> 01:06:15,266 in the darkest clouds. 946 01:06:15,365 --> 01:06:19,565 To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, 947 01:06:19,666 --> 01:06:21,099 in the face of the evidence, 948 01:06:21,199 --> 01:06:24,000 the optimists who have been wrong in the past. 949 01:06:24,099 --> 01:06:26,699 To suggest we are on the edge of defeat 950 01:06:26,800 --> 01:06:29,833 is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. 951 01:06:29,932 --> 01:06:32,432 To say that we are mired in stalemate 952 01:06:32,532 --> 01:06:36,266 seems the only realistic if unsatisfactory conclusion. 953 01:06:36,365 --> 01:06:39,733 But it is increasingly clear to this reporter 954 01:06:39,833 --> 01:06:44,266 that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, 955 01:06:44,365 --> 01:06:48,666 not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up 956 01:06:48,766 --> 01:06:50,699 to their pledge to defend democracy 957 01:06:50,800 --> 01:06:53,500 and did the best they could. 958 01:06:53,599 --> 01:06:55,233 This is Walter Cronkite. 959 01:06:55,333 --> 01:06:56,733 Goodnight. 960 01:06:56,833 --> 01:06:59,500 EUGENE McCARTHY: In 1966, in '67, 961 01:06:59,599 --> 01:07:01,632 and again in '68, 962 01:07:01,733 --> 01:07:04,699 most recently we hear the same hollow claims of progress 963 01:07:04,800 --> 01:07:08,065 and of advance toward victory. 964 01:07:08,166 --> 01:07:11,333 The fact is, however, as we know from events of recent weeks, 965 01:07:11,432 --> 01:07:14,900 events which one is almost saddened to report, 966 01:07:15,000 --> 01:07:17,365 that the enemy has become bolder than ever. 967 01:07:17,465 --> 01:07:20,965 NARRATOR: On the evening of March 12, 968 01:07:21,065 --> 01:07:23,666 President Johnson watched the returns come in 969 01:07:23,766 --> 01:07:27,300 from the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary, 970 01:07:27,400 --> 01:07:31,199 where he was facing an unexpected challenge. 971 01:07:31,300 --> 01:07:33,365 The most recent poll had suggested 972 01:07:33,465 --> 01:07:36,733 he would beat Eugene McCarthy two to one. 973 01:07:36,833 --> 01:07:41,532 But Johnson won just 49.6% of the vote 974 01:07:41,632 --> 01:07:45,266 against 41.9% for his opponent, 975 01:07:45,365 --> 01:07:49,565 even though most of those who voted against the president 976 01:07:49,666 --> 01:07:54,233 actually wanted him to prosecute the war more vigorously. 977 01:07:54,333 --> 01:07:57,465 Johnson knew he was in trouble. 978 01:07:57,565 --> 01:07:59,642 ROBERT KENNEDY: ...for the presidency of the United States... 979 01:07:59,666 --> 01:08:01,699 NARRATOR: And there was more to come. 980 01:08:01,800 --> 01:08:05,432 I do not run for the presidency merely to oppose any man... 981 01:08:05,532 --> 01:08:08,965 NARRATOR: Just four days after the New Hampshire primary, 982 01:08:09,065 --> 01:08:14,565 Robert F. Kennedy declared his candidacy for the presidency, 983 01:08:14,666 --> 01:08:18,632 and polls suggested he was more popular than Lyndon Johnson. 