1
00:00:07,500 --> 00:00:09,830
...you got through!
Did you pass Chee on the road?
2
00:00:09,940 --> 00:00:11,300
No.
Where are the children?
3
00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:13,000
Kansas found
a shelter for them.
4
00:00:13,100 --> 00:00:14,900
Get down, everybody!
5
00:00:17,900 --> 00:00:20,670
JOAN FUREY:
My older sister and I one time
6
00:00:20,770 --> 00:00:24,830
uh, we're watching the movie
So Proudly We Ha il on TV.
7
00:00:24,930 --> 00:00:26,300
Listen, we still have
a few minutes!
8
00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:28,200
FUREY:
That's a story about the nurses
9
00:00:28,300 --> 00:00:33,100
who were trapped on Bataan and
Corregidor during World War II.
10
00:00:33,200 --> 00:00:35,200
(explosion)
11
00:00:35,300 --> 00:00:38,930
It was the first, probably,
time in my life that...
12
00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:40,870
I, uh...
13
00:00:40,970 --> 00:00:45,100
I realized that women could do
brave and courageous things.
14
00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:47,740
It wasn't just something
men could do.
15
00:00:47,830 --> 00:00:50,140
(helicopter blades whirring)
16
00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:53,270
♪
17
00:00:53,370 --> 00:00:56,240
NARRATOR:
Second Lieutenant Joan Furey
18
00:00:56,330 --> 00:01:01,140
had wanted to be a nurse ever
since she was a small child.
19
00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:02,970
She attended nursing school,
20
00:01:03,070 --> 00:01:06,370
and, when a high school
classmate was killed during Tet,
21
00:01:06,470 --> 00:01:10,740
joined the Army to do
what she could for the wounded.
22
00:01:12,170 --> 00:01:15,930
Furey was assigned
to the 71st Evacuation Hospital
23
00:01:16,040 --> 00:01:19,700
at Pleiku, in the heart
of the Central Highlands.
24
00:01:21,300 --> 00:01:24,870
Nothing had prepared her
for what she saw and did
25
00:01:24,970 --> 00:01:27,240
over the next 12 months.
26
00:01:27,330 --> 00:01:28,870
(indistinct chatter)
27
00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:31,200
(grunts)
28
00:01:31,300 --> 00:01:33,470
Wounded men were choppered in
29
00:01:33,570 --> 00:01:36,240
at all times
of the day and night.
30
00:01:36,330 --> 00:01:39,300
So were Viet Cong
and NVA soldiers,
31
00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:42,370
who sometimes spat
at the medical personnel
32
00:01:42,470 --> 00:01:46,140
trying to save
their limbs or lives.
33
00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:49,300
(explosions)
34
00:01:49,400 --> 00:01:51,930
Whenever the hospital
came under mortar fire,
35
00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:55,640
Furey stayed with
the most seriously wounded men
36
00:01:55,740 --> 00:01:56,970
in the ICU.
37
00:01:57,070 --> 00:01:58,800
(distant explosions)
38
00:01:58,900 --> 00:02:00,300
We had flak vests and helmets,
39
00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:02,170
and we crawled
around on the floor.
40
00:02:02,270 --> 00:02:03,670
(explosion, clattering,
men shouting)
41
00:02:03,770 --> 00:02:04,930
I mean, you really,
42
00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:06,900
you just could not leave them
unattended.
43
00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:08,430
(explosion)
44
00:02:08,540 --> 00:02:11,800
We just kind of had to swallow
your own fear.
45
00:02:13,330 --> 00:02:16,140
NARRATOR:
A triage officer made
the grim decisions
46
00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:18,300
as to who might be saved
47
00:02:18,400 --> 00:02:21,800
and those for whom
there was no hope.
48
00:02:21,900 --> 00:02:24,870
FUREY:
One of the things
that initially was so difficult
49
00:02:24,970 --> 00:02:27,800
was what we called
"expected" patients.
50
00:02:27,900 --> 00:02:30,500
And these were patients
that would be brought in
51
00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:33,040
from the battlefield
and it was determined
52
00:02:33,130 --> 00:02:35,740
they had no chance to survive.
53
00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:38,430
But they weren't dead yet.
54
00:02:39,570 --> 00:02:40,900
They brought in a...
55
00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:44,300
a young soldier
who had a head injury,
56
00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:47,870
and they said, "He's expected."
57
00:02:47,970 --> 00:02:50,240
I kind of freaked out, uh,
58
00:02:50,340 --> 00:02:53,400
and I decided that,
no, they were wrong,
59
00:02:53,500 --> 00:02:56,570
and I was gonna take care
of this patient.
60
00:02:56,670 --> 00:02:59,170
I told the corpsman
to get me blood.
61
00:02:59,270 --> 00:03:00,930
And he's saying,
"Well, Lieutenant,
62
00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:02,800
the patient is expected."
63
00:03:02,900 --> 00:03:04,800
I said, "Get me blood."
64
00:03:04,900 --> 00:03:07,840
So, I take off
the dressing, and...
65
00:03:07,930 --> 00:03:11,470
the whole back of his head
had been gone.
66
00:03:11,570 --> 00:03:13,100
When that happened,
67
00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:16,500
all the blood
I had been giving him came out.
68
00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:20,870
A friend of mine who came over
just walked me out of there.
69
00:03:20,970 --> 00:03:24,540
And a few minutes later,
you walk right back in...
70
00:03:26,500 --> 00:03:28,470
...and you get back
to doing it.
71
00:03:31,900 --> 00:03:33,800
(amplified heartbeat)
72
00:03:35,670 --> 00:03:40,430
("Dazed and Confused"
by Led Zeppelin playing)
73
00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:54,040
♪ Been dazed and confused
74
00:03:54,130 --> 00:03:56,070
♪ For so long,
it's not true... ♪
75
00:03:56,170 --> 00:03:59,070
NARRATOR:
Richard Nixon had taken office
as president
76
00:03:59,170 --> 00:04:02,200
in January of 1969,
77
00:04:02,300 --> 00:04:04,540
pledged to restore
law and order
78
00:04:04,630 --> 00:04:06,870
and end the war with honor.
79
00:04:06,970 --> 00:04:09,130
(gunfire)
Things were calmer at home,
80
00:04:09,240 --> 00:04:12,130
but in Vietnam,
peace was no closer.
81
00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:15,800
("Dazed and Confused" continues)
82
00:04:15,900 --> 00:04:19,300
American soldiers still died
pursuing guerrillas
83
00:04:19,400 --> 00:04:22,240
who appeared and disappeared
like phantoms.
84
00:04:23,430 --> 00:04:26,400
Americans still died
capturing hills
85
00:04:26,500 --> 00:04:29,800
only to give them up and have
to take them back again.
86
00:04:29,900 --> 00:04:34,070
Men and materiel were
still flowing into the south
87
00:04:34,170 --> 00:04:37,700
despite the controversial
bombing of Cambodia.
88
00:04:37,800 --> 00:04:41,400
Through it all,
Hanoi remained immovable.
89
00:04:41,500 --> 00:04:44,430
The communists insisted
there could be no peace
90
00:04:44,540 --> 00:04:48,240
until the Saigon government
was replaced
91
00:04:48,340 --> 00:04:52,740
and the United States withdrew
from Vietnam.
92
00:04:52,840 --> 00:04:56,770
Meanwhile, the American public
was losing patience.
93
00:04:56,870 --> 00:04:58,570
♪
94
00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:05,740
(men shouting)
95
00:05:05,840 --> 00:05:07,740
(gunfire fades)
96
00:05:07,840 --> 00:05:12,670
Privately, Nixon knew that
military victory was impossible,
97
00:05:12,770 --> 00:05:14,370
that things would have
to be settled
98
00:05:14,470 --> 00:05:17,670
at the bargaining table
in Paris.
99
00:05:17,770 --> 00:05:19,100
He had to find a way
100
00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:21,470
to extricate Americans
from Vietnam
101
00:05:21,570 --> 00:05:23,630
without seeming to surrender.
102
00:05:23,740 --> 00:05:25,600
Nixon also believed
103
00:05:25,700 --> 00:05:28,570
his reputation
as an implacable anti-communist
104
00:05:28,670 --> 00:05:31,540
could work to his advantage
with Hanoi.
105
00:05:31,630 --> 00:05:33,970
"We'll just slip the word
to them," he said,
106
00:05:34,070 --> 00:05:37,930
"you know, 'Nixon's obsessed
about communism.
107
00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:40,300
"'We can't restrain him
when he's angry,
108
00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:43,240
"and he has his hand
on the nuclear button,'
109
00:05:43,340 --> 00:05:46,500
"and Ho Chi Minh
will be in Paris in two days
110
00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:49,500
begging for peace."
111
00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:53,630
But Ho Chi Minh
was old and ailing now.
112
00:05:53,740 --> 00:05:55,800
And Le Duan and the other men
113
00:05:55,900 --> 00:05:58,970
who had been calling the shots
in Hanoi for years
114
00:05:59,070 --> 00:06:01,540
had no intention
of giving up their goal
115
00:06:01,630 --> 00:06:05,300
of uniting their country
under communist control.
116
00:06:05,400 --> 00:06:07,470
("While My Guitar Gently Weeps"
by the Beatles playing)
117
00:06:07,570 --> 00:06:11,100
Richard Nixon, having promised
a swift end to the war,
118
00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:14,400
would, like all the presidents
who came before him,
119
00:06:14,500 --> 00:06:16,740
end up widening it.
120
00:06:16,840 --> 00:06:20,430
In the process, he would
re-ignite opposition to the war
121
00:06:20,540 --> 00:06:22,200
on American campuses
122
00:06:22,300 --> 00:06:25,840
that threatened to tear
the country apart again.
123
00:06:25,930 --> 00:06:29,400
♪ I look at you all
124
00:06:29,500 --> 00:06:33,070
♪ See the love there
that's sleeping ♪
125
00:06:33,170 --> 00:06:35,400
(crowd clamoring)
126
00:06:35,500 --> 00:06:37,900
♪ While my guitar
127
00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:39,930
♪ Gently weeps
128
00:06:42,970 --> 00:06:45,840
♪ I look at the floor...
129
00:06:45,940 --> 00:06:47,900
MERRILL McPEAK:
The late '60s
130
00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:52,100
were a kind of confluence
of several rivulets.
131
00:06:52,200 --> 00:06:54,030
BEATLES:
♪ Still my guitar...
132
00:06:54,130 --> 00:06:57,070
McPEAK:
There was
the antiwar movement itself...
133
00:06:57,170 --> 00:07:00,200
♪
134
00:07:00,300 --> 00:07:05,030
...the whole movement
towards racial equality,
135
00:07:05,130 --> 00:07:07,600
the environment...
136
00:07:07,700 --> 00:07:10,500
the role of women.
137
00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:13,000
And the anthems
for that counterculture
138
00:07:13,100 --> 00:07:17,600
were provided by the most
brilliant rock-and-roll music
139
00:07:17,700 --> 00:07:19,630
that you can imagine.
140
00:07:19,740 --> 00:07:21,500
BEATLES:
♪ And I notice...
141
00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:25,900
I don't know how we
could exist today as a country
142
00:07:26,000 --> 00:07:30,070
without that experience.
143
00:07:30,170 --> 00:07:33,200
With all of its warts
and ups and downs,
144
00:07:33,300 --> 00:07:36,970
that produced
the America we have today,
145
00:07:37,070 --> 00:07:38,630
and we are better for it.
146
00:07:38,740 --> 00:07:40,570
(gunfire)
♪ Surely be learning...
147
00:07:40,670 --> 00:07:42,600
McPEAK:
And I felt that way in Vietnam.
148
00:07:42,700 --> 00:07:44,470
♪ Still my guitar...
149
00:07:44,570 --> 00:07:47,100
McPEAK:
I turned the volume up
on all that stuff.
150
00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:52,740
That represented
what I was trying to defend.
151
00:07:52,840 --> 00:07:55,700
♪
152
00:07:55,800 --> 00:07:59,100
(gunfire, artillery fire,
shouting)
153
00:08:03,840 --> 00:08:05,240
(explosion)
154
00:08:07,070 --> 00:08:09,500
♪ Oh, oh
155
00:08:09,600 --> 00:08:12,500
(fading):
♪ Ooh, ooh, oh, oh...
156
00:08:16,170 --> 00:08:17,900
HAL KUSHNER:
I never prayed
157
00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:20,570
the whole time
I was in the P.O.W. camp,
158
00:08:20,670 --> 00:08:23,500
but I had, like, a mantra.
159
00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:25,870
Every night
when I went to sleep,
160
00:08:25,970 --> 00:08:29,070
after a certain point,
I would say,
161
00:08:29,170 --> 00:08:33,370
"I'll be here
when the morning comes."
162
00:08:33,470 --> 00:08:35,670
And I felt if I could just live
one more day,
163
00:08:35,770 --> 00:08:39,130
then I could live one more day,
and then one more day.
164
00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:42,030
NARRATOR:
At the peace talks in Paris,
165
00:08:42,130 --> 00:08:46,600
the Nixon administration
had introduced a new demand--
166
00:08:46,700 --> 00:08:48,740
U.S. troops would not withdraw
167
00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:52,100
until all American prisoners
had come home
168
00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:54,770
and Hanoi had provided
a strict accounting
169
00:08:54,870 --> 00:08:57,130
of those missing in action.
170
00:08:57,240 --> 00:09:00,600
No one knew
how many prisoners there were.
171
00:09:00,700 --> 00:09:04,630
Most were airmen
held in or around Hanoi,
172
00:09:04,740 --> 00:09:07,440
but a handful of others,
like Hal Kushner,
173
00:09:07,530 --> 00:09:10,970
were struggling to survive
in makeshift jungle camps
174
00:09:11,070 --> 00:09:13,740
in South Vietnam.
175
00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:17,470
Hanoi would not reveal
the names of the men they held,
176
00:09:17,570 --> 00:09:21,470
because they still insisted
they were not prisoners of war,
177
00:09:21,570 --> 00:09:23,670
but war criminals.
178
00:09:23,770 --> 00:09:27,000
They subjected many
to brutal torture,
179
00:09:27,100 --> 00:09:29,200
extracted "confessions,"
180
00:09:29,300 --> 00:09:31,470
and refused
to permit inspections
181
00:09:31,570 --> 00:09:34,500
by the International Red Cross.
182
00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:38,670
The Johnson administration had
generally downplayed the issue,
183
00:09:38,770 --> 00:09:42,740
hoping quiet diplomacy
might bring the men home.
184
00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:44,440
The Nixon administration
185
00:09:44,530 --> 00:09:47,340
launched
a "go public" campaign instead,
186
00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:50,030
meant to put the plight
of American prisoners
187
00:09:50,130 --> 00:09:52,200
and those missing in action
188
00:09:52,300 --> 00:09:54,300
at the center of things.
189
00:09:54,400 --> 00:09:56,500
It also provided a rebuke
190
00:09:56,600 --> 00:09:58,670
to those
in the antiwar movement
191
00:09:58,770 --> 00:10:00,840
who seemed more sympathetic
192
00:10:00,940 --> 00:10:04,070
to North Vietnamese civilians
who had been bombed
193
00:10:04,170 --> 00:10:05,840
than they were to U.S. airmen
194
00:10:05,940 --> 00:10:09,470
who had been shot down
doing that bombing.
195
00:10:09,570 --> 00:10:14,070
Sybil Stockdale, whose husband,
Commander James Stockdale,
196
00:10:14,170 --> 00:10:16,940
was the highest-ranking prisoner
in Hanoi,
197
00:10:17,030 --> 00:10:19,340
formed the National League
of Families
198
00:10:19,440 --> 00:10:22,840
of Prisoners and Missing
in Southeast Asia,
199
00:10:22,940 --> 00:10:25,570
and led delegations of wives
to Paris
200
00:10:25,670 --> 00:10:29,070
to confront
North Vietnamese negotiators.
201
00:10:29,170 --> 00:10:33,770
Five million Americans began
wearing tin or copper bracelets
202
00:10:33,870 --> 00:10:36,400
engraved
with a missing man's name
203
00:10:36,500 --> 00:10:38,900
and date of loss.
204
00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:43,170
More than 50 million
P.O.W./M.I.A. bumper stickers
205
00:10:43,270 --> 00:10:46,870
would be sold
over the next four years.
206
00:10:46,970 --> 00:10:49,300
Despite what their jailers
had told them,
207
00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:53,600
the prisoners had not been
forgotten by their country.
208
00:10:53,700 --> 00:10:56,100
Eventually,
one journalist wrote,
209
00:10:56,200 --> 00:10:58,370
many "people began to speak
210
00:10:58,470 --> 00:11:02,530
"as though the North Vietnamese
had kidnapped 400 Americans
211
00:11:02,630 --> 00:11:07,070
and the United States had gone
to war to retrieve them."
212
00:11:07,170 --> 00:11:11,630
At the same time, the Saigon
government of Nguyen Van Thieu
213
00:11:11,740 --> 00:11:15,030
was holding prisoners
of its own.
214
00:11:15,130 --> 00:11:16,970
There would eventually be
215
00:11:17,070 --> 00:11:20,840
some 40,000 North Vietnamese
and Viet Cong soldiers
216
00:11:20,940 --> 00:11:22,870
in four crowded camps.
217
00:11:22,970 --> 00:11:26,900
Another 200,000
South Vietnamese civilians
218
00:11:27,000 --> 00:11:30,900
would also be held,
many without trial.
219
00:11:32,570 --> 00:11:34,900
NGUYEN TAI:
220
00:12:52,130 --> 00:12:55,130
JAMES GILLAM:
There are certain rules
to tunnel warfare.
221
00:12:57,370 --> 00:13:00,070
Don't turn on the light
222
00:13:00,170 --> 00:13:03,240
unless you're really, really,
really sure you're alone.
223
00:13:03,340 --> 00:13:06,940
Use your senses.
224
00:13:07,030 --> 00:13:10,130
Do your first killing
as quietly as you can.
225
00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:12,300
That means don't shoot.
226
00:13:13,600 --> 00:13:16,370
I chased somebody
into a tunnel,
227
00:13:16,470 --> 00:13:21,740
met them at a bend
in the corner, in the dark.
228
00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:23,340
I thought I was alone
229
00:13:23,440 --> 00:13:26,630
and then I smelled
their breath.
230
00:13:26,740 --> 00:13:32,740
And we had a wrestling match
in the dark.
231
00:13:32,840 --> 00:13:35,200
And I got the upper hand
232
00:13:35,300 --> 00:13:38,530
and crushed
this person's trachea,
233
00:13:38,630 --> 00:13:41,270
held him down while he died...
234
00:13:42,900 --> 00:13:44,800
...and then got out.
235
00:13:47,530 --> 00:13:50,240
I beat and strangled
someone to death
236
00:13:50,340 --> 00:13:52,130
in a tunnel
237
00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:54,200
in the dark.
238
00:13:54,300 --> 00:13:55,900
Um...
239
00:13:56,000 --> 00:13:58,440
But that wasn't
the only casualty.
240
00:13:58,530 --> 00:14:02,870
The other casualty was
the civilized version of me.
241
00:14:11,700 --> 00:14:13,870
(gunfire)
242
00:14:19,700 --> 00:14:21,470
(gunfire continuing)
243
00:14:21,570 --> 00:14:23,300
(shouting)
244
00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:26,300
NARRATOR:
April 1969
245
00:14:26,400 --> 00:14:29,370
marked the high point
of American military commitment
246
00:14:29,470 --> 00:14:30,900
to South Vietnam.
247
00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:38,370
543,482 men and women
were now in country,
248
00:14:38,470 --> 00:14:42,500
and tens of thousands more
were stationed
249
00:14:42,600 --> 00:14:45,530
at airbases and aboard ships
beyond its borders.
250
00:14:46,840 --> 00:14:51,500
40,794 had died.
251
00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:56,530
And more than $70 billion
had been spent.
252
00:14:56,630 --> 00:15:00,130
(explosion in distance)
253
00:15:00,240 --> 00:15:02,630
That spring, a new battle
254
00:15:02,740 --> 00:15:04,840
caught the attention
of the American public,
255
00:15:04,940 --> 00:15:09,630
a struggle to take still
another numbered hill--
256
00:15:09,740 --> 00:15:13,370
Hill 937 on military maps.
257
00:15:13,470 --> 00:15:15,440
CHET HUNTLEY:
For nine days,
258
00:15:15,530 --> 00:15:17,400
American and South Vietnamese
troops have been trying
259
00:15:17,500 --> 00:15:19,440
to take a mountain
near the Laotian border,
260
00:15:19,530 --> 00:15:22,370
and ten times
they have been thrown back.
261
00:15:22,470 --> 00:15:23,740
(booming, shouting)
262
00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:27,700
(gunfire)
263
00:15:37,770 --> 00:15:39,970
(shouting over radio)
264
00:15:46,870 --> 00:15:49,470
The casualties
have been so high--
265
00:15:49,570 --> 00:15:52,830
50 Americans and
250 North Vietnamese killed--
266
00:15:52,940 --> 00:15:55,570
that the mountain has come
to be known as "Hamburger Hill."
267
00:15:55,670 --> 00:15:59,300
Today, another 600 allied troops
were thrown into the battle.
268
00:15:59,400 --> 00:16:01,970
(helicopter blades whirring)
269
00:16:02,070 --> 00:16:04,440
(gunfire)
270
00:16:04,530 --> 00:16:07,240
(explosion, screaming)
271
00:16:11,100 --> 00:16:13,400
NARRATOR:
A weary G.I. told a reporter
272
00:16:13,500 --> 00:16:15,600
that his battalion commander
273
00:16:15,700 --> 00:16:20,570
"won't stop until he kills
every damn one of us."
