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They shared
the weight of memory.
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00:00:27,611 --> 00:00:31,457
They took up what others
could no longer bear.
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00:00:33,784 --> 00:00:38,961
Often, they carried each other,
the wounded or weak.
4
00:00:39,081 --> 00:00:40,628
They carried infections.
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00:00:40,791 --> 00:00:42,919
They carried chess sets,
basketballs,
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00:00:43,043 --> 00:00:45,137
Vietnamese-English dictionaries,
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00:00:45,295 --> 00:00:48,799
insignia of rank,
Bronze Stars, and Purple Hearts,
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00:00:48,966 --> 00:00:52,971
plastic cards imprinted
with the Code of Conduct.
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00:00:55,806 --> 00:00:59,606
They carried diseases, among
them malaria and dysentery.
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00:01:03,397 --> 00:01:07,903
They carried lice and ringworm
and leeches and paddy algae
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00:01:08,026 --> 00:01:10,324
and various rots and molds.
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00:01:14,658 --> 00:01:18,162
They carried the land itself...
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00:01:18,328 --> 00:01:20,126
Vietnam.
14
00:01:38,223 --> 00:01:41,102
Thank you.
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00:01:56,742 --> 00:02:02,169
I can tell you, as I look back
over those months and years,
16
00:02:02,289 --> 00:02:05,543
that we have met
with the wives and the mothers
17
00:02:05,709 --> 00:02:10,089
of those of you
who were prisoners of war,
18
00:02:10,213 --> 00:02:15,891
they were and are the bravest,
most magnificent women
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00:02:16,011 --> 00:02:17,433
I have ever met in my life.
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00:02:19,056 --> 00:02:21,296
And now, if they will give me
my official toasting glass,
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00:02:21,350 --> 00:02:22,647
I will propose the toast.
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00:02:24,186 --> 00:02:25,186
Tonight...
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00:02:25,270 --> 00:02:28,490
On May 24, 1973,
24
00:02:28,607 --> 00:02:30,405
President Nixon invited
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00:02:30,525 --> 00:02:33,699
all the returned prisoners
of war and their families
26
00:02:33,820 --> 00:02:35,572
to Washington.
27
00:02:35,697 --> 00:02:38,621
Among them was Everett Alvarez,
28
00:02:38,742 --> 00:02:43,122
the first pilot shot down
over North Vietnam.
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00:02:43,246 --> 00:02:45,326
Sometimes,
I feel too much attention
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00:02:45,415 --> 00:02:48,385
was being paid to us,
the P.O.W.s.
31
00:02:48,502 --> 00:02:51,176
And what about the poor guys
that fought the war, those kids?
32
00:02:51,296 --> 00:02:56,427
You know, that came home, um,
you know, amputees...
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00:02:56,593 --> 00:03:02,441
Uh, wounded
with the injuries of war.
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00:03:02,557 --> 00:03:04,605
What about them?
35
00:03:04,726 --> 00:03:07,229
We had our own challenges,
36
00:03:07,354 --> 00:03:09,777
and the key was
to, to face these
37
00:03:09,940 --> 00:03:12,614
and yet maintain our, our honor.
38
00:03:12,776 --> 00:03:14,449
That's what it was.
39
00:03:16,405 --> 00:03:18,908
Dr. Hal Kushner,
40
00:03:19,032 --> 00:03:21,751
who had been a prisoner
for more than five years,
41
00:03:21,868 --> 00:03:24,291
was unable to attend.
42
00:03:24,413 --> 00:03:28,463
He was reunited with his family
at Valley Forge.
43
00:03:28,583 --> 00:03:32,554
We flew to
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
44
00:03:32,671 --> 00:03:36,642
And I came off the helicopter
and I saw my wife...
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00:03:39,678 --> 00:03:42,352
...and my daughter,
46
00:03:42,472 --> 00:03:44,224
who I hadn't seen
since she was 2 1/2.
47
00:03:44,349 --> 00:03:46,317
And she was born in 1963.
48
00:03:52,816 --> 00:03:57,492
So she was ten years old.
49
00:03:57,612 --> 00:03:59,285
And my son,
who I had never seen,
50
00:03:59,406 --> 00:04:01,534
a week before
his fifth birthday.
51
00:04:01,658 --> 00:04:05,333
And he had on a little tie
and a little coat.
52
00:04:08,874 --> 00:04:10,547
And my mom and dad.
53
00:04:10,667 --> 00:04:15,468
And my mother was just overcome
with emotion.
54
00:04:18,717 --> 00:04:22,347
And I just...
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00:04:22,512 --> 00:04:26,107
It was just
an incomprehensible moment.
56
00:04:26,224 --> 00:04:28,443
And we hugged everybody.
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00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:31,359
And my little boy had a flag,
American flag.
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00:04:34,524 --> 00:04:37,744
Like many P.O.W. marriages,
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00:04:37,861 --> 00:04:42,037
Hal Kushner's would not survive.
60
00:05:02,219 --> 00:05:06,099
On March 29, 1973,
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00:05:06,223 --> 00:05:10,228
the last American troops
left South Vietnam.
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00:05:10,393 --> 00:05:13,988
Fewer than 200 Marines
would remain,
63
00:05:14,105 --> 00:05:16,608
assigned to guard
consular offices
64
00:05:16,733 --> 00:05:18,280
and the American Embassy
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00:05:18,401 --> 00:05:21,575
and other installations
in Saigon.
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00:05:21,738 --> 00:05:27,416
Thousands of other Americans,
including C.I.A. agents,
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00:05:27,577 --> 00:05:29,579
diplomats, and contractors,
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00:05:29,704 --> 00:05:31,581
stayed behind, as well.
69
00:05:34,084 --> 00:05:35,927
Over the next two years,
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00:05:36,086 --> 00:05:38,339
the forces
of North and South Vietnam
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00:05:38,463 --> 00:05:42,513
would continue
to savage one another.
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00:05:42,634 --> 00:05:47,105
And the Vietnamese people
would find themselves
73
00:05:47,222 --> 00:05:49,190
back where they were
at the beginning,
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00:05:49,307 --> 00:05:53,813
engulfed in
an apparently endless civil war
75
00:05:53,937 --> 00:05:58,534
and struggling over what kind
of future they would have.
76
00:06:02,195 --> 00:06:06,621
For the United States,
combat did end,
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00:06:06,783 --> 00:06:11,880
but controversy over the war
did not.
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00:06:11,997 --> 00:06:14,625
The best you
could say about Vietnam
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00:06:14,791 --> 00:06:18,136
was that certain blood
was being shed
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00:06:18,295 --> 00:06:20,548
for uncertain reasons.
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00:06:20,672 --> 00:06:22,470
The blood was for sure...
82
00:06:22,591 --> 00:06:24,093
the bodies, the widows,
the orphans...
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00:06:24,217 --> 00:06:25,594
they were certain.
84
00:06:25,719 --> 00:06:30,350
Nobody disputed it,
the dead people were dead.
85
00:06:30,473 --> 00:06:35,024
But the rectitude of the war
was in great dispute.
86
00:06:35,145 --> 00:06:36,647
Smart people in pinstripes
87
00:06:36,813 --> 00:06:38,690
couldn't make their minds up
about the war.
88
00:06:47,532 --> 00:06:50,081
And I remember asking myself...
89
00:06:55,165 --> 00:06:58,385
"Was it worth it?"
90
00:06:58,501 --> 00:07:03,678
Maybe it was all a big mistake,
and, you know,
91
00:07:03,840 --> 00:07:06,434
what, what was it all about?
92
00:07:06,551 --> 00:07:09,475
We answered the call,
93
00:07:09,596 --> 00:07:12,440
me and probably 2 1/2 million
other young Americans
94
00:07:12,557 --> 00:07:14,651
who went over there.
95
00:07:14,768 --> 00:07:20,525
It was a cause worth the effort.
96
00:07:20,649 --> 00:07:24,153
And sometimes,
things just don't turn out
97
00:07:24,277 --> 00:07:26,530
and the guys in the white hats
don't win.
98
00:07:26,655 --> 00:07:28,999
But that doesn't make it, uh,
99
00:07:29,115 --> 00:07:32,369
or doesn't basically take away
100
00:07:32,535 --> 00:07:35,379
from the rectitude of the cause.
101
00:07:59,896 --> 00:08:02,319
Subcommittee will come to order.
102
00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:04,613
Night after night
during the spring, summer,
103
00:08:04,734 --> 00:08:07,157
and fall of 1973,
104
00:08:07,278 --> 00:08:10,077
Americans watched
the Nixon administration
105
00:08:10,198 --> 00:08:12,451
slowly come apart.
106
00:08:12,575 --> 00:08:14,077
Blackmail,
107
00:08:14,244 --> 00:08:16,042
enemies lists,
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00:08:16,162 --> 00:08:18,085
dirty tricks,
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00:08:18,248 --> 00:08:21,297
a vice president
forced to resign,
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00:08:21,418 --> 00:08:24,342
perjury, cover-u p,
111
00:08:24,462 --> 00:08:27,762
abuse of presidential power,
112
00:08:27,882 --> 00:08:31,102
secret White House tapes.
113
00:08:31,219 --> 00:08:32,571
Mr. Butterfield, are you aware
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00:08:32,595 --> 00:08:34,597
of the installation
of any listening devices
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00:08:34,764 --> 00:08:36,607
in the Oval Office
of the president?
116
00:08:40,395 --> 00:08:44,491
I was aware
of listening devices.
117
00:08:44,607 --> 00:08:46,234
Yes, sir.
118
00:08:46,359 --> 00:08:47,781
Good evening.
119
00:08:47,902 --> 00:08:50,451
The country tonight
is in the midst of what may be
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00:08:50,572 --> 00:08:52,995
the most serious
constitutional crisis
121
00:08:53,116 --> 00:08:54,618
in its history.
122
00:08:54,743 --> 00:08:56,541
I told the president
about the fact
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00:08:56,661 --> 00:08:58,914
that there were money demands
being made
124
00:08:59,039 --> 00:09:00,882
by the seven
convicted defendants.
125
00:09:00,999 --> 00:09:03,127
He asked me
how much it would cost.
126
00:09:03,251 --> 00:09:05,424
I told him
I could only make an estimate
127
00:09:05,545 --> 00:09:08,970
that it might be as high
as a million dollars or more.
128
00:09:09,132 --> 00:09:11,976
He told me that
that was no problem.
129
00:09:12,135 --> 00:09:15,981
I had no prior knowledge
of the Watergate break-in.
130
00:09:16,097 --> 00:09:19,317
I neither took part in
nor knew about
131
00:09:19,434 --> 00:09:22,233
any of the subsequent
cover-up activities.
132
00:09:24,314 --> 00:09:25,634
The one frustrating thing
about...
133
00:09:25,690 --> 00:09:26,987
about going to Canada was,
134
00:09:27,108 --> 00:09:29,657
it left me
outside the debate here.
135
00:09:29,819 --> 00:09:32,493
I felt about... frustrated
with that till this day.
136
00:09:32,614 --> 00:09:36,835
As the Watergate
scandal unfolded, Jack Todd,
137
00:09:36,951 --> 00:09:39,124
who had deserted
the United States Army
138
00:09:39,245 --> 00:09:40,246
and fled to Canada,
139
00:09:40,371 --> 00:09:42,669
had never felt so bitter,
140
00:09:42,832 --> 00:09:45,210
so disenchanted, so out of touch
141
00:09:45,335 --> 00:09:48,214
with what the United States
seemed to have become.
142
00:09:48,338 --> 00:09:54,061
He asked himself, "How did we
let this gang take charge?"
143
00:09:54,177 --> 00:09:59,559
Then he made a decision
he would always regret:
144
00:09:59,682 --> 00:10:03,778
he renounced
his American citizenship.
145
00:10:03,895 --> 00:10:05,863
I thought it
was a political act,
146
00:10:05,980 --> 00:10:08,859
renouncing
my American citizenship.
147
00:10:09,025 --> 00:10:13,496
And it was the stupidest thing
I have ever done in my life.
148
00:10:13,613 --> 00:10:15,866
I'm a Canadian citizen
and I'm proud of it.
149
00:10:15,990 --> 00:10:19,711
It's a wonderful country,
but in here, I'm an American.
150
00:10:27,544 --> 00:10:28,938
Well, the agreement was called
151
00:10:28,962 --> 00:10:30,885
"The Agreement to End the War
152
00:10:31,047 --> 00:10:33,596
and Restore Peace
in Vietnam."
153
00:10:33,716 --> 00:10:37,437
And, of course,
that was a huge euphemism.
154
00:10:37,554 --> 00:10:40,728
It neither ended the war
nor did it restore peace.
155
00:10:40,890 --> 00:10:43,393
And if you look at
the substance of it,
156
00:10:43,518 --> 00:10:44,912
it really was
a withdrawal agreement.
157
00:10:44,936 --> 00:10:46,734
We were withdrawing our forces
158
00:10:46,896 --> 00:10:49,740
in exchange
for prisoners of war.
159
00:10:49,899 --> 00:10:54,621
Those are the two matters
that were definitively settled
160
00:10:54,737 --> 00:10:56,239
by the peace agreement.
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00:10:56,364 --> 00:11:01,291
We got our troops out
and we got our prisoners back.
162
00:11:01,411 --> 00:11:07,885
The rest is just all a model
of nebulosity and vagueness
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00:11:08,001 --> 00:11:10,345
and didn't resolve a darn thing.
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00:11:11,421 --> 00:11:13,844
LAM QUANG THY.
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00:11:42,452 --> 00:11:44,546
Neither North nor South Vietnam
166
00:11:44,662 --> 00:11:47,916
had had any intention
of observing the cease-fire
167
00:11:48,041 --> 00:11:50,510
called for in the peace treaty
signed in Paris
168
00:11:50,627 --> 00:11:54,928
on January 27, 1973.
169
00:11:55,048 --> 00:11:57,301
Even before the ink was dry,
170
00:11:57,467 --> 00:12:01,722
each side had sought to claim
as much territory as it could
171
00:12:01,846 --> 00:12:06,067
in what became known
as "the War of the Flags."
172
00:12:06,184 --> 00:12:08,607
Within three weeks
of the ceasefire,
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00:12:08,728 --> 00:12:14,030
there were already some 3,000
violations by both sides.
174
00:12:14,150 --> 00:12:17,450
South Vietnamese President
Nguyen Van Thieu,
175
00:12:17,570 --> 00:12:21,040
who now commanded
the fifth-largest army on Earth,
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00:12:21,157 --> 00:12:26,630
insisted the ARVN take and hold
every inch of South Vietnam,
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00:12:26,746 --> 00:12:28,669
something they had been
unable to do
178
00:12:28,831 --> 00:12:34,179
even with the help of
nearly 600,000 American troops.