984 01:08:18,733 --> 01:08:20,600 ...about what must be done. 985 01:08:20,699 --> 01:08:24,300 I run because it is now unmistakably clear 986 01:08:24,399 --> 01:08:29,699 that we can change these disastrous, divisive policies 987 01:08:29,800 --> 01:08:33,733 only by changing the men who are now making them. 988 01:08:37,199 --> 01:08:39,199 (din of large crowd) 989 01:08:42,132 --> 01:08:44,565 LYNDON JOHNSON: I think what we've got to do, too, 990 01:08:44,666 --> 01:08:49,033 is get out of the posture of just being the war candidate 991 01:08:49,132 --> 01:08:52,166 that McCarthy has put us in, and Bobby's putting us in, 992 01:08:52,265 --> 01:08:53,365 the kids are putting us in, 993 01:08:53,466 --> 01:08:55,100 and the papers are putting us in. 994 01:08:55,199 --> 01:08:57,632 We've got to come up with something. 995 01:08:57,733 --> 01:09:01,000 CLARK CLIFFORD: What it is: we're out to win, 996 01:09:01,100 --> 01:09:03,600 but we're not out to win the war. 997 01:09:03,699 --> 01:09:04,832 We're out to win the peace. 998 01:09:04,932 --> 01:09:06,233 JOHNSON: That's right. 999 01:09:06,332 --> 01:09:07,642 CLIFFORD: And that's what we give them, 1000 01:09:07,666 --> 01:09:09,142 and what our slogan could very well be... 1001 01:09:09,166 --> 01:09:11,466 win the peace with honor. 1002 01:09:11,565 --> 01:09:15,765 JOHNSON: But we've got to have something new and fresh that goes in there 1003 01:09:15,865 --> 01:09:17,966 along with the statement that we're going to win. 1004 01:09:18,065 --> 01:09:19,699 CLIFFORD: Right. 1005 01:09:19,800 --> 01:09:21,699 But we have to be very careful 1006 01:09:21,800 --> 01:09:23,500 what it is we say we're going to win. 1007 01:09:23,600 --> 01:09:25,365 JOHNSON: That's right. 1008 01:09:25,466 --> 01:09:28,065 CLIFFORD: They think, well hell, that means we're just going 1009 01:09:28,166 --> 01:09:30,765 to keep pouring men in until we win militarily. 1010 01:09:30,865 --> 01:09:32,932 And that isn't what we're after, really. 1011 01:09:33,033 --> 01:09:36,000 JOHNSON: Uh, we're not going to get these doves, 1012 01:09:36,100 --> 01:09:38,233 but we can neutralize the country; 1013 01:09:38,332 --> 01:09:39,442 that way it won't follow them, 1014 01:09:39,466 --> 01:09:40,786 if we can come up with something. 1015 01:09:45,365 --> 01:09:50,699 NARRATOR: On March 26, the Wise Men, a group of veteran cold warriors 1016 01:09:50,800 --> 01:09:53,632 who had earlier urged the president to hold steady 1017 01:09:53,733 --> 01:09:57,765 in Vietnam, now advised him to change course. 1018 01:09:57,865 --> 01:10:01,733 Dean Acheson, Harry Truman's secretary of state, 1019 01:10:01,832 --> 01:10:03,565 spoke for the majority. 1020 01:10:03,666 --> 01:10:07,100 "We can no longer do the job we set out to do 1021 01:10:07,199 --> 01:10:09,565 in the time we have left," he said, 1022 01:10:09,666 --> 01:10:13,800 "and we must begin to take steps to disengage." 1023 01:10:13,899 --> 01:10:20,265 The president agreed to send just 13,500 more troops, 1024 01:10:20,365 --> 01:10:24,765 not the 206,000 the generals had requested, 1025 01:10:24,865 --> 01:10:28,432 and decided to recall William Westmoreland to Washington 1026 01:10:28,533 --> 01:10:30,699 as chief of staff of the Army, 1027 01:10:30,800 --> 01:10:36,000 replacing him with his deputy, General Creighton W. Abrams. 1028 01:10:37,800 --> 01:10:42,500 NEIL SHEEHAN: His face was a... was a mask of exhaustion and defeat. 