274
00:16:20,670 --> 00:16:21,970
(explosion, gunfire)
275
00:16:26,940 --> 00:16:29,200
After 11 days of fighting,
276
00:16:29,300 --> 00:16:32,000
the Battle for Hamburger Hill
ended.
277
00:16:33,470 --> 00:16:36,170
56 Americans died.
278
00:16:36,270 --> 00:16:40,570
420 more were wounded.
279
00:16:40,670 --> 00:16:44,200
A week later, the Americans
abandoned the hill,
280
00:16:44,300 --> 00:16:47,200
just as they had abandoned
so many other hills
281
00:16:47,300 --> 00:16:51,830
they had taken at great cost
over the years in Vietnam.
282
00:16:53,970 --> 00:16:56,870
General, could you explain for
us again the strategy involved
283
00:16:56,970 --> 00:16:59,970
in the decision to
withdraw American troops
284
00:17:00,070 --> 00:17:03,270
after they had taken
Hill 937, or Hamburger Hill?
285
00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:09,330
No piece of ground, as such,
286
00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:11,830
is important to us.
287
00:17:11,940 --> 00:17:13,670
HUNTLEY:
In the United States Senate,
288
00:17:13,770 --> 00:17:15,570
Senator Kennedy
of Massachusetts delivered
289
00:17:15,670 --> 00:17:17,470
a brief speech
criticizing what he called
290
00:17:17,570 --> 00:17:20,500
a "senseless and
irresponsible military pride
291
00:17:20,600 --> 00:17:23,000
"in which American men
are sent to their deaths
292
00:17:23,100 --> 00:17:25,830
in pointless battles like
this one for Hamburger Hill."
293
00:17:25,940 --> 00:17:28,030
Kennedy called
upon President Nixon
294
00:17:28,140 --> 00:17:30,270
to issue new orders
to commanders in Vietnam
295
00:17:30,370 --> 00:17:31,900
to halt such actions
296
00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:33,800
and he charged
that they contradict
297
00:17:33,900 --> 00:17:35,240
the president's
stated intentions
298
00:17:35,330 --> 00:17:37,030
of seeking a negotiated peace.
299
00:17:39,870 --> 00:17:43,140
NARRATOR:
There had been more deadly weeks
during the war,
300
00:17:43,240 --> 00:17:47,600
costlier battles,
larger numbers of casualties.
301
00:17:47,700 --> 00:17:53,900
But more and more Americans
seemed to have had enough.
302
00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:56,370
The following month,
Li fe magazine
303
00:17:56,470 --> 00:17:58,500
published the names
and photographs
304
00:17:58,600 --> 00:18:01,400
of all 242 Americans
305
00:18:01,500 --> 00:18:05,370
who had died in combat
in just one week.
306
00:18:05,470 --> 00:18:09,300
For the first time,
in a national publication,
307
00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:13,270
casualty statistics
came with human faces.
308
00:18:16,170 --> 00:18:18,900
The only way they could
measure success in Vietnam
309
00:18:19,000 --> 00:18:21,100
was, was was kill ratios--
310
00:18:21,200 --> 00:18:23,370
how many of them
versus how many of us.
311
00:18:23,470 --> 00:18:25,640
Well, the only thing
that's important
312
00:18:25,740 --> 00:18:28,030
to the American people
is the "us."
313
00:18:28,140 --> 00:18:31,700
You know, if there's three
us dead, that's the number.
314
00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:34,940
Not 30, you know,
Vietnamese dead.
315
00:18:35,030 --> 00:18:38,100
And, so, politically,
an attrition strategy
316
00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:40,370
just can't last very long.
317
00:18:40,470 --> 00:18:41,900
We don't care
what the ratio is,
318
00:18:42,000 --> 00:18:43,170
we just want
the absolute number
319
00:18:43,270 --> 00:18:45,900
of how many American kids died.
320
00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:49,270
NARRATOR:
A Gallup poll now found
that most Americans
321
00:18:49,370 --> 00:18:53,140
believed Vietnam
had been a mistake.
322
00:18:53,240 --> 00:18:56,200
Richard Nixon knew he needed
to signal to the public
323
00:18:56,300 --> 00:18:58,530
that an end was in sight.
324
00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:03,870
The National Security Council
had warned Nixon
325
00:19:03,970 --> 00:19:06,000
that the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
326
00:19:06,100 --> 00:19:08,770
the secretaries of state
and defense,
327
00:19:08,870 --> 00:19:13,800
the C.I.A.,
and the U.S. Embassy in Saigon
328
00:19:13,900 --> 00:19:16,970
all privately agreed that
without U.S. combat troops,
329
00:19:17,070 --> 00:19:18,670
the South Vietnamese
330
00:19:18,770 --> 00:19:23,330
"cannot now, or in
the foreseeable future,
331
00:19:23,440 --> 00:19:25,530
"stand up to both Viet Cong
332
00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:29,270
and sizeable
North Vietnamese forces."
333
00:19:29,370 --> 00:19:31,300
Nonetheless,
334
00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:34,470
Secretary of Defense
Melvin Laird said,
335
00:19:34,570 --> 00:19:38,000
the war was now
to be "Vietnamized."
336
00:19:38,100 --> 00:19:41,740
Saigon's troops would gradually
take over responsibility
337
00:19:41,830 --> 00:19:44,370
for engaging the enemy.
338
00:19:44,470 --> 00:19:47,570
It would be
General Creighton Abrams' task
339
00:19:47,670 --> 00:19:49,940
to ready the ARVN
for that role,
340
00:19:50,030 --> 00:19:52,740
and to make sure
that American casualties
341
00:19:52,830 --> 00:19:54,970
were held down in the interim.
342
00:19:55,070 --> 00:19:58,440
("The Letter" by The Box Tops
starts playing)
343
00:19:58,530 --> 00:20:03,740
Meanwhile, American troops
would start to go home.
344
00:20:03,830 --> 00:20:06,670
♪ Gimme a ticket
for an aeroplane ♪
345
00:20:06,770 --> 00:20:09,030
♪ Ain't got time
to take a fast train ♪
346
00:20:09,140 --> 00:20:10,700
DUONG VAN MAI ELLIOTT:
When Nixon came in
347
00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:14,640
and he announced
the phase withdrawal,
348
00:20:14,740 --> 00:20:17,170
turning over the fighting
to the Vietnamese,
349
00:20:17,270 --> 00:20:19,700
which was something
the French had tried before.
350
00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:21,570
They call itjaunissement--
351
00:20:21,670 --> 00:20:24,940
yellowizing the war.
352
00:20:25,030 --> 00:20:31,070
We knew that the Vietnamese Army
was not up to fighting this war.
353
00:20:31,170 --> 00:20:33,640
If they couldn't do it
with the Americans,
354
00:20:33,740 --> 00:20:36,800
how were they going
to do it without the Americans?
355
00:20:36,900 --> 00:20:39,970
♪ Lonely days are gone
356
00:20:40,070 --> 00:20:42,900
NARRATOR:
Although Washington planned
to vastly increase
357
00:20:43,000 --> 00:20:45,870
military support
of the South Vietnamese Army,
358
00:20:45,970 --> 00:20:49,170
General Abrams knew
that Vietnamization alone
359
00:20:49,270 --> 00:20:51,570
could never defeat the enemy.
360
00:20:51,670 --> 00:20:54,100
But he had his orders.
361
00:20:54,200 --> 00:20:56,870
McPEAK:
The reason I was
ordered home early
362
00:20:56,970 --> 00:20:58,800
was because Nixon...
President Nixon
363
00:20:58,900 --> 00:21:02,270
announced the policy
of Vietnamization.
364
00:21:02,370 --> 00:21:06,470
Now, Vietnamization was a lie,
365
00:21:06,570 --> 00:21:10,440
but it had
an element of truth in it.
366
00:21:10,530 --> 00:21:12,800
We were leaving, okay?
367
00:21:12,900 --> 00:21:14,800
And that sealed
the South's fate.
368
00:21:14,900 --> 00:21:16,300
I knew it.
369
00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:19,330
And I think anybody
who was conscious
370
00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:21,170
and could see
what was going on
371
00:21:21,270 --> 00:21:22,470
knew it.
372
00:21:22,570 --> 00:21:25,070
NARRATOR:
Nixon then flew
to Midway Island
373
00:21:25,170 --> 00:21:28,740
to meet with South Vietnamese
President Nguyen Van Thieu.
374
00:21:28,830 --> 00:21:31,940
He had not dared
invite Thieu to Washington
375
00:21:32,030 --> 00:21:34,940
for fear of sparking
mass demonstrations.
376
00:21:35,030 --> 00:21:36,400
♪ Lonely days are gone
377
00:21:36,500 --> 00:21:38,600
President Thieu informed me
378
00:21:38,700 --> 00:21:42,500
that the progress
of the training program
379
00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:44,200
and the equipping program
380
00:21:44,300 --> 00:21:46,500
for South Vietnamese forces
381
00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:51,640
had been so successful, uh,
that he could now recommend
382
00:21:51,740 --> 00:21:55,030
that the United States
begin to replace
383
00:21:55,140 --> 00:21:59,440
U.S. combat forces
with Vietnamese forces.
384
00:21:59,530 --> 00:22:02,170
(speaking Vietnamese)
385
00:22:04,740 --> 00:22:07,140
NARRATOR:
Thieu had said no such thing
386
00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:09,770
but felt he had to go along.
387
00:22:09,870 --> 00:22:12,570
"There is nothing I can do,"
he told a friend.
388
00:22:12,670 --> 00:22:15,070
"Just as we could
do nothing about it
389
00:22:15,170 --> 00:22:17,770
"when Eisenhower,
Kennedy, and Johnson
390
00:22:17,870 --> 00:22:20,830
decided to come in."
391
00:22:20,940 --> 00:22:23,900
"We were clearly
on the way out of Vietnam,"
392
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:27,140
National Security Advisor
Henry Kissinger remembered,
393
00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:29,970
"by negotiation if possible,
394
00:22:30,070 --> 00:22:33,870
by unilateral withdrawal
if necessary."
395
00:22:33,970 --> 00:22:36,900
He and the president
were redefining
396
00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:39,870
what victory would look like.
397
00:22:39,970 --> 00:22:42,900
TOM VALLELY:
Nixon and Kissinger...
398
00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:44,970
They...
399
00:22:45,070 --> 00:22:47,330
Their job is to clean up.
400
00:22:47,440 --> 00:22:49,030
They're, they're...
401
00:22:49,140 --> 00:22:51,070
The war's over, okay?
402
00:22:51,170 --> 00:22:54,640
When Nixon and Kissinger,
when they come, they're...
403
00:22:54,740 --> 00:22:56,100
they're not gonna win the war.
404
00:22:56,200 --> 00:22:58,530
("Taps" playing)
So they develop
405
00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:00,300
a secret strategy.
406
00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:04,330
They surrender without saying
they surrendered.
407
00:23:06,800 --> 00:23:10,000
This is not a bad strategy,
this is the only strategy.
408
00:23:10,100 --> 00:23:13,940
("Circle for a Landing" by
Three Dog Night starts playing)
409
00:23:14,030 --> 00:23:16,500
(indistinct announcement
over P.A.)
410
00:23:18,330 --> 00:23:21,870
NARRATOR:
As American soldiers began
leaving South Vietnam,
411
00:23:21,970 --> 00:23:25,170
American weaponry
and materiel poured in.
412
00:23:26,740 --> 00:23:28,830
♪ Circle for a landing
413
00:23:28,940 --> 00:23:31,140
♪ Get your feet
back on the ground ♪
414
00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:34,240
More than a million
M16 rifles,
415
00:23:34,330 --> 00:23:40,270
40,000 grenade launchers,
thousands of wheeled vehicles--
416
00:23:40,370 --> 00:23:42,000
so many,
one congressman complained,
417
00:23:42,100 --> 00:23:45,200
that it seemed as if
the United States taxpayer
418
00:23:45,300 --> 00:23:49,500
was being asked to "put every
South Vietnamese soldier
419
00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:52,000
behind the wheel."
420
00:23:52,100 --> 00:23:54,270
NEIL SHEEHAN:
It didn't make any sense,
of course,
421
00:23:54,370 --> 00:23:57,270
because we tried that
in 1962 and '63.
422
00:23:57,370 --> 00:23:59,170
The people hadn't changed.
423
00:23:59,270 --> 00:24:00,970
They were just
giving 'em more furniture.
424
00:24:03,170 --> 00:24:06,170
NGUYEN THOI BUNG:
425
00:24:24,030 --> 00:24:27,870
NARRATOR:
South Vietnamese armed forces
were expanded
426
00:24:27,970 --> 00:24:32,240
from 850,000 men
to over a million.
427
00:24:32,330 --> 00:24:34,270
But nothing could alter
the fact
428
00:24:34,370 --> 00:24:35,830
that rampant corruption
429
00:24:35,940 --> 00:24:39,370
continually eroded
their effectiveness.
430
00:24:39,470 --> 00:24:41,570
DON WEBSTER:
The way it works is this:
431
00:24:41,670 --> 00:24:44,030
a man makes a deal
with his commanding officer,
432
00:24:44,140 --> 00:24:46,770
perhaps to pay the officer
his full salary.
433
00:24:46,870 --> 00:24:49,830
In exchange, you never have
to show up for duty,
434
00:24:49,940 --> 00:24:52,400
except perhaps once a week
at the ceremony.
435
00:24:52,500 --> 00:24:54,530
So while you're theoretically
in the Army,
436
00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:57,030
you can hold
a full-time civilian job.
437
00:24:58,300 --> 00:25:01,240
LAM QUANG THI:
438
00:25:14,070 --> 00:25:17,140
(gunfire)
439
00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:20,830
NARRATOR:
Many ARVN units did fight well.
440
00:25:23,900 --> 00:25:25,940
They had borne the brunt
of the fighting
441
00:25:26,030 --> 00:25:27,470
during the Tet Offensive,
442
00:25:27,570 --> 00:25:30,400
and, by the middle of 1969,
443
00:25:30,500 --> 00:25:35,100
90,000 of them
had been killed in combat.
444
00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:40,600
Their bravery was
often overlooked by Americans.
445
00:25:40,700 --> 00:25:44,270
VALLELY:
We were disdainful of them.
446
00:25:44,370 --> 00:25:47,330
We overstated their incompetence
447
00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:51,170
because we wanted
to overstate our importance.
448
00:25:51,270 --> 00:25:53,100
(booming in distance)
449
00:25:53,200 --> 00:25:56,330
(men shouting, gunfire)
450
00:26:03,200 --> 00:26:08,370
Part of going to war in Vietnam
I, I enjoyed.
451
00:26:08,470 --> 00:26:13,240
If you survive it,
it's, it's quite thrilling.
452
00:26:13,330 --> 00:26:16,300
It's the history of the world.
453
00:26:17,770 --> 00:26:19,170
It's hard to survive.
454
00:26:19,270 --> 00:26:21,200
I mean, in, where I was,
survival is an issue.
455
00:26:21,300 --> 00:26:25,400
I would have loved to have been
in the National Guard.
456
00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:28,900
Period.
457
00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:30,440
("Bad Moon Rising" by Creedence
Clearwater Revival playing)
458
00:26:30,530 --> 00:26:33,330
I knew the core issue
459
00:26:33,440 --> 00:26:36,270
of what was acceptable in war
and what wasn't.
460
00:26:36,370 --> 00:26:37,670
I knew that.
461
00:26:37,770 --> 00:26:40,530
I didn't need to get that
from the Marine Corps.
462
00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:44,000
I got that from Sunday school.
463
00:26:44,100 --> 00:26:47,000
NARRATOR:
Thomas John Vallely
was born in Boston,
464
00:26:47,100 --> 00:26:48,470
the son of a judge,
465
00:26:48,570 --> 00:26:51,440
and brought up
in the suburb of Newton.
466
00:26:51,530 --> 00:26:56,940
Undiagnosed dyslexia kept him
from doing well in school.
467
00:26:57,030 --> 00:26:59,070
By 1969,
468
00:26:59,170 --> 00:27:02,830
Vallely was a radio operator
in the Marine Corps,
469
00:27:02,940 --> 00:27:05,970
part of a massive
search-and-destroy mission
470
00:27:06,070 --> 00:27:10,240
in Quang Nam Province in the
northern part of South Vietnam.
471
00:27:10,330 --> 00:27:11,940
(men shouting, gunfire)
472
00:27:12,030 --> 00:27:13,670
On August 13,
473
00:27:13,770 --> 00:27:15,530
his company was ambushed
474
00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:19,140
and came
under heavy machine gun fire.
475
00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:20,640
(gunfire)
476
00:27:26,530 --> 00:27:30,670
VALLELY:
It was a "grab 'em by the belt"
type of situation.
477
00:27:30,770 --> 00:27:33,670
And we lost a lot of people.
478
00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:36,530
So did they.
479
00:27:38,370 --> 00:27:40,440
Lot of people laying around.
480
00:27:40,530 --> 00:27:42,970
(gunfire, explosion)
481
00:27:43,070 --> 00:27:45,330
NARRATOR:
Vallely radioed
for reinforcements.
482
00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:48,970
Then he picked up a rifle
and ammunition
483
00:27:49,070 --> 00:27:51,470
from a wounded Marine,
484
00:27:51,570 --> 00:27:53,600
and, firing as he went,
took up a position
485
00:27:53,700 --> 00:27:56,530
just ten feet
from an enemy machine gun.
486
00:27:56,640 --> 00:28:02,140
He hurled a smoke grenade
to mark their position.
487
00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:06,140
And then, as enemy fire
swept back and forth
488
00:28:06,240 --> 00:28:08,400
across the field,
489
00:28:08,500 --> 00:28:10,070
he moved from Marine to Marine,
490
00:28:10,170 --> 00:28:11,800
pointing out targets
among the trees
491
00:28:11,900 --> 00:28:14,670
and encouraging his comrades.
492
00:28:20,670 --> 00:28:23,570
For his conspicuous gallantry,
493
00:28:23,670 --> 00:28:27,440
Tom Vallely was awarded
the Silver Star.
494
00:28:27,530 --> 00:28:29,770
VALLELY:
You want to tell
your grandchildren
495
00:28:29,870 --> 00:28:33,000
it has a lot to do
with courage,
496
00:28:33,100 --> 00:28:36,600
uh, but it, it's
really quite reactive.
497
00:28:36,700 --> 00:28:39,000
It's survival.
498
00:28:39,100 --> 00:28:41,200
Either you're...
499
00:28:41,300 --> 00:28:43,800
It's, it's...
500
00:28:43,900 --> 00:28:46,240
There's no choice here.
501
00:28:46,330 --> 00:28:50,370
You react or you're not gonna
have grandchildren.
502
00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:54,440
COUNTRY JOE McDONALD:
Give me an "F"!
503
00:28:54,530 --> 00:28:55,440
CROWD:
"F"!
504
00:28:55,530 --> 00:28:56,770
McDONALD:
Give me a "U"!
505
00:28:56,870 --> 00:28:57,770
CROWD:
"U"!
506
00:28:57,870 --> 00:28:58,970
McDONALD:
Give me a "C"!
507
00:28:59,070 --> 00:29:00,940
"C"!
Give me a "K"!
508
00:29:01,030 --> 00:29:01,940
"K"!
509
00:29:02,030 --> 00:29:03,270
What's that spell?!
510
00:29:03,370 --> 00:29:05,270
NARRATOR:
Two days after the battle
511
00:29:05,370 --> 00:29:07,530
in which Tom Vallely
distinguished himself,
512
00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:09,330
and while
half a million Americans
513
00:29:09,440 --> 00:29:11,740
were still in Vietnam,
514
00:29:11,830 --> 00:29:13,740
half a million Americans
gathered
515
00:29:13,830 --> 00:29:16,700
on a dairy farm
in upstate New York
516
00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:20,000
for a music festival: Woodstock.
517
00:29:20,100 --> 00:29:22,440
♪ Way down yonder in Vietnam
518
00:29:22,530 --> 00:29:24,640
♪ Put down your books
and pick up a gun ♪
519
00:29:24,740 --> 00:29:25,900
♪ We're gonna have a whole lot
of fun ♪
520
00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:30,500
♪ And it's one, two, three,
what are we fighting for? ♪
521
00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:32,940
♪ Don't ask me,
I don't give a damn ♪
522
00:29:33,030 --> 00:29:35,400
♪ The next stop is Vietnam
523
00:29:35,500 --> 00:29:37,670
♪ And it's five, six, seven
524
00:29:37,770 --> 00:29:39,900
♪ Open up the pearly gates
525
00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:43,070
♪ Well, there ain't no time
to wonder why, whoopee ♪
526
00:29:43,170 --> 00:29:45,170
♪ We're all gonna die
527
00:29:45,270 --> 00:29:48,400
("Soul Sacrifice" by Santana
playing)
528
00:30:10,940 --> 00:30:12,270
♪
529
00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:39,470
(song ends, crowd cheering)
530
00:30:39,570 --> 00:30:43,800
MAN:
Ladies and gentlemen, Santana!
531
00:30:43,900 --> 00:30:46,640
You've been told once,
you've been told twice.
532
00:30:46,740 --> 00:30:48,300
That's all--
spread it out!
533
00:30:48,400 --> 00:30:50,300
("Time of the Season"
by the Zombies playing)
534
00:30:50,400 --> 00:30:51,700
♪ What's your name?