179
00:12:36,130 --> 00:12:39,179
Meanwhile, the North Vietnamese
had attacked Tay Ninh,
180
00:12:39,342 --> 00:12:41,470
near the Cambodian border,
181
00:12:41,594 --> 00:12:44,473
hoping to establish
a rival capital of their own
182
00:12:44,597 --> 00:12:46,520
in the South.
183
00:12:46,641 --> 00:12:51,112
Hanoi installed surface-to-air
missiles near Khe Sanh,
184
00:12:51,229 --> 00:12:54,358
just below the DMZ.
185
00:12:54,482 --> 00:12:57,907
At the same time,
ARVN troops attacked enclaves
186
00:12:58,027 --> 00:13:00,496
seized by the North Vietnamese.
187
00:13:00,613 --> 00:13:04,663
The fighting went on for months.
188
00:13:04,784 --> 00:13:07,958
Hanoi built a new paved highway
189
00:13:08,079 --> 00:13:10,377
within South Vietnam itself,
190
00:13:10,540 --> 00:13:14,636
down which convoys
of 200 to 300 vehicles
191
00:13:14,752 --> 00:13:16,504
soon began streaming:
192
00:13:16,629 --> 00:13:22,432
trucks, tanks, and heavy guns
moving in broad daylight.
193
00:13:22,552 --> 00:13:26,398
And they began laying down
a giant oil pipeline
194
00:13:26,514 --> 00:13:30,894
to fuel their vehicles
in the South.
195
00:13:31,019 --> 00:13:34,319
Nixon had privately promised
President Thieu
196
00:13:34,439 --> 00:13:37,488
that he would retaliate
with American airpower
197
00:13:37,608 --> 00:13:41,829
if Saigon ever seemed
seriously threatened.
198
00:13:43,656 --> 00:13:46,000
But in Washington, week by week,
199
00:13:46,117 --> 00:13:49,121
as the secrets of Watergate kept
tumbling out,
200
00:13:49,245 --> 00:13:55,423
Nixon's influence on
Capitol Hill steadily weakened.
201
00:13:55,585 --> 00:14:00,136
In June of 1973,
an energized Congress,
202
00:14:00,256 --> 00:14:03,385
reflecting the views
of a majority of Americans,
203
00:14:03,509 --> 00:14:06,683
voted to stop
all military operations
204
00:14:06,804 --> 00:14:11,605
in or over Vietnam,
Laos, or Cambodia
205
00:14:11,726 --> 00:14:13,444
by August 15,
206
00:14:13,561 --> 00:14:15,780
and insisted
that they not be resumed
207
00:14:15,938 --> 00:14:18,737
without congressional approval.
208
00:14:18,858 --> 00:14:20,952
"America wants peace,"
209
00:14:21,069 --> 00:14:24,539
Senator Edward Kennedy
of Massachusetts declared.
210
00:14:24,655 --> 00:14:30,287
"Congress is strong in its
resolve to end the killing."
211
00:14:30,453 --> 00:14:33,582
To abandon the South Vietnamese,
212
00:14:33,706 --> 00:14:37,461
when all we were providing them
at the end was money,
213
00:14:37,585 --> 00:14:39,462
was reprehensible,
214
00:14:39,587 --> 00:14:43,217
and disrespected
the sacrifices of all soldiers,
215
00:14:43,341 --> 00:14:45,935
ours and the South Vietnamese.
216
00:14:46,052 --> 00:14:47,645
I think the moral obligation,
217
00:14:47,762 --> 00:14:50,811
that doesn't stem
from a philosophical commitment
218
00:14:50,932 --> 00:14:52,149
to stopping communism.
219
00:14:52,266 --> 00:14:55,190
Now it stems
from our keeping our promises
220
00:14:55,311 --> 00:14:59,282
to this erstwhile,
unfortunate ally.
221
00:14:59,399 --> 00:15:01,072
That they had us as the ally
222
00:15:01,192 --> 00:15:03,411
where the other guys
had the Soviet Union
223
00:15:03,528 --> 00:15:05,997
and communist China.
224
00:15:06,114 --> 00:15:07,741
Most Americans, I think,
225
00:15:07,865 --> 00:15:09,802
would not like to hear it said
that the communists
226
00:15:09,826 --> 00:15:11,999
were more faithful allies
than the United States.
227
00:15:12,161 --> 00:15:15,210
But that is, in fact,
what the case was.
228
00:15:15,331 --> 00:15:18,710
While one regrets
that we pulled the rug out,
229
00:15:18,835 --> 00:15:20,587
in some respects,
230
00:15:20,711 --> 00:15:24,716
I think the ultimate outcome
would've been the same.
231
00:15:24,841 --> 00:15:29,517
Had we continued,
it would have cost
232
00:15:29,637 --> 00:15:32,390
probably more lives
in the long term
233
00:15:32,515 --> 00:15:35,064
with no change in the outcome.
234
00:15:35,184 --> 00:15:37,357
In the 18 bloody months
235
00:15:37,520 --> 00:15:39,864
that followed the signing
of the peace accords,
236
00:15:39,981 --> 00:15:45,078
South Vietnam's position became
more and more precarious.
237
00:15:45,194 --> 00:15:48,539
But by the summer of 1974,
238
00:15:48,656 --> 00:15:51,375
few Americans
were paying attention.
239
00:15:51,534 --> 00:15:56,040
They were riveted by what was
happening to their own country.
240
00:15:56,205 --> 00:15:58,708
...to investigate
fully and completely
241
00:15:58,833 --> 00:16:01,427
whether sufficient grounds exist
242
00:16:01,544 --> 00:16:03,717
for the House of Representatives
243
00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:06,929
to exercise
its constitutional power
244
00:16:07,049 --> 00:16:09,393
to impeach Richard M. Nixon,
245
00:16:09,510 --> 00:16:12,730
president of the United States
of America.
246
00:16:12,847 --> 00:16:15,396
- Mr. Danielson?
- Aye.
247
00:16:15,516 --> 00:16:19,566
- Mr. Drinan?
- Aye.
248
00:16:19,687 --> 00:16:22,486
- Mr. Rangel?
- Aye.
249
00:16:22,607 --> 00:16:24,484
- Ms. Jordan?
- Aye.
250
00:16:24,609 --> 00:16:27,112
- Mr. Lott?
- No.
251
00:16:27,236 --> 00:16:30,991
On July 27, 1974,
252
00:16:31,115 --> 00:16:33,834
the House Judiciary Committee
recommended
253
00:16:33,951 --> 00:16:38,752
that the president be impeached
for abusing his office.
254
00:16:38,873 --> 00:16:42,503
On August 9,
rather than face impeachment,
255
00:16:42,627 --> 00:16:46,507
Richard Nixon became the first
president in American history
256
00:16:46,631 --> 00:16:48,429
to resign.
257
00:16:48,591 --> 00:16:50,434
Always remember,
258
00:16:50,551 --> 00:16:52,679
others may hate you,
259
00:16:52,803 --> 00:16:56,433
but those who hate you don't win
260
00:16:56,599 --> 00:16:59,443
unless you hate them,
261
00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:02,279
and then you destroy yourself.
262
00:17:02,438 --> 00:17:05,567
At the presidential
palace in Saigon,
263
00:17:05,691 --> 00:17:08,365
President Thieu closed
his office door
264
00:17:08,486 --> 00:17:10,784
and refused to see anyone.
265
00:17:10,905 --> 00:17:13,533
He had staked
South Vietnam's survival
266
00:17:13,658 --> 00:17:15,752
on Nixon's personal pledge
267
00:17:15,868 --> 00:17:17,996
that North Vietnamese aggression
would be met
268
00:17:18,120 --> 00:17:21,294
by renewed American airpower.
269
00:17:21,415 --> 00:17:25,966
Just a few days after
the new president, Gerald Ford,
270
00:17:26,128 --> 00:17:27,630
moved into the White House,
271
00:17:27,755 --> 00:17:29,678
Congress cut in half the funds
272
00:17:29,799 --> 00:17:32,643
for military
and economic assistance
273
00:17:32,802 --> 00:17:36,272
Nixon had promised
to deliver to Saigon.
274
00:17:37,807 --> 00:17:41,812
Conditions in South Vietnam
continued to deteriorate.
275
00:17:41,978 --> 00:17:44,481
With the American
military presence gone,
276
00:17:44,647 --> 00:17:49,153
one out of every five
civilian workers was jobless.
277
00:17:49,277 --> 00:17:51,951
Prices soared.
278
00:17:55,825 --> 00:17:58,749
There were
many mistakes made by the Americans,
279
00:17:58,869 --> 00:18:00,746
but the biggest mistake
280
00:18:00,871 --> 00:18:05,092
was in creating
the sense of dependency.
281
00:18:05,209 --> 00:18:08,679
Another mistake was in creating
an army in their own image,
282
00:18:08,796 --> 00:18:15,054
an army that was used
to fighting a rich man's war.
283
00:18:15,177 --> 00:18:16,645
And South Vietnam was too poor
284
00:18:16,762 --> 00:18:19,481
to be able to sustain
that kind of war.
285
00:18:19,599 --> 00:18:23,695
Thieu had steadily
grown more authoritarian,
286
00:18:23,811 --> 00:18:27,782
closing newspapers,
restricting opposition parties,
287
00:18:27,898 --> 00:18:32,699
selling political
and military appointments.
288
00:18:32,820 --> 00:18:36,791
A coalition of Catholics
and Buddhists charged him
289
00:18:36,907 --> 00:18:40,286
with corrupting every aspect
of South Vietnamese life,
290
00:18:40,411 --> 00:18:43,540
and demanded his resignation.
291
00:18:43,664 --> 00:18:45,462
Thousands of demonstrators
292
00:18:45,583 --> 00:18:48,553
poured into the streets
of Saigon.
293
00:18:51,422 --> 00:18:55,552
Meanwhile, the chronically
underpaid South Vietnamese Army
294
00:18:55,676 --> 00:18:58,896
had its pay cut further.
295
00:18:59,013 --> 00:19:02,062
It began to disintegrate.
296
00:19:02,183 --> 00:19:06,108
As many as 20,000 men
were deserting each month,
297
00:19:06,228 --> 00:19:09,653
most heading home to try
to help their families survive
298
00:19:09,774 --> 00:19:12,573
in such hard times.
299
00:19:12,735 --> 00:19:15,739
Those ARVN who stood and fought
300
00:19:15,863 --> 00:19:19,117
often had to do so without
the sophisticated weaponry
301
00:19:19,241 --> 00:19:22,962
they'd been trained
by the Americans to use.
302
00:19:23,079 --> 00:19:25,832
Much of the equipment
Nixon had provided
303
00:19:25,956 --> 00:19:29,961
was ill-suited to the war
the South was now waging,
304
00:19:30,086 --> 00:19:32,930
aircraft for which
there were no trained pilots
305
00:19:33,089 --> 00:19:34,762
or ground crews,
306
00:19:34,924 --> 00:19:37,143
artillery and military vehicles
307
00:19:37,259 --> 00:19:40,058
for which
there were no spare parts.
308
00:19:40,179 --> 00:19:45,151
And the U.S. Congress
was in no mood to provide more.
309
00:19:45,267 --> 00:19:47,611
Fuel ran low.
310
00:19:47,728 --> 00:19:50,607
So did ammunition.
311
00:19:50,773 --> 00:19:54,448
Before long, artillerymen
in the Central Highlands
312
00:19:54,610 --> 00:19:57,784
could fire
just four shells a day,
313
00:19:57,905 --> 00:20:03,457
and infantrymen were limited
to 85 bullets a month.
314
00:20:04,745 --> 00:20:09,125
LAM QUANG THY.
315
00:20:21,929 --> 00:20:23,977
In November of 1974,
316
00:20:24,140 --> 00:20:28,441
the Politburo and the Central
Military Committee met in Hanoi
317
00:20:28,561 --> 00:20:30,814
to discuss strategy.
318
00:20:30,938 --> 00:20:33,487
Some members urged caution.
319
00:20:33,649 --> 00:20:35,617
They worried that if they tried
320
00:20:35,735 --> 00:20:38,488
to push Saigon to the point
of collapse too quickly,
321
00:20:38,654 --> 00:20:41,328
the Americans would return.
322
00:20:41,449 --> 00:20:47,206
Final victory, they calculated,
would come in 1976.
323
00:20:47,329 --> 00:20:51,880
Party First Secretary Le Duan
didn't agree.
324
00:20:52,001 --> 00:20:54,925
"Now that the United States
has pulled out," he said,
325
00:20:55,045 --> 00:20:58,720
"it will be hard for them
to jump back in."
326
00:20:58,841 --> 00:21:01,014
He ordered a test attack
327
00:21:01,177 --> 00:21:04,522
to see if the Americans
would intervene with airpower
328
00:21:04,680 --> 00:21:06,648
as they had
during the Easter Offensive
329
00:21:06,766 --> 00:21:09,440
2 1/2 years earlier.
330
00:21:11,103 --> 00:21:13,401
In December 1974,
331
00:21:13,522 --> 00:21:15,695
North Vietnamese forces attacked
Phuoc Long,
332
00:21:15,858 --> 00:21:17,735
northeast of Saigon.
333
00:21:19,862 --> 00:21:23,787
Within three weeks, they had
overrun the entire province
334
00:21:23,908 --> 00:21:29,085
and had killed or captured
thousands of ARVN defenders.
335
00:21:29,205 --> 00:21:34,177
The United States
did nothing in response.
336
00:21:34,293 --> 00:21:39,550
President Ford, preoccupied
with other problems...
337
00:21:39,673 --> 00:21:43,678
inflation, unemployment,
tensions in the Middle East...
338
00:21:43,803 --> 00:21:45,396
held a press conference
339
00:21:45,554 --> 00:21:49,559
that offered
the South Vietnamese no comfort.
340
00:21:49,683 --> 00:21:51,060
Are you considering
341
00:21:51,185 --> 00:21:52,996
any additional measures,
beyond a supplemental,
342
00:21:53,020 --> 00:21:55,944
of assistance to
the South Vietnamese government?
343
00:21:56,065 --> 00:21:59,569
I am not anticipating
344
00:21:59,735 --> 00:22:02,534
any further action
beyond that supplemental
345
00:22:02,655 --> 00:22:03,907
at this time.
346
00:22:04,073 --> 00:22:06,622
Washington
seemed to have no interest
347
00:22:06,742 --> 00:22:08,710
in fulfilling the secret pledges
348
00:22:08,828 --> 00:22:12,048
Nixon had repeatedly made
to Thieu.