1029 01:10:42,600 --> 01:10:45,332 It was very sad to see the man. 1030 01:10:45,432 --> 01:10:48,765 He-he was broken by it. 1031 01:10:50,365 --> 01:10:52,500 NARRATOR: On March 30, Gallup reported 1032 01:10:52,600 --> 01:10:55,932 that 63% of the public disapproved 1033 01:10:56,033 --> 01:10:58,733 of Johnson's handling of the war, 1034 01:10:58,832 --> 01:11:02,800 the lowest point of his presidency. 1035 01:11:02,899 --> 01:11:07,832 The following evening, March 31, 1968, 1036 01:11:07,932 --> 01:11:12,500 the president asked for time on all three networks. 1037 01:11:13,733 --> 01:11:16,765 Good evening, my fellow Americans. 1038 01:11:16,865 --> 01:11:19,932 Tonight, I want to speak to you 1039 01:11:20,033 --> 01:11:23,000 of peace in Vietnam and Southeast Asia. 1040 01:11:25,000 --> 01:11:27,899 NARRATOR: Johnson announced that he had decided to stop bombing 1041 01:11:28,000 --> 01:11:32,600 the densely populated areas around Hanoi and Haiphong 1042 01:11:32,699 --> 01:11:35,500 in the hope that North Vietnam would finally be willing 1043 01:11:35,600 --> 01:11:38,132 to come to the negotiating table. 1044 01:11:38,233 --> 01:11:40,899 Only the southern half of the country, 1045 01:11:41,000 --> 01:11:43,533 the staging areas north of the DMZ, 1046 01:11:43,632 --> 01:11:47,500 would continue to be targeted. 1047 01:11:47,600 --> 01:11:52,033 Then he stunned the country and the world. 1048 01:11:52,132 --> 01:11:57,466 I do not believe that I should devote an hour 1049 01:11:57,565 --> 01:12:03,432 or a day of my time to any personal partisan causes 1050 01:12:03,533 --> 01:12:11,533 or to any duties other than the awesome duties of this office, 1051 01:12:12,033 --> 01:12:15,865 the presidency of your country. 1052 01:12:15,966 --> 01:12:23,966 Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, 1053 01:12:24,865 --> 01:12:28,832 the nomination of my party for another term as your president. 1054 01:12:32,565 --> 01:12:35,832 ("Live Right Now" by Eddie Harris playing) 1055 01:12:40,166 --> 01:12:43,699 ROGER HARRIS: I land in California and take a plane from California to Boston. 1056 01:12:43,800 --> 01:12:47,399 And I'm feeling good because I've survived 1057 01:12:47,500 --> 01:12:50,199 and, you know, I fought for my country. 1058 01:12:50,300 --> 01:12:53,166 I got off the plane at Logan and I stepped out there 1059 01:12:53,265 --> 01:12:55,132 and I'm just happy to be home. 1060 01:12:55,233 --> 01:13:02,033 And I had my uniform on and walked out to the curb, 1061 01:13:02,132 --> 01:13:06,899 and the cabs just kept going by me, kept going by me. 1062 01:13:07,000 --> 01:13:09,865 And there was a state trooper that was standing there. 1063 01:13:09,966 --> 01:13:12,600 And I didn't realize what was happening. 1064 01:13:12,699 --> 01:13:16,065 And then he stepped in the street and he stopped a cab 1065 01:13:16,166 --> 01:13:18,100 and he says, "You have to take this man. 1066 01:13:18,199 --> 01:13:20,432 You have to take this soldier." 1067 01:13:20,533 --> 01:13:22,565 And the driver looked over at me and he said, 1068 01:13:22,666 --> 01:13:25,199 "I don't want to go to Roxbury." 1069 01:13:25,300 --> 01:13:27,666 They don't see me as a soldier. 