535
00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:53,870
GILLAM:
This guy from Arkansas
536
00:30:53,970 --> 00:30:58,270
told me he would not carry
the radio for me.
537
00:30:58,370 --> 00:31:03,330
He said, "I will not follow you
like Cheetah follows Tarzan.
538
00:31:03,440 --> 00:31:05,570
It's not gonna happen, Sarge."
539
00:31:05,670 --> 00:31:10,400
And I thought, "Oh, this is
gonna be a really long year."
540
00:31:10,500 --> 00:31:12,570
I've got people
down there sweeping,
541
00:31:12,670 --> 00:31:13,970
so get 'em down there.
542
00:31:14,070 --> 00:31:15,740
♪ It's the time
543
00:31:15,830 --> 00:31:19,000
GILLAM:
He evolved a little bit.
544
00:31:19,100 --> 00:31:21,800
You know,
he, he kind of got the idea
545
00:31:21,900 --> 00:31:24,970
that the enemy's bullets
are colorblind.
546
00:31:25,070 --> 00:31:28,370
They would shoot anybody,
not just me.
547
00:31:30,940 --> 00:31:34,670
NARRATOR:
African-Americans had served
in every American war
548
00:31:34,770 --> 00:31:37,170
since the revolution.
549
00:31:37,270 --> 00:31:39,640
In the early years
of the Vietnam War,
550
00:31:39,740 --> 00:31:42,100
they suffered
a disproportionate number
551
00:31:42,200 --> 00:31:44,100
of combat deaths.
552
00:31:44,200 --> 00:31:47,370
When civil rights leaders
complained,
553
00:31:47,470 --> 00:31:50,300
the Defense Department
made a concerted effort
554
00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:52,470
to right that balance,
555
00:31:52,570 --> 00:31:56,070
and by 1969, it had succeeded.
556
00:31:56,170 --> 00:31:58,070
But behind the lines,
557
00:31:58,170 --> 00:32:01,800
African-American soldiers
were still treated differently
558
00:32:01,900 --> 00:32:04,170
from their white counterparts.
559
00:32:04,270 --> 00:32:06,170
("Respect" by Otis Redding
playing)
560
00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:17,170
SOLDIER:
And here there's all, all
these beast motherfuckers
561
00:32:17,270 --> 00:32:18,400
walking around here
with their hair
562
00:32:18,500 --> 00:32:20,970
looking like goddamn girls,
563
00:32:21,070 --> 00:32:22,300
and we can't wear our hair
564
00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:24,040
motherfucking
three inches long.
565
00:32:24,140 --> 00:32:26,400
The motherfucking regulation
is three inches.
566
00:32:26,500 --> 00:32:29,170
And most of the brothers
can wear a afro,
567
00:32:29,270 --> 00:32:31,100
the hair gonna be
motherfucking two inches.
568
00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:32,830
And why we got to get
our hair cut?
569
00:32:32,930 --> 00:32:34,330
That's what I want to know.
570
00:32:34,430 --> 00:32:36,330
♪ Yeah, man, ooh, yeah
571
00:32:36,430 --> 00:32:39,300
WAYNE SMITH:
Vietnam was a microcosm.
572
00:32:39,400 --> 00:32:41,170
Everything that was happening
in America
573
00:32:41,270 --> 00:32:43,040
was happening in Vietnam,
really,
574
00:32:43,140 --> 00:32:45,200
in one way, shape, or form.
575
00:32:45,300 --> 00:32:47,140
In the rear,
576
00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:50,740
there were Confederate flags
flying.
577
00:32:50,830 --> 00:32:53,900
SOLDIER 2:
I mean, of all things to have
over here, man,
578
00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:56,240
why a Confederate flag?
579
00:32:56,330 --> 00:32:58,500
As a matter of fact,
I think there ought to be
580
00:32:58,600 --> 00:33:02,570
some goddamn law to fucking
outlaw them goddamn flags, man.
581
00:33:02,670 --> 00:33:06,800
The fucking Confederacy
is gone, man.
582
00:33:06,900 --> 00:33:09,300
SMITH:
When one is in an environment
583
00:33:09,400 --> 00:33:14,040
where everyone has a gun,
automatic weapon,
584
00:33:14,140 --> 00:33:16,830
I'll be goddamned if someone's
gonna call me a nigger
585
00:33:16,930 --> 00:33:18,900
or give me a bullshit order.
586
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:22,900
I mean, that was the attitude,
to risk my life for what?
587
00:33:23,000 --> 00:33:24,430
REDDING:
♪ Sweeter than honey
588
00:33:24,540 --> 00:33:27,430
ROGER HARRIS:
There was all kind of craziness
happening,
589
00:33:27,540 --> 00:33:30,770
because white people were still
calling, you know, us niggers,
590
00:33:30,870 --> 00:33:33,770
and then there were some black
people calling us Uncle Toms.
591
00:33:33,870 --> 00:33:35,300
There were the antiwar folks
592
00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:37,640
who were calling us
baby killers, say...
593
00:33:37,740 --> 00:33:39,640
You know, you can say what you
want, but you can say it
594
00:33:39,740 --> 00:33:41,370
from over there
because if you get in range,
595
00:33:41,470 --> 00:33:45,270
you're gonna get serious damage
done to you.
596
00:33:45,370 --> 00:33:46,930
Say what you want
from a distance,
597
00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:49,100
but if you get close to me,
I'm gonna rip your throat out.
598
00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:50,770
You know?
599
00:33:50,870 --> 00:33:54,430
JUAN RAMIREZ:
But when we walked outside
that wire,
600
00:33:54,540 --> 00:33:57,470
we went out into the bush,
we were tight.
601
00:33:57,570 --> 00:33:59,800
Even with our differences.
602
00:33:59,900 --> 00:34:01,970
Maybe we had threatened
each other,
603
00:34:02,070 --> 00:34:05,140
we'd had a fight back
in the base,
604
00:34:05,240 --> 00:34:07,900
but when we were out there,
you know,
605
00:34:08,000 --> 00:34:11,570
we, we were a, a fighting unit.
606
00:34:13,040 --> 00:34:16,930
And it's almost like
an identity crisis.
607
00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:21,040
I was born here,
and my parents were born here.
608
00:34:21,140 --> 00:34:23,370
I felt, in a way,
609
00:34:23,470 --> 00:34:26,540
more American than Mexican.
610
00:34:26,640 --> 00:34:28,200
MAN:
...hand and repeat after me...
611
00:34:28,300 --> 00:34:32,600
NARRATOR:
The U.S. military did not
officially count Hispanics,
612
00:34:32,700 --> 00:34:37,330
but an estimated 170,000
would serve in Vietnam
613
00:34:37,430 --> 00:34:41,470
and more than 3,000
lost their lives.
614
00:34:41,570 --> 00:34:44,140
Like their fathers
and grandfathers,
615
00:34:44,240 --> 00:34:48,270
many saw military service
as both a patriotic duty
616
00:34:48,370 --> 00:34:51,140
and an opportunity to advance
their standing
617
00:34:51,240 --> 00:34:53,740
in the United States.
618
00:34:53,830 --> 00:34:56,930
But as casualties mounted
619
00:34:57,040 --> 00:34:59,070
and with a burgeoning
Chicano identity movement
620
00:34:59,170 --> 00:35:01,600
among farm workers
and college students,
621
00:35:01,700 --> 00:35:06,370
anti-war sentiment
in Hispanic communities grew.
622
00:35:06,470 --> 00:35:10,100
We're protesting against
the discriminatory draft laws
623
00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:12,270
that give deferments
624
00:35:12,370 --> 00:35:15,600
to all the Anglo middle-class
people of this country
625
00:35:15,700 --> 00:35:18,700
and make the heaviest burdens
of the war
626
00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:21,870
fall on the poor,
fall on theMexicano.
627
00:35:21,970 --> 00:35:24,240
RAMIREZ:
I had learned
628
00:35:24,330 --> 00:35:28,240
about my sister and my mother's
antiwar activities
629
00:35:28,330 --> 00:35:30,240
while I was still in Vietnam.
630
00:35:30,330 --> 00:35:32,500
In fact,
my sister wrote and said,
631
00:35:32,600 --> 00:35:35,040
"I hope you're okay with this."
632
00:35:35,140 --> 00:35:36,770
And she was honest with me.
633
00:35:36,870 --> 00:35:38,770
She told me
what they were doing.
634
00:35:38,870 --> 00:35:42,000
She says, "I'm doing it for you,
'cause I want you to come home."
635
00:35:42,100 --> 00:35:43,930
(indistinct chanting)
636
00:35:49,170 --> 00:35:50,240
(TV clicks on)
637
00:35:50,330 --> 00:35:53,570
In line with our policy
of taking a stand
638
00:35:53,670 --> 00:35:55,400
on the pressing issues
of the day,
639
00:35:55,500 --> 00:35:58,400
we now present another in our
continuing series of editorials.
640
00:35:58,500 --> 00:35:59,370
The subject:
641
00:35:59,470 --> 00:36:02,370
are our draft laws unfair?
642
00:36:02,470 --> 00:36:04,540
Here again,
speaking for our program,
643
00:36:04,640 --> 00:36:07,200
is Mr. Patrick Paulsen,
vice president.
644
00:36:07,300 --> 00:36:08,930
(applause)
645
00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:11,330
Now, we don't claim
the draft is perfect,
646
00:36:11,430 --> 00:36:13,500
and we do have
a constructive proposal
647
00:36:13,600 --> 00:36:15,700
for a workable alternative.
648
00:36:15,800 --> 00:36:17,830
We propose a draft lottery
649
00:36:17,930 --> 00:36:20,300
in which the names
of all eligible males
650
00:36:20,400 --> 00:36:21,970
will be put into a hat,
651
00:36:22,070 --> 00:36:25,640
and the men will be drafted
according to their head sizes.
652
00:36:25,740 --> 00:36:29,270
The tiny heads will go
into the military service
653
00:36:29,370 --> 00:36:33,700
and the fat heads
will go into government.
654
00:36:33,800 --> 00:36:35,700
SOLDIER (on radio):
Roger, 3-1 is on his way.
655
00:36:35,800 --> 00:36:38,430
SOLDIER (over radio):
5-8-1.
656
00:36:38,540 --> 00:36:42,570
VINCENT OKAMOTO:
A 19-year-old high school
dropout says,
657
00:36:42,670 --> 00:36:45,430
"Why are we here?"
658
00:36:45,540 --> 00:36:47,300
And the, the standard response,
659
00:36:47,400 --> 00:36:49,330
at least on
an official level, was,
660
00:36:49,430 --> 00:36:52,300
to prevent
international communism
661
00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:55,300
from conquering the world.
662
00:36:55,400 --> 00:36:59,200
The men say, "Hey,
that, that's bullshit."
663
00:37:01,500 --> 00:37:03,040
So the other reason put forth,
664
00:37:03,140 --> 00:37:05,170
at least in the latter days
of the war,
665
00:37:05,270 --> 00:37:07,640
was to maintain America's
international credibility
666
00:37:07,740 --> 00:37:10,300
with our allies,
and our enemies.
667
00:37:10,400 --> 00:37:14,540
Uh, no 19, 20-year-old kid
wants to die to maintain
668
00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:17,830
the credibility of
Lyndon Johnson or Richard Nixon.
669
00:37:17,930 --> 00:37:21,330
And so, within a relatively
short time,
670
00:37:21,430 --> 00:37:23,570
the guys were saying,
671
00:37:23,670 --> 00:37:26,430
"Look, we shouldn't be here,
but we are.
672
00:37:26,540 --> 00:37:28,430
"So my only function in life
673
00:37:28,540 --> 00:37:31,700
"is to try and keep you alive,
buddy,
674
00:37:31,800 --> 00:37:34,870
"and to keep my precious ass
from being killed.
675
00:37:34,970 --> 00:37:38,640
And then to go home
and forget about this."
676
00:37:41,070 --> 00:37:43,670
SOLDIER:
The grunts, uh,
677
00:37:43,770 --> 00:37:46,900
don't always do what the captain
says, you know.
678
00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:50,470
We got, uh-- the captain
will stay back,
679
00:37:50,570 --> 00:37:52,470
he'll tell the platoon
or something
680
00:37:52,570 --> 00:37:55,270
to go out so many
hundred meters, you know.
681
00:37:55,370 --> 00:37:57,100
We don't do it.
682
00:37:57,200 --> 00:37:59,000
We only go as far
as we get out of sight,
683
00:37:59,100 --> 00:38:00,540
sit down, and come back in.
684
00:38:00,640 --> 00:38:02,470
JOHN PILGER:
What happens to
an unpopular officer
685
00:38:02,570 --> 00:38:04,600
out in the field?
686
00:38:04,700 --> 00:38:07,640
Mostly unpopular officers,
from what I've heard,
687
00:38:07,740 --> 00:38:10,370
if they, if they mess with
a grunt too much,
688
00:38:10,470 --> 00:38:13,330
they get shot at.
689
00:38:13,430 --> 00:38:16,830
NARRATOR:
It had always been
a part of war.
690
00:38:16,930 --> 00:38:19,970
In Vietnam,
it was called "fragging,"
691
00:38:20,070 --> 00:38:24,300
after the fragmentation grenades
most often used.
692
00:38:24,400 --> 00:38:29,470
Beginning in
the summer of 1969,
693
00:38:29,570 --> 00:38:33,430
as thousands of American troops
began going home,
694
00:38:33,540 --> 00:38:37,100
the number of reports of the
murder or attempted murder
695
00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:39,240
by enlisted men
of their superiors
696
00:38:39,330 --> 00:38:42,370
increased alarmingly.
697
00:38:42,470 --> 00:38:47,500
The Army would investigate
nearly 800 cases.
698
00:38:47,600 --> 00:38:49,570
Most took place
far from the fighting,
699
00:38:49,670 --> 00:38:52,370
usually the violent outcome
of arguments over race
700
00:38:52,470 --> 00:38:54,640
or women or drugs
701
00:38:54,740 --> 00:38:57,740
rather than the war itself.
702
00:38:57,830 --> 00:39:00,400
But there were exceptions.
703
00:39:00,500 --> 00:39:02,470
OKAMOTO:
It's a totally different army
704
00:39:02,570 --> 00:39:06,400
than what we sent
to Vietnam in 1965.
705
00:39:06,500 --> 00:39:10,540
And the new lieutenant comes in,
all gung-ho for body count.
706
00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:14,170
He wants contact,
he goes crazy, and says,
707
00:39:14,270 --> 00:39:16,570
"I want a volunteer for this."
708
00:39:16,670 --> 00:39:19,270
(rapid gunfire)
709
00:39:19,370 --> 00:39:25,100
That new gung-ho officer
was a clear and present danger
710
00:39:25,200 --> 00:39:28,900
to the life and limb
of the grunts.
711
00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:31,570
They'd have subtle hints,
like a little note saying,
712
00:39:31,670 --> 00:39:34,300
"We're gonna kill your ass
if you keep this up."
713
00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:37,370
Or instead
of a fragmentation grenade,
714
00:39:37,470 --> 00:39:41,200
they may throw a smoke grenade
in an officer's hooch or bunker.
715
00:39:41,300 --> 00:39:45,270
And if they didn't correct
their behavior and outlook,
716
00:39:45,370 --> 00:39:48,770
yeah, they would frag them.
717
00:39:48,870 --> 00:39:52,540
I saw it happen in a very, uh,
strange way.
718
00:39:52,640 --> 00:40:00,740
We were in a base and a Marine
started running towards me.
719
00:40:00,830 --> 00:40:02,900
I didn't realize that what he...
720
00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:05,140
what he was doing back
in the dark over there
721
00:40:05,240 --> 00:40:07,400
was actually
throw a hand grenade
722
00:40:07,500 --> 00:40:10,970
underneath the space
that is underneath a hooch.
723
00:40:11,070 --> 00:40:12,370
(explosion)
724
00:40:12,470 --> 00:40:14,830
And when it exploded,
I went, "Holy shit."
725
00:40:14,930 --> 00:40:18,270
And I knew right away
what he had done.
726
00:40:18,370 --> 00:40:21,640
And he was
an African-American Marine.
727
00:40:21,740 --> 00:40:23,640
African-Americans were treated
728
00:40:23,740 --> 00:40:26,100
with disrespect
by their superiors.
729
00:40:26,200 --> 00:40:30,040
This was not uncommon.
730
00:40:30,140 --> 00:40:35,040
So in a ways,
as bad as this sounds,
731
00:40:35,140 --> 00:40:37,540
maybe that guy
had it coming to him.
732
00:40:37,640 --> 00:40:39,100
I don't know.
733
00:40:42,330 --> 00:40:45,100
In Paris, the 29th session
of the so-called peace talks
734
00:40:45,200 --> 00:40:46,100
took place.
735
00:40:46,200 --> 00:40:48,000
There was no progress.
736
00:40:48,100 --> 00:40:51,430
In Vietnam, it was announced
that 139 Americans
737
00:40:51,540 --> 00:40:53,040
lost their lives last week,
738
00:40:53,140 --> 00:40:55,740
bringing total deaths
in our longest war...
739
00:40:55,830 --> 00:40:58,740
NARRATOR:
The four-way
peace talks in Paris
740
00:40:58,830 --> 00:41:01,400
continued to go nowhere.
741
00:41:01,500 --> 00:41:05,140
To break the logjam,
Nixon directed Henry Kissinger
742
00:41:05,240 --> 00:41:07,900
to begin secret talks,
743
00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:10,640
the first in a series
of clandestine meetings
744
00:41:10,740 --> 00:41:13,500
with the North Vietnamese alone.
745
00:41:13,600 --> 00:41:15,900
They first met
in an apartment building
746
00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:18,040
on the Rue de Rivoli.
747
00:41:18,140 --> 00:41:21,070
The Viet Cong and the
South Vietnamese government
748
00:41:21,170 --> 00:41:23,870
were not included.
749
00:41:23,970 --> 00:41:26,900
Hanoi remained immovable.
750
00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:30,770
They would not even admit they
had troops in South Vietnam,
751
00:41:30,870 --> 00:41:34,770
let alone discuss
withdrawing them.
752
00:41:34,870 --> 00:41:36,640
Now Kissinger warned
753
00:41:36,740 --> 00:41:39,930
that if there were no change
in their position by November 1,
754
00:41:40,040 --> 00:41:41,970
the one-year anniversary
755
00:41:42,070 --> 00:41:44,400
of President Johnson's
bombing halt,
756
00:41:44,500 --> 00:41:46,140
President Nixon
757
00:41:46,240 --> 00:41:49,140
would "consider steps
of grave consequence."
758
00:42:01,740 --> 00:42:05,240
September 2, 1969,
759
00:42:05,330 --> 00:42:07,570
was the 24th anniversary
760
00:42:07,670 --> 00:42:11,470
of Ho Chi Minh's declaration
of Vietnamese independence
761
00:42:11,570 --> 00:42:14,000
in Hanoi's Ba Dinh Square.
762
00:42:16,000 --> 00:42:20,800
At 9:45 that morning, Ho died.
763
00:42:20,900 --> 00:42:25,540
He was said to be 79,
but like so much about him,
764
00:42:25,640 --> 00:42:30,930
the precise date of his birth
was shrouded in mystery.
765
00:42:31,040 --> 00:42:33,640
He had been "Uncle Ho"
for decades,
766
00:42:33,740 --> 00:42:37,040
the living embodiment of the
struggle against the Japanese,
767
00:42:37,140 --> 00:42:40,040
the French,
the Saigon government,
768
00:42:40,140 --> 00:42:42,970
and then the Americans.
769
00:42:43,070 --> 00:42:45,000
♪
770
00:42:45,100 --> 00:42:47,870
In a speech
to the National Assembly,
771
00:42:47,970 --> 00:42:52,400
Le Duan, the First Secretary
of the Communist Party,
772
00:42:52,500 --> 00:42:53,800
who had been the architect
773
00:42:53,900 --> 00:42:56,470
of North Vietnamese
military policy
774
00:42:56,570 --> 00:42:57,830
for a decade,
775
00:42:57,930 --> 00:43:02,000
promised to fulfill
what he said was Ho's vision:
776
00:43:02,100 --> 00:43:07,970
the reunification of the country
on communist terms.
777
00:43:09,540 --> 00:43:12,200
Nothing had changed.
778
00:43:12,300 --> 00:43:14,070
ROBERT FRISHMAN:
Hanoi has given
the false impression
779
00:43:14,170 --> 00:43:17,470
that all is wine and roses
and it isn't so.
780
00:43:17,570 --> 00:43:19,930
NARRATOR:
The same day Ho Chi Minh died,
781
00:43:20,040 --> 00:43:22,600
an unusual press conference
was held
782
00:43:22,700 --> 00:43:25,600
at the Bethesda Naval
Medical Center.
783
00:43:25,700 --> 00:43:28,370
Two ailing prisoners of war,
784
00:43:28,470 --> 00:43:31,930
Robert Frishman
and Douglas Hegdahl,
785
00:43:32,040 --> 00:43:34,300
who had recently been released
by the North Vietnamese,
786
00:43:34,400 --> 00:43:36,540
spoke in public
for the first time
787
00:43:36,640 --> 00:43:38,430
about the severe treatment
788
00:43:38,540 --> 00:43:41,900
they and their fellow prisoners
had received.