349
00:22:12,164 --> 00:22:15,008
He was stunned.
350
00:22:15,125 --> 00:22:17,093
With the communist flag
351
00:22:17,211 --> 00:22:21,432
planted in a provincial capital
just to the north of Saigon,
352
00:22:21,549 --> 00:22:24,177
to me, the handwriting
was on the wall.
353
00:22:24,301 --> 00:22:27,646
I then communicated
with my family, and told them
354
00:22:27,763 --> 00:22:30,937
that even though my tour was
supposed to take me till August,
355
00:22:31,100 --> 00:22:32,943
that I would be home sooner.
356
00:22:33,102 --> 00:22:37,699
And then I began to quietly,
one little box at a time,
357
00:22:37,815 --> 00:22:41,194
mail my possessions
out of Vietnam.
358
00:22:45,906 --> 00:22:48,000
The North
Vietnamese now undertook
359
00:22:48,117 --> 00:22:51,166
a new assault on cities
in the Central Highlands,
360
00:22:51,287 --> 00:22:53,585
including Ban Me Thuot,
361
00:22:53,706 --> 00:22:56,926
where their forces outnumbered
the over-extended ARVN
362
00:22:57,042 --> 00:22:59,090
nearly six to one.
363
00:23:05,134 --> 00:23:09,480
Ban Me Thuot fell in two days.
364
00:23:09,638 --> 00:23:13,233
And here is
the second province to fall,
365
00:23:13,350 --> 00:23:16,900
and it falls fairly quickly.
366
00:23:17,021 --> 00:23:18,489
At that point, they realize,
367
00:23:18,606 --> 00:23:20,083
"Well, we don't have
to wait till 1976,
368
00:23:20,107 --> 00:23:21,324
we can go for it now."
369
00:23:21,442 --> 00:23:23,319
Hanoi was delighted
370
00:23:23,485 --> 00:23:26,489
by the Americans'
lack of response.
371
00:23:26,655 --> 00:23:31,786
But all the previous offensives
Le Duan had set in motion...
372
00:23:31,911 --> 00:23:33,788
in 1964,
373
00:23:33,913 --> 00:23:36,587
in 1968,
374
00:23:36,707 --> 00:23:38,835
in 1972...
375
00:23:38,959 --> 00:23:42,714
had ended in failure.
376
00:23:42,838 --> 00:23:46,513
This time, he turned
to General Vo Nguyen Giap,
377
00:23:46,634 --> 00:23:49,478
the architect of the great
victory over the French
378
00:23:49,595 --> 00:23:51,017
at Dien Bien Phu,
379
00:23:51,180 --> 00:23:56,311
who had been sidelined
during the Tet Offensive.
380
00:24:18,374 --> 00:24:20,047
For weeks, the ARVN top command
381
00:24:20,167 --> 00:24:23,216
had warned Thieu
that his already weakened forces
382
00:24:23,337 --> 00:24:25,089
were spread too thinly;
383
00:24:25,214 --> 00:24:29,264
that it was no longer possible
to defend the entire country.
384
00:24:29,385 --> 00:24:32,059
He had angrily resisted.
385
00:24:32,179 --> 00:24:36,525
But now, suddenly,
he changed his mind.
386
00:24:36,642 --> 00:24:40,272
Thieu ordered his troops
to abandon the highlands,
387
00:24:40,396 --> 00:24:42,148
to withdraw under fire
388
00:24:42,272 --> 00:24:46,072
and then regroup in order
to retake Ban Me Thuot.
389
00:24:46,193 --> 00:24:48,662
It would have been
a near-impossible task
390
00:24:48,779 --> 00:24:51,407
with a carefully
worked-out plan.
391
00:24:51,532 --> 00:24:53,534
Thieu had none.
392
00:24:59,373 --> 00:25:01,671
The result would be disaster.
393
00:25:19,768 --> 00:25:21,190
Within a week,
394
00:25:21,311 --> 00:25:24,906
Pleiku and Kon Tum
were in enemy hands.
395
00:25:42,166 --> 00:25:44,794
According to Western diplomats
here in Saigon,
396
00:25:44,960 --> 00:25:47,463
the South Vietnamese are
quitting the Central Highlands
397
00:25:47,629 --> 00:25:50,382
because they hope
to avoid a complete rout.
398
00:25:50,507 --> 00:25:52,027
The withdrawal is said
to be an attempt
399
00:25:52,134 --> 00:25:55,058
to save men and equipment
that may become sorely needed
400
00:25:55,179 --> 00:25:58,058
in other, more heavily populated
parts of the country.
401
00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:28,004
As the ARVN fled south,
402
00:26:28,128 --> 00:26:31,382
400,000 civilians
fled with them.
403
00:26:38,097 --> 00:26:40,691
The enemy blocked the main roads
404
00:26:40,808 --> 00:26:44,108
so that they had to
take a disused back road.
405
00:26:44,228 --> 00:26:46,230
Thousands died,
406
00:26:46,355 --> 00:26:48,824
killed
by North Vietnamese shells
407
00:26:48,941 --> 00:26:50,568
and machine gun fire,
408
00:26:50,692 --> 00:26:53,195
trampled by fellow refugees,
409
00:26:53,362 --> 00:26:55,865
run over by retreating tanks,
410
00:26:55,989 --> 00:26:59,209
blown apart by
South Vietnamese bombs
411
00:26:59,326 --> 00:27:03,797
dropped by pilots who mistook
them for the enemy.
412
00:27:03,914 --> 00:27:07,885
Reporters called it
the "Convoy of Tears."
413
00:27:10,045 --> 00:27:13,720
Then, Hue fell.
414
00:27:27,938 --> 00:27:31,738
On March 29, 1975,
415
00:27:31,859 --> 00:27:34,829
the North Vietnamese
entered Danang,
416
00:27:34,945 --> 00:27:37,198
South Vietnam's
second-largest city.
417
00:27:39,449 --> 00:27:42,874
Civilians and soldiers
alike tried to flee.
418
00:27:52,212 --> 00:27:56,388
"Danang was not captured,"
an American reporter remembered.
419
00:27:56,508 --> 00:28:00,604
"It disintegrated
in its own terror."
420
00:29:17,506 --> 00:29:20,350
On the same beach
where the U.S. Marines
421
00:29:20,467 --> 00:29:22,970
had landed
nearly ten years earlier,
422
00:29:23,095 --> 00:29:26,645
beginning America's combat
involvement in Vietnam,
423
00:29:26,765 --> 00:29:30,815
16,000 ARVN soldiers
fought for space
424
00:29:30,936 --> 00:29:34,236
with 75,000 terrified civilians
425
00:29:34,356 --> 00:29:38,202
aboard an improvised fleet
of freighters and fishing boats
426
00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:43,161
headed south for Cam Ranh Bay,
Vung Tau, and Saigon;
427
00:29:43,282 --> 00:29:48,413
anywhere they thought Northern
troops might not follow.
428
00:29:54,376 --> 00:29:58,256
Thousands drowned struggling
to reach the boats.
429
00:29:58,380 --> 00:30:01,634
Thousands more were killed
by enemy shells
430
00:30:01,758 --> 00:30:04,386
raining down on the beach.
431
00:30:20,736 --> 00:30:23,239
Danang, Tam Ky,
432
00:30:23,363 --> 00:30:25,582
Quang Ngai, Qui Nhon,
433
00:30:25,741 --> 00:30:29,666
Nha Trang, Cam Ranh Bay.
434
00:30:29,786 --> 00:30:33,040
The North Vietnamese
kept moving closer and closer
435
00:30:33,165 --> 00:30:34,838
to Saigon.
436
00:30:34,958 --> 00:30:40,089
It was stunning
to sit there in Saigon,
437
00:30:40,213 --> 00:30:42,762
writing the daily ledes
438
00:30:42,924 --> 00:30:46,679
on the fall of all these places.
439
00:30:46,803 --> 00:30:49,773
You just were overwhelmed
440
00:30:49,931 --> 00:30:52,650
with ten years' worth of history
441
00:30:52,768 --> 00:30:56,864
and seeing
all of it come unglued.
442
00:30:58,273 --> 00:30:59,820
At the end of March,
443
00:30:59,941 --> 00:31:03,662
18 North Vietnamese divisions,
444
00:31:03,779 --> 00:31:06,123
with five in reserve,
445
00:31:06,239 --> 00:31:07,365
were now arrayed
446
00:31:07,491 --> 00:31:12,372
against, basically,
six South Vietnamese divisions.
447
00:31:12,496 --> 00:31:15,249
The manpower imbalance
448
00:31:15,374 --> 00:31:19,095
was about three or four to one,
in favor of the communists.
449
00:31:19,211 --> 00:31:21,213
This was breathtaking.
450
00:31:21,338 --> 00:31:24,057
The North Vietnamese now decided
451
00:31:24,174 --> 00:31:25,972
to move against Saigon
452
00:31:26,093 --> 00:31:30,815
and take it before Ho Chi Minh's
birthday on May 19.
453
00:31:30,972 --> 00:31:33,600
It became clear
to Thomas Polgar,
454
00:31:33,725 --> 00:31:36,649
the C.I.A. station chief
in Saigon,
455
00:31:36,812 --> 00:31:40,442
that the time had come to begin
preparing for an evacuation.
456
00:31:40,565 --> 00:31:44,365
There were still
some 5,000 Americans in Saigon,
457
00:31:44,486 --> 00:31:46,204
and there were also as many
458
00:31:46,321 --> 00:31:49,825
as 200,000 South Vietnamese
and their families
459
00:31:49,950 --> 00:31:53,625
who had cooperated
with the United States.
460
00:31:53,745 --> 00:31:57,545
But Ambassador
Graham Martin disagreed.
461
00:31:57,666 --> 00:31:59,964
He was a resolute Cold Warrior,
462
00:32:00,085 --> 00:32:02,179
who had been appointed
to reassure Thieu
463
00:32:02,337 --> 00:32:04,931
of continuing American backing,
464
00:32:05,048 --> 00:32:07,642
and his feelings
had only been intensified
465
00:32:07,759 --> 00:32:10,433
by the death of his son
in Vietnam.
466
00:32:10,554 --> 00:32:12,682
He had not been
appointed ambassador,
467
00:32:12,848 --> 00:32:14,350
he had told an aide,
468
00:32:14,516 --> 00:32:18,020
to "give Vietnam away
to the communists."
469
00:32:18,145 --> 00:32:21,615
The C.I.A. was being alarmist,
he said.
470
00:32:21,731 --> 00:32:23,859
There would be
no attack on Saigon,
471
00:32:24,025 --> 00:32:27,245
and, therefore, no evacuation.
472
00:32:27,362 --> 00:32:32,493
President Thieu also continued
to insist all was not lost.
473
00:32:32,617 --> 00:32:35,666
The ARVN were ready to
"fight on to the last bullet
474
00:32:35,787 --> 00:32:38,540
and the last grain of rice,"
he said.
475
00:32:40,500 --> 00:32:43,299
Just 40 miles east of Saigon,
476
00:32:43,420 --> 00:32:45,593
North Vietnamese forces attacked
477
00:32:45,714 --> 00:32:48,888
the town of Xuan Loc
on Highway One,
478
00:32:49,009 --> 00:32:53,105
the last obstacle
on their way to Saigon.
479
00:32:53,221 --> 00:32:55,895
Although they were outnumbered
and outgunned,
480
00:32:56,057 --> 00:33:00,187
the South Vietnamese
commander refused to retreat.
481
00:33:00,312 --> 00:33:04,909
He was determined to keep
the enemy from his capital.
482
00:33:05,025 --> 00:33:07,699
You're certain
that you can hold Xuan Loc?
483
00:33:07,819 --> 00:33:09,241
Surely, surely.
484
00:33:09,362 --> 00:33:10,955
I am certain to you.
485
00:33:11,072 --> 00:33:13,746
I am sure with you
I can hold Xuan Loc.
486
00:33:13,909 --> 00:33:16,833
Even the enemies uses,
you know, the double forces
487
00:33:16,953 --> 00:33:19,752
or maybe three time
more than my forces.
488
00:33:19,915 --> 00:33:21,087
But no problem, sir.
489
00:33:21,249 --> 00:33:22,626
No problem.
490
00:33:24,044 --> 00:33:26,593
A vast human tragedy
491
00:33:26,755 --> 00:33:31,431
has befallen our friends
in Vietnam and Cambodia.
492
00:33:31,551 --> 00:33:33,144
On April 10,
493
00:33:33,261 --> 00:33:36,811
President Ford appealed
to a joint session of Congress
494
00:33:36,932 --> 00:33:39,606
for emergency aid to Saigon.
495
00:33:39,768 --> 00:33:42,237
If they refused and Saigon fell,
496
00:33:42,354 --> 00:33:45,949
Congress, not the White House,
should take the blame.
497
00:33:46,066 --> 00:33:48,694
Under five presidents
and 12 Congresses,
498
00:33:48,818 --> 00:33:53,039
the United States
was engaged in Indochina.
499
00:33:53,156 --> 00:33:56,626
Millions of Americans served,
500
00:33:56,743 --> 00:33:58,711
thousands died,
501
00:33:58,828 --> 00:34:03,459
and many more were wounded,
imprisoned, or lost.
502
00:34:03,625 --> 00:34:08,005
The president asked
Congress for $722 million
503
00:34:08,129 --> 00:34:09,802
in military aid.
504
00:34:09,965 --> 00:34:11,683
There was no applause.
505
00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:15,054
Most legislators,
and their constituents,
506
00:34:15,178 --> 00:34:18,227
thought it was too late
to make any difference.
507
00:34:18,348 --> 00:34:23,354
In the end, Congress voted
against any military aid.
508
00:34:23,478 --> 00:34:25,981
I didn't think that it is good
509
00:34:26,147 --> 00:34:30,323
for a big nation like the U.S.
to behave like that.
510
00:34:30,443 --> 00:34:31,990
Because by that time,
511
00:34:32,153 --> 00:34:35,874
we didn't ask for the blood
of American soldiers.
512
00:34:35,991 --> 00:34:40,337
I mean, the last minute, they
washed their hands like that.
513
00:34:40,495 --> 00:34:43,374
It is not up to a diplomat
to use strong words
514
00:34:43,498 --> 00:34:44,920
against the American,
515
00:34:45,041 --> 00:34:48,295
but I felt
deeply sorry about it.
516
00:34:50,922 --> 00:34:53,721
We broke every rule in
the book to get people out,
517
00:34:53,842 --> 00:34:56,812
the young officers did,
518
00:34:56,928 --> 00:35:02,059
while the ambassador
continued to stonewall
519
00:35:02,183 --> 00:35:04,311
both the embassy and Washington.