1070 01:13:27,765 --> 01:13:30,565 You know, they see me as a nigger coming home here 1071 01:13:30,666 --> 01:13:32,365 and I live in Roxbury. 1072 01:13:32,466 --> 01:13:33,565 You know? 1073 01:13:33,666 --> 01:13:35,399 I'm thinking, "I'm a Marine. 1074 01:13:35,500 --> 01:13:36,865 I'm a Marine," you know. 1075 01:13:36,966 --> 01:13:40,300 "I just fought for my country 13 months in the combat zone. 1076 01:13:40,399 --> 01:13:42,500 And I can't get a cab to get home." 1077 01:13:44,733 --> 01:13:47,533 ROBERT KENNEDY: I have some very sad news for all of you, 1078 01:13:47,632 --> 01:13:52,765 and, I think, sad news for all of our fellow citizens, 1079 01:13:52,865 --> 01:13:56,832 and people who love peace all over the world; 1080 01:13:56,932 --> 01:14:00,565 and that is that Martin Luther King was shot 1081 01:14:00,666 --> 01:14:02,308 and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee. 1082 01:14:02,332 --> 01:14:04,100 (crowd screaming in disbelief) 1083 01:14:06,332 --> 01:14:08,432 In this difficult day, 1084 01:14:08,533 --> 01:14:12,132 in this difficult time for the United States, 1085 01:14:12,233 --> 01:14:16,800 it's perhaps well to ask what kind of a nation we are 1086 01:14:16,899 --> 01:14:19,300 and what direction we want to move in. 1087 01:14:20,800 --> 01:14:24,300 NARRATOR: Over the next week, African Americans... 1088 01:14:24,399 --> 01:14:27,399 grieving, frustrated, angry... 1089 01:14:27,500 --> 01:14:32,399 poured into the streets of more than 100 towns and cities, 1090 01:14:32,500 --> 01:14:37,065 including New York and Oakland, Newark and Nashville, 1091 01:14:37,166 --> 01:14:42,233 Chicago and Cincinnati and Baltimore, 1092 01:14:42,332 --> 01:14:44,800 and in Washington, D.C., 1093 01:14:44,899 --> 01:14:48,233 where fires came within two blocks of the White House. 1094 01:14:50,600 --> 01:14:53,565 STOKELY CARMICHAEL: When they killed Dr. King they just opened up the eyes 1095 01:14:53,666 --> 01:14:56,466 of a lot of black people who were afraid to pick up guns. 1096 01:14:56,565 --> 01:14:59,332 Now they will pick up those guns. 1097 01:14:59,432 --> 01:15:01,432 JESSE JACKSON: We're living in a sick world. 1098 01:15:01,533 --> 01:15:04,466 This racist society in which we live 1099 01:15:04,565 --> 01:15:06,199 is that that really pulled the trigger. 1100 01:15:06,300 --> 01:15:12,065 ROBERT KENNEDY: Violence breeds violence, repression breeds retaliation, 1101 01:15:12,166 --> 01:15:16,632 and only a cleansing of our whole society 1102 01:15:16,733 --> 01:15:20,466 can remove this sickness from our souls. 1103 01:15:20,565 --> 01:15:23,966 NARRATOR: Tens of thousands of National Guardsmen, 1104 01:15:24,065 --> 01:15:26,899 regular Army troops and the Marines, 1105 01:15:27,000 --> 01:15:30,832 including Roger Harris's stateside unit, 1106 01:15:30,932 --> 01:15:33,800 were ordered to patrol American streets. 1107 01:15:35,632 --> 01:15:37,832 HARRIS: And I was ready to go. 1108 01:15:37,932 --> 01:15:41,100 Until I saw what they were giving out. 1109 01:15:41,199 --> 01:15:43,166 I thought they were going to give us billy clubs 1110 01:15:43,265 --> 01:15:45,733 and I thought we were going to stand in front of buildings, 1111 01:15:45,832 --> 01:15:49,100 you know, and protect, you know, businesses. 