789
00:43:42,000 --> 00:43:44,470
I don't think
solitary confinement,
790
00:43:44,570 --> 00:43:48,270
forced statements, living in
a cage for three years,
791
00:43:48,370 --> 00:43:52,200
being put in straps, not being
allowed to sleep or eat,
792
00:43:52,300 --> 00:43:55,770
removal of fingernails,
being hung from a ceiling,
793
00:43:55,870 --> 00:43:58,140
having an infected arm
which was almost lost,
794
00:43:58,240 --> 00:44:00,470
not receiving medical care,
795
00:44:00,570 --> 00:44:02,800
being dragged along the ground
with a broken leg,
796
00:44:02,900 --> 00:44:05,830
or not allowing exchange of mail
to prisoners of war
797
00:44:05,930 --> 00:44:07,270
are humane.
798
00:44:07,370 --> 00:44:11,570
NARRATOR:
Douglas Hegdahl was quiet,
self-effacing,
799
00:44:11,670 --> 00:44:14,300
and so apparently clueless,
800
00:44:14,400 --> 00:44:16,470
his North Vietnamese guards
801
00:44:16,570 --> 00:44:19,300
had called him
the "stupid one."
802
00:44:19,400 --> 00:44:20,870
But once released,
803
00:44:20,970 --> 00:44:24,140
he was a gold mine
of information.
804
00:44:24,240 --> 00:44:28,140
He had memorized the names
of more than 200 prisoners
805
00:44:28,240 --> 00:44:31,870
to the tune of
"Old McDonald Had a Farm."
806
00:44:31,970 --> 00:44:34,800
Thanks to him,
scores of American families
807
00:44:34,900 --> 00:44:37,000
would find out
for the first time
808
00:44:37,100 --> 00:44:42,270
that their sons and husbands
and fathers were still alive.
809
00:44:42,370 --> 00:44:45,800
Within a few days
of the press conference,
810
00:44:45,900 --> 00:44:49,670
Hanoi's treatment of the
prisoners began to improve.
811
00:44:49,770 --> 00:44:53,640
"A lot less brutality,"
one captive remembered,
812
00:44:53,740 --> 00:44:56,270
"and larger bowls of rice."
813
00:44:58,870 --> 00:45:01,040
(explosion)
814
00:45:01,140 --> 00:45:02,700
(men yelling)
815
00:45:02,800 --> 00:45:04,700
(rapid gunfire)
816
00:45:11,070 --> 00:45:12,400
DEVALLIER:
All right, who's wounded?
817
00:45:12,500 --> 00:45:15,200
All right, give me some cover!
818
00:45:15,300 --> 00:45:17,970
RICHARD THRELKELD:
Devallier is the lone medic
in the platoon.
819
00:45:18,070 --> 00:45:19,240
He's scared,
820
00:45:19,330 --> 00:45:21,670
scared from the moment
he gets out of the chopper
821
00:45:21,770 --> 00:45:23,200
to the moment
it picks him up.
822
00:45:23,300 --> 00:45:26,200
Scared that someday
he's going to get killed
823
00:45:26,300 --> 00:45:29,270
picking up a wounded buddy.
824
00:45:29,370 --> 00:45:31,270
(rapid gunfire, men yelling)
825
00:45:33,000 --> 00:45:35,200
WAYNE SMITH:
I was the replacement
826
00:45:35,300 --> 00:45:38,900
for a medic
who had been killed.
827
00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:42,570
First time out, we were assigned
to do a patrol.
828
00:45:42,670 --> 00:45:46,000
MAN:
Remember to stop the bleeding!
829
00:45:46,100 --> 00:45:51,700
SMITH:
And we stumbled actually
into an ambush.
830
00:45:51,800 --> 00:45:54,430
(explosion)
831
00:45:54,540 --> 00:45:57,900
And it was incredibly
terrifying.
832
00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:00,300
Guys were screaming and yelling.
833
00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:02,700
There was shooting everywhere.
834
00:46:02,800 --> 00:46:06,770
That first firefight,
I remember praying to God,
835
00:46:06,870 --> 00:46:13,000
if He got me through this
that I would make a difference.
836
00:46:13,100 --> 00:46:17,470
That I really would make
a difference.
837
00:46:17,570 --> 00:46:20,640
MEDIC:
Sometimes their lives depend
on you, I mean;
838
00:46:20,740 --> 00:46:23,670
you hold it in your hands,
as a medic.
839
00:46:23,770 --> 00:46:26,640
It's just hard to say
but right then,
840
00:46:26,740 --> 00:46:28,970
you hold life and death
in your hand.
841
00:46:29,070 --> 00:46:32,770
NARRATOR:
In Vietnam,
medics and navy corpsmen
842
00:46:32,870 --> 00:46:35,300
accompanied infantry units
on patrols,
843
00:46:35,400 --> 00:46:37,270
search and destroy missions,
844
00:46:37,370 --> 00:46:40,870
and large-scale
combat operations.
845
00:46:40,970 --> 00:46:44,740
Nearly 2,000
would lose their lives.
846
00:46:44,830 --> 00:46:46,670
(helicopter whirring)
847
00:46:48,430 --> 00:46:51,000
Unlike in previous wars,
848
00:46:51,100 --> 00:46:54,400
many medics in Vietnam chose
to carry weapons,
849
00:46:54,500 --> 00:46:56,900
and when the shooting started,
850
00:46:57,000 --> 00:46:59,700
were willing to use them
to protect themselves
851
00:46:59,800 --> 00:47:02,740
and their wounded comrades.
852
00:47:02,830 --> 00:47:06,240
SMITH:
I carried an M16,
853
00:47:06,330 --> 00:47:09,370
but I did not know
if I could kill.
854
00:47:09,470 --> 00:47:13,070
Part of being a medic
was to save lives.
855
00:47:13,170 --> 00:47:19,470
I wondered, if the scenario
presented itself, would I?
856
00:47:19,570 --> 00:47:24,200
I did participate
in shooting at the enemy.
857
00:47:24,300 --> 00:47:26,740
We killed a lot of people.
858
00:47:26,830 --> 00:47:30,100
I feel that responsibility.
859
00:47:31,540 --> 00:47:34,400
I feel blood on my hands.
860
00:47:39,770 --> 00:47:44,370
When you kill someone
for your country,
861
00:47:44,470 --> 00:47:47,330
all things change.
862
00:47:48,970 --> 00:47:50,330
("Come Ye" by Nina Simone
playing)
863
00:47:50,430 --> 00:47:52,870
♪ Come ye
864
00:47:55,270 --> 00:47:58,670
♪ Ye who would have peace...
865
00:47:58,770 --> 00:48:00,170
SAM BROWN:
We believed it's possible
866
00:48:00,270 --> 00:48:02,400
to create a substantial
majority in this country
867
00:48:04,200 --> 00:48:05,970
and that's what we're about
in the long run.
868
00:48:06,070 --> 00:48:07,930
In November,
we'll be back again,
869
00:48:08,040 --> 00:48:09,540
in December,
we'll be back again.
870
00:48:09,640 --> 00:48:11,500
And we intend to build
the movement,
871
00:48:11,600 --> 00:48:13,900
which will make it imperative
872
00:48:14,000 --> 00:48:16,270
that the United States
withdraw from Vietnam.
873
00:48:16,370 --> 00:48:19,240
REPORTER:
The organizers
of the moratorium do not aim
874
00:48:19,330 --> 00:48:21,970
at confrontation
or scuffles with the police.
875
00:48:22,070 --> 00:48:25,040
Instead, they want to involve
the most people possible
876
00:48:25,140 --> 00:48:28,070
in some gesture of protest,
however modest,
877
00:48:28,170 --> 00:48:31,700
so as to show the administration
that a large bloc of Americans
878
00:48:31,800 --> 00:48:34,300
care not about winning
or losing the war,
879
00:48:34,400 --> 00:48:36,600
but only about ending it.
880
00:48:36,700 --> 00:48:39,930
♪ Ye who have no fear
881
00:48:40,040 --> 00:48:41,200
Thank you.
882
00:48:41,300 --> 00:48:43,540
NIXON:
Now, I understand
883
00:48:43,640 --> 00:48:45,830
that there has been
and continues to be
884
00:48:45,930 --> 00:48:48,770
opposition to the war
in Vietnam on the campuses
885
00:48:48,870 --> 00:48:51,770
and also in the nation.
886
00:48:51,870 --> 00:48:52,900
Uh, we expect it.
887
00:48:53,000 --> 00:48:54,900
However, under no circumstances
888
00:48:55,000 --> 00:48:58,170
will I be affected whatever
by it.
889
00:48:58,270 --> 00:49:02,170
NARRATOR:
Hoping to undercut support
for the moratorium,
890
00:49:02,270 --> 00:49:04,470
Nixon canceled the draft calls
891
00:49:04,570 --> 00:49:08,330
for the months
of November and December 1969.
892
00:49:08,430 --> 00:49:11,740
And he instituted
a random lottery system
893
00:49:11,830 --> 00:49:14,670
based on the date
of a young man's birth,
894
00:49:14,770 --> 00:49:17,670
intended
to treat rich and poor alike
895
00:49:17,770 --> 00:49:21,430
and do away
with unfair deferments.
896
00:49:21,540 --> 00:49:25,040
It was good policy and
a brilliant political maneuver.
897
00:49:25,140 --> 00:49:26,430
(siren wails)
898
00:49:26,540 --> 00:49:27,900
On the line,
brothers and sisters.
899
00:49:28,000 --> 00:49:29,400
On the line now.
900
00:49:29,500 --> 00:49:31,070
("Subterranean Homesick Blues"
by Bob Dylan playing)
901
00:49:31,170 --> 00:49:33,300
NARRATOR:
As people across
the country organized
902
00:49:33,400 --> 00:49:35,240
for the peaceful moratorium,
903
00:49:35,330 --> 00:49:37,300
members of a radical faction
904
00:49:37,400 --> 00:49:40,140
of the Students
for a Democratic Society--
905
00:49:40,240 --> 00:49:41,430
the "Weathermen"--
906
00:49:41,540 --> 00:49:42,640
took more direct action.
907
00:49:42,740 --> 00:49:44,040
♪ The man in a trench coat
908
00:49:44,140 --> 00:49:46,740
NARRATOR:
Less interested
in ending the war
909
00:49:46,830 --> 00:49:49,330
than in sparking
a violent revolution,
910
00:49:49,430 --> 00:49:54,170
they staged what they called
four "Days of Rage" in Chicago.
911
00:49:54,270 --> 00:49:56,330
DYLAN:
♪ You better duck
down the alleyway ♪
912
00:49:56,430 --> 00:49:59,500
MAN:
We no longer simply resist
the pigs.
913
00:49:59,600 --> 00:50:01,570
We no longer trap ourselves
914
00:50:01,670 --> 00:50:03,200
so that
the only possible motion
915
00:50:03,300 --> 00:50:05,370
is in response to pig attacks.
916
00:50:05,470 --> 00:50:07,700
We have gone on the offensive.
917
00:50:07,800 --> 00:50:09,700
It is we who call the shots now.
918
00:50:09,800 --> 00:50:11,970
NARRATOR:
"Kill all the rich people,"
919
00:50:12,070 --> 00:50:13,300
one of their leaders said.
920
00:50:13,400 --> 00:50:16,430
"Break up
their cars and apartments.
921
00:50:16,540 --> 00:50:18,670
"Bring the revolution home.
922
00:50:18,770 --> 00:50:20,300
"Kill your parents.
923
00:50:20,400 --> 00:50:23,570
That's really where it's at."
924
00:50:23,670 --> 00:50:25,570
MAN:
Weathermen takes its name
from a line
925
00:50:25,670 --> 00:50:27,330
in a Bob Dylan song which says,
926
00:50:27,430 --> 00:50:29,170
"You don't need a weatherman
927
00:50:29,270 --> 00:50:30,700
to know the way
the wind blows."
928
00:50:30,800 --> 00:50:32,330
DYLAN:
♪ Wash the plain clothes
929
00:50:32,430 --> 00:50:33,830
♪ You don't need a weatherman
930
00:50:33,930 --> 00:50:37,570
♪ To know which way
the wind blows ♪
931
00:50:37,670 --> 00:50:39,970
NARRATOR:
The Weathermen assumed
932
00:50:40,070 --> 00:50:42,740
thousands would rally
to their cause.
933
00:50:42,830 --> 00:50:45,800
Only 600 did.
934
00:50:45,900 --> 00:50:49,400
They blew up a statue
honoring slain policemen,
935
00:50:49,500 --> 00:50:52,740
ran through the streets
wielding chains and pipes,
936
00:50:52,830 --> 00:50:54,970
smashing windows
and windshields
937
00:50:55,070 --> 00:50:58,600
and charging police barriers.
938
00:50:58,700 --> 00:51:00,370
Six were shot.
939
00:51:00,470 --> 00:51:03,270
250 were jailed.
940
00:51:03,370 --> 00:51:06,600
75 policemen were injured;
941
00:51:06,700 --> 00:51:09,770
a city attorney
was paralyzed for life.
942
00:51:09,870 --> 00:51:11,830
(siren wails)
943
00:51:11,930 --> 00:51:15,400
The Black Panthers
denounced the Weathermen
944
00:51:15,500 --> 00:51:18,500
as "anarchistic,
opportunistic...
945
00:51:18,600 --> 00:51:22,100
Custeristic."
946
00:51:22,200 --> 00:51:25,270
BILL ZIMMERMAN:
Probably 1969 was the year
947
00:51:25,370 --> 00:51:27,540
in which most of us
were more alienated
948
00:51:27,640 --> 00:51:31,470
and felt
more like revolutionaries.
949
00:51:31,570 --> 00:51:36,240
And it led
to a lot of crazy responses.
950
00:51:36,330 --> 00:51:40,200
I wanted the country to undergo
a radical transformation,
951
00:51:40,300 --> 00:51:43,200
a redistribution
of wealth and power.
952
00:51:43,300 --> 00:51:45,500
But to try to bring that about
953
00:51:45,600 --> 00:51:48,330
through armed struggle
in the United States
954
00:51:48,430 --> 00:51:50,400
was insane.
955
00:51:50,500 --> 00:51:52,870
These were all
infantile fantasies
956
00:51:52,970 --> 00:51:55,770
that people came to
out of the frustration
957
00:51:55,870 --> 00:51:58,500
of not having
a workable strategy
958
00:51:58,600 --> 00:52:01,930
for ending the war.
959
00:52:02,040 --> 00:52:03,540
REPORTER:
What do you think
people ought to do, governor,
960
00:52:03,640 --> 00:52:05,470
who are genuinely opposed
to the war
961
00:52:05,570 --> 00:52:07,740
but not in favor
of the Viet Cong?
962
00:52:07,830 --> 00:52:12,170
Well, I think that we have
had... experiences before
963
00:52:12,270 --> 00:52:14,830
of people who have been
opposed to wars,
964
00:52:14,930 --> 00:52:17,800
and I think they deal through
their own representatives,
965
00:52:17,900 --> 00:52:20,300
and it's dealt with
in government channels.
966
00:52:20,400 --> 00:52:22,830
But once the killing starts,
967
00:52:22,930 --> 00:52:24,800
the very difficult thing then
is,
968
00:52:24,900 --> 00:52:28,740
how do you register
these protests
969
00:52:28,830 --> 00:52:30,800
without lending comfort
and aid to the enemy,
970
00:52:30,900 --> 00:52:32,800
without strengthening
his resistance
971
00:52:32,900 --> 00:52:34,000
and his will to fight
972
00:52:34,100 --> 00:52:36,640
and thus
killing more of our men?
973
00:52:36,740 --> 00:52:40,830
And most Americans in the past
have always respected it.
974
00:52:40,930 --> 00:52:42,470
You see, the people
in this country
975
00:52:42,570 --> 00:52:44,540
aren't fighting
a Vietnam War.
976
00:52:44,640 --> 00:52:46,040
The government's fighting it.
977
00:52:46,140 --> 00:52:47,240
Well, the government is, uh,
978
00:52:47,330 --> 00:52:49,470
the government
is the people, supposedly,
No.
979
00:52:49,570 --> 00:52:51,740
but in this instance, it is not.
Not anymore, it's not.
980
00:52:51,830 --> 00:52:53,270
No, I agree with you,
it is not.
981
00:52:53,370 --> 00:52:54,700
Not in this situation,
it's not.
982
00:52:54,800 --> 00:52:56,240
Shouldn't I
let my government know
983
00:52:56,330 --> 00:52:57,470
that I think they're crazy?
984
00:52:57,570 --> 00:52:59,040
I think they are insane, really.
985
00:52:59,140 --> 00:53:01,170
This is an insane thing
we're doing.
986
00:53:01,270 --> 00:53:02,740
As a matter of fact,
987
00:53:02,830 --> 00:53:04,900
Nixon said
he will not listen to us
988
00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:06,600
and that he will not
be dictated to
989
00:53:06,700 --> 00:53:08,500
from the people in the streets.
990
00:53:08,600 --> 00:53:12,430
The people in the streets
are me.
991
00:53:12,540 --> 00:53:15,470
(chanting "peace now")
992
00:53:15,570 --> 00:53:19,830
NARRATOR:
The moratorium on October 15,
993
00:53:19,930 --> 00:53:21,430
held all across the country,
994
00:53:21,540 --> 00:53:24,370
was the largest outpouring
of public dissent
995
00:53:24,470 --> 00:53:25,900
in American history.
996
00:53:26,000 --> 00:53:29,870
("Blackbird"
by the Beatles playing)
997
00:53:29,970 --> 00:53:34,670
♪ Blackbird singing
in the dead of night ♪
998
00:53:34,770 --> 00:53:40,000
♪ Take these broken wings
and learn to fly ♪
999
00:53:40,100 --> 00:53:43,930
♪ All your life
1000
00:53:44,040 --> 00:53:48,570
♪ You were only waiting
for this moment to arise ♪
1001
00:53:48,670 --> 00:53:51,400
NARRATOR:
It was peaceful, middle-class,
1002
00:53:51,500 --> 00:53:54,500
carefully focused
on ending the war.
1003
00:53:54,600 --> 00:53:57,000
"It's nice," one marcher said,
1004
00:53:57,100 --> 00:53:58,830
"to go to a demonstration
1005
00:53:58,930 --> 00:54:03,870
without having to swear
allegiance to Chairman Mao."
1006
00:54:03,970 --> 00:54:05,400
♪ All your life
1007
00:54:05,500 --> 00:54:08,040
FRANK McGEE:
Surely this is a day
unique in our history.
1008
00:54:08,140 --> 00:54:11,100
Never have
so many of our people publicly
1009
00:54:11,200 --> 00:54:13,540
and collectively
manifested opposition
1010
00:54:13,640 --> 00:54:16,770
to this country's involvement
in a war.
1011
00:54:16,870 --> 00:54:19,800
It is unlikely
we will remain unchanged.
1012
00:54:19,900 --> 00:54:22,740
Hundreds and hundreds
of thousands
1013
00:54:22,830 --> 00:54:24,930
in cities from New York,
with its eight million people,
1014
00:54:25,040 --> 00:54:28,330
to Dubois, Wyoming,
with its 800 people,
1015
00:54:28,430 --> 00:54:30,670
have sought to impress
upon the president
1016
00:54:30,770 --> 00:54:32,830
their opposition to the war.
1017
00:54:32,930 --> 00:54:35,240
(bell rings)
1018
00:54:35,330 --> 00:54:42,140
CAROL CROCKER:
The first large protest march
I went to was in Baltimore.
1019
00:54:42,240 --> 00:54:45,740
I'd never been with that many
people at one time.
1020
00:54:45,830 --> 00:54:51,900
Just the energy of the crowd
itself was tremendous.
1021
00:54:52,000 --> 00:54:54,300
I wondered
if everybody was in it
1022
00:54:54,400 --> 00:54:56,370
for the right reasons.
1023
00:54:56,470 --> 00:55:01,100
I wasn't there to drink
or smoke pot.
1024
00:55:01,200 --> 00:55:03,430
Not in those situations.
1025
00:55:03,540 --> 00:55:07,070
These, to me,
were serious business.
1026
00:55:07,170 --> 00:55:10,640
This was the business
of living life.
1027
00:55:10,740 --> 00:55:12,070
This was not a party.
1028
00:55:12,170 --> 00:55:14,900
I didn't just want
to be with the crowd.
1029
00:55:15,000 --> 00:55:17,000
I didn't just want
to make noise.
1030
00:55:17,100 --> 00:55:19,140
I wanted to make a difference.
1031
00:55:19,240 --> 00:55:23,700
And I in no way
wanted to dishonor my brother.
1032
00:55:23,800 --> 00:55:25,330
♪ For this moment to arrive
1033
00:55:25,430 --> 00:55:27,430
QUINN:
For most
of the government today,
1034
00:55:27,540 --> 00:55:28,970
it was business as usual.
1035
00:55:29,070 --> 00:55:30,800
But at noon
on the Capitol steps,
1036
00:55:30,900 --> 00:55:33,300
a thousand young
congressional staff employees
1037
00:55:33,400 --> 00:55:36,040
stood in silence
for 45 minutes.
1038
00:55:36,140 --> 00:55:40,700
♪ Blackbird singing
in the dead of night ♪
1039
00:55:40,800 --> 00:55:44,200
NARRATOR:
The children of several of
the president's closest aides
1040
00:55:44,300 --> 00:55:45,640
and cabinet members
1041
00:55:45,740 --> 00:55:48,400
took part
in the national moratorium.
1042
00:55:48,500 --> 00:55:51,800
Vice President Agnew's
14-year-old daughter
1043
00:55:51,900 --> 00:55:53,540
wanted to march,
1044
00:55:53,640 --> 00:55:55,170
but he wouldn't let her.