520
00:35:04,436 --> 00:35:08,282
Evacuation plans
were finally drawn up.
521
00:35:08,398 --> 00:35:11,527
There were four options:
522
00:35:11,693 --> 00:35:17,041
sealift by cargo ships anchored
in the port of Saigon,
523
00:35:17,157 --> 00:35:20,377
airlift by commercial airliner,
524
00:35:20,535 --> 00:35:23,209
a military airlift,
525
00:35:23,371 --> 00:35:25,590
and, as a last resort,
526
00:35:25,707 --> 00:35:28,130
evacuation by flights
of helicopters
527
00:35:28,251 --> 00:35:31,346
to a flotilla
of U.S. Navy ships
528
00:35:31,463 --> 00:35:34,216
in the South China Sea.
529
00:35:34,341 --> 00:35:38,562
Ambassador Martin continued
to show little interest.
530
00:35:38,720 --> 00:35:40,563
The slightest sign
that the United States
531
00:35:40,680 --> 00:35:43,479
would abandon South Vietnam,
he said,
532
00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:47,400
would produce panic
in the streets.
533
00:35:48,730 --> 00:35:50,403
On April 21,
534
00:35:50,523 --> 00:35:53,948
Xuan Loc finally fell
to the North Vietnamese.
535
00:35:54,069 --> 00:35:59,166
The ARVN had valiantly held
on for 12 bloody days.
536
00:35:59,282 --> 00:36:04,960
Highway One was
now open all the way to Saigon.
537
00:36:05,080 --> 00:36:10,257
That evening,
President Thieu resigned.
538
00:36:10,377 --> 00:36:15,304
Four clays later, the C.I.A.
would spirit Thieu to Taiwan,
539
00:36:15,423 --> 00:36:17,346
where an American emissary
brought him
540
00:36:17,467 --> 00:36:20,186
a private message
from President Ford.
541
00:36:20,303 --> 00:36:24,103
It was not a good time for him
to visit America.
542
00:36:24,224 --> 00:36:27,899
Antiwar feelings
were too strong.
543
00:36:28,019 --> 00:36:31,319
"It is so easy to be an enemy
of the United States,"
544
00:36:31,439 --> 00:36:32,816
Thieu said,
545
00:36:32,941 --> 00:36:36,536
"but so difficult
to be a friend."
546
00:36:36,653 --> 00:36:39,497
News of Thieu's resignation
547
00:36:39,614 --> 00:36:42,458
had sent thousands
of panicked Vietnamese
548
00:36:42,617 --> 00:36:44,790
rushing to Tan Son Nhut Airport,
549
00:36:44,911 --> 00:36:47,460
hoping to get out
of their country.
550
00:36:47,622 --> 00:36:53,049
Some had exit visas;
many did not.
551
00:36:53,169 --> 00:36:57,720
Marines did what they could
to establish order.
552
00:36:57,841 --> 00:37:02,187
Master Sergeant Juan Valdez was
the noncommissioned officer
553
00:37:02,303 --> 00:37:06,683
in charge of Marine Corps
Security Guards in Saigon.
554
00:37:06,808 --> 00:37:08,810
He had been one
of the first Marines
555
00:37:08,977 --> 00:37:12,902
to land in Vietnam in 1965.
556
00:37:13,022 --> 00:37:15,992
People were trying
to bribe the Marines.
557
00:37:16,109 --> 00:37:19,488
You know, they were bringing
money out there, jewelry,
558
00:37:19,612 --> 00:37:21,660
to get them out of the country.
559
00:37:21,823 --> 00:37:23,634
I think just about every Marine
that was at the gate
560
00:37:23,658 --> 00:37:25,660
encountered this type of bribes.
561
00:37:25,785 --> 00:37:28,083
But they had to refuse them,
yeah, yeah.
562
00:37:28,204 --> 00:37:31,458
Duong Van Mai Elliott's family
563
00:37:31,583 --> 00:37:34,257
had fled Hanoi in 1954,
564
00:37:34,377 --> 00:37:37,347
leaving behind
her older sister, Thang,
565
00:37:37,505 --> 00:37:40,304
who had joined
Ho Chi Minh's forces.
566
00:37:40,425 --> 00:37:42,678
Now, 2O years later,
567
00:37:42,844 --> 00:37:45,814
with the North Vietnamese
closing in on Saigon,
568
00:37:45,930 --> 00:37:47,682
they were faced
with the prospect
569
00:37:47,807 --> 00:37:50,856
of fleeing once again.
570
00:37:50,977 --> 00:37:54,197
My mother didn't want to leave.
571
00:37:54,355 --> 00:37:57,029
She said she didn't want
to be a refugee again.
572
00:37:57,192 --> 00:37:59,820
She had been a refugee
too many times.
573
00:37:59,944 --> 00:38:02,663
Plus, my sister Thang
was about to arrive
574
00:38:02,781 --> 00:38:06,206
and meet us
after all these years.
575
00:38:06,326 --> 00:38:11,207
She said she wanted
to stay and see Thang.
576
00:38:11,372 --> 00:38:14,717
My father was determined
to leave,
577
00:38:14,834 --> 00:38:18,805
because he was afraid that
if we stayed, we'd be killed.
578
00:38:18,922 --> 00:38:23,428
He got mad at my mother,
and they argued,
579
00:38:23,551 --> 00:38:25,724
but in the end,
my mother yielded
580
00:38:25,887 --> 00:38:29,391
to his, uh, insistence that
we should... they should leave.
581
00:38:31,059 --> 00:38:33,482
I knew that
the end was approaching.
582
00:38:33,603 --> 00:38:36,698
When you are at the center
of the storm,
583
00:38:36,815 --> 00:38:38,863
you have to get out.
584
00:38:38,983 --> 00:38:44,080
When I myself
and my immediate family,
585
00:38:44,239 --> 00:38:46,162
and my father
and his immediate family,
586
00:38:46,282 --> 00:38:48,785
went to the Tan Son Nhut
Airport,
587
00:38:48,910 --> 00:38:52,756
through the whole thing I said,
"This is crazy, you know.
588
00:38:52,914 --> 00:38:56,339
Why, why do we have to leave
under these conditions?"
589
00:38:56,459 --> 00:38:57,927
It was so humiliating.
590
00:38:58,044 --> 00:39:03,175
And I carry that humiliation
with me to the United States.
591
00:39:03,299 --> 00:39:06,018
When I get in line
to sign up for a job,
592
00:39:06,135 --> 00:39:08,012
you know, I was a...
593
00:39:08,137 --> 00:39:11,482
I remind them of the war
in Vietnam,
594
00:39:11,599 --> 00:39:14,148
which the Americans hate.
595
00:39:14,269 --> 00:39:17,113
You have to lose a nation
and a dream
596
00:39:17,272 --> 00:39:20,742
to feel...
to feel that humiliation.
597
00:40:41,189 --> 00:40:44,409
We have always sent a wreath
598
00:40:44,525 --> 00:40:48,701
to his grave at Arlington.
599
00:40:48,821 --> 00:40:51,745
Partly in remembrance,
of course, of him,
600
00:40:51,866 --> 00:40:55,746
but also thinking, if other
grieving people are there,
601
00:40:55,870 --> 00:40:59,920
or just people that are
visiting to pay their respects,
602
00:41:00,041 --> 00:41:04,217
that it's good for them to know
that people are,
603
00:41:04,337 --> 00:41:06,590
that the soldiers are
remembered.
604
00:41:20,019 --> 00:41:22,397
Today...
605
00:41:22,522 --> 00:41:26,447
America can regain
the sense of pride
606
00:41:26,567 --> 00:41:29,320
that existed before Vietnam.
607
00:41:29,445 --> 00:41:34,201
But it cannot be achieved
by refighting a war
608
00:41:34,325 --> 00:41:38,296
that is finished as far
as America is concerned.
609
00:41:44,252 --> 00:41:47,506
On April 27, 1975,
610
00:41:47,630 --> 00:41:50,759
rockets landed in the heart
of Saigon.
611
00:41:50,925 --> 00:41:54,020
It was the signal for
the North Vietnamese to begin
612
00:41:54,137 --> 00:41:56,435
their main assault on the city.
613
00:41:56,556 --> 00:41:59,901
They attacked from five sides,
614
00:42:00,018 --> 00:42:02,942
"like a hurricane,"
their commander said.
615
00:42:03,062 --> 00:42:06,612
The White House ordered
all American cargo ships
616
00:42:06,733 --> 00:42:09,077
to sail out to sea
without waiting
617
00:42:09,193 --> 00:42:11,412
to take on any passengers.
618
00:42:11,529 --> 00:42:15,124
There now could be
no organized sealift.
619
00:42:26,919 --> 00:42:29,342
When the
communists began shelling
620
00:42:29,464 --> 00:42:33,514
the seaside town of Vung Tau,
just southeast of Saigon,
621
00:42:33,634 --> 00:42:35,477
thousands of terrified people
622
00:42:35,636 --> 00:42:37,980
clambered into any vessel
they could find
623
00:42:38,139 --> 00:42:40,938
in hope of rescue
by the Americans.
624
00:42:41,059 --> 00:42:43,528
Before the exodus ended,
625
00:42:43,644 --> 00:42:46,739
more than 60,000 refugees
from Vung Tau
626
00:42:46,856 --> 00:42:48,483
would be picked up.
627
00:42:48,608 --> 00:42:51,782
But thousands more
were left behind,
628
00:42:51,903 --> 00:42:55,533
floating helplessly at sea.
629
00:42:55,656 --> 00:42:57,579
At the American Embassy,
630
00:42:57,700 --> 00:43:00,624
Ambassador Martin cabled
Henry Kissinger,
631
00:43:00,745 --> 00:43:02,292
now secretary of state,
632
00:43:02,413 --> 00:43:04,586
that "It is
the unanimous opinion
633
00:43:04,707 --> 00:43:06,550
"of the senior personnel here
634
00:43:06,667 --> 00:43:11,673
that there will be no direct
or serious attack on Saigon."
635
00:43:11,798 --> 00:43:13,846
A lot of us began to wonder
636
00:43:14,008 --> 00:43:17,012
whether he had lost grip
on reality.
637
00:43:17,178 --> 00:43:21,934
He had come down with pneumonia
in the final days.
638
00:43:22,058 --> 00:43:24,402
He was terribly enfeebled.
639
00:43:24,519 --> 00:43:27,489
And it's possible
this affected his judgment.
640
00:43:27,605 --> 00:43:31,530
Evacuation planners
had quietly designated
641
00:43:31,692 --> 00:43:33,444
two spots within the embassy
642
00:43:33,569 --> 00:43:36,118
as potential helicopter
landing zones-
643
00:43:36,239 --> 00:43:39,413
a courtyard that could
accommodate large choppers,
644
00:43:39,534 --> 00:43:41,832
and the helipad
on the embassy roof,
645
00:43:41,953 --> 00:43:44,376
meant for smaller ones.
646
00:43:44,539 --> 00:43:48,840
An old tamarind tree stood
in the center of the courtyard.
647
00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:52,385
Again and again, the Marines
asked Ambassador Martin
648
00:43:52,547 --> 00:43:54,470
for permission to cut it down
649
00:43:54,590 --> 00:43:57,719
so as not to interfere
with the lift-offs and landings
650
00:43:57,885 --> 00:44:00,729
they were certain
would soon have to begin.
651
00:44:00,888 --> 00:44:03,562
He always refused.
652
00:44:03,724 --> 00:44:07,274
That tree was a symbol
of American resolve, he said.
653
00:44:07,395 --> 00:44:11,320
Cutting it down would send
the wrong message.
654
00:44:11,440 --> 00:44:14,239
Meanwhile,
General Duong Van Minh,
655
00:44:14,360 --> 00:44:15,907
who had been part of the coup
656
00:44:16,028 --> 00:44:19,578
that overthrew President Diem
12 years earlier,
657
00:44:19,740 --> 00:44:23,415
was sworn in as the new
president of South Vietnam.
658
00:44:23,536 --> 00:44:26,289
He called for an immediate
cease-fire
659
00:44:26,414 --> 00:44:32,387
and asked that Americans leave
within 24 hours.
660
00:44:33,796 --> 00:44:36,766
On April 29,
at 3:58 in the morning,
661
00:44:36,924 --> 00:44:39,598
North Vietnamese rockets
began falling
662
00:44:39,760 --> 00:44:41,933
on Tan Son Nhut Airport.
663
00:44:42,096 --> 00:44:44,269
The North Vietnamese were just“.
664
00:44:44,432 --> 00:44:46,025
Walking these shells...
665
00:44:46,142 --> 00:44:48,270
these big 130-millimeter
artillery shells
666
00:44:48,436 --> 00:44:49,858
all over the airfield,
667
00:44:49,979 --> 00:44:51,731
destroying the runway,
basically.
668
00:44:51,856 --> 00:44:53,108
It was close enough
669
00:44:53,232 --> 00:44:54,992
that you could hear
the incoming go overhead.
670
00:44:56,027 --> 00:44:58,200
Two Marine guards,
671
00:44:58,321 --> 00:45:02,042
Lance Corporal Darwin Judge,
of Marshalltown, Iowa,
672
00:45:02,158 --> 00:45:06,334
and Corporal Charles McMahon,
Jr., of Woburn, Massachusetts,
673
00:45:06,454 --> 00:45:08,582
were killed in the barrage...
674
00:45:08,706 --> 00:45:12,961
the last American servicemen
to die in Vietnam.
675
00:45:13,127 --> 00:45:16,051
# All along the watchtower... #
676
00:45:16,172 --> 00:45:18,266
I still blame the ambassador.
677
00:45:18,382 --> 00:45:19,599
This shouldn't have happened.
678
00:45:19,717 --> 00:45:21,765
You know, if the ambassador
had taken action
679
00:45:21,886 --> 00:45:25,015
and gotten people out of there,
which he was supposed to,
680
00:45:25,139 --> 00:45:28,109
this would have never happened.
681
00:45:28,226 --> 00:45:30,604
The runways were cratered
682
00:45:30,728 --> 00:45:32,401
and blocked by wrecked planes,
683
00:45:32,521 --> 00:45:36,651
littered with jettisoned bombs
and fuel tanks.
684
00:45:36,776 --> 00:45:41,327
The Americans had run out
of evacuation options.
685
00:45:41,447 --> 00:45:44,326
It was time to call in
the helicopters
686
00:45:44,492 --> 00:45:46,836
from the offshore fleet.
687
00:45:46,953 --> 00:45:48,205
There was no way
688
00:45:48,329 --> 00:45:50,331
all of the remaining
South Vietnamese
689
00:45:50,456 --> 00:45:52,629
could be evacuated.