1112 01:15:49,199 --> 01:15:52,800 And they were passing out flak jackets, helmets, 1113 01:15:52,899 --> 01:15:54,166 M-16s with live ammunition. 1114 01:15:54,265 --> 01:15:58,065 You know, same things we had in Vietnam. 1115 01:15:58,166 --> 01:16:02,932 And when I saw that I said... I said, "I'm not going. 1116 01:16:03,033 --> 01:16:04,199 I'm not going." 1117 01:16:04,300 --> 01:16:08,100 I said, "I got family in Washington, D.C." 1118 01:16:08,199 --> 01:16:11,832 And my company commander said, "Get on the truck, Marine." 1119 01:16:14,632 --> 01:16:16,199 I said, "I'm not going." 1120 01:16:18,800 --> 01:16:22,132 I didn't make sergeant because I refused to go. 1121 01:16:23,733 --> 01:16:30,166 NARRATOR: Forty-six Americans died, 2,600 were injured, 1122 01:16:30,265 --> 01:16:32,166 20,000 were arrested. 1123 01:16:36,600 --> 01:16:38,033 Later that same month, 1124 01:16:38,132 --> 01:16:41,065 antiwar students seized several buildings 1125 01:16:41,166 --> 01:16:44,699 at Columbia University in Manhattan. 1126 01:16:44,800 --> 01:16:48,733 The occupation lasted a week, 1127 01:16:48,832 --> 01:16:51,800 the first time in American history that students forced 1128 01:16:51,899 --> 01:16:56,100 a major university to shut down. 1129 01:16:56,199 --> 01:16:59,365 Policemen eventually drove the demonstrators 1130 01:16:59,466 --> 01:17:00,899 out of the buildings 1131 01:17:01,000 --> 01:17:04,800 and sent more than 100 students to the hospital. 1132 01:17:04,899 --> 01:17:09,166 The United States now appeared to be more divided 1133 01:17:09,265 --> 01:17:12,500 than at any time since the Civil War. 1134 01:17:13,966 --> 01:17:19,000 That spring, protestors also took to the streets of London, 1135 01:17:19,100 --> 01:17:21,265 Paris... 1136 01:17:21,365 --> 01:17:23,199 Berlin... 1137 01:17:23,300 --> 01:17:25,265 Prague... 1138 01:17:25,365 --> 01:17:27,000 Rio... 1139 01:17:27,100 --> 01:17:29,332 Jakarta. 1140 01:17:29,432 --> 01:17:32,466 The world seemed to be coming apart. 1141 01:17:38,300 --> 01:17:39,565 (shouting, sirens wailing) 1142 01:17:49,132 --> 01:17:51,065 (static) 1143 01:17:57,199 --> 01:17:59,800 President Johnson's partial bombing halt 1144 01:17:59,899 --> 01:18:02,000 had had the desired effect. 1145 01:18:02,100 --> 01:18:08,432 Hanoi agreed, for the first time, to talk with Washington. 1146 01:18:08,533 --> 01:18:13,932 Negotiators began meeting at the Hotel Majestic in Paris. 1147 01:18:14,033 --> 01:18:18,033 But the communists had now adopted a new double policy. 1148 01:18:18,132 --> 01:18:19,565 They called it 1149 01:18:19,666 --> 01:18:23,733 "talking while fighting, fighting while talking." 1150 01:18:23,832 --> 01:18:27,132 MAN: Incoming! 1151 01:18:27,233 --> 01:18:30,865 NARRATOR: On May 5, they launched another offensive 1152 01:18:30,966 --> 01:18:33,500 that Le Duan hoped would somehow achieve 1153 01:18:33,600 --> 01:18:35,800 what the Tet Offensive had not. 1154 01:18:35,899 --> 01:18:42,100 The enemy hit 119 targets in what came to be called Mini-Tet. 1155 01:18:45,699 --> 01:18:48,365 There was new fighting in the streets of Saigon. 1156 01:18:52,466 --> 01:18:55,432 Half the city was now leveled. 