1045
00:55:55,270 --> 00:55:57,270
Coretta Scott King,
1046
00:55:57,370 --> 00:56:00,240
the widow
of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
1047
00:56:00,330 --> 00:56:03,070
led thousands
of silent demonstrators
1048
00:56:03,170 --> 00:56:06,930
streaming past the White House,
where Nixon sat alone,
1049
00:56:07,040 --> 00:56:10,370
writing notes to himself
on a yellow pad.
1050
00:56:10,470 --> 00:56:12,370
"Don't get rattled.
Don't waver.
1051
00:56:12,470 --> 00:56:15,100
Don't react."
1052
00:56:17,700 --> 00:56:19,500
On November 3,
1053
00:56:19,600 --> 00:56:22,970
the president sought
to seize back the initiative.
1054
00:56:23,070 --> 00:56:24,870
Good evening,
my fellow Americans.
1055
00:56:24,970 --> 00:56:28,830
NARRATOR:
He went on national television
and called for patience
1056
00:56:28,930 --> 00:56:32,170
and asked Americans
to rally behind him.
1057
00:56:32,270 --> 00:56:34,100
NIXON:
To you,
1058
00:56:34,200 --> 00:56:38,470
the great silent majority
of my fellow Americans,
1059
00:56:38,570 --> 00:56:40,470
I ask for your support.
1060
00:56:40,570 --> 00:56:43,540
I pledged in my campaign
for the presidency
1061
00:56:43,640 --> 00:56:45,100
to end the war
1062
00:56:45,200 --> 00:56:48,170
in a way
that we could win the peace.
1063
00:56:48,270 --> 00:56:51,930
The more support I can have
from the American people,
1064
00:56:52,040 --> 00:56:54,070
the sooner that pledge
can be redeemed;
1065
00:56:54,170 --> 00:56:57,600
for the more divided we are
at home,
1066
00:56:57,700 --> 00:57:01,400
the less likely the enemy
is to negotiate at Paris.
1067
00:57:01,500 --> 00:57:02,740
("Okie From Muskogee"
by Merle Haggard playing)
1068
00:57:02,830 --> 00:57:05,200
Let us be united for peace.
1069
00:57:05,300 --> 00:57:09,540
♪ We don't smoke marijuana
in Muskogee ♪
1070
00:57:09,640 --> 00:57:11,770
NARRATOR:
The speech was a triumph.
1071
00:57:11,870 --> 00:57:15,830
Nixon's approval rate
soared to 68%.
1072
00:57:18,140 --> 00:57:20,500
MAN:
All that's in the news
1073
00:57:20,600 --> 00:57:22,740
is the fact that
the moratoriums are meeting,
1074
00:57:22,830 --> 00:57:24,800
that our country's sick...
1075
00:57:24,900 --> 00:57:26,670
sick of this and sick of that.
1076
00:57:26,770 --> 00:57:29,400
It's young people are all
the ones that are standing up.
1077
00:57:29,500 --> 00:57:32,870
And there is a silent majority,
which is no longer silent.
1078
00:57:32,970 --> 00:57:36,200
We're the people
who are wanting to show
1079
00:57:36,300 --> 00:57:39,200
that man deserves freedom
no matter where he is.
1080
00:57:39,300 --> 00:57:41,500
♪ A place where even squares
can have a ball ♪
1081
00:57:41,600 --> 00:57:44,140
Many brave men died in
this country to make it free...
1082
00:57:44,240 --> 00:57:45,830
I believe that.
1083
00:57:45,930 --> 00:57:48,140
and let you...
and let you have everything.
1084
00:57:48,240 --> 00:57:51,470
SPIRO AGNEW:
Senator Fulbright
said some months ago
1085
00:57:51,570 --> 00:57:54,070
that if the Vietnam War
went on much longer,
1086
00:57:54,170 --> 00:57:58,000
the best of our young people
would be in Canada.
1087
00:57:58,100 --> 00:58:00,970
Indeed, as for these deserters,
1088
00:58:01,070 --> 00:58:05,040
malcontents, radicals,
incendiaries,
1089
00:58:05,140 --> 00:58:07,470
the civil
and the uncivil disobedience
1090
00:58:07,570 --> 00:58:09,430
among our young,
1091
00:58:09,540 --> 00:58:11,400
SDS, PLP,
1092
00:58:11,500 --> 00:58:12,640
Weatherman one, Weatherman two,
1093
00:58:12,740 --> 00:58:14,930
the Revolutionary
Action Movement,
1094
00:58:15,040 --> 00:58:17,140
Panthers, lions, hippies,
1095
00:58:17,240 --> 00:58:20,040
yippies, tigers alike.
1096
00:58:20,140 --> 00:58:22,600
I'd rather swap
the whole damn zoo
1097
00:58:22,700 --> 00:58:25,170
for a single platoon
of the kind of young Americans
1098
00:58:25,270 --> 00:58:26,570
I saw in Vietnam.
1099
00:58:26,670 --> 00:58:29,540
(applause)
1100
00:58:29,640 --> 00:58:32,830
NARRATOR:
"We've got the liberal bastards
on the run now,"
1101
00:58:32,930 --> 00:58:35,470
Nixon told his aides,
1102
00:58:35,570 --> 00:58:39,700
"and we're going to keep them
on the run."
1103
00:58:39,800 --> 00:58:41,570
("My Son" by Jan Howard playing)
1104
00:58:49,870 --> 00:58:54,100
♪ My son, my son
1105
00:58:54,200 --> 00:58:56,170
JAN HOWARD:
My doorbell rang,
1106
00:58:56,270 --> 00:58:58,430
and it was this guy
standing there,
1107
00:58:58,540 --> 00:59:01,700
and he said, "Ms. Howard,
we're marching in Memphis
1108
00:59:01,800 --> 00:59:04,640
in protest of the Vietnam War."
1109
00:59:04,740 --> 00:59:06,700
I said, "Really?"
1110
00:59:06,800 --> 00:59:10,240
He said, "And we figured
in view of what happened..."
1111
00:59:10,330 --> 00:59:13,500
I said, "Yeah, my son's death."
1112
00:59:13,600 --> 00:59:16,430
He said, "Well, we thought
you'd like to join us."
1113
00:59:16,540 --> 00:59:18,800
I said,
"One of the reasons he died
1114
00:59:18,900 --> 00:59:20,300
"was so you have the right.
1115
00:59:20,400 --> 00:59:23,170
"In this country,
you have a right.
1116
00:59:23,270 --> 00:59:25,330
"Go right ahead and demonstrate.
1117
00:59:25,430 --> 00:59:27,400
Have at it."
1118
00:59:27,500 --> 00:59:29,870
I said, "But no,
I won't be joining you."
1119
00:59:29,970 --> 00:59:31,600
I said, "But I'll tell you what.
1120
00:59:31,700 --> 00:59:33,430
"If you ever
ring my doorbell again,
1121
00:59:33,540 --> 00:59:36,540
I will blow your damn head off
with a .357 Magnum."
1122
00:59:46,870 --> 00:59:49,140
TIM O'BRIEN:
Well, I was stationed in Vietnam
1123
00:59:49,240 --> 00:59:52,640
at a province
called Quang Ngai.
1124
00:59:52,740 --> 00:59:54,270
Even back during the time
of the French,
1125
00:59:54,370 --> 00:59:58,330
it was a very heavily
Viet Minh area,
1126
00:59:58,430 --> 01:00:00,900
and, when I arrived,
heavily Viet Cong.
1127
01:00:03,570 --> 01:00:07,140
NARRATOR:
No province suffered more during
the American war
1128
01:00:07,240 --> 01:00:09,600
than the coastal province
of Quang Ngai.
1129
01:00:09,700 --> 01:00:11,670
(artillery fire)
1130
01:00:11,770 --> 01:00:16,570
More than 70% of its villages
had been shelled by Navy ships,
1131
01:00:16,670 --> 01:00:20,500
bombed, bulldozed,
or burned to the ground,
1132
01:00:20,600 --> 01:00:22,970
and more than 40% of its people
1133
01:00:23,070 --> 01:00:25,640
had been forced
into refugee camps
1134
01:00:25,740 --> 01:00:29,200
before Tim O'Brien
from Worthington, Minnesota,
1135
01:00:29,300 --> 01:00:31,700
got there in 1969.
1136
01:00:33,740 --> 01:00:35,400
O'BRIEN:
It was a province
that was viewed
1137
01:00:35,500 --> 01:00:37,870
much as I guess
many Americans might view,
1138
01:00:37,970 --> 01:00:40,200
you know,
sort of redneck America.
1139
01:00:40,300 --> 01:00:43,670
Sort of country bumpkins.
1140
01:00:43,770 --> 01:00:45,070
And they may have been
country bumpkins,
1141
01:00:45,170 --> 01:00:47,570
but they were
fiercely independent.
1142
01:00:47,670 --> 01:00:51,040
NARRATOR:
Private O'Brien served
in Alpha Company,
1143
01:00:51,140 --> 01:00:55,740
3rd Platoon, 5th Battalion,
23rd Americal Division,
1144
01:00:55,830 --> 01:00:58,970
headquartered
at a landing zone called Gator,
1145
01:00:59,070 --> 01:01:02,330
"30 or 40 acres
of almost-America,"
1146
01:01:02,430 --> 01:01:04,070
O'Brien remembered,
1147
01:01:04,170 --> 01:01:07,400
with hot showers and cold beer.
1148
01:01:09,100 --> 01:01:10,800
O'BRIEN:
There was no sense of mission.
1149
01:01:10,900 --> 01:01:12,430
There was no sense
of daily purpose.
1150
01:01:12,540 --> 01:01:14,670
We didn't know
why we were in a village
1151
01:01:14,770 --> 01:01:16,900
or what we were supposed
to accomplish.
1152
01:01:17,000 --> 01:01:19,170
So we'd kick around
jugs of rice
1153
01:01:19,270 --> 01:01:22,140
and search houses
and frisk people,
1154
01:01:22,240 --> 01:01:24,570
and not knowing
what we were looking for
1155
01:01:24,670 --> 01:01:28,070
and rarely finding anything.
1156
01:01:28,170 --> 01:01:29,400
And somebody might die,
1157
01:01:29,500 --> 01:01:31,300
one of our guys,
and somebody might not.
1158
01:01:31,400 --> 01:01:33,770
Then we'd come back to
the same village a week later
1159
01:01:33,870 --> 01:01:36,100
or two weeks later,
do it all over again.
1160
01:01:36,200 --> 01:01:38,970
It was like chasing ghosts.
1161
01:01:39,070 --> 01:01:41,370
(helicopter blades whirring)
1162
01:01:43,040 --> 01:01:44,830
NARRATOR:
An American APC
1163
01:01:44,930 --> 01:01:48,400
accidentally crushed one man
from O'Brien's company.
1164
01:01:48,500 --> 01:01:52,700
An enemy grenade skittered off
O'Brien's helmet and exploded,
1165
01:01:52,800 --> 01:01:56,200
wounding a G.I. standing
a few feet away.
1166
01:01:59,140 --> 01:02:03,140
But mines and booby traps
were the greatest menace.
1167
01:02:09,640 --> 01:02:12,140
O'BRIEN:
Somewhere around 80%
of our casualties
1168
01:02:12,240 --> 01:02:14,700
came from land mines
of all sorts.
1169
01:02:16,400 --> 01:02:19,330
In Vietnam, for me,
just to get up in the morning
1170
01:02:19,430 --> 01:02:22,640
and look out at the land
and think,
1171
01:02:22,740 --> 01:02:25,540
"In a few minutes
I'll be walking out there,
1172
01:02:25,640 --> 01:02:28,500
"and will my corpse
be there or there?
1173
01:02:28,600 --> 01:02:31,800
Will I lose a leg out there?"
1174
01:02:31,900 --> 01:02:36,140
I'd always thought of courage
as charging enemy bunkers
1175
01:02:36,240 --> 01:02:38,500
or standing up under fire.
1176
01:02:38,600 --> 01:02:41,930
But just to walk
through Quang Ngai,
1177
01:02:42,040 --> 01:02:44,300
day after day,
from village to village,
1178
01:02:44,400 --> 01:02:48,670
and through the paddies
and up into the mountains,
1179
01:02:48,770 --> 01:02:52,300
just to make your legs move
was an act of courage
1180
01:02:52,400 --> 01:02:55,070
that if, say,
you were living in Sioux City,
1181
01:02:55,170 --> 01:02:56,800
it wouldn't be courageous
1182
01:02:56,900 --> 01:02:59,400
to walk to the grocery store
or down Main Street,
1183
01:02:59,500 --> 01:03:02,100
you know, just to have
your legs go back and forth.
1184
01:03:02,200 --> 01:03:03,830
But in Vietnam, for me,
1185
01:03:03,930 --> 01:03:06,040
just to walk felt
incredibly brave.
1186
01:03:06,140 --> 01:03:08,600
I would sometimes look
at my legs as I walked,
1187
01:03:08,700 --> 01:03:10,670
thinking, "How am I doing this?"
1188
01:03:13,470 --> 01:03:15,370
BAO NINH:
1189
01:03:43,000 --> 01:03:45,240
NARRATOR:
Bao Ninh was 17
1190
01:03:45,330 --> 01:03:48,140
when he was drafted
into the North Vietnamese Army
1191
01:03:48,240 --> 01:03:49,330
to fight the Americans,
1192
01:03:49,430 --> 01:03:52,700
just as his father
had fought the French.
1193
01:03:52,800 --> 01:03:56,040
His war would take place
in the Central Highlands
1194
01:03:56,140 --> 01:03:58,270
of South Vietnam.
1195
01:03:58,370 --> 01:04:00,470
It was American firepower
1196
01:04:00,570 --> 01:04:05,170
that Bao Ninh and his fellow
soldiers feared the most.
1197
01:04:05,270 --> 01:04:05,930
(explosion)
1198
01:04:06,040 --> 01:04:07,970
BAO NINH:
1199
01:05:33,370 --> 01:05:34,740
(explosion)
1200
01:06:24,540 --> 01:06:26,930
(birds chirping, squawking)
1201
01:06:30,570 --> 01:06:32,630
NARRATOR:
Back in the spring,
1202
01:06:32,740 --> 01:06:36,170
Tim O'Brien's outfit had been
sent into an area of operations
1203
01:06:36,270 --> 01:06:39,040
the Americans called
"Pinkville,"
1204
01:06:39,130 --> 01:06:40,970
clusters of villages
1205
01:06:41,070 --> 01:06:44,430
that included a hamlet
they called My Lai.
1206
01:06:46,300 --> 01:06:48,430
O'BRIEN:
We hated going there.
1207
01:06:48,540 --> 01:06:51,300
When we'd get the word,
"You're headed for Pinkville,"
1208
01:06:51,400 --> 01:06:53,340
one guy would say to another,
"Somebody's gonna die,"
1209
01:06:53,430 --> 01:06:54,770
or, "Somebody's
gonna lose a leg."
1210
01:06:54,870 --> 01:06:56,870
We were terrified of the place.
1211
01:06:56,970 --> 01:07:00,400
It was littered
with land mines.
1212
01:07:00,500 --> 01:07:02,400
The villagers were...
1213
01:07:02,500 --> 01:07:04,300
The expressions on their faces,
1214
01:07:04,400 --> 01:07:08,700
including the children
of, say, six or five years old,
1215
01:07:08,800 --> 01:07:13,970
had a mixture of hostility
and terror.
1216
01:07:16,270 --> 01:07:17,740
I can't say
many of the villagers
1217
01:07:17,840 --> 01:07:19,870
came with open arms to us,
1218
01:07:19,970 --> 01:07:22,000
but this place was special.
1219
01:07:22,100 --> 01:07:24,100
And I remember talking
to fellow soldiers,
1220
01:07:24,200 --> 01:07:26,470
thinking,
"What is it with this place?"
1221
01:07:27,840 --> 01:07:29,870
And then about three-quarters
of the way
1222
01:07:29,970 --> 01:07:31,600
through my tour in Vietnam,
1223
01:07:31,700 --> 01:07:34,900
the story of the My Lai Massacre
broke in the States.
1224
01:07:36,200 --> 01:07:39,200
NARRATOR:
On November 12, 1969,
1225
01:07:39,300 --> 01:07:41,840
the Dispatch News Service
in Washington
1226
01:07:41,930 --> 01:07:45,970
moved a story by investigative
journalist Seymour Hersh.
1227
01:07:47,270 --> 01:07:49,500
It was soon followed
by the publication
1228
01:07:49,600 --> 01:07:54,570
of graphic photos taken by Army
photographer Ronald Haeberle.
1229
01:07:56,040 --> 01:07:59,870
The story and the pictures
stunned the country.
1230
01:07:59,970 --> 01:08:01,600
HUNTLEY:
Charges have been made
1231
01:08:01,700 --> 01:08:04,430
that troops
of the Americal Division
1232
01:08:04,540 --> 01:08:07,970
killed as many as
567 South Vietnamese civilians
1233
01:08:08,070 --> 01:08:11,240
during a sweep in March 1968.
1234
01:08:12,500 --> 01:08:14,470
NARRATOR:
20 months earlier,
1235
01:08:14,570 --> 01:08:18,040
on the morning
of March 16, 1968,
1236
01:08:18,130 --> 01:08:20,740
105 men from a rifle company
1237
01:08:20,840 --> 01:08:23,000
belonging
to the Americal Division,
1238
01:08:23,100 --> 01:08:25,200
and led
by Captain Ernest Medina
1239
01:08:25,300 --> 01:08:27,430
and Lieutenant William Calley,
1240
01:08:27,540 --> 01:08:31,630
had been ordered to helicopter
into the village of My Lai 4.
1241
01:08:32,970 --> 01:08:36,200
Since arriving in Vietnam,
they had lost 28 men
1242
01:08:36,300 --> 01:08:41,170
to mines and booby traps
and unseen snipers.
1243
01:08:41,270 --> 01:08:46,070
Two days earlier, a popular
squad leader had been killed.
1244
01:08:46,170 --> 01:08:49,840
They had been told
a unit of main-force Viet Cong
1245
01:08:49,930 --> 01:08:51,600
was waiting for them,
1246
01:08:51,700 --> 01:08:54,470
and they were eager
for revenge.
1247
01:08:55,740 --> 01:08:58,240
But they received
no hostile fire,
1248
01:08:58,340 --> 01:09:03,200
encountered no enemy soldiers.
1249
01:09:04,670 --> 01:09:07,970
Instead,
over the next four hours,
1250
01:09:08,070 --> 01:09:10,900
Medina, Calley,
and their men murdered
1251
01:09:11,000 --> 01:09:18,740
407 defenseless old men,
women, children, and infants.
1252
01:09:28,700 --> 01:09:31,370
Many of the women and girls
were raped
1253
01:09:31,470 --> 01:09:33,770
before they were shot.
1254
01:09:36,840 --> 01:09:39,130
There would have been
still more slaughter
1255
01:09:39,240 --> 01:09:43,400
had a helicopter pilot named
Hugh Thompson, Jr., not landed
1256
01:09:43,500 --> 01:09:46,900
between the men and some
of their intended targets
1257
01:09:47,000 --> 01:09:50,630
and ordered his crew to open
fire on their fellow Americans
1258
01:09:50,740 --> 01:09:54,000
if they did not stop
shooting civilians.
1259
01:09:57,240 --> 01:10:00,770
At the same time,
just a mile or so away,
1260
01:10:00,870 --> 01:10:05,570
another company murdered
97 more villagers.
1261
01:10:07,570 --> 01:10:10,600
O'BRIEN:
And suddenly it was like
a window shade going up,
1262
01:10:10,700 --> 01:10:12,130
and then there's light,
1263
01:10:12,240 --> 01:10:14,300
and we understood
what had engendered
1264
01:10:14,400 --> 01:10:17,740
this horror in these kids' faces
1265
01:10:17,840 --> 01:10:20,570
and fear and the...
and the hatred.
1266
01:10:20,670 --> 01:10:24,200
Hundred and some American
soldiers in four hours or so
1267
01:10:24,300 --> 01:10:26,970
butchering innocent people,
1268
01:10:27,070 --> 01:10:29,130
in all kinds of ways--
machine-gunning them
1269
01:10:29,240 --> 01:10:31,540
and throwing them in wells
and scalping them
1270
01:10:31,630 --> 01:10:33,500
and killing them in ditches
1271
01:10:33,600 --> 01:10:36,200
and taking a lunch break
and then doing it some more.
1272
01:10:37,340 --> 01:10:39,470
Systematic homicide.
1273
01:10:39,570 --> 01:10:41,100
MIKE WALLACE:
What kind of people?
1274
01:10:41,200 --> 01:10:42,200
Men, women, children?
1275
01:10:42,300 --> 01:10:43,740
PAUL MEADLO:
Men, women, children.
1276
01:10:43,840 --> 01:10:45,540
WALLACE: Babies?
MEADLO: Babies.
1277
01:10:45,630 --> 01:10:47,470
Uh, Lieutenant Calley
came over and said,
1278
01:10:47,570 --> 01:10:49,470
"You know what to do with them,
don't you?"
1279
01:10:49,570 --> 01:10:51,070
And, uh, I said, "Yes."
1280
01:10:51,170 --> 01:10:55,170
So l took it for granted that
he just wanted us to watch them.
1281
01:10:55,270 --> 01:10:57,040
And he left and came back
1282
01:10:57,130 --> 01:10:59,700
about ten or...
ten or 15 minutes later,
1283
01:10:59,800 --> 01:11:04,040
and said, "How come you ain't,
uh, killed them yet?"
1284
01:11:04,130 --> 01:11:05,700
You killed how many
at that time?