690
00:45:56,671 --> 00:45:59,299
The tamarind tree
in the embassy compound
691
00:45:59,423 --> 00:46:01,175
was finally hacked down
692
00:46:01,342 --> 00:46:04,186
so helicopters could
begin landing.
693
00:46:04,345 --> 00:46:07,440
So they had to chop
this big tamarind tree clown,
694
00:46:07,556 --> 00:46:09,934
cut it in pieces, tow it away.
695
00:46:10,059 --> 00:46:11,936
And then they had to get
the fire department
696
00:46:12,061 --> 00:46:14,655
to wash all the debris
and everything
697
00:46:14,772 --> 00:46:16,024
so when the choppers land,
698
00:46:16,190 --> 00:46:17,737
they wouldn't suck up
all those debris
699
00:46:17,858 --> 00:46:20,281
into the, uh, into the engines.
700
00:46:20,403 --> 00:46:23,202
Just after 11:00 a.m.,
701
00:46:23,364 --> 00:46:25,958
a prearranged signal to evacuate
was broadcast
702
00:46:26,075 --> 00:46:29,955
over a special radio
frequency in the capital:
703
00:46:30,079 --> 00:46:34,710
"The temperature in Saigon is
105 degrees and rising."
704
00:46:36,460 --> 00:46:38,178
# I'm dreaming... #
705
00:46:38,296 --> 00:46:40,674
It was supposed to
be followed by Bing Crosby
706
00:46:40,798 --> 00:46:42,892
singing "White Christmas."
707
00:46:43,050 --> 00:46:45,644
But the disc jockey
couldn't find the record
708
00:46:45,761 --> 00:46:50,892
and played Tennessee Ernie
Ford's version instead.
709
00:46:51,017 --> 00:46:54,897
Americans and Vietnamese
with proper papers
710
00:46:55,021 --> 00:46:57,740
gathered at pre-arranged
collection points
711
00:46:57,857 --> 00:47:00,326
and boarded convoys of buses.
712
00:47:00,443 --> 00:47:04,198
Angry South Vietnamese beat
on the sides of the vehicles
713
00:47:04,322 --> 00:47:06,666
as they moved
through the crowded streets
714
00:47:06,782 --> 00:47:08,784
to the airport.
715
00:47:08,909 --> 00:47:13,335
Philip Caputo, now covering
the fall of Saigon,
716
00:47:13,456 --> 00:47:16,084
was among the evacuees.
717
00:47:16,250 --> 00:47:19,254
We were evacuated
from Tan Son Nhut Air Base.
718
00:47:19,420 --> 00:47:23,345
But we drove past the embassy,
and you just saw this scrum,
719
00:47:23,466 --> 00:47:28,267
this horde of people
pressing up against the walls,
720
00:47:28,387 --> 00:47:31,186
and Marines standing on the wall
721
00:47:31,307 --> 00:47:36,564
and gun-butting people to,
uh, to keep them...
722
00:47:36,687 --> 00:47:38,985
to keep them from pouring
over the walls.
723
00:47:39,106 --> 00:47:41,950
The evacuees at
the airport were divided
724
00:47:42,109 --> 00:47:44,908
into helicopter teams
of 50 each,
725
00:47:45,029 --> 00:47:48,203
and led down a long hallway
to the tarmac.
726
00:47:48,324 --> 00:47:50,702
Someone in Caputo's group joked
727
00:47:50,826 --> 00:47:55,878
about finally seeing "light
at the end of the tunnel."
728
00:47:55,998 --> 00:47:57,966
The choppers take off.
729
00:47:58,084 --> 00:48:01,463
And they're flying, uh...
flying toward the coast.
730
00:48:01,629 --> 00:48:05,133
And you could look down
and all you could see,
731
00:48:05,257 --> 00:48:07,385
all around Saigon,
all around the airfield,
732
00:48:07,510 --> 00:48:10,980
were just these plumes of smoke
from burning buildings,
733
00:48:11,097 --> 00:48:13,395
from exploding artillery shells.
734
00:48:13,516 --> 00:48:16,315
And I'll never forget
going over that coastline,
735
00:48:16,435 --> 00:48:20,315
seeing the entire 7th Fleet...
dozens and dozens...
736
00:48:20,481 --> 00:48:23,451
and this enormous fleet
out there like that.
737
00:48:23,567 --> 00:48:28,414
And I just remember this sense
of, of disbelief, completely.
738
00:48:28,531 --> 00:48:31,580
Disbelief and relief
at the same time.
739
00:48:34,745 --> 00:48:36,945
There were anywhere
from 10,000 to 12,000 people
740
00:48:36,997 --> 00:48:39,216
surrounding the embassy.
741
00:48:39,333 --> 00:48:42,633
We're supposed to get Americans
out of there.
742
00:48:42,753 --> 00:48:44,972
And we were supposed to get
South Vietnamese
743
00:48:45,089 --> 00:48:47,888
that worked for us
in the embassy.
744
00:48:48,008 --> 00:48:50,227
The C.I.A. was behind us,
745
00:48:50,344 --> 00:48:51,655
and they were pointing
at the people
746
00:48:51,679 --> 00:48:53,477
who were supposed to get out.
747
00:48:53,597 --> 00:48:56,271
But every time you reached out
to grab a specific individual,
748
00:48:56,392 --> 00:48:58,144
other people
were grabbing your hands
749
00:48:58,269 --> 00:49:00,192
and trying to pull you down
with them, you know,
750
00:49:00,354 --> 00:49:01,651
so that you could help them out.
751
00:49:01,772 --> 00:49:05,322
Some Americans
had left so rapidly,
752
00:49:05,443 --> 00:49:08,037
they'd left the radios behind.
753
00:49:08,154 --> 00:49:12,159
So their Vietnamese friends
were on the radios
754
00:49:12,283 --> 00:49:13,956
begging to be rescued.
755
00:49:14,076 --> 00:49:16,329
"I'm Han, the driver."
756
00:49:16,454 --> 00:49:19,549
"I'm Mr. Ngoc,
your translator."
757
00:49:19,707 --> 00:49:24,383
I realized what the Americans
had often done in Vietnam.
758
00:49:24,545 --> 00:49:29,426
They had forgotten
that these were human beings.
759
00:49:31,594 --> 00:49:33,892
My experience in Vietnam
760
00:49:34,013 --> 00:49:40,111
had often been like
a B-52 strike from on high.
761
00:49:40,227 --> 00:49:44,073
I never had to confront
the consequences of my action.
762
00:49:44,231 --> 00:49:47,326
I could just
let the bomb doors open
763
00:49:47,443 --> 00:49:51,664
and still remain detached.
764
00:49:51,780 --> 00:49:53,999
Elsewhere in the embassy,
765
00:49:54,116 --> 00:49:58,166
Marines frantically destroyed
classified documents.
766
00:49:58,287 --> 00:50:01,257
The top of the roof
had two big incinerators
767
00:50:01,415 --> 00:50:03,793
right underneath
the helicopter pad.
768
00:50:03,918 --> 00:50:06,387
And the Marines
burned classified material
769
00:50:06,504 --> 00:50:08,427
around the clock.
770
00:50:08,589 --> 00:50:10,591
But to my understanding,
even when we left,
771
00:50:10,758 --> 00:50:14,262
there was still
classified material left behind.
772
00:50:14,428 --> 00:50:17,978
Well, when the choppers
finally began coming in,
773
00:50:18,098 --> 00:50:20,817
the downdraft
ripped open those bags
774
00:50:20,935 --> 00:50:23,233
and there was
classified material
775
00:50:23,354 --> 00:50:26,608
all over the parking lot.
776
00:50:26,732 --> 00:50:28,530
When the North Vietnamese
arrived,
777
00:50:28,651 --> 00:50:34,329
they apparently Scotch-taped
that material back together
778
00:50:34,448 --> 00:50:36,621
and it became a blood list
that they could use
779
00:50:36,742 --> 00:50:39,962
to track down people,
Vietnamese, who'd worked for us.
780
00:50:40,079 --> 00:50:43,800
Embassy officials
dumped bags of currency
781
00:50:43,958 --> 00:50:45,301
into an oil drum
782
00:50:45,417 --> 00:50:47,135
and set it afire.
783
00:50:47,253 --> 00:50:49,927
Millions of dollars
in contingency funds
784
00:50:50,047 --> 00:50:52,141
went up in smoke.
785
00:50:52,258 --> 00:50:55,853
"This will be the final message
from Saigon station,"
786
00:50:55,970 --> 00:51:00,020
the C.I.A. chief Thomas Polgar
wired to Washington.
787
00:51:00,140 --> 00:51:04,896
"It has been a long fight
and we have lost.
788
00:51:05,020 --> 00:51:07,819
"Those who fail to learn
from history
789
00:51:07,982 --> 00:51:09,905
"are forced to repeat it.
790
00:51:10,025 --> 00:51:14,155
"Let us hope that we will not
have another Vietnam experience
791
00:51:14,321 --> 00:51:16,949
"and that we have
learned our lesson.
792
00:51:17,074 --> 00:51:20,374
Saigon signing off."
793
00:51:23,998 --> 00:51:26,672
More than 50 U.S. helicopters
794
00:51:26,834 --> 00:51:29,838
now crisscrossed the sky
over Saigon,
795
00:51:30,004 --> 00:51:33,383
picking up evacuees
from designated rooftops,
796
00:51:33,507 --> 00:51:35,726
as well as the embassy,
797
00:51:35,843 --> 00:51:39,063
ferrying them to the fleet
far out at sea,
798
00:51:39,179 --> 00:51:40,977
then returning for more.
799
00:51:42,725 --> 00:51:45,524
Some desperate
South Vietnamese officers
800
00:51:45,644 --> 00:51:47,442
also commandeered helicopters
801
00:51:47,563 --> 00:51:49,816
for themselves
and their families,
802
00:51:49,940 --> 00:51:51,863
dangerously crowding the decks
803
00:51:51,984 --> 00:51:54,453
of the American
aircraft carriers.
804
00:51:54,570 --> 00:51:57,414
There was no room for them.
805
00:51:57,531 --> 00:52:00,125
The image
that remains in my mind
806
00:52:00,242 --> 00:52:02,085
is the picture of the helicopter
807
00:52:02,202 --> 00:52:04,921
being pushed over the side
of the carrier.
808
00:52:05,039 --> 00:52:08,168
The helicopter
was everything in Vietnam.
809
00:52:08,292 --> 00:52:11,045
I mean, it was dust-off,
it was resupply,
810
00:52:11,211 --> 00:52:13,509
it was fire support,
it was everything.
811
00:52:13,631 --> 00:52:18,558
All I could think of was:
what a waste, what a waste.
812
00:52:18,719 --> 00:52:21,097
As I watched that all unfold,
813
00:52:21,221 --> 00:52:25,226
I, I felt responsible.
814
00:52:25,351 --> 00:52:26,443
I was ashamed.
815
00:52:26,560 --> 00:52:28,562
We had told these people
816
00:52:28,687 --> 00:52:30,815
that we would be there
to support them
817
00:52:30,939 --> 00:52:32,407
and we were not.
818
00:52:37,571 --> 00:52:41,292
About 9:15 on the last night,
819
00:52:41,408 --> 00:52:44,537
Polgar came and he said,
"We've got to all leave.
820
00:52:44,662 --> 00:52:46,348
"We've been ordered
by headquarters to leave.
821
00:52:46,372 --> 00:52:47,919
Let's go."
822
00:52:48,082 --> 00:52:52,132
Ambassador Martin had
wanted to be the last man to leave.
823
00:52:52,252 --> 00:52:55,927
But at about 4:00
in the morning of April 30,
824
00:52:56,090 --> 00:53:00,311
a CH-46 touched down
on the embassy roof.
825
00:53:00,427 --> 00:53:04,307
Its pilot carried orders
from the president himself.
826
00:53:04,431 --> 00:53:08,231
Martin was to leave, now.
827
00:53:08,352 --> 00:53:10,730
"I guess this is it," he said.
828
00:53:10,854 --> 00:53:12,902
As Martin was helped aboard,
829
00:53:13,023 --> 00:53:15,492
he was handed
the furled American flag
830
00:53:15,609 --> 00:53:19,785
that had flown from
the flagstaff the previous day.
831
00:53:19,905 --> 00:53:25,787
He lifted off at 4:58 a.m.
and headed out to sea.
832
00:53:25,911 --> 00:53:29,836
President Ford had also ordered
that from then on,
833
00:53:29,957 --> 00:53:34,258
only Americans
would be evacuated.
834
00:53:34,378 --> 00:53:38,178
Tens of thousands
of South Vietnamese
835
00:53:38,298 --> 00:53:40,141
would be left behind,
836
00:53:40,300 --> 00:53:42,894
and more than 400
were still waiting
837
00:53:43,011 --> 00:53:44,604
in the embassy courtyard.
838
00:53:44,722 --> 00:53:47,396
Time and again,
they had been assured
839
00:53:47,516 --> 00:53:51,362
helicopters were on the way
to pick them up.
840
00:53:51,478 --> 00:53:54,027
I was directed
841
00:53:54,148 --> 00:53:57,322
to stay with the Vietnamese
and keep them warm,
842
00:53:57,484 --> 00:54:00,033
meaning, "Don't give any hint
843
00:54:00,154 --> 00:54:05,661
that all these promises
we made to them are for naught."
844
00:54:05,784 --> 00:54:07,832
I felt sick at heart,
I had a hard time.
845
00:54:07,995 --> 00:54:09,838
It was dark out,
so I didn't have to worry
846
00:54:09,997 --> 00:54:13,001
about looking these folks
in the eye.
847
00:54:13,125 --> 00:54:16,049
But I made my excuse and, um...
848
00:54:16,170 --> 00:54:18,013
"I have to go to the bathroom."
849
00:54:18,172 --> 00:54:21,392
And left into the landscaping,
850
00:54:21,508 --> 00:54:24,307
circuitous route
to the back door of the embassy,
851
00:54:24,428 --> 00:54:26,021
to the chancery building,
852
00:54:26,180 --> 00:54:28,433
and made my way to the roof.
853
00:54:28,557 --> 00:54:33,313
Some 129 Marines
remained in the compound.
854
00:54:33,437 --> 00:54:34,609
They did their best
855
00:54:34,730 --> 00:54:38,030
to pull back into the embassy
and up onto the roof
856
00:54:38,192 --> 00:54:39,614
without alerting the Vietnamese
857
00:54:39,735 --> 00:54:42,830
that they were
about to be left behind.