1157 01:19:04,365 --> 01:19:08,865 But the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army failed again. 1158 01:19:08,966 --> 01:19:10,966 They were still no closer 1159 01:19:11,065 --> 01:19:13,865 to overthrowing the South Vietnamese government, 1160 01:19:13,966 --> 01:19:18,632 and they had suffered some 36,000 more casualties. 1161 01:19:22,932 --> 01:19:28,065 For the United States, May of 1968 proved the bloodiest month 1162 01:19:28,166 --> 01:19:31,100 of the Vietnam War. 1163 01:19:31,199 --> 01:19:36,365 2,416 Americans lost their lives 1164 01:19:36,466 --> 01:19:38,865 in places whose names Americans back home 1165 01:19:38,966 --> 01:19:42,565 would have a hard time remembering: 1166 01:19:42,666 --> 01:19:47,100 Dai Do, Phu Lam, Kham Duc, 1167 01:19:47,199 --> 01:19:51,565 Cholon, and the Plain of Reeds. 1168 01:19:53,932 --> 01:19:57,666 ROBERT KENNEDY: A total military victory is not within sight 1169 01:19:57,765 --> 01:19:59,666 and is not around the corner; 1170 01:19:59,765 --> 01:20:03,332 that, in fact, it is probably beyond our grasp. 1171 01:20:03,432 --> 01:20:05,533 NARRATOR: For a time that spring, 1172 01:20:05,632 --> 01:20:07,765 it looked as if Robert Kennedy might win 1173 01:20:07,865 --> 01:20:11,600 the Democratic nomination for president. 1174 01:20:11,699 --> 01:20:16,565 He pledged to bring the war to an end and seemed to embody 1175 01:20:16,666 --> 01:20:19,300 the hope of bridging the growing gulf 1176 01:20:19,399 --> 01:20:22,332 between black and white Americans. 1177 01:20:22,432 --> 01:20:24,832 (panicked shouting) 1178 01:20:24,932 --> 01:20:28,300 But in June, after defeating Eugene McCarthy 1179 01:20:28,399 --> 01:20:32,699 in the California primary, he too was assassinated. 1180 01:20:32,800 --> 01:20:36,265 MAN: Oh, God damn! Why? 1181 01:20:41,100 --> 01:20:43,800 (Jacqueline Schwab performs "We Shall Overcome") 1182 01:20:50,632 --> 01:20:53,800 CAROL CROCKER: People were stunned, and people were scared. 1183 01:20:53,899 --> 01:21:00,166 The people we'd looked up to were being taken away from us. 1184 01:21:04,332 --> 01:21:09,265 It definitely put those of us who were heading off on our own 1185 01:21:09,365 --> 01:21:13,233 on a path that felt uncertain. 1186 01:21:19,966 --> 01:21:21,966 KUSHNER: When Martin Luther King was assassinated 1187 01:21:22,065 --> 01:21:24,632 and Bobby Kennedy was assassinated, 1188 01:21:24,733 --> 01:21:28,765 they made a big huge deal about that. 1189 01:21:28,865 --> 01:21:34,533 They said that was part of the struggle of the American people 1190 01:21:34,632 --> 01:21:36,399 against their government. 1191 01:21:36,500 --> 01:21:38,500 And that there were riots in the streets. 1192 01:21:39,832 --> 01:21:41,966 And the camp commander actually told us, 1193 01:21:42,065 --> 01:21:44,632 "You can kill ten of us to one of you, 1194 01:21:44,733 --> 01:21:48,733 "but your people will turn against this. 1195 01:21:48,832 --> 01:21:52,966 "And we will be here for ten years or 20 years or 30 years, 1196 01:21:53,065 --> 01:21:54,332 "as long as it takes. 1197 01:21:54,432 --> 01:21:56,500 "And unless you kill every one of us, 1198 01:21:56,600 --> 01:22:00,132 we're gonna win this war." 1199 01:22:04,132 --> 01:22:05,466 And on July the Fourth, 1200 01:22:05,565 --> 01:22:09,233 we recognized it was July the Fourth. 