1285
01:11:05,800 --> 01:11:08,300
Well, I fired my automatic,
so, uh...
1286
01:11:08,400 --> 01:11:11,040
you can't, uh...
you just spray the area on them,
1287
01:11:11,130 --> 01:11:13,500
so you really can't know
how many you killed
1288
01:11:13,600 --> 01:11:16,400
because it comes out
so doggone fast.
1289
01:11:16,500 --> 01:11:20,740
So I, I might've killed
about, uh, ten or 15 of them.
1290
01:11:21,870 --> 01:11:23,370
Men, women,
and children?
1291
01:11:23,470 --> 01:11:25,040
Men, women, and children.
1292
01:11:25,130 --> 01:11:27,200
And babies?
And babies.
1293
01:11:28,670 --> 01:11:30,570
Why did I do it?
1294
01:11:30,670 --> 01:11:33,470
Because I felt like
I was ordered to do it.
1295
01:11:33,570 --> 01:11:36,130
And it seemed like, uh...
1296
01:11:38,840 --> 01:11:42,770
Well, at the time, I felt like
I was doing the right thing.
1297
01:11:42,870 --> 01:11:44,770
I really did.
1298
01:11:44,870 --> 01:11:47,930
Because, uh, like I said,
I lost buddies,
1299
01:11:48,040 --> 01:11:49,930
I lost... I lost a good...
1300
01:11:50,040 --> 01:11:54,400
damn good buddy--
Bobby Wilson--
1301
01:11:54,500 --> 01:11:58,170
and it was on my conscience,
and it was on...
1302
01:11:58,270 --> 01:12:00,240
So after I done it, I felt good.
1303
01:12:00,340 --> 01:12:04,570
But later on that day,
it was getting to me.
1304
01:12:04,670 --> 01:12:07,740
It's so hard, I think,
for a good many Americans
1305
01:12:07,840 --> 01:12:10,870
to understand
that young, capable,
1306
01:12:10,970 --> 01:12:14,240
brave American boys
1307
01:12:14,340 --> 01:12:17,270
could line up
1308
01:12:17,370 --> 01:12:21,970
old men, women,
children, and babies
1309
01:12:22,070 --> 01:12:24,800
and shoot them down
in cold blood.
1310
01:12:29,540 --> 01:12:31,770
How do you explain that?
1311
01:12:31,870 --> 01:12:33,800
I wouldn't know.
1312
01:12:39,740 --> 01:12:41,630
(low, distant chatter)
1313
01:12:43,900 --> 01:12:47,970
NARRATOR:
The killing of civilians
has happened in every war.
1314
01:12:48,070 --> 01:12:52,370
In Vietnam,
it was not policy or routine,
1315
01:12:52,470 --> 01:12:55,100
but it was not
an aberration, either.
1316
01:12:56,670 --> 01:13:01,570
Still, the scale
and deliberateness and intimacy
1317
01:13:01,670 --> 01:13:03,800
of what happened at My Lai
1318
01:13:03,900 --> 01:13:05,200
was different.
1319
01:13:05,300 --> 01:13:06,930
SHEEHAN:
It was different
1320
01:13:07,040 --> 01:13:09,770
because they were killing
Vietnamese point-blank
1321
01:13:09,870 --> 01:13:11,240
with rifles and grenades.
1322
01:13:11,340 --> 01:13:13,670
They were murdering them
directly.
1323
01:13:13,770 --> 01:13:16,040
They weren't doing it
with bombs and artillery.
1324
01:13:16,130 --> 01:13:17,570
If they'd been doing it
with bombs and artillery,
1325
01:13:17,670 --> 01:13:18,740
nobody would have said a word,
1326
01:13:18,840 --> 01:13:19,840
because it was going on
all the time.
1327
01:13:21,270 --> 01:13:22,570
NARRATOR:
Not every soldier
1328
01:13:22,670 --> 01:13:24,400
participated in the killings
that day.
1329
01:13:24,500 --> 01:13:28,040
Some led villagers away
to safety.
1330
01:13:28,130 --> 01:13:30,900
But a failure
of military leadership
1331
01:13:31,000 --> 01:13:34,100
at nearly every level had
created the conditions
1332
01:13:34,200 --> 01:13:37,600
that made the massacre possible.
1333
01:13:37,700 --> 01:13:41,930
The My Lai story might have
shocked the American public,
1334
01:13:42,040 --> 01:13:44,240
but it was not news
to the Army.
1335
01:13:44,340 --> 01:13:47,430
It had occurred
almost two years before,
1336
01:13:47,540 --> 01:13:50,600
just after the Tet Offensive.
1337
01:13:50,700 --> 01:13:53,070
Hugh Thompson,
the helicopter pilot
1338
01:13:53,170 --> 01:13:55,240
who had tried
to stop the massacre,
1339
01:13:55,340 --> 01:13:58,170
reported what he had seen,
1340
01:13:58,270 --> 01:14:00,170
but no one
in the chain of command
1341
01:14:00,270 --> 01:14:01,500
was willing to act.
1342
01:14:01,600 --> 01:14:05,240
The slaughter was covered up.
1343
01:14:05,340 --> 01:14:09,100
Later, an ex-corporal
named Ronald Ridenhour,
1344
01:14:09,200 --> 01:14:10,870
who had heard
about what had happened
1345
01:14:10,970 --> 01:14:12,900
from several men
who had been there,
1346
01:14:13,000 --> 01:14:16,470
wrote letters to the
president of the United States,
1347
01:14:16,570 --> 01:14:18,370
the secretary of defense,
1348
01:14:18,470 --> 01:14:22,370
and more than two dozen other
high-ranking officials.
1349
01:14:22,470 --> 01:14:25,630
STAN ATKINSON:
Personally, what
decision-making process
1350
01:14:25,740 --> 01:14:28,540
did you go through before
you decided to take your action?
1351
01:14:28,630 --> 01:14:32,300
I guess I just wrestled
with my own conscience
1352
01:14:32,400 --> 01:14:34,670
to try to decide
what action to take.
1353
01:14:34,770 --> 01:14:36,800
I felt that I had
to take some action.
1354
01:14:36,900 --> 01:14:38,270
I had to do something.
1355
01:14:38,370 --> 01:14:39,600
I couldn't just...
1356
01:14:39,700 --> 01:14:42,240
just rest with this knowledge
for the rest of my life
1357
01:14:42,340 --> 01:14:45,170
that I couldn't... I couldn't
live with myself if I did.
1358
01:14:45,270 --> 01:14:48,170
NARRATOR:
President Nixon's
first reaction
1359
01:14:48,270 --> 01:14:52,400
was to investigate those
who reported the slaughter.
1360
01:14:52,500 --> 01:14:55,200
"It's those dirty rotten Jews
from New York
1361
01:14:55,300 --> 01:14:56,570
who are behind it,"
1362
01:14:56,670 --> 01:14:58,100
he told an aide.
1363
01:14:58,200 --> 01:15:02,540
Eventually, Lieutenant General
William R. Peers,
1364
01:15:02,630 --> 01:15:06,470
a veteran of 30 months as
a troop commander in Vietnam,
1365
01:15:06,570 --> 01:15:08,270
was assigned to head a panel
1366
01:15:08,370 --> 01:15:11,170
to look into
what had really happened.
1367
01:15:11,270 --> 01:15:14,400
Peers found that 30 persons,
1368
01:15:14,500 --> 01:15:16,840
including
the division commander,
1369
01:15:16,930 --> 01:15:19,170
General Samuel W. Koster,
1370
01:15:19,270 --> 01:15:21,570
had either committed atrocities
1371
01:15:21,670 --> 01:15:25,630
or had conspired
to cover them up.
1372
01:15:29,630 --> 01:15:33,370
Peers had wanted to call My Lai
a "massacre."
1373
01:15:33,470 --> 01:15:36,740
His superiors
made him use the phrase,
1374
01:15:36,840 --> 01:15:40,870
"a tragedy
of major proportions."
1375
01:15:40,970 --> 01:15:46,400
In the end, the Army indicted
25 officers and men,
1376
01:15:46,500 --> 01:15:51,670
including the platoon leader,
Lieutenant William Calley.
1377
01:15:54,240 --> 01:15:56,240
VALLELY:
Calley's a killer.
1378
01:15:56,340 --> 01:15:58,270
Calley's a murderer
1379
01:15:58,370 --> 01:16:00,630
and a... a sick person.
1380
01:16:02,740 --> 01:16:05,770
I'm not gonna be
in any, you know, uh,
1381
01:16:05,870 --> 01:16:08,300
propaganda movie for
the United States Marine Corps,
1382
01:16:08,400 --> 01:16:10,340
but we didn't have that guy.
1383
01:16:12,600 --> 01:16:15,100
We had individuals who, who...
1384
01:16:15,200 --> 01:16:17,170
who committed war crimes,
of course.
1385
01:16:17,270 --> 01:16:21,240
And, um, you know,
I wanted to kill them.
1386
01:16:21,340 --> 01:16:23,840
I sometimes wish
I did kill 'em.
1387
01:16:26,670 --> 01:16:30,430
But... I was afraid to kill 'em.
1388
01:16:32,840 --> 01:16:34,770
♪ Two, one, two, three, four
1389
01:16:34,870 --> 01:16:37,570
("Give Peace a Chance"
by The Plastic Ono Band plays)
1390
01:16:37,670 --> 01:16:40,170
(loud crowd chatter)
1391
01:16:40,270 --> 01:16:41,800
♪ Everybody's talking about...
1392
01:16:41,900 --> 01:16:45,040
ZIMMERMAN:
I never considered
the Vietnamese our enemy.
1393
01:16:45,130 --> 01:16:46,740
They had never done anything
1394
01:16:46,840 --> 01:16:49,400
to threaten the security
of the United States.
1395
01:16:49,500 --> 01:16:52,240
They were off
10,000 miles away,
1396
01:16:52,340 --> 01:16:54,070
minding their own business,
1397
01:16:54,170 --> 01:16:56,540
and we went there
to their country,
1398
01:16:56,630 --> 01:16:58,100
told them
what kind of government
1399
01:16:58,200 --> 01:17:00,470
we wanted them to have.
1400
01:17:00,570 --> 01:17:04,770
JAMES WILLBANKS:
Well, when I see
the war protesters,
1401
01:17:04,870 --> 01:17:06,630
I react on a couple of levels.
1402
01:17:06,740 --> 01:17:09,270
Intellectually, I certainly
understand their right
1403
01:17:09,370 --> 01:17:11,070
to the freedom of speech.
1404
01:17:11,170 --> 01:17:12,570
But I will tell you
1405
01:17:12,670 --> 01:17:15,630
that when I see them
waving NLF flags,
1406
01:17:15,740 --> 01:17:18,970
the enemy that I and my friends
had to fight,
1407
01:17:19,070 --> 01:17:22,270
and some of my friends
had to die fighting,
1408
01:17:22,370 --> 01:17:24,000
that doesn't sit very well
with me.
1409
01:17:24,100 --> 01:17:27,240
♪ All we are saying...
1410
01:17:27,340 --> 01:17:30,270
NARRATOR:
On November 15, 1969,
1411
01:17:30,370 --> 01:17:32,600
half a million citizens
turned out
1412
01:17:32,700 --> 01:17:35,240
against the war in Washington,
again.
1413
01:17:35,340 --> 01:17:37,630
♪ Everybody's talking
about revolution... ♪
1414
01:17:37,740 --> 01:17:40,970
NARRATOR:
This time, buses provided
an impenetrable wall
1415
01:17:41,070 --> 01:17:43,270
around the White House.
1416
01:17:43,370 --> 01:17:45,740
President Nixon claimed
he was too busy
1417
01:17:45,840 --> 01:17:47,900
watching football on television
1418
01:17:48,000 --> 01:17:49,240
to pay attention,
1419
01:17:49,340 --> 01:17:53,770
but he did suggest that
Army helicopters might be used
1420
01:17:53,870 --> 01:17:55,770
to blow out
the marchers' candles.
1421
01:17:55,870 --> 01:17:57,870
♪ All we are saying...
1422
01:17:57,970 --> 01:17:59,400
(car horns honking)
1423
01:17:59,500 --> 01:18:01,540
NARRATOR:
Hundreds of thousands
of others demonstrated
1424
01:18:01,630 --> 01:18:05,130
in San Francisco and New York.
1425
01:18:05,240 --> 01:18:06,870
(indistinct shouting)
1426
01:18:06,970 --> 01:18:09,870
(cheering and whistling,
indistinct shouting)
1427
01:18:12,400 --> 01:18:14,770
The most striking
antiwar protest
1428
01:18:14,870 --> 01:18:16,100
of this Thanksgiving Day
1429
01:18:16,200 --> 01:18:18,670
occurred not in this country,
but in Vietnam,
1430
01:18:18,770 --> 01:18:21,170
though its form was
uniquely American.
1431
01:18:21,270 --> 01:18:23,370
About 100 American soldiers
1432
01:18:23,470 --> 01:18:25,870
stationed at a hospital
in Pleiku
1433
01:18:25,970 --> 01:18:28,540
refused to eat their traditional
turkey dinner.
1434
01:18:28,630 --> 01:18:32,600
They described their fast as a
passive protest against the war.
1435
01:18:34,400 --> 01:18:36,840
("Born Under a Bad Sign" by
Booker T. and the M.G.'s plays)
1436
01:18:41,370 --> 01:18:43,040
The Army did what the Army does.
1437
01:18:43,130 --> 01:18:44,600
Every year, you know,
for Thanksgiving,
1438
01:18:44,700 --> 01:18:45,870
they make a big deal.
1439
01:18:45,970 --> 01:18:47,070
They're gonna bring in turkey,
1440
01:18:47,170 --> 01:18:48,540
they're gonna bring in
mashed potatoes,
1441
01:18:48,630 --> 01:18:50,970
and apple pie and whatever.
1442
01:18:51,070 --> 01:18:52,970
And by this point, I think,
1443
01:18:53,070 --> 01:18:56,000
a lot of us were very,
very cynical about the war
1444
01:18:56,100 --> 01:18:57,930
and what was going on.
1445
01:18:58,040 --> 01:19:01,500
But we weren't gonna make
a big deal about it.
1446
01:19:01,600 --> 01:19:04,170
We knew there were gonna be
TV people there.
1447
01:19:04,270 --> 01:19:07,400
And a couple of the organizers
were looking for people to talk.
1448
01:19:07,500 --> 01:19:09,130
They came to me, I said, "No."
1449
01:19:09,240 --> 01:19:11,570
I said, "Look, I'm gonna fast
and do my thing."
1450
01:19:11,670 --> 01:19:13,540
I said,
"But I, I really don't want
1451
01:19:13,630 --> 01:19:16,040
to be involved
with any media thing."
1452
01:19:16,130 --> 01:19:20,540
NARRATOR:
That Thanksgiving Day,
Lieutenant Furey was on duty
1453
01:19:20,630 --> 01:19:24,700
when one of her patients took
a sudden turn for the worse.
1454
01:19:24,800 --> 01:19:27,800
FUREY:
Some patients,
they just get into your heart.
1455
01:19:27,900 --> 01:19:29,500
And this kid,
I think he was 18.
1456
01:19:29,600 --> 01:19:31,040
His name was Timmy.
1457
01:19:31,130 --> 01:19:35,570
It was unlikely
he was gonna survive.
1458
01:19:35,670 --> 01:19:39,130
And I just got so angry.
1459
01:19:39,240 --> 01:19:42,670
I just lost it.
1460
01:19:42,770 --> 01:19:44,870
I remember walking out
of the O.R.,
1461
01:19:44,970 --> 01:19:46,770
I ripped off the gown,
and I ripped off the mask,
1462
01:19:46,870 --> 01:19:50,130
I walked outside, I said,
"Where are those reporters?"
1463
01:20:03,270 --> 01:20:05,340
I mean, you know, you don't
demonstrate against the war
1464
01:20:05,430 --> 01:20:06,570
in a war zone.
1465
01:20:06,670 --> 01:20:09,570
By that time, of course,
you, you had the attitude,
1466
01:20:09,670 --> 01:20:11,500
"What are they gonna do?
1467
01:20:11,600 --> 01:20:13,570
Send me to Vietnam?"
1468
01:20:17,040 --> 01:20:20,570
(loud, overlapping chatter
and shouting)
1469
01:20:20,670 --> 01:20:23,400
(indistinct chanting)
1470
01:20:23,500 --> 01:20:26,430
JOHN MUSGRAVE:
Let's just say that being
a Marine combat veteran
1471
01:20:26,540 --> 01:20:30,500
on a college campus
in 1969 and 1970--
1472
01:20:30,600 --> 01:20:32,370
it wasn't a real good thing
to be
1473
01:20:32,470 --> 01:20:34,540
if you wanted to get dates
and be popular.
1474
01:20:37,300 --> 01:20:40,770
When I came home,
it seemed like
1475
01:20:40,870 --> 01:20:44,200
I didn't have anything
to give to anybody else.
1476
01:20:47,570 --> 01:20:51,600
NARRATOR:
Marine Corporal John Musgrave
had very nearly died
1477
01:20:51,700 --> 01:20:56,340
in combat below the DMZ
in the autumn of 1967.
1478
01:20:56,430 --> 01:20:59,240
Wounded in the jaw
and shoulder,
1479
01:20:59,340 --> 01:21:03,100
his ribs shattered,
lung pierced, nerves cut,
1480
01:21:03,200 --> 01:21:07,540
he had spent 17 months
in Navy hospitals.
1481
01:21:07,630 --> 01:21:10,670
He was now studying
at Baker University
1482
01:21:10,770 --> 01:21:13,540
in Baldwin City, Kansas.
1483
01:21:13,630 --> 01:21:15,930
(indistinct chanting
and shouting)
1484
01:21:16,040 --> 01:21:20,430
But wherever he went,
the war was never far away.
1485
01:21:22,670 --> 01:21:27,000
MUSGRAVE:
And the peace movement,
for a while, got real nasty,
1486
01:21:27,100 --> 01:21:29,100
calling veterans baby killers.
1487
01:21:31,170 --> 01:21:33,000
It did more than piss us off.
1488
01:21:33,100 --> 01:21:34,930
It broke our hearts.
1489
01:21:35,040 --> 01:21:37,300
What were they thinking?
1490
01:21:37,400 --> 01:21:42,670
You don't turn your backs
on your warriors.
1491
01:21:42,770 --> 01:21:45,300
I didn't trust anybody anymore.
1492
01:21:46,770 --> 01:21:49,000
Just my family.
1493
01:21:49,100 --> 01:21:51,570
NARRATOR:
Musgrave was so hurt
1494
01:21:51,670 --> 01:21:53,670
by the way
some people treated him
1495
01:21:53,770 --> 01:21:57,100
that he volunteered
to return to Vietnam.
1496
01:21:57,200 --> 01:22:00,840
Because of his injuries,
the Marines turned him down,
1497
01:22:00,930 --> 01:22:04,870
and asked him
to help recruit men instead.
1498
01:22:04,970 --> 01:22:06,900
He did for a time,
1499
01:22:07,000 --> 01:22:10,000
but when students asked him
questions about the war
1500
01:22:10,100 --> 01:22:11,870
he couldn't answer,
1501
01:22:11,970 --> 01:22:13,070
he also began to read
1502
01:22:13,170 --> 01:22:17,500
about how and why
it was being fought.
1503
01:22:17,600 --> 01:22:21,270
MUSGRAVE:
I had friends in country
on a second tour,
1504
01:22:21,370 --> 01:22:24,470
and, you know, I, I was still...
considered myself a Marine.
1505
01:22:24,570 --> 01:22:27,370
and... and the more I read,
1506
01:22:27,470 --> 01:22:32,700
the less I found to be able
to defend our presence there.
1507
01:22:32,800 --> 01:22:36,840
So then, I, I just stopped
talking to everybody.
1508
01:22:36,930 --> 01:22:38,970
(dog barking)
1509
01:22:39,070 --> 01:22:43,040
NARRATOR:
Musgrave gradually felt as if
he were being torn in two.
1510
01:22:43,130 --> 01:22:46,970
And he was still haunted
by the memory of those Marines
1511
01:22:47,070 --> 01:22:51,630
who had died while he had lived.
1512
01:22:51,740 --> 01:22:54,870
MUSGRAVE:
I was dating my .45
in those years, you know.
1513
01:22:54,970 --> 01:22:57,670
Coming home at night
after drinking,
1514
01:22:57,770 --> 01:22:59,800
and pressing it up
against my temple,
1515
01:22:59,900 --> 01:23:02,800
or putting it under my chin,
1516
01:23:02,900 --> 01:23:05,200
wondering if this was gonna be
the night
1517
01:23:05,300 --> 01:23:07,300
I was gonna have the guts
to do it.
1518
01:23:09,040 --> 01:23:11,100
I'd had a round chambered,
and I'd taken the safety off.
1519
01:23:11,200 --> 01:23:13,500
Same kind of pistol
I carried in Vietnam.
1520
01:23:16,100 --> 01:23:19,430
And I thought, "I'm really gonna
do it tonight."
1521
01:23:19,540 --> 01:23:23,340
You know, like, "Whew, I'm
really gonna do it," you know.
1522
01:23:23,430 --> 01:23:25,370
And my dogs...
I'd let my dogs out.
1523
01:23:25,470 --> 01:23:27,000
I had two dogs.
1524
01:23:27,100 --> 01:23:28,630
And they jumped
on the front door
1525
01:23:28,740 --> 01:23:30,040
and scratched on the front door.