858
00:54:42,946 --> 00:54:46,041
We locked ourselves
inside the embassy
859
00:54:46,158 --> 00:54:49,412
and found ourselves
up on the roof.
860
00:54:49,536 --> 00:54:51,880
It was actually after we got up
on top of the roof
861
00:54:52,039 --> 00:54:53,975
that we started seeing
all these masses of people.
862
00:54:53,999 --> 00:54:56,343
Some of them had already
come on the embassy compound.
863
00:54:56,460 --> 00:54:57,928
And they broke those doors.
864
00:54:58,045 --> 00:55:00,764
And that's how those,
uh, South Vietnamese
865
00:55:00,881 --> 00:55:04,306
were able
to get inside the embassy.
866
00:55:06,678 --> 00:55:11,229
This action closes a
chapter in the American experience.
867
00:55:11,391 --> 00:55:15,771
The president asks all Americans
to close ranks,
868
00:55:15,896 --> 00:55:20,072
to avoid recriminations
about the past,
869
00:55:20,234 --> 00:55:23,033
and to work together
on the great tasks
870
00:55:23,153 --> 00:55:26,123
that remain to be accomplished.
871
00:55:26,240 --> 00:55:30,620
Now, to, uh, give you details of
the events of the past few days
872
00:55:30,744 --> 00:55:32,496
and to answer your questions,
873
00:55:32,621 --> 00:55:33,964
Secretary of State Kissinger.
874
00:55:34,081 --> 00:55:35,391
Mr. Secretary,
are you confident
875
00:55:35,415 --> 00:55:37,588
that all the Americans
that wanted to come out
876
00:55:37,751 --> 00:55:39,424
are out of Saigon,
877
00:55:39,545 --> 00:55:41,013
and do you have any idea
878
00:55:41,129 --> 00:55:42,889
of the number of Americans
who remain behind?
879
00:55:42,923 --> 00:55:45,551
I have no idea
of the number of Americans
880
00:55:45,676 --> 00:55:47,269
that remain behind.
881
00:55:47,427 --> 00:55:50,852
Uh, I am confident
that every American
882
00:55:50,973 --> 00:55:52,225
who wanted to come out,
883
00:55:52,349 --> 00:55:55,444
uh, is, is out.
884
00:55:55,561 --> 00:55:58,440
What we need now in this country
885
00:55:58,564 --> 00:56:02,444
is to heal the wounds
and to put Vietnam behind us.
886
00:56:04,194 --> 00:56:07,243
An aide handed Kissinger a note.
887
00:56:07,364 --> 00:56:10,288
It said that the 129 Marines
888
00:56:10,409 --> 00:56:14,459
had somehow been left behind
on the embassy roof.
889
00:56:14,621 --> 00:56:17,966
Helicopters were dispatched
to pick them up.
890
00:56:18,083 --> 00:56:20,962
Eventually, only Sergeant Valdez
891
00:56:21,086 --> 00:56:25,808
and his ten-man embassy security
unit remained.
892
00:56:25,924 --> 00:56:28,347
But then, an hour went by
893
00:56:28,468 --> 00:56:30,971
with no sign
of any more helicopters.
894
00:56:31,096 --> 00:56:33,519
Their radio was dead.
895
00:56:33,640 --> 00:56:36,735
The Marines had no way
to contact the fleet
896
00:56:36,852 --> 00:56:40,152
to see if anyone was on the way.
897
00:56:40,314 --> 00:56:41,987
Everything stopped.
898
00:56:42,107 --> 00:56:43,780
We're being left behind.
899
00:56:43,901 --> 00:56:46,745
People are sitting around
in their own little thoughts,
900
00:56:46,862 --> 00:56:49,536
uh, not doing too much talking.
901
00:56:49,656 --> 00:56:52,660
We pretty much decided that
we were going to fight it out,
902
00:56:52,784 --> 00:56:54,081
use these small arms that we had
903
00:56:54,202 --> 00:56:56,546
and just fight it to the end.
904
00:56:56,663 --> 00:57:01,339
We started seeing two puffs of
smoke coming from out at sea.
905
00:57:01,501 --> 00:57:04,596
As they got closer,
then we were able to determine
906
00:57:04,713 --> 00:57:06,340
that they were helicopters.
907
00:57:06,465 --> 00:57:08,593
It was a relief.
908
00:57:08,717 --> 00:57:11,112
One of the Marines, I believe
it was Staff Sergeant Sullivan,
909
00:57:11,136 --> 00:57:12,183
my assistant,
910
00:57:12,304 --> 00:57:13,851
grabbed me
and started pulling me in
911
00:57:14,014 --> 00:57:15,357
as the ramp's going up.
912
00:57:15,515 --> 00:57:21,943
At 7:53 a.m., April 30, 1975,
913
00:57:22,064 --> 00:57:26,365
the last helicopter
lifted off the embassy roof.
914
00:57:26,485 --> 00:57:29,034
Master Sergeant Juan Valdez
915
00:57:29,154 --> 00:57:33,751
was the last American
to climb aboard.
916
00:57:36,370 --> 00:57:38,668
The government of South Vietnam
917
00:57:38,789 --> 00:57:41,292
had less than five hours
to live.
918
00:57:45,587 --> 00:57:50,559
President Minh spoke from
the palace at mid-morning.
919
00:57:50,676 --> 00:57:54,351
He urged what was left
of the South Vietnamese Army
920
00:57:54,471 --> 00:57:56,189
to stop fighting.
921
00:57:56,306 --> 00:58:00,777
"We are here waiting," he said,
"to hand over the authority
922
00:58:00,894 --> 00:58:05,070
in order to stop
useless bloodshed."
923
00:59:26,563 --> 00:59:28,361
At noon,
924
00:59:28,482 --> 00:59:32,328
North Vietnamese tanks
flying Viet Cong flags
925
00:59:32,444 --> 00:59:34,196
smashed their way
through the gates
926
00:59:34,321 --> 00:59:36,244
of the presidential palace.
927
00:59:38,533 --> 00:59:41,582
Within hours,
victorious soldiers
928
00:59:41,703 --> 00:59:45,503
were calling Saigon
"Ho Chi Minh City."
929
00:59:48,460 --> 00:59:52,840
All over town, ARVN soldiers
tore off their uniforms
930
00:59:53,006 --> 00:59:56,636
and did their best
to melt into the crowds.
931
00:59:56,760 --> 00:59:58,888
Families burned
their photo albums
932
00:59:59,012 --> 01:00:00,764
so there would be no evidence
933
01:00:00,889 --> 01:00:05,770
that their sons or husbands had
ever fought for South Vietnam.
934
01:00:08,105 --> 01:00:12,201
Colonel Tran Ngoc Toan had been
fighting the communists
935
01:00:12,359 --> 01:00:14,327
for more than 12 years,
936
01:00:14,444 --> 01:00:16,242
and had survived terrible wounds
937
01:00:16,363 --> 01:00:19,037
suffered at the Battle
of Binh Gia.
938
01:00:19,157 --> 01:00:21,410
He was leading what was left
939
01:00:21,535 --> 01:00:24,709
of the 4th South Vietnamese
Marine Battalion
940
01:00:24,830 --> 01:00:29,802
near Bien Hoa,
2O miles east of Saigon.
941
01:00:29,918 --> 01:00:32,592
His commanding general
had long since
942
01:00:32,712 --> 01:00:36,967
bribed his way aboard a ship
and fled the country.
943
01:00:37,092 --> 01:00:41,768
An American friend had urged
Toan to get out, too.
944
01:00:41,888 --> 01:00:43,765
He refused.
945
01:01:24,598 --> 01:01:27,522
A South
Vietnamese police officer
946
01:01:27,642 --> 01:01:29,736
walked to a memorial
built to honor
947
01:01:29,853 --> 01:01:33,278
those who had fallen
defending South Vietnam.
948
01:01:33,398 --> 01:01:36,402
He saluted it,
stood there for a time,
949
01:01:36,526 --> 01:01:39,996
and then shot himself
in the head.
950
01:01:40,113 --> 01:01:43,367
It was a very messy ending
951
01:01:43,491 --> 01:01:46,370
to a very messy war.
952
01:01:46,494 --> 01:01:48,792
I felt a sense of relief,
953
01:01:48,955 --> 01:01:52,710
but also a sense of sadness
when it ended.
954
01:01:52,834 --> 01:01:57,715
I felt relief
that the killing, destruction,
955
01:01:57,839 --> 01:01:59,967
finally came to an end,
956
01:02:00,133 --> 01:02:02,135
and I didn't care
which side won.
957
01:02:02,260 --> 01:02:04,604
To me, Vietnam won.
958
01:02:04,721 --> 01:02:06,564
Vietnamese people won
959
01:02:06,681 --> 01:02:09,901
because they finally could live
normally.
960
01:02:10,018 --> 01:02:15,491
And sad because I saw that
my family was again fleeing,
961
01:02:15,607 --> 01:02:17,530
and this time
from their homeland,
962
01:02:17,651 --> 01:02:20,996
and their future
was very uncertain.
963
01:02:21,154 --> 01:02:24,158
And I knew that
with the communists taking over,
964
01:02:24,282 --> 01:02:28,662
Vietnamese society
would be changed drastically.
965
01:02:28,787 --> 01:02:31,290
Lo Khac Tam had been fighting
966
01:02:31,414 --> 01:02:35,009
in the North Vietnamese Army
for nearly ten years now,
967
01:02:35,168 --> 01:02:38,422
beginning with the bloody clash
in the Ia Drang Valley,
968
01:02:38,546 --> 01:02:42,642
the first full-scale battle
of the American war.
969
01:02:42,759 --> 01:02:47,230
Now he was watching
that war's end.
970
01:03:20,839 --> 01:03:24,309
In Vietnam, we finally have
reached the end of the tunnel,
971
01:03:24,426 --> 01:03:26,645
and there is no light there.
972
01:03:26,761 --> 01:03:30,231
What is there, perhaps,
was best said by President Ford,
973
01:03:30,390 --> 01:03:32,688
"a war that is finished."
974
01:03:32,809 --> 01:03:36,313
I happened to be at a conference
975
01:03:36,438 --> 01:03:37,815
at Tufts University,
976
01:03:37,939 --> 01:03:40,533
and the dean there
was a former ambassador
977
01:03:40,650 --> 01:03:42,493
who spoke to us
late on that day,
978
01:03:42,610 --> 01:03:44,908
as it turned out,
the fateful day.
979
01:03:45,030 --> 01:03:48,284
And he said he had just come
back from Washington,
980
01:03:48,408 --> 01:03:52,038
where the spring weather
was beautiful
981
01:03:52,162 --> 01:03:54,756
and the daffodils were in bloom,
982
01:03:54,873 --> 01:04:01,097
to Boston, where it was gloomy
and gray as it was in his heart.
983
01:04:03,006 --> 01:04:06,101
And people hissed him
and booed him.
984
01:04:06,259 --> 01:04:09,513
I was there in uniform.
985
01:04:09,637 --> 01:04:11,935
One of my great regrets
was that I did not get up
986
01:04:12,057 --> 01:04:13,900
and start laying waste
to those people
987
01:04:14,017 --> 01:04:15,269
who disrespected the ambassador
988
01:04:15,435 --> 01:04:18,359
and his sorrow
at the fall of South Vietnam.
989
01:04:18,480 --> 01:04:20,858
I got a call from
the V.V.A.W. national office
990
01:04:20,982 --> 01:04:23,531
from some friends of mine
from the old days.
991
01:04:23,651 --> 01:04:25,619
They were having
a big celebration,
992
01:04:25,779 --> 01:04:28,783
drinking booze and, "Ah, well,
it's a great day, isn't it?"
993
01:04:28,907 --> 01:04:31,786
And I said, "Are you nuts?"
994
01:04:31,951 --> 01:04:34,795
I said,
"No, it's not a great day."
995
01:04:34,954 --> 01:04:37,798
To see America leaving
like that,
996
01:04:37,957 --> 01:04:42,588
after we'd given almost 60,000
of our sons and daughters,
997
01:04:42,712 --> 01:04:46,262
that wasn't something
to celebrate.
998
01:04:46,383 --> 01:04:48,260
I knew we were abandoning
999
01:04:48,385 --> 01:04:51,810
millions of South Vietnamese
that had trusted us,
1000
01:04:51,971 --> 01:04:54,724
thrown in their lot with us.
1001
01:04:54,849 --> 01:04:57,978
That wasn't anything
to celebrate.
1002
01:04:58,103 --> 01:05:00,447
I thought it was just
one of the saddest moments
1003
01:05:00,563 --> 01:05:04,113
I'd ever seen
in American history.
1004
01:05:04,234 --> 01:05:06,236
So when some future politician,
for some reason,
1005
01:05:06,361 --> 01:05:10,332
feels the need to drag
this country into a war,
1006
01:05:10,490 --> 01:05:12,242
he might come out here
to Arlington,
1007
01:05:12,367 --> 01:05:14,369
and stand maybe
right over there somewhere,
1008
01:05:14,494 --> 01:05:18,340
to make his announcement
and to tell what he has in mind.
1009
01:06:51,090 --> 01:06:54,435
In Vietnam, the
Communist Party is triumphant.
1010
01:06:54,594 --> 01:06:57,268
And they have
exceptionalism, too.
1011
01:06:57,388 --> 01:07:01,063
And their exceptionalism
gets in their way
1012
01:07:01,184 --> 01:07:04,814
just like our exceptionalism
got in our way.
1013
01:07:04,938 --> 01:07:08,738
So they unify the country
in a military sense,
1014
01:07:08,858 --> 01:07:13,113
and then they, they don't really
unify the country after that.
1015
01:07:13,279 --> 01:07:17,750
They, they try, but they fail.
1016
01:07:17,867 --> 01:07:20,620
In the end,
there was no bloodbath
1017
01:07:20,745 --> 01:07:23,669
on the scale many had feared,
1018
01:07:23,790 --> 01:07:28,261
but hundreds, perhaps thousands,
of people in the countryside
1019
01:07:28,378 --> 01:07:29,971
are thought to have been killed
1020
01:07:30,088 --> 01:07:35,310
in individual acts of revenge
or political retaliation.
1021
01:07:35,468 --> 01:07:38,472
Those who had served
the Thieu regime,
1022
01:07:38,638 --> 01:07:41,141
from generals
to ordinary clerks,
1023
01:07:41,307 --> 01:07:44,902
were required
to undergo re-education.
1024
01:07:45,019 --> 01:07:46,896
Enlisted men were assured
1025
01:07:47,021 --> 01:07:50,571
they would only have to submit
to three days of "study."
1026
01:07:50,692 --> 01:07:55,198
Officers needn't attend
for more than a month.