1201 01:22:09,332 --> 01:22:12,365 And they would not let us sing patriotic songs. 1202 01:22:12,466 --> 01:22:17,265 But sometimes we would softly sing at night. 1203 01:22:17,365 --> 01:22:20,899 (voice breaking): And... 1204 01:22:21,000 --> 01:22:22,332 (clears throat) 1205 01:22:22,432 --> 01:22:27,233 we understood that despite different backgrounds 1206 01:22:27,332 --> 01:22:29,300 and different socioeconomic backgrounds, 1207 01:22:29,399 --> 01:22:31,533 different races, different religions, 1208 01:22:31,632 --> 01:22:33,565 that we were Americans. 1209 01:22:36,765 --> 01:22:38,899 ("A Whiter Shade of Pale" by Procol Harum playing) 1210 01:22:39,000 --> 01:22:41,966 NARRATOR: The American people would be choosing new leadership 1211 01:22:42,065 --> 01:22:45,199 that fall, and everyone seemed to agree, 1212 01:22:45,300 --> 01:22:47,199 a British correspondent wrote, 1213 01:22:47,300 --> 01:22:50,832 "that whoever captures the presidency this November 1214 01:22:50,932 --> 01:22:53,432 "will be obliged to end the conflict 1215 01:22:53,533 --> 01:22:56,332 "within a matter of months. 1216 01:22:56,432 --> 01:23:00,132 "How this is to be done or what concessions are to be made 1217 01:23:00,233 --> 01:23:03,699 is very much a matter of detail." 1218 01:23:03,800 --> 01:23:07,565 Before those details were finally worked out, 1219 01:23:07,666 --> 01:23:11,199 almost seven more years would pass. 1220 01:23:11,300 --> 01:23:14,832 And 27,184 more Americans, 1221 01:23:14,932 --> 01:23:19,233 and hundreds of thousands more Laotians, Cambodians, 1222 01:23:19,332 --> 01:23:24,466 and Vietnamese... North and South... would have to die. 1223 01:23:25,666 --> 01:23:31,166 ♪ We skipped the light fandango ♪ 1224 01:23:31,265 --> 01:23:35,533 ♪ Turned cartwheels 'cross the floor ♪ 1225 01:23:37,899 --> 01:23:44,265 ♪ I was feeling kinda seasick 1226 01:23:44,365 --> 01:23:48,033 ♪ But the crowd called out for more ♪ 1227 01:23:51,065 --> 01:23:54,365 ♪ The room was humming harder 1228 01:23:57,300 --> 01:23:59,765 ♪ As the ceiling flew away 1229 01:24:03,932 --> 01:24:08,166 ♪ When we called out for another drink ♪ 1230 01:24:10,166 --> 01:24:13,399 ♪ The waiter brought a tray 1231 01:24:13,500 --> 01:24:21,500 ♪ And so it was that later 1232 01:24:22,800 --> 01:24:29,500 ♪ As the miller told his tale 1233 01:24:29,600 --> 01:24:33,932 ♪ That her face, at first just ghostly ♪ 1234 01:24:34,033 --> 01:24:40,699 ♪ Turned a whiter shade of pale ♪ 1235 01:24:40,800 --> 01:24:45,466 (music continues) 1236 01:25:08,666 --> 01:25:14,932 ♪ And although my eyes were open ♪ 1237 01:25:15,033 --> 01:25:18,565 ♪ They might just as well've been closed ♪ 1238 01:25:18,666 --> 01:25:26,666 ♪ And so it was that later 1239 01:25:27,832 --> 01:25:34,000 ♪ As the miller told his tale 1240 01:25:34,100 --> 01:25:39,132 ♪ That her face, at first just ghostly ♪ 1241 01:25:39,233 --> 01:25:44,432 ♪ Turned a whiter shade of pale. ♪ 1242 01:25:46,132 --> 01:25:54,132 (music continues) 1243 01:26:13,600 --> 01:26:14,799 ANNOUNCER: LEARN MORE ABOUT THE FILM 1244 01:26:14,800 --> 01:26:17,665 AND FIND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES AT PBS.ORG/VIETNAMWAR 1245 01:26:17,666 --> 01:26:21,599 AND JOIN THE CONVERSATION USING HASHTAG VIETNAMWARPBS. 