1526
01:23:30,130 --> 01:23:31,900
They wanted in.
1527
01:23:32,000 --> 01:23:33,100
And I put the safety
back on the pistol
1528
01:23:33,200 --> 01:23:34,970
and set it down
and went and let 'em in.
1529
01:23:36,800 --> 01:23:39,470
And they were so open
in their love for me
1530
01:23:39,570 --> 01:23:41,240
that I literally said out loud,
1531
01:23:41,340 --> 01:23:46,500
"Whoa, if I really want to do
this, I can do this tomorrow."
1532
01:23:46,600 --> 01:23:47,900
And I went back in the room,
1533
01:23:48,000 --> 01:23:49,870
and I put the pistol
in the drawer, and...
1534
01:23:49,970 --> 01:23:52,900
and I... I think
that was the closest I came.
1535
01:23:53,000 --> 01:23:54,630
I think maybe
I would have killed...
1536
01:23:54,740 --> 01:23:56,970
k-k-killed myself that night.
1537
01:23:57,070 --> 01:23:58,430
But something as simple
1538
01:23:58,540 --> 01:24:01,040
as my dogs wanting back in...
1539
01:24:01,130 --> 01:24:04,400
stopped that thought, you know.
1540
01:24:07,130 --> 01:24:10,130
I'm really glad
that it didn't happen.
1541
01:24:10,240 --> 01:24:13,470
But at the time,
it just made so much sense.
1542
01:24:18,340 --> 01:24:20,270
NARRATOR:
Richard Nixon's
troop withdrawals
1543
01:24:20,370 --> 01:24:23,570
finally turned Musgrave
against the war.
1544
01:24:23,670 --> 01:24:26,400
"If it ain't worth winning,"
he said,
1545
01:24:26,500 --> 01:24:28,800
"it ain't worth dying for."
1546
01:24:28,900 --> 01:24:31,500
His loyalty to the Marines
1547
01:24:31,600 --> 01:24:34,470
would not yet let him
openly say that,
1548
01:24:34,570 --> 01:24:37,040
but he told a campus
antiwar meeting
1549
01:24:37,130 --> 01:24:39,970
that they should stop acting
as if they didn't give a damn
1550
01:24:40,070 --> 01:24:42,870
about the men
who had been asked to fight,
1551
01:24:42,970 --> 01:24:45,300
and received
a standing ovation.
1552
01:24:49,540 --> 01:24:51,870
JACK TODD:
The turning point for me,
I think,
1553
01:24:51,970 --> 01:24:54,970
was one evening I spent
with my friend Sonny Walter,
1554
01:24:55,070 --> 01:24:57,600
who had been, uh... just been
discharged from the Army,
1555
01:24:57,700 --> 01:25:00,270
and had come home
and spent an evening
1556
01:25:00,370 --> 01:25:02,970
before I went in
pleading with me not to go.
1557
01:25:03,070 --> 01:25:05,630
He even offered
to drive me to Canada.
1558
01:25:05,740 --> 01:25:08,300
He was showing me some
horrible pictures of Vietnam
1559
01:25:08,400 --> 01:25:10,130
from his own service there.
1560
01:25:12,040 --> 01:25:14,040
I think everything
that happened after it
1561
01:25:14,130 --> 01:25:15,670
had its seeds in that evening.
1562
01:25:15,770 --> 01:25:17,770
("The Thrill is Gone"
by B.B. King playing)
1563
01:25:17,870 --> 01:25:21,170
NARRATOR:
While attending
the University of Nebraska,
1564
01:25:21,270 --> 01:25:25,070
Jack Todd had undergone
Marine officer training,
1565
01:25:25,170 --> 01:25:28,570
but bad knees
had forced him to drop out
1566
01:25:28,670 --> 01:25:30,740
and he believed
that exempted him
1567
01:25:30,840 --> 01:25:33,400
from having to take part
in a war
1568
01:25:33,500 --> 01:25:36,070
he had come to see as immoral.
1569
01:25:36,170 --> 01:25:40,240
He began work as a reporter
onThe Miami Herald.
1570
01:25:40,340 --> 01:25:44,970
But in the autumn of 1969
he received a draft notice
1571
01:25:45,070 --> 01:25:47,340
from the Army anyway.
1572
01:25:47,430 --> 01:25:48,800
KING:
♪ The thrill is gone
1573
01:25:48,900 --> 01:25:50,270
TODD:
So I went into my physical
1574
01:25:50,370 --> 01:25:52,400
and I showed them my discharge
from the Marine Corps
1575
01:25:52,500 --> 01:25:54,200
and I actually remember
a sergeant,
1576
01:25:54,300 --> 01:25:55,630
or whoever
I was talking to, saying,
1577
01:25:55,740 --> 01:25:57,900
"But, uh, you were discharged
from an officer program.
1578
01:25:58,000 --> 01:25:59,470
We're drafting you
as a private."
1579
01:25:59,570 --> 01:26:01,630
(electric buzzing)
1580
01:26:01,740 --> 01:26:04,170
NARRATOR:
In late November 1969,
1581
01:26:04,270 --> 01:26:08,600
Todd reported for basic training
at Fort Lewis, Washington.
1582
01:26:08,700 --> 01:26:10,630
KING:
♪ You know you done me wrong
1583
01:26:10,740 --> 01:26:12,700
TODD:
Morale just could
not have been worse.
1584
01:26:12,800 --> 01:26:14,670
And-and it seemed to include
1585
01:26:14,770 --> 01:26:17,600
even the sergeants
and the officers.
1586
01:26:17,700 --> 01:26:21,600
Nobody wanted to go.
Nobody wanted to go.
1587
01:26:21,700 --> 01:26:25,040
America just seemed to have
shifted from the Woodstock high
1588
01:26:25,130 --> 01:26:26,240
of the summer to this...
1589
01:26:26,340 --> 01:26:29,500
this sort of bitter
Nixonian low.
1590
01:26:29,600 --> 01:26:32,970
NARRATOR:
Jack Todd and another member
of his unit
1591
01:26:33,070 --> 01:26:36,040
began to talk at night
about what it meant
1592
01:26:36,130 --> 01:26:37,700
to be true to one's conscience.
1593
01:26:37,800 --> 01:26:39,700
("Farewell, Angelina"
by Bob Dylan playing)
1594
01:26:41,930 --> 01:26:44,340
Some 170,000 men
1595
01:26:44,430 --> 01:26:46,770
were granted
conscientious objector status
1596
01:26:46,870 --> 01:26:49,370
during the Vietnam era.
1597
01:26:49,470 --> 01:26:51,170
But because Jack Todd
1598
01:26:51,270 --> 01:26:53,470
questioned
the existence of God,
1599
01:26:53,570 --> 01:26:57,240
that avenue was closed to him.
1600
01:26:57,340 --> 01:26:58,600
There were really two choices.
1601
01:26:58,700 --> 01:27:00,470
It was go to jail
or go to Canada.
1602
01:27:00,570 --> 01:27:03,100
And, for me,
going to jail was just...
1603
01:27:03,200 --> 01:27:05,100
That one, I couldn't face.
1604
01:27:05,200 --> 01:27:07,100
So I went to Canada.
1605
01:27:07,200 --> 01:27:10,900
DYLAN:
♪ Farewell, Angelina
1606
01:27:11,000 --> 01:27:14,930
♪ The bells of the crown
1607
01:27:15,040 --> 01:27:17,200
TODD:
I remember
that last beautiful drive,
1608
01:27:17,300 --> 01:27:19,840
from Seattle to Vancouver,
1609
01:27:19,930 --> 01:27:24,470
all the towering Douglas firs
along the road.
1610
01:27:24,570 --> 01:27:26,770
And I remember,
after we crossed the border--
1611
01:27:26,870 --> 01:27:29,370
it was a breeze, they just
sort of waved us through--
1612
01:27:29,470 --> 01:27:31,600
and just looking in the
rearview mirror, thinking,
1613
01:27:31,700 --> 01:27:32,970
"Man, there goes my country.
1614
01:27:33,070 --> 01:27:36,100
I'll never see it again."
1615
01:27:36,200 --> 01:27:39,300
DYLAN:
♪ But farewell, Angelina
1616
01:27:39,400 --> 01:27:42,630
♪ The night is on fire
1617
01:27:42,740 --> 01:27:44,630
♪ And I must go
1618
01:27:47,040 --> 01:27:49,670
I get called a coward
all the time.
1619
01:27:49,770 --> 01:27:52,870
It took me a long time
1620
01:27:52,970 --> 01:27:55,430
not to feel
that what I had done
1621
01:27:55,540 --> 01:27:58,130
was-was cowardly,
because I still had
1622
01:27:58,240 --> 01:28:01,700
that military ingrained
feeling inside.
1623
01:28:03,300 --> 01:28:06,400
That was the bravest thing
I ever did.
1624
01:28:06,500 --> 01:28:08,500
It was
the bravest thing I ever did.
1625
01:28:11,270 --> 01:28:14,870
NARRATOR:
Jack Todd eventually found work
as a reporter,
1626
01:28:14,970 --> 01:28:17,970
which allowed him to gain
"landed immigrant status,"
1627
01:28:18,070 --> 01:28:21,400
a step toward
Canadian citizenship.
1628
01:28:21,500 --> 01:28:26,000
Only a quarter of the estimated
30,000 Americans
1629
01:28:26,100 --> 01:28:28,930
who crossed into Canada
managed to do so.
1630
01:28:29,040 --> 01:28:31,270
DYLAN:
♪ The sky is erupting
1631
01:28:31,370 --> 01:28:35,070
♪ And I must go
where it is quiet. ♪
1632
01:28:35,170 --> 01:28:38,370
NARRATOR:
At the same time,
some 30,000 Canadians
1633
01:28:38,470 --> 01:28:41,930
would volunteer to fight
in Vietnam.
1634
01:28:55,430 --> 01:28:57,000
(birds chirping in distance)
1635
01:29:00,770 --> 01:29:04,070
KUSHNER:
I thought about...
1636
01:29:04,170 --> 01:29:06,130
my parents and my siblings
1637
01:29:06,240 --> 01:29:09,870
and my wife and my little girl.
1638
01:29:09,970 --> 01:29:13,400
And one of the things
that bothered me, is that I...
1639
01:29:13,500 --> 01:29:18,200
I couldn't really remember what
they looked like after a while.
1640
01:29:18,300 --> 01:29:20,670
I remembered what
their pictures looked like.
1641
01:29:20,770 --> 01:29:25,170
And when I imaged them
in my mind's eye
1642
01:29:25,270 --> 01:29:28,740
I would image a picture,
a photograph.
1643
01:29:31,400 --> 01:29:32,700
REPORTER:
Valerie Kushner arrived
on the...
1644
01:29:32,800 --> 01:29:34,900
NARRATOR:
Hal Kushner's wife, Valerie,
1645
01:29:35,000 --> 01:29:37,100
had heard virtually nothing
of her husband
1646
01:29:37,200 --> 01:29:40,900
since his capture
by the Viet Cong in 1967,
1647
01:29:41,000 --> 01:29:43,630
and she had traveled
to the Far East
1648
01:29:43,740 --> 01:29:46,100
to try to improve
conditions for him.
1649
01:29:46,200 --> 01:29:49,500
I think my period
of greatest frustration
1650
01:29:49,600 --> 01:29:52,500
was just before and just after
the birth of our son.
1651
01:29:52,600 --> 01:29:55,170
He was born in April of 1968
1652
01:29:55,270 --> 01:29:59,130
and my husband was captured
in November of 1967.
1653
01:29:59,240 --> 01:30:03,070
So my husband does not yet
know of his birth.
1654
01:30:03,170 --> 01:30:05,340
DON FARMER:
With their father gone,
the Kushner children
1655
01:30:05,430 --> 01:30:08,540
rely heavily on their
mother and their grandparents.
1656
01:30:08,630 --> 01:30:10,100
Young Mike has never
seen his father,
1657
01:30:10,200 --> 01:30:12,540
but six-year-old
Toni-Jean remembers.
1658
01:30:12,630 --> 01:30:14,170
And the remembrances
of Major Kushner
1659
01:30:14,270 --> 01:30:15,930
are everywhere in their house.
1660
01:30:16,040 --> 01:30:18,130
Toni, however,
knows only that he's away,
1661
01:30:18,240 --> 01:30:19,870
that he's been captured,
that grandfather fills in
1662
01:30:19,970 --> 01:30:21,240
until Dad comes home.
1663
01:30:21,340 --> 01:30:25,200
The Kushners worry,
but they do not grieve.
1664
01:30:25,300 --> 01:30:27,270
Don Farmer,
ABC News, reporting.
1665
01:30:30,130 --> 01:30:32,040
(siren wailing in distance)
1666
01:30:34,170 --> 01:30:36,270
NARRATOR:
In February 1970,
1667
01:30:36,370 --> 01:30:39,500
in a house in an industrial
suburb of Paris,
1668
01:30:39,600 --> 01:30:42,100
Henry Kissinger
began a new series
1669
01:30:42,200 --> 01:30:45,670
of secret negotiations--
talks so secret
1670
01:30:45,770 --> 01:30:49,930
even the secretary of state
was not told about them.
1671
01:30:50,040 --> 01:30:52,070
His negotiating partner
1672
01:30:52,170 --> 01:30:55,900
would be Le Duan's close
political ally, Le Duc Tho,
1673
01:30:56,000 --> 01:30:59,540
a veteran of 40 years
of revolutionary warfare
1674
01:30:59,630 --> 01:31:03,470
and party intrigue--
shrewd, implacable,
1675
01:31:03,570 --> 01:31:07,270
and openly scornful
of Vietnamization.
1676
01:31:07,370 --> 01:31:10,040
If the United States
could not win
1677
01:31:10,130 --> 01:31:13,340
with half a million of its own
troops, he asked Kissinger,
1678
01:31:13,430 --> 01:31:16,100
"How can you succeed
when you let your puppet troops
1679
01:31:16,200 --> 01:31:18,500
do the fighting?"
1680
01:31:18,600 --> 01:31:21,800
The American admitted
he had no answer.
1681
01:31:27,570 --> 01:31:29,770
Despite the impasse in Paris,
1682
01:31:29,870 --> 01:31:33,470
Nixon's first year
had been a triumph.
1683
01:31:33,570 --> 01:31:39,630
He had withdrawn
115,000 troops from Vietnam.
1684
01:31:40,970 --> 01:31:44,170
American casualty figures
were down.
1685
01:31:44,270 --> 01:31:46,840
Reduced draft calls
1686
01:31:46,930 --> 01:31:49,070
and the president's
new lottery system
1687
01:31:49,170 --> 01:31:52,240
had blunted some opposition
to the war.
1688
01:31:55,100 --> 01:31:57,570
And the violent actions
of some revolutionaries
1689
01:31:57,670 --> 01:32:01,270
were tarnishing
the antiwar cause itself.
1690
01:32:01,370 --> 01:32:05,240
Between September 1969
and May 1970,
1691
01:32:05,340 --> 01:32:07,930
there would be
hundreds of bombings--
1692
01:32:08,040 --> 01:32:09,870
banks and courthouses,
1693
01:32:09,970 --> 01:32:13,130
induction centers
and ROTC buildings.
1694
01:32:13,240 --> 01:32:15,100
("Psychedelic Shack" by
The Temptations starts playing)
1695
01:32:15,200 --> 01:32:17,100
One police officer was killed.
1696
01:32:18,340 --> 01:32:19,740
Three would-be bombers
1697
01:32:19,840 --> 01:32:23,540
accidentally blew themselves up
in Greenwich Village.
1698
01:32:23,630 --> 01:32:25,800
TEMPTATIONS:
♪ Well, well
1699
01:32:25,900 --> 01:32:29,840
NANCY BIBERMAN:
The antiwar movement split
apart.
1700
01:32:29,930 --> 01:32:32,700
And there were people who felt
that the only way
1701
01:32:32,800 --> 01:32:36,540
we were ever gonna end the war
was by becoming more violent.
1702
01:32:36,630 --> 01:32:39,470
You know, that we had to match
violence with violence.
1703
01:32:39,570 --> 01:32:44,300
How that was gonna happen
wasn't spoken about openly.
1704
01:32:44,400 --> 01:32:47,040
But there was just
this undercurrent.
1705
01:32:47,130 --> 01:32:49,400
This is a plumbing pipe
1706
01:32:49,500 --> 01:32:52,930
completely full of gunpowder.
1707
01:32:53,040 --> 01:32:55,170
TEMPTATIONS:
♪ Music so high
you can't get over it ♪
1708
01:32:55,270 --> 01:32:57,670
NIXON:
My fellow Americans,
1709
01:32:57,770 --> 01:33:00,340
we live in an age of anarchy,
1710
01:33:00,430 --> 01:33:02,970
both abroad and at home.
1711
01:33:04,470 --> 01:33:09,430
We see mindless attacks
on all the great institutions,
1712
01:33:09,540 --> 01:33:11,900
which have been created
by free civilizations
1713
01:33:12,000 --> 01:33:14,670
in the last 500 years.
1714
01:33:16,040 --> 01:33:18,170
Even here in the United States,
1715
01:33:18,270 --> 01:33:21,870
great universities are being
systematically destroyed.
1716
01:33:25,900 --> 01:33:28,630
If, when the chips are down,
1717
01:33:28,740 --> 01:33:31,240
the world's
most powerful nation,
1718
01:33:31,340 --> 01:33:33,040
the United States of America,
1719
01:33:33,130 --> 01:33:38,000
acts like a pitiful,
helpless giant,
1720
01:33:38,100 --> 01:33:41,800
the forces of totalitarianism
and anarchy
1721
01:33:41,900 --> 01:33:44,570
will threaten free nations
and free institutions
1722
01:33:44,670 --> 01:33:46,240
throughout the world.
1723
01:33:46,340 --> 01:33:50,300
NARRATOR:
On April 30, 1970,
1724
01:33:50,400 --> 01:33:52,170
President Nixon
shocked the world
1725
01:33:52,270 --> 01:33:55,340
by announcing that he had sent
30,000 American troops
1726
01:33:55,430 --> 01:33:59,070
storming into Cambodia.
1727
01:33:59,170 --> 01:34:02,240
The previous month,
Prince Norodom Sihanouk
1728
01:34:02,340 --> 01:34:04,540
had been overthrown in a coup.
1729
01:34:04,630 --> 01:34:06,970
For years, he had allowed
the North Vietnamese
1730
01:34:07,070 --> 01:34:09,630
to keep sanctuaries
in his country,
1731
01:34:09,740 --> 01:34:11,670
but he had not protested
1732
01:34:11,770 --> 01:34:15,270
when American planes
bombed them.
1733
01:34:15,370 --> 01:34:17,970
The new president, Lon Nol,
1734
01:34:18,070 --> 01:34:21,930
was an anticommunist,
backed by the United States.
1735
01:34:22,040 --> 01:34:24,340
Nixon now felt he could do
1736
01:34:24,430 --> 01:34:28,070
what American generals had been
wanting to do for years--
1737
01:34:28,170 --> 01:34:31,930
pursue the enemy beyond
the borders of South Vietnam.
1738
01:34:33,430 --> 01:34:36,270
The 30,000 American troops
1739
01:34:36,370 --> 01:34:41,540
were joined by 50,000
ARVN soldiers.
1740
01:34:41,630 --> 01:34:43,570
The objective was to attack
1741
01:34:43,670 --> 01:34:46,340
North Vietnamese
base camps and supply lines
1742
01:34:46,430 --> 01:34:49,630
and to buy time
for the South Vietnamese Army
1743
01:34:49,740 --> 01:34:52,130
as it got ready to fight
on its own.
1744
01:34:54,130 --> 01:34:56,400
Nixon told the public
1745
01:34:56,500 --> 01:35:00,070
he had ordered an "incursion,"
not an "invasion,"
1746
01:35:00,170 --> 01:35:04,700
intended only to protect
American boys in South Vietnam
1747
01:35:04,800 --> 01:35:08,970
and in response to North
Vietnamese "aggression."
1748
01:35:11,870 --> 01:35:15,740
GILLAM:
I wasn't worried
about political conflict.
1749
01:35:15,840 --> 01:35:18,470
I was worried about,
"Am I gonna be alive
1750
01:35:18,570 --> 01:35:20,040
in the next ten minutes?"
1751
01:35:21,630 --> 01:35:24,970
We were on the Western edge
of the invasion.
1752
01:35:25,070 --> 01:35:28,340
We went as far
as anybody went in Cambodia.
1753
01:35:28,430 --> 01:35:29,600
(gunfire)
1754
01:35:29,700 --> 01:35:31,100
And it was a hot LZ.
1755
01:35:31,200 --> 01:35:35,900
I got holes shot in my backpack.
1756
01:35:36,000 --> 01:35:37,400
I was laying on my face
1757
01:35:37,500 --> 01:35:39,630
and they were shooting holes
in my backpack,
1758
01:35:39,740 --> 01:35:42,700
which means they missed my head
by maybe four inches.
1759
01:35:44,600 --> 01:35:47,930
I really didn't think I would
see the end of that week.
1760
01:35:48,040 --> 01:35:50,200
(gunfire)
1761
01:35:50,300 --> 01:35:52,200
(indistinct chatter on radio)
1762
01:35:54,340 --> 01:35:57,870
NARRATOR:
The sight of American troops
crossing the border
1763
01:35:57,970 --> 01:36:01,900
into Cambodia reignited
the antiwar movement.
1764
01:36:02,000 --> 01:36:03,200
Come on, let's go!