1027
01:08:27,186 --> 01:08:29,280
A million and a half people
1028
01:08:29,397 --> 01:08:34,073
are believed to have undergone
some form of indoctrination.
1029
01:08:34,193 --> 01:08:38,699
ARVN cemeteries were bulldozed
or padlocked,
1030
01:08:38,823 --> 01:08:41,702
as if the memory of
an independent South Vietnam,
1031
01:08:41,826 --> 01:08:44,579
and those who had died
for that cause,
1032
01:08:44,704 --> 01:08:47,878
could both be obliterated.
1033
01:08:48,041 --> 01:08:49,521
The communists,
1034
01:08:49,626 --> 01:08:52,926
in their effort
to erase vestiges
1035
01:08:53,046 --> 01:08:54,639
of the former regime,
1036
01:08:54,756 --> 01:08:58,727
have not allowed
the South Vietnamese
1037
01:08:58,885 --> 01:09:02,185
who lost their sons in the war
1038
01:09:02,305 --> 01:09:07,732
to mourn, to have their graves
and to honor their memory.
1039
01:09:07,894 --> 01:09:11,444
It caused a division
that lasts to this day,
1040
01:09:11,564 --> 01:09:16,411
that the winners would not
accommodate the losers
1041
01:09:16,527 --> 01:09:18,404
in some way.
1042
01:09:31,584 --> 01:09:36,932
After 30 yea rs of war,
much of Vietnam lay in ruins.
1043
01:09:37,048 --> 01:09:39,642
Three million people
are thought to have died,
1044
01:09:39,759 --> 01:09:41,932
North and South.
1045
01:09:42,095 --> 01:09:45,770
Still more had been wounded.
1046
01:09:45,890 --> 01:09:50,111
Thousands of children
fathered by American servicemen
1047
01:09:50,228 --> 01:09:53,027
had been left behind.
1048
01:09:53,147 --> 01:09:59,450
Villages needed to be rebuilt,
land had to be reclaimed.
1049
01:09:59,612 --> 01:10:02,957
Cities were choked
with refugees.
1050
01:10:03,074 --> 01:10:05,827
Millions were without work.
1051
01:10:05,952 --> 01:10:10,207
President Ford
imposed an economic embargo.
1052
01:10:10,331 --> 01:10:16,134
Washington refused to recognize
the new government of Vietnam.
1053
01:10:16,254 --> 01:10:18,973
But Le Duan and his allies
on the Politburo
1054
01:10:19,132 --> 01:10:21,430
remained optimistic.
1055
01:10:21,551 --> 01:10:24,771
"Nothing more can happen,"
one committee member said.
1056
01:10:24,887 --> 01:10:27,481
"The problems we face now
are trifles
1057
01:10:27,598 --> 01:10:30,818
compared to those in the past."
1058
01:10:30,977 --> 01:10:33,696
Le Duan resolved,
with Soviet help,
1059
01:10:33,813 --> 01:10:36,783
to turn all of Vietnam
into what he called
1060
01:10:36,899 --> 01:10:41,655
an "impregnable outpost
of the socialist system."
1061
01:10:41,821 --> 01:10:45,997
Hanoi forcibly collectivized
agriculture in the South,
1062
01:10:46,117 --> 01:10:48,495
virtually abolished capitalism,
1063
01:10:48,661 --> 01:10:51,164
nationalized industries,
1064
01:10:51,289 --> 01:10:53,667
and appointed planners
to run it all
1065
01:10:53,833 --> 01:10:57,212
along strict communist lines.
1066
01:10:57,336 --> 01:11:01,307
The result would be
economic disaster.
1067
01:11:01,424 --> 01:11:06,271
Inflation rose
as high as 700% a year.
1068
01:11:06,387 --> 01:11:09,015
People starved.
1069
01:11:38,044 --> 01:11:40,888
To compound its problems,
1070
01:11:41,047 --> 01:11:44,551
Vietnam found itself,
once again, at war,
1071
01:11:44,717 --> 01:11:48,267
caught between the interests
of the two communist powers
1072
01:11:48,387 --> 01:11:51,266
that had once been
its staunchest allies,
1073
01:11:51,390 --> 01:11:53,893
China and the Soviet Union.
1074
01:11:55,394 --> 01:11:58,443
After the brutal Maoist regime
in Cambodia
1075
01:11:58,564 --> 01:12:00,066
raided border areas,
1076
01:12:00,191 --> 01:12:04,162
Vietnamese troops, with
Soviet arms and encouragement,
1077
01:12:04,278 --> 01:12:08,875
crossed the frontier in 1978
and overthrew it.
1078
01:12:08,991 --> 01:12:11,085
A frustrating ten-year
1079
01:12:11,244 --> 01:12:13,622
counterinsurgency campaign
followed
1080
01:12:13,746 --> 01:12:18,377
that some called
"Vietnam's Vietnam."
1081
01:12:18,501 --> 01:12:20,299
Before it was over,
1082
01:12:20,419 --> 01:12:24,219
the Vietnamese would lose
some 50,000 more men,
1083
01:12:24,340 --> 01:12:29,392
almost as many as the Americans
had lost in their war.
1084
01:12:30,930 --> 01:12:32,773
Meanwhile, communist China,
1085
01:12:32,932 --> 01:12:36,778
determined to punish Vietnam
for invading Cambodia,
1086
01:12:36,894 --> 01:12:39,443
and to show Moscow
it would not have a free hand
1087
01:12:39,605 --> 01:12:41,278
in Southeast Asia,
1088
01:12:41,399 --> 01:12:45,870
sent 85,000 troops
storming into northern Vietnam.
1089
01:12:45,987 --> 01:12:49,287
They devastated areas
along the border
1090
01:12:49,448 --> 01:12:53,203
before the Vietnamese
pushed them back.
1091
01:12:55,246 --> 01:12:58,796
The South China Sea, 1978.
1092
01:12:58,916 --> 01:13:02,466
They come ashore
at the rate of 10,000 a month,
1093
01:13:02,587 --> 01:13:05,056
much faster than the United
States or any other nation
1094
01:13:05,172 --> 01:13:06,970
is willing to accept them.
1095
01:13:07,091 --> 01:13:11,062
They come chasing
an elusive memory:
1096
01:13:11,178 --> 01:13:13,272
the promise of America.
1097
01:13:13,389 --> 01:13:18,611
A million and a half people
would eventually flee Vietnam:
1098
01:13:18,728 --> 01:13:21,698
supporters
of the old Saigon regime,
1099
01:13:21,814 --> 01:13:23,737
refugees
from the renewed fighting
1100
01:13:23,858 --> 01:13:25,826
along the Cambodian border,
1101
01:13:25,943 --> 01:13:28,662
and ethnic Chinese
residents of Vietnam,
1102
01:13:28,821 --> 01:13:33,167
whom the new government
had treated especially harshly.
1103
01:13:33,326 --> 01:13:37,456
Hundreds of thousands
of the boat people died.
1104
01:13:37,580 --> 01:13:39,833
Others suffered in refugee camps
1105
01:13:39,957 --> 01:13:42,210
throughout Southeast Asia.
1106
01:13:46,505 --> 01:13:51,602
Some 400,000 eventually
made it to America,
1107
01:13:51,719 --> 01:13:54,438
where they settled
in nearly every state,
1108
01:13:54,555 --> 01:13:57,354
industrious, entrepreneurial,
1109
01:13:57,475 --> 01:14:01,105
more eager to take part
in American political life
1110
01:14:01,228 --> 01:14:04,698
and more likely to become
American citizens
1111
01:14:04,857 --> 01:14:08,202
than other immigrant groups
from Asia.
1112
01:14:08,361 --> 01:14:12,332
But for that first generation
of Vietnamese Americans,
1113
01:14:12,448 --> 01:14:17,375
memories of their homeland
could never be erased.
1114
01:15:04,625 --> 01:15:06,343
I remember I was
1115
01:15:06,460 --> 01:15:08,462
with one of my daughters, uh...
1116
01:15:08,587 --> 01:15:10,806
at an intersection and some guy
came up behind me
1117
01:15:10,923 --> 01:15:13,893
and blasted the horn.
1118
01:15:14,010 --> 01:15:16,104
When I came to my senses,
1119
01:15:16,220 --> 01:15:18,097
I was on the hood of his car,
1120
01:15:18,264 --> 01:15:21,234
about to, trying to kick
his windshield in.
1121
01:15:21,350 --> 01:15:23,550
And I went... and there's people
all over looking at me.
1122
01:15:23,602 --> 01:15:25,275
I mean, this is crazy.
This is crazy.
1123
01:15:25,396 --> 01:15:27,249
And then I started going,
"Well, this is weird."
1124
01:15:27,273 --> 01:15:29,526
I sort of slinked back
to my car and, you know,
1125
01:15:29,650 --> 01:15:31,336
my daughter, she's about four,
looking at me,
1126
01:15:31,360 --> 01:15:32,462
"Wow, what's that all about?"
1127
01:15:32,486 --> 01:15:33,846
And I go,
"What is that all about?"
1128
01:15:33,946 --> 01:15:35,038
I had no idea.
1129
01:15:35,156 --> 01:15:37,500
I had no idea that it was
even related to the war.
1130
01:15:39,618 --> 01:15:43,418
It is as old as war itself.
1131
01:15:43,539 --> 01:15:46,463
The ancient Greeks
called it "divine madness."
1132
01:15:49,378 --> 01:15:54,475
It was "soldier's heart"
in the Civil War,
1133
01:15:54,592 --> 01:15:59,143
"shell shock" during
the First World War
1134
01:15:59,305 --> 01:16:01,524
and "combat fatigue"
in the Second.
1135
01:16:05,519 --> 01:16:08,568
Following Vietnam,
it was given a new name,
1136
01:16:08,689 --> 01:16:11,989
Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder...
1137
01:16:12,151 --> 01:16:14,654
PTSD.
1138
01:16:14,820 --> 01:16:19,417
And what you learn
is that PTSD doesn't go away.
1139
01:16:19,533 --> 01:16:22,787
But now if someone
honks the horn,
1140
01:16:22,912 --> 01:16:24,289
and it startles me, I'm still...
1141
01:16:24,413 --> 01:16:26,006
My heart rate's still
going to go up,
1142
01:16:26,165 --> 01:16:28,143
and it'll be there for five
minutes and I'm like this.
1143
01:16:28,167 --> 01:16:30,795
But, "Ten, nine,
it's just some asshole,
1144
01:16:30,920 --> 01:16:33,014
"he's had a bad day at work,
eight, seven, six,
1145
01:16:33,130 --> 01:16:34,983
"it's not... no one's shooting
at you, you're safe,
1146
01:16:35,007 --> 01:16:36,610
it's seven, six, five, four,
three, two, one."
1147
01:16:36,634 --> 01:16:38,136
And I can control it,
1148
01:16:38,260 --> 01:16:39,512
whereas I couldn't do it before
1149
01:16:39,637 --> 01:16:41,685
because I didn't understand
what was going on.
1150
01:16:43,307 --> 01:16:45,685
Adding to the
pain many veterans felt
1151
01:16:45,851 --> 01:16:50,027
was their country's
eagerness to forget the war.
1152
01:16:50,189 --> 01:16:52,692
There were few parades.
1153
01:16:54,193 --> 01:16:59,791
In many ways, everyone
came home from Vietnam alone.
1154
01:17:01,575 --> 01:17:03,168
When I got home,
1155
01:17:03,285 --> 01:17:04,628
and my mom and dad were there,
1156
01:17:04,745 --> 01:17:07,214
my brothers and sisters,
my wife.
1157
01:17:07,331 --> 01:17:09,004
And we're embracing and...
1158
01:17:11,710 --> 01:17:16,216
I couldn't relate to my wife
or my mother what I had seen,
1159
01:17:16,382 --> 01:17:19,636
what I had done in Vietnam.
1160
01:17:19,760 --> 01:17:21,979
I could've talked
to my brothers about it,
1161
01:17:22,096 --> 01:17:25,225
but they, they knew
I didn't want to.
1162
01:17:25,391 --> 01:17:28,190
And so it just, uh,
something unsaid, you know.
1163
01:17:28,310 --> 01:17:30,233
"Welcome back, Vince.
1164
01:17:30,396 --> 01:17:33,320
You've been through the,
the wringer, but welcome back."
1165
01:17:36,318 --> 01:17:38,571
In April 1981,
1166
01:17:38,696 --> 01:17:41,245
a panel of eight architects
and sculptors
1167
01:17:41,365 --> 01:17:43,288
gathered in an airplane hangar
1168
01:17:43,409 --> 01:17:46,959
at Andrews Air Force Base
outside Washington.
1169
01:17:47,079 --> 01:17:49,958
They were there to choose
the winning design
1170
01:17:50,082 --> 01:17:53,131
for a Vietnam memorial
for the nation's capital
1171
01:17:53,252 --> 01:17:55,971
from more
than 1,400 submissions.
1172
01:17:59,800 --> 01:18:03,771
The memorial was the brainchild
of a single stubborn veteran,
1173
01:18:03,888 --> 01:18:06,812
a former rifleman
named Jan Scruggs,
1174
01:18:06,932 --> 01:18:10,311
who, after suffering
a frightening flashback,
1175
01:18:10,436 --> 01:18:13,189
told his wife he wanted
to "build a memorial
1176
01:18:13,314 --> 01:18:16,534
"to all the guys
who served in Vietnam.
1177
01:18:16,650 --> 01:18:19,654
It'll have the name
of everyone killed."
1178
01:18:19,778 --> 01:18:21,280
With other veterans,
1179
01:18:21,405 --> 01:18:24,204
he established
a nonprofit organization,
1180
01:18:24,325 --> 01:18:26,919
the Vietnam Veterans
Memorial Fund,
1181
01:18:27,036 --> 01:18:31,086
and went to work collecting
money and making plans.
1182
01:18:31,207 --> 01:18:35,758
In the end,
some 650,000 Americans
1183
01:18:35,878 --> 01:18:39,348
would contribute more
than $8 million.
1184
01:18:39,465 --> 01:18:44,141
The judges chose
submission number 1026.
1185
01:18:45,471 --> 01:18:47,439
21-year-old Maya Ying Lin,
1186
01:18:47,556 --> 01:18:49,604
an architect student
at Yale University,
1187
01:18:49,725 --> 01:18:51,853
got the $20,000 prize.
1188
01:18:51,977 --> 01:18:53,820
Her winning design is comprised
1189
01:18:53,938 --> 01:18:56,361
of two elongated triangles
of black granite,
1190
01:18:56,482 --> 01:18:58,951
inset into a hill
and inscribed with the names
1191
01:18:59,068 --> 01:19:03,744
of the 57,692 men and women
who died in the war.