1246 01:26:21,600 --> 01:26:23,064 "THE VIETNAM WAR" IS AVAILABLE 1247 01:26:23,065 --> 01:26:24,732 ON BLU-RAY AND DVD. 1248 01:26:24,733 --> 01:26:26,398 THE COMPANION BOOK, SOUNDTRACK, 1249 01:26:26,399 --> 01:26:27,799 AND ORIGINAL SCORE FROM THE FILM 1250 01:26:27,800 --> 01:26:28,931 ARE ALSO AVAILABLE. 1251 01:26:28,932 --> 01:26:31,032 TO ORDER, VISIT SHOPPBS.ORG 1252 01:26:31,033 --> 01:26:33,499 OR CALL 1-800-PLAY-PBS. 1253 01:26:33,500 --> 01:26:34,931 EPISODES OF THIS SERIES ALSO 1254 01:26:34,932 --> 01:26:36,032 AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD 1255 01:26:36,033 --> 01:26:37,132 FROM iTUNES. 1256 01:26:40,399 --> 01:26:42,532 ANNOUNCER: BANK OF AMERICA PROUDLY SUPPORTS 1257 01:26:42,533 --> 01:26:47,431 KEN BURNS' AND LYNN NOVICK'S FILM "THE VIETNAM WAR" 1258 01:26:47,432 --> 01:26:49,831 BECAUSE FOSTERING DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES 1259 01:26:49,832 --> 01:26:52,431 AND CIVIL DISCOURSE AROUND IMPORTANT ISSUES 1260 01:26:52,432 --> 01:26:54,732 FURTHERS PROGRESS, EQUALITY, 1261 01:26:54,733 --> 01:26:56,733 AND A MORE CONNECTED SOCIETY. 1262 01:27:01,265 --> 01:27:05,300 GO TO BANKOFAMERICA.COM/ BETTERCONNECTED TO LEARN MORE. 1263 01:27:08,765 --> 01:27:10,198 ANNOUNCER: MAJOR SUPPORT FOR "THE VIETNAM WAR" 1264 01:27:10,199 --> 01:27:13,698 WAS PROVIDED BY MEMBERS OF THE BETTER ANGELS SOCIETY, 1265 01:27:13,699 --> 01:27:17,665 INCLUDING JONATHAN AND JEANNIE LAVINE, 1266 01:27:17,666 --> 01:27:20,564 DIANE AND HAL BRIERLEY, 1267 01:27:20,565 --> 01:27:22,965 AMY AND DAVID ABRAMS, 1268 01:27:22,966 --> 01:27:25,465 JOHN AND CATHERINE DEBS, 1269 01:27:25,466 --> 01:27:28,364 THE FULLERTON FAMILY CHARITABLE FUND, 1270 01:27:28,365 --> 01:27:30,431 THE MONTRONE FAMILY, 1271 01:27:30,432 --> 01:27:32,764 LYNDA AND STEWART RESNICK, 1272 01:27:32,765 --> 01:27:35,532 THE PERRY AND DONNA GOLKIN FAMILY FOUNDATION, 1273 01:27:35,533 --> 01:27:36,533 THE LYNCH FOUNDATION, 1274 01:27:36,534 --> 01:27:39,398 THE ROGER AND ROSEMARY ENRICO FOUNDATION, 1275 01:27:39,399 --> 01:27:42,831 AND BY THESE ADDITIONAL FUNDERS. 1276 01:27:42,832 --> 01:27:44,732 MAJOR FUNDING WAS ALSO PROVIDED 1277 01:27:44,733 --> 01:27:46,466 BY DAVID H. KOCH... 1278 01:27:48,765 --> 01:27:50,966 THE BLAVATNIK FAMILY FOUNDATION... 1279 01:27:53,300 --> 01:27:55,732 THE PARK FOUNDATION, 1280 01:27:55,733 --> 01:27:57,898 THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES, 1281 01:27:57,899 --> 01:28:00,099 THE PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS, 1282 01:28:00,100 --> 01:28:02,831 THE JOHN S. AND JAMES L. KNIGHT FOUNDATION, 1283 01:28:02,832 --> 01:28:05,599 THE ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION, 1284 01:28:05,600 --> 01:28:08,198 THE ARTHUR VINING DAVIS FOUNDATIONS, 1285 01:28:08,199 --> 01:28:10,398 THE FORD FOUNDATION JUSTFILMS, 1286 01:28:10,399 --> 01:28:11,599 BY THE CORPORATION 1287 01:28:11,600 --> 01:28:12,831 FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING, 1288 01:28:12,832 --> 01:28:14,799 AND BY VIEWERS LIKE YOU. 1289 01:28:14,800 --> 01:28:15,932 THANK YOU.