1765
01:36:03,300 --> 01:36:05,400
NARRATOR:
If the troops were coming home,
1766
01:36:05,500 --> 01:36:07,540
if the war was winding down,
1767
01:36:07,630 --> 01:36:11,540
why had Nixon decided
to widen it?
1768
01:36:11,630 --> 01:36:14,430
How could invading
another country
1769
01:36:14,540 --> 01:36:18,400
help bring peace
to Southeast Asia?
1770
01:36:18,500 --> 01:36:20,200
HUNTLEY:
The reaction on the campuses
1771
01:36:20,300 --> 01:36:21,800
was swift and predictable.
1772
01:36:21,900 --> 01:36:23,500
The students
and many of their teachers
1773
01:36:23,600 --> 01:36:25,100
were against the president.
1774
01:36:25,200 --> 01:36:28,370
Princeton students called
for a nationwide student strike.
1775
01:36:28,470 --> 01:36:32,170
Antiwar rallies were planned
at Harvard, MIT, Indiana,
1776
01:36:32,270 --> 01:36:34,400
Purdue Universities
and other colleges.
1777
01:36:39,670 --> 01:36:42,900
NARRATOR:
On Monday morning,
May 4, 1970,
1778
01:36:43,000 --> 01:36:45,500
some 2,000 students
gathered on the commons
1779
01:36:45,600 --> 01:36:49,370
at Kent State University
in Kent, Ohio.
1780
01:36:49,470 --> 01:36:53,200
Some were simply
moving from class to class.
1781
01:36:53,300 --> 01:36:56,700
Others planned to attend
a rally called to protest
1782
01:36:56,800 --> 01:36:59,400
Nixon's widening of the war
1783
01:36:59,500 --> 01:37:05,270
and the presence of the Ohio
National Guard on campus.
1784
01:37:05,370 --> 01:37:08,400
Governor James Rhodes
had called in the guardsmen
1785
01:37:08,500 --> 01:37:09,870
two days earlier
1786
01:37:09,970 --> 01:37:15,430
after a mob set the old wooden
ROTC building on fire
1787
01:37:15,540 --> 01:37:17,430
and then prevented
the fire department
1788
01:37:17,540 --> 01:37:19,900
from putting out the flames.
1789
01:37:22,870 --> 01:37:26,900
Rhodes had compared protestors
to Nazi brownshirts
1790
01:37:27,000 --> 01:37:30,430
and promised to use
"every weapon to eradicate
1791
01:37:30,540 --> 01:37:34,770
the worst sort of people
we harbor in America."
1792
01:37:34,870 --> 01:37:36,770
(bell clanging)
1793
01:37:39,400 --> 01:37:44,630
The guardsmen's weapons were
loaded with live ammunition,
1794
01:37:44,740 --> 01:37:46,470
though no one in the crowd
knew it.
1795
01:37:46,570 --> 01:37:49,740
MAN:
Why do you have to have a gun?!
I don't understand!
1796
01:37:49,840 --> 01:37:52,700
MAN (on megaphone):
Leave this area immediately!
1797
01:37:52,800 --> 01:37:56,570
NARRATOR:
The students were ordered
to disperse.
1798
01:37:56,670 --> 01:37:58,300
They stood their ground.
1799
01:37:58,400 --> 01:38:00,300
(shouting)
1800
01:38:04,400 --> 01:38:07,570
Tear gas scattered some
of them.
1801
01:38:07,670 --> 01:38:09,570
(shouting)
1802
01:38:26,840 --> 01:38:30,700
The guardsmen seemed
to fall back.
1803
01:38:30,800 --> 01:38:34,900
But then members of Troop G
wheeled around and opened fire
1804
01:38:35,000 --> 01:38:39,040
on students gathered in
and around a parking lot.
1805
01:38:41,040 --> 01:38:43,840
(distorted gunshots echoing)
1806
01:39:10,500 --> 01:39:12,670
PROTESTOR:
Somebody call for an ambulance!
1807
01:39:12,770 --> 01:39:14,340
(others shouting)
1808
01:39:14,430 --> 01:39:17,400
There's people dying down here!
Get an ambulance up here!
1809
01:39:17,500 --> 01:39:19,400
(indistinct shouting)
1810
01:39:24,070 --> 01:39:27,430
NARRATOR:
67 rounds in 13 seconds
1811
01:39:27,540 --> 01:39:31,930
killed two young women
and two young men...
1812
01:39:34,840 --> 01:39:38,000
Including
an ROTC scholarship student
1813
01:39:38,100 --> 01:39:40,570
who had simply been
an onlooker.
1814
01:39:46,270 --> 01:39:50,970
SAM HYNES:
That dead child on the ground
1815
01:39:51,070 --> 01:39:54,370
was one of ours.
1816
01:39:54,470 --> 01:39:57,770
If we could kill
our own students,
1817
01:39:57,870 --> 01:40:02,970
uh, what had happened
to our country?
1818
01:40:05,070 --> 01:40:07,930
NARRATOR:
Nine more students
were wounded,
1819
01:40:08,040 --> 01:40:12,000
one of whom
was permanently paralyzed.
1820
01:40:24,370 --> 01:40:28,740
Several hundred angry,
grieving students sat down
1821
01:40:28,840 --> 01:40:30,870
and demanded to know
why the guardsmen
1822
01:40:30,970 --> 01:40:32,870
had fired on their friends.
1823
01:40:36,370 --> 01:40:39,200
MAN:
Sir, you've got
a couple hundred students...
1824
01:40:39,300 --> 01:40:40,670
NARRATOR:
An officer ordered them
1825
01:40:40,770 --> 01:40:42,540
to "disperse
or we will shoot again."
1826
01:40:42,630 --> 01:40:45,540
How long will you give us?
You've got five minutes.
1827
01:40:45,630 --> 01:40:48,540
GLENN FRANK:
Please listen to me right now!
1828
01:40:48,630 --> 01:40:51,130
NARRATOR:
Only the anguished pleas
1829
01:40:51,240 --> 01:40:55,800
of geology professor Glenn Frank
averted further tragedy.
1830
01:40:55,900 --> 01:40:57,600
STUDENT:
Talk, Dr. Frank. Talk.
1831
01:41:15,130 --> 01:41:18,270
(indistinct voices)
1832
01:41:23,000 --> 01:41:25,840
MIKE HEANEY:
That just symbolized for me
1833
01:41:25,930 --> 01:41:29,800
what this war was doing
to our culture.
1834
01:41:29,900 --> 01:41:31,670
These were kids on both sides,
1835
01:41:31,770 --> 01:41:34,540
young National Guard boys
1836
01:41:34,630 --> 01:41:37,900
who had very little training
and probably scared,
1837
01:41:38,000 --> 01:41:40,130
and not well led
1838
01:41:40,240 --> 01:41:42,000
and-and young men and women
on the other side
1839
01:41:42,100 --> 01:41:43,600
protesting the war out there
1840
01:41:43,700 --> 01:41:45,930
for, you know,
idealistic reasons.
1841
01:41:46,040 --> 01:41:48,570
And look at what happens
1842
01:41:48,670 --> 01:41:54,700
when we let things get as bad
as they got.
1843
01:41:54,800 --> 01:41:56,430
("Woodstock" by Joni Mitchell
playing)
1844
01:41:56,540 --> 01:41:59,100
NARRATOR:
According to one national poll,
1845
01:41:59,200 --> 01:42:01,970
58% of the American people
1846
01:42:02,070 --> 01:42:04,900
thought the killings justified.
1847
01:42:07,870 --> 01:42:11,100
The parents
of the dead ROTC student
1848
01:42:11,200 --> 01:42:13,840
received a flood of hate mail,
1849
01:42:13,930 --> 01:42:17,300
suggesting that they should be
grateful their boy was dead
1850
01:42:17,400 --> 01:42:21,970
since he'd been
"just another communist."
1851
01:42:23,100 --> 01:42:27,070
(man speaking indistinctly
over megaphone)
1852
01:42:27,170 --> 01:42:30,670
During the days that followed,
all across the country,
1853
01:42:30,770 --> 01:42:33,340
more than four million
college students
1854
01:42:33,430 --> 01:42:35,340
demonstrated against the war
1855
01:42:35,430 --> 01:42:38,370
and what had happened
at Kent State.
1856
01:42:40,900 --> 01:42:44,870
MITCHELL:
♪ I came upon a child of God
1857
01:42:44,970 --> 01:42:49,470
♪ He was walking
along the road ♪
1858
01:42:49,570 --> 01:42:51,430
♪ And I asked him
1859
01:42:51,540 --> 01:42:53,740
♪ Where are you going?
1860
01:42:53,840 --> 01:42:57,700
♪ And this he told me
1861
01:42:57,800 --> 01:43:02,470
NARRATOR:
448 campuses closed down,
1862
01:43:02,570 --> 01:43:08,130
and the National Guard
was called out in 16 states.
1863
01:43:08,240 --> 01:43:09,470
MITCHELL:
♪ Band
1864
01:43:09,570 --> 01:43:11,600
♪ I'm gonna camp out
1865
01:43:11,700 --> 01:43:15,270
NARRATOR:
At Jackson State University
in Mississippi,
1866
01:43:15,370 --> 01:43:19,540
state police opened fire
on a dormitory.
1867
01:43:19,630 --> 01:43:21,470
Two students died.
1868
01:43:21,570 --> 01:43:24,470
12 more were wounded.
1869
01:43:26,470 --> 01:43:28,500
Jackson State,
those were my people.
1870
01:43:28,600 --> 01:43:30,430
Those were black kids.
1871
01:43:30,540 --> 01:43:32,770
And they died.
1872
01:43:32,870 --> 01:43:36,270
MITCHELL:
♪ Back to the garden
1873
01:43:36,370 --> 01:43:38,670
NARRATOR:
Army private Tim O'Brien
1874
01:43:38,770 --> 01:43:42,470
was now back home in Minnesota.
1875
01:43:42,570 --> 01:43:46,040
O'BRIEN:
There was a huge march
1876
01:43:46,130 --> 01:43:47,930
after the Kent State shootings
in St. Paul,
1877
01:43:48,040 --> 01:43:50,300
and I joined the march.
1878
01:43:50,400 --> 01:43:55,570
I just wanted to put my body
amidst these 100,000 people,
1879
01:43:55,670 --> 01:43:58,840
that word "no" being uttered
by my body, if not by my mouth,
1880
01:43:58,930 --> 01:44:00,340
by just making that march.
1881
01:44:00,430 --> 01:44:03,930
That same march
I was doing in Vietnam
1882
01:44:04,040 --> 01:44:06,300
that seemed senseless
and purposeless
1883
01:44:06,400 --> 01:44:07,540
and without direction,
1884
01:44:07,630 --> 01:44:10,470
here it felt sensible
and purposeful
1885
01:44:10,570 --> 01:44:13,900
and with direction,
heading for that state capital
1886
01:44:14,000 --> 01:44:17,300
to say no.
1887
01:44:17,400 --> 01:44:20,600
And, boy, did it feel good.
1888
01:44:20,700 --> 01:44:22,600
(chanting "Peace now")
1889
01:44:25,540 --> 01:44:27,370
NARRATOR:
Marine Corporal Bill Ehrhart
1890
01:44:27,470 --> 01:44:29,900
was a student
at Swarthmore College
1891
01:44:30,000 --> 01:44:34,070
near his hometown
in eastern Pennsylvania.
1892
01:44:34,170 --> 01:44:38,600
EHRHART:
And here's
this very famous photograph.
1893
01:44:38,700 --> 01:44:41,540
And I just looked
at this thing.
1894
01:44:45,800 --> 01:44:47,300
And I came unglued.
1895
01:44:49,570 --> 01:44:52,930
I don't know
how long I sat down on the curb,
1896
01:44:53,040 --> 01:44:56,470
and I don't know
if I was there for 15 minutes
1897
01:44:56,570 --> 01:44:58,000
or an hour and a half.
1898
01:44:58,100 --> 01:45:00,340
Just had a breakdown.
1899
01:45:00,430 --> 01:45:04,100
Just crying,
sobbing uncontrollably.
1900
01:45:04,200 --> 01:45:05,970
All I could think was,
"It's not enough to send us
1901
01:45:06,070 --> 01:45:08,400
"halfway around
the world to die.
1902
01:45:08,500 --> 01:45:11,270
"Now they're killing us in
the streets of our own country.
1903
01:45:11,370 --> 01:45:12,740
I have to do something."
1904
01:45:14,770 --> 01:45:15,900
And I finally...
1905
01:45:16,000 --> 01:45:17,800
whenever
I finally cried myself out,
1906
01:45:17,900 --> 01:45:20,370
I got up and I joined
the antiwar movement.
1907
01:45:23,630 --> 01:45:28,000
MUSGRAVE:
I remember when the kids were
killed at Kent State,
1908
01:45:28,100 --> 01:45:30,800
and I thought,
1909
01:45:30,900 --> 01:45:34,070
"My God, we're killing
our own children now.
1910
01:45:34,170 --> 01:45:35,900
We've really gone mad."
1911
01:45:36,000 --> 01:45:37,300
And I wasn't...
1912
01:45:37,400 --> 01:45:40,300
That's when I was hiding
from things.
1913
01:45:40,400 --> 01:45:42,340
I wasn't
in anybody's movement then.
1914
01:45:42,430 --> 01:45:44,100
I was just drinking.
1915
01:45:46,200 --> 01:45:51,540
But that was one of the things
that told me
1916
01:45:51,630 --> 01:45:53,930
America needed a wake-up call.
1917
01:46:00,970 --> 01:46:04,100
("Ohio" by Crosby, Stills,
Nash & Young playing)
1918
01:46:27,170 --> 01:46:30,000
♪ Tin soldiers
and Nixon's coming ♪
1919
01:46:30,100 --> 01:46:32,970
♪ We're finally on our own
1920
01:46:33,070 --> 01:46:36,400
♪ This summer
I hear the drumming ♪
1921
01:46:36,500 --> 01:46:40,170
♪ Four dead in Ohio
1922
01:46:40,270 --> 01:46:42,970
♪ Got to get down to it
1923
01:46:43,070 --> 01:46:46,370
♪ Soldiers are cutting us down
1924
01:46:46,470 --> 01:46:50,100
♪ Should have been done
long ago ♪
1925
01:46:52,630 --> 01:46:54,200
♪ What if you knew her
1926
01:46:54,300 --> 01:46:57,930
♪ And found her dead
on the ground? ♪
1927
01:46:58,040 --> 01:47:02,130
♪ How can you run
when you know? ♪
1928
01:47:02,240 --> 01:47:04,130
♪
1929
01:47:23,170 --> 01:47:25,570
♪ La la-la-la,
la la la la ♪
1930
01:47:25,670 --> 01:47:29,430
♪ La la-la-la,
la la la ♪
1931
01:47:29,540 --> 01:47:32,540
♪ La la-la-la,
la la la la ♪
1932
01:47:32,630 --> 01:47:35,930
♪ La la-la-la,
la la la ♪
1933
01:47:36,040 --> 01:47:38,430
♪ Got to get down to it
1934
01:47:38,540 --> 01:47:42,070
♪ Soldiers are cutting us down
1935
01:47:42,170 --> 01:47:45,930
♪ Should have been done
long ago ♪
1936
01:47:48,340 --> 01:47:50,340
♪ What if you knew her
1937
01:47:50,430 --> 01:47:54,400
♪ And found her dead
on the ground? ♪
1938
01:47:54,500 --> 01:47:58,130
♪ How can you run
when you know? ♪
1939
01:47:58,240 --> 01:48:00,130
♪
1940
01:48:18,370 --> 01:48:21,240
♪ Tin soldiers
and Nixon's coming ♪
1941
01:48:21,340 --> 01:48:24,430
♪ We're finally on our own
1942
01:48:24,540 --> 01:48:27,430
♪ This summer
I hear the drumming ♪
1943
01:48:27,540 --> 01:48:29,900
♪ Four dead in Ohio
1944
01:48:30,000 --> 01:48:33,070
♪ Four dead in Ohio
♪ Four
1945
01:48:33,170 --> 01:48:35,340
♪ Four dead in Ohio
1946
01:48:35,430 --> 01:48:38,270
♪ Four
♪ Four dead in Ohio
1947
01:48:38,370 --> 01:48:40,930
♪ How could they?
♪ Four dead in Ohio
1948
01:48:41,040 --> 01:48:44,130
♪ How many more?
♪ Four dead in Ohio
1949
01:48:44,240 --> 01:48:48,700
♪ Why?
♪ Four dead in...
1950
01:48:49,770 --> 01:48:50,970
ANNOUNCER: LEARN MORE
ABOUT THE FILM
1951
01:48:50,970 --> 01:48:53,840
AND FIND ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
AT PBS.ORG/VIETNAMWAR
1952
01:48:53,840 --> 01:48:57,770
AND JOIN THE CONVERSATION
USING HASHTAG VIETNAMWARPBS.
1953
01:48:57,770 --> 01:48:59,240
"THE VIETNAM WAR" IS AVAILABLE
1954
01:48:59,240 --> 01:49:00,900
ON BLU-RAY
AND DVD.
1955
01:49:00,900 --> 01:49:02,570
THE COMPANION BOOK,
SOUNDTRACK,
1956
01:49:02,570 --> 01:49:03,970
AND ORIGINAL SCORE
FROM THE FILM
1957
01:49:03,970 --> 01:49:05,100
ARE ALSO
AVAILABLE.
1958
01:49:05,100 --> 01:49:07,200
TO ORDER, VISIT
SHOPPBS.ORG
1959
01:49:07,200 --> 01:49:09,670
OR CALL
1-800-PLAY-PBS.
1960
01:49:09,670 --> 01:49:11,100
EPISODES OF
THIS SERIES ALSO
1961
01:49:11,100 --> 01:49:12,200
AVAILABLE
FOR DOWNLOAD
1962
01:49:12,200 --> 01:49:13,370
FROM iTUNES.
1963
01:49:16,630 --> 01:49:18,770
ANNOUNCER: BANK OF AMERICA
PROUDLY SUPPORTS
1964
01:49:18,770 --> 01:49:23,670
KEN BURNS' AND LYNN NOVICK'S
FILM "THE VIETNAM WAR"
1965
01:49:23,670 --> 01:49:26,070
BECAUSE FOSTERING
DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES
1966
01:49:26,070 --> 01:49:28,670
AND CIVIL DISCOURSE
AROUND IMPORTANT ISSUES
1967
01:49:28,670 --> 01:49:30,970
FURTHERS PROGRESS, EQUALITY,
1968
01:49:30,970 --> 01:49:32,970
AND A MORE CONNECTED SOCIETY.
1969
01:49:37,430 --> 01:49:41,470
GO TO BANKOFAMERICA.COM/
BETTERCONNECTED TO LEARN MORE.
1970
01:49:44,930 --> 01:49:46,370
ANNOUNCER: MAJOR SUPPORT
FOR "THE VIETNAM WAR"
1971
01:49:46,370 --> 01:49:49,870
WAS PROVIDED BY MEMBERS
OF THE BETTER ANGELS SOCIETY,
1972
01:49:49,870 --> 01:49:53,840
INCLUDING JONATHAN
AND JEANNIE LAVINE,
1973
01:49:53,840 --> 01:49:56,740
DIANE AND HAL BRIERLEY,
1974
01:49:56,740 --> 01:49:59,130
AMY AND DAVID ABRAMS,
1975
01:49:59,130 --> 01:50:01,630
JOHN AND CATHERINE DEBS,
1976
01:50:01,630 --> 01:50:04,540
THE FULLERTON FAMILY
CHARITABLE FUND,
1977
01:50:04,540 --> 01:50:06,600
THE MONTRONE FAMILY,
1978
01:50:06,600 --> 01:50:08,930
LYNDA AND STEWART RESNICK,
1979
01:50:08,930 --> 01:50:11,700
THE PERRY AND DONNA GOLKIN
FAMILY FOUNDATION,
1980
01:50:11,700 --> 01:50:12,700
THE LYNCH FOUNDATION,
1981
01:50:12,700 --> 01:50:15,630
THE ROGER AND ROSEMARY
ENRICO FOUNDATION,
1982
01:50:15,630 --> 01:50:19,070
AND BY THESE ADDITIONAL FUNDERS.
1983
01:50:19,070 --> 01:50:20,970
MAJOR FUNDING WAS ALSO PROVIDED
1984
01:50:20,970 --> 01:50:22,700
BY DAVID H. KOCH...
1985
01:50:25,000 --> 01:50:27,200
THE BLAVATNIK
FAMILY FOUNDATION...
1986
01:50:29,540 --> 01:50:31,970
THE PARK FOUNDATION,
1987
01:50:31,970 --> 01:50:34,130
THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT
FOR THE HUMANITIES,
1988
01:50:34,130 --> 01:50:36,340
THE PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS,
1989
01:50:36,340 --> 01:50:39,000
THE JOHN S. AND JAMES L.
KNIGHT FOUNDATION,
1990
01:50:39,000 --> 01:50:41,770
THE ANDREW W. MELLON FOUNDATION,
1991
01:50:41,770 --> 01:50:44,370
THE ARTHUR VINING DAVIS
FOUNDATIONS,
1992
01:50:44,370 --> 01:50:46,570
THE FORD FOUNDATION JUSTFILMS,
1993
01:50:46,570 --> 01:50:47,770
BY THE CORPORATION
1994
01:50:47,770 --> 01:50:49,000
FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING,
1995
01:50:49,000 --> 01:50:50,970
AND BY VIEWERS LIKE YOU.
1996
01:50:50,970 --> 01:50:52,100
THANK YOU.