1192
01:19:03,864 --> 01:19:08,165
Lin, whose parents emigrated
from China in the 1940s to Ohio,
1193
01:19:08,285 --> 01:19:09,707
thought she wouldn't win
1194
01:19:09,828 --> 01:19:12,297
because her design
was too strange and too strong.
1195
01:19:12,414 --> 01:19:15,463
I had a general idea that
I wanted to describe a journey,
1196
01:19:15,584 --> 01:19:18,713
a journey that would
make you experience death
1197
01:19:18,837 --> 01:19:21,306
and where you'd have
to be an observer,
1198
01:19:21,423 --> 01:19:24,051
where you could never really
fully be with the dead.
1199
01:19:24,176 --> 01:19:26,238
It wasn't going to be something
that was going to say,
1200
01:19:26,262 --> 01:19:28,014
"It's all right, it's all over,"
1201
01:19:28,138 --> 01:19:29,185
because it's not.
1202
01:19:29,306 --> 01:19:32,059
Differences about the war
1203
01:19:32,184 --> 01:19:36,234
colored people's feelings
about the proposed design.
1204
01:19:36,355 --> 01:19:39,734
Some who believed that the war
had been unjust and immoral
1205
01:19:39,858 --> 01:19:43,408
feared the monument was
somehow meant to glorify it.
1206
01:19:44,905 --> 01:19:48,375
Others feared its stark design
failed to do justice
1207
01:19:48,534 --> 01:19:52,380
to the cause for which
Americans had fought.
1208
01:19:52,496 --> 01:19:55,045
The writer Tom Wolfe
dismissed it
1209
01:19:55,207 --> 01:19:58,177
as "a tribute to Jane Fonda."
1210
01:19:58,294 --> 01:20:00,272
I don't care
about artistic perceptions.
1211
01:20:00,296 --> 01:20:02,298
One needs no artistic education
1212
01:20:02,423 --> 01:20:04,892
to see this memorial design
for what it is:
1213
01:20:05,009 --> 01:20:07,478
a black scar.
1214
01:20:07,594 --> 01:20:09,392
Black, the universal color
1215
01:20:09,555 --> 01:20:11,899
of sorrow and shame
and degradation
1216
01:20:12,057 --> 01:20:14,685
in all races and all societies
worldwide.
1217
01:20:14,810 --> 01:20:17,780
In a hole,
hidden as if out of shame.
1218
01:20:17,896 --> 01:20:20,570
Mr. Chairman,
members of the commission,
1219
01:20:20,733 --> 01:20:22,280
I speak as an individual,
1220
01:20:22,401 --> 01:20:24,904
a member from
the general public.
1221
01:20:25,029 --> 01:20:29,535
What are the memorable images
from the war in Vietnam?
1222
01:20:29,658 --> 01:20:31,126
A guerrilla,
1223
01:20:31,243 --> 01:20:33,746
shot at point-blank range.
1224
01:20:33,871 --> 01:20:36,374
A naked girl, afire, running,
1225
01:20:36,498 --> 01:20:38,592
screaming down a dusty road.
1226
01:20:40,169 --> 01:20:42,171
I think Maya Lin was right
1227
01:20:42,296 --> 01:20:45,596
in going beyond
these kinds of images.
1228
01:20:45,716 --> 01:20:50,517
She resolved all the pain and
conflict of that unhappy time
1229
01:20:50,637 --> 01:20:55,313
in a simple message of sacrifice
and quiet heroism.
1230
01:20:55,434 --> 01:21:00,235
In an official vote of
support for Maya Lin's design,
1231
01:21:00,356 --> 01:21:03,906
the American Gold Star Mothers
spoke for many.
1232
01:21:04,026 --> 01:21:05,778
"Nowadays," they said,
1233
01:21:05,944 --> 01:21:08,788
"patriotism is
a complicated matter.
1234
01:21:08,906 --> 01:21:10,908
"But perhaps that is why
1235
01:21:11,033 --> 01:21:12,910
"the V-shaped,
black granite lines
1236
01:21:13,035 --> 01:21:16,289
"merging gently
with the sloping earth
1237
01:21:16,455 --> 01:21:18,833
"convey the only point
about the war
1238
01:21:18,957 --> 01:21:21,005
"on which people may agree:
1239
01:21:21,126 --> 01:21:24,346
that those who died
should be remembered."
1240
01:21:46,652 --> 01:21:50,498
# When you're weary #
1241
01:21:53,158 --> 01:21:55,411
# Feeling small #
1242
01:21:58,080 --> 01:22:05,339
# When tears are in your eyes #
1243
01:22:05,504 --> 01:22:13,504
# I'll dry them all. #
1244
01:22:13,679 --> 01:22:18,150
As you got out of the
car and you approached the wall,
1245
01:22:18,267 --> 01:22:22,818
the intensity of which,
it grabs you...
1246
01:22:24,106 --> 01:22:25,483
You go UP»-
1247
01:22:28,819 --> 01:22:30,196
You see the names,
1248
01:22:30,362 --> 01:22:31,614
you touch the names...
1249
01:22:34,366 --> 01:22:36,289
It's intense.
1250
01:22:36,410 --> 01:22:43,339
# Bridge over troubled water #
1251
01:22:43,459 --> 01:22:46,963
# I will lay me down. #
1252
01:22:56,180 --> 01:22:57,306
I did not like
1253
01:22:57,431 --> 01:22:59,149
the Vietnam wall.
1254
01:22:59,266 --> 01:23:02,941
I considered it
an ugly, black ditch
1255
01:23:03,061 --> 01:23:06,736
and that it said
the only people that, uh...
1256
01:23:06,899 --> 01:23:08,993
to be commemorated are the dead,
1257
01:23:09,109 --> 01:23:13,489
not because they're heroes,
but because they're victims.
1258
01:23:15,032 --> 01:23:17,911
I didn't go.
1259
01:23:18,076 --> 01:23:21,205
Until...
1260
01:23:21,330 --> 01:23:23,424
one year...
1261
01:23:23,540 --> 01:23:26,544
they were going to put
the wreath in front of...
1262
01:23:26,668 --> 01:23:28,670
the name of my roommate.
1263
01:23:28,795 --> 01:23:31,423
I had, I had to go.
1264
01:23:31,548 --> 01:23:34,848
So I've gone
every year since then
1265
01:23:34,968 --> 01:23:38,768
to remember those we, we lost.
1266
01:23:38,889 --> 01:23:40,766
And, um...
1267
01:23:40,933 --> 01:23:42,435
I walk down to the far left
1268
01:23:42,559 --> 01:23:47,315
and I run my fingers
over that name.
1269
01:23:54,154 --> 01:23:56,282
You go to that wall,
1270
01:23:56,448 --> 01:23:59,497
and even my son, who was nine
years old when I first took him,
1271
01:23:59,618 --> 01:24:02,588
and you see over 58,000 names,
1272
01:24:02,704 --> 01:24:07,961
and you know that unwritten
behind or beside each name,
1273
01:24:08,085 --> 01:24:12,135
there's a mother or a father
or a wife or a daughter
1274
01:24:12,297 --> 01:24:16,302
whose lives
were forever shattered
1275
01:24:16,468 --> 01:24:19,096
by that damn war.
1276
01:24:23,517 --> 01:24:28,023
I've been to
the wall, more than once.
1277
01:24:28,146 --> 01:24:29,989
When I look back
at the war and, you know,
1278
01:24:30,148 --> 01:24:32,116
think of the horrible things,
you know,
1279
01:24:32,234 --> 01:24:35,613
we said to, you know,
vets who were returning,
1280
01:24:35,737 --> 01:24:39,492
you know, calling them
"baby killers" and worse,
1281
01:24:39,616 --> 01:24:45,419
I, you know...
I feel very sad about that.
1282
01:24:45,539 --> 01:24:49,169
I can only say that,
you know, we were kids, too,
1283
01:24:49,334 --> 01:24:51,632
you know, just like they were.
1284
01:24:51,753 --> 01:24:54,472
It grieves me,
it grieves me today.
1285
01:24:54,590 --> 01:24:58,094
It pains me to think
of the things that I said
1286
01:24:58,218 --> 01:24:59,686
and that we said.
1287
01:24:59,803 --> 01:25:03,182
And I'm sorry.
1288
01:25:05,559 --> 01:25:07,607
I'm sorry.
1289
01:25:18,697 --> 01:25:20,415
I didn't want to go.
1290
01:25:21,825 --> 01:25:28,424
And it was
a beautiful summer morning.
1291
01:25:28,540 --> 01:25:33,842
Went to the Lincoln Memorial
first.
1292
01:25:33,962 --> 01:25:38,183
A comforting place to be.
1293
01:25:38,300 --> 01:25:40,302
And...
1294
01:25:40,427 --> 01:25:45,354
And then crossed the street and
walked in towards the entrance.
1295
01:25:45,474 --> 01:25:48,819
And, as you know, at first,
you can't really see the wall,
1296
01:25:48,935 --> 01:25:52,530
and you're coming down
into the grassy hill.
1297
01:25:52,648 --> 01:25:57,449
And when I caught sight of it,
1298
01:25:57,569 --> 01:26:00,618
I literally lost my breath.
1299
01:26:01,782 --> 01:26:04,410
Of course, I wept.
1300
01:26:06,578 --> 01:26:10,924
I had help getting lifted up
so I could touch it.
1301
01:26:11,041 --> 01:26:13,635
I found my brother's name.
1302
01:26:17,839 --> 01:26:19,807
I looked at my brother's name
1303
01:26:19,925 --> 01:26:24,101
in the company
of all those other people.
1304
01:26:26,264 --> 01:26:28,858
There was sadness.
1305
01:26:28,975 --> 01:26:33,446
But now he wasn't alone, either.
1306
01:26:33,563 --> 01:26:37,033
He was in the company of people.
1307
01:26:37,150 --> 01:26:39,744
And he was there
1308
01:26:39,861 --> 01:26:44,207
for people to know
and to think about.
1309
01:26:44,324 --> 01:26:45,951
And he wasn't forgotten.
1310
01:26:46,118 --> 01:26:47,836
And he wasn't lost.
1311
01:26:47,953 --> 01:26:52,254
It was incredibly healing
and freeing for me.
1312
01:27:00,173 --> 01:27:02,253
As I was walking towards it
from the reflecting pool,
1313
01:27:02,342 --> 01:27:05,141
there were so many names
on those walls.
1314
01:27:05,262 --> 01:27:09,142
And all of a sudden,
my throat swole up,
1315
01:27:09,307 --> 01:27:11,105
and I thought, "I can't do this.
1316
01:27:11,226 --> 01:27:13,320
I can't do this right now."
1317
01:27:13,437 --> 01:27:16,566
And I collapsed.
1318
01:27:19,985 --> 01:27:24,035
And all the tears
I'd been holding back...
1319
01:27:26,158 --> 01:27:28,081
I didn't cry, I sobbed.
1320
01:27:28,201 --> 01:27:32,081
I was on my knees, sobbing.
1321
01:27:32,205 --> 01:27:35,675
I couldn't stop,
I couldn't get my breath.
1322
01:27:38,503 --> 01:27:43,475
And I was so grateful to God
that it was there.
1323
01:27:43,592 --> 01:27:46,391
I thought,
1324
01:27:46,511 --> 01:27:49,185
"This is going to save lives.
1325
01:27:49,347 --> 01:27:52,191
This is going to save lives."
1326
01:28:35,393 --> 01:28:37,691
I was struck by its beauty
1327
01:28:37,813 --> 01:28:40,692
and how at peace
Vietnam looked from the air.
1328
01:28:40,816 --> 01:28:43,410
I had a sense of anticipation
in my body.
1329
01:28:43,527 --> 01:28:45,746
I had worked hard
for many months with others
1330
01:28:45,862 --> 01:28:50,333
to organize this trip
and to negotiate our arrival
1331
01:28:50,450 --> 01:28:51,552
with the Vietnamese government.
1332
01:28:51,576 --> 01:28:52,577
How do you do?
1333
01:28:52,744 --> 01:28:53,836
Toi ten Tom Vallely.
1334
01:28:53,954 --> 01:28:56,673
I came back to
Vietnam as a veteran
1335
01:28:56,790 --> 01:28:58,918
to learn from history,
1336
01:28:59,042 --> 01:29:01,921
and to see
how the place had changed.
1337
01:29:04,047 --> 01:29:06,095
There had only been
200 Americans
1338
01:29:06,216 --> 01:29:07,763
that had been to Vietnam
since 1975,
1339
01:29:07,884 --> 01:29:09,444
and most of them
had been correspondents
1340
01:29:09,511 --> 01:29:11,058
and had been in the South.
1341
01:29:13,723 --> 01:29:16,602
Many of the kids,
you'd walk down the street,
1342
01:29:16,726 --> 01:29:18,399
and they'd go,
"Lien Xo, lien Xo,"
1343
01:29:18,520 --> 01:29:19,897
which means "Russian."
1344
01:29:20,021 --> 01:29:21,364
And you'd go, “No lien Xo,
1345
01:29:21,481 --> 01:29:23,950
toi la nguoi My"...
"I'm an American."
1346
01:29:24,067 --> 01:29:26,616
And their face would light up,
and they'd go, "American!"
1347
01:29:26,736 --> 01:29:28,613
And it would spread
like wildfire
1348
01:29:28,738 --> 01:29:30,615
through the schoolyard,
or the street
1349
01:29:30,782 --> 01:29:32,625
that Americans were here.
1350
01:29:32,742 --> 01:29:35,120
And they'd come out and
they'd be very, very friendly.
1351
01:29:38,915 --> 01:29:39,962
Good bye.
1352
01:29:40,125 --> 01:29:42,594
Goodbye!
Goodbye!
1353
01:29:47,632 --> 01:29:52,479
Tom Vallely had served
with the Marines in Vietnam.
1354
01:29:52,637 --> 01:29:58,189
16 years later,
the country drew him back.
1355
01:29:58,310 --> 01:30:00,779
He founded the Vietnam Program
1356
01:30:00,896 --> 01:30:03,149
of the Kennedy School
at Harvard,
1357
01:30:03,315 --> 01:30:09,493
and helped educate some of
the country's future leaders.
1358
01:30:09,613 --> 01:30:12,662
I got very, very involved
in the reconnecting
1359
01:30:12,782 --> 01:30:14,955
between the United States
and Vietnam,
1360
01:30:15,076 --> 01:30:17,704
and how that reconnection
takes place,
1361
01:30:17,829 --> 01:30:22,835
I spent a decade of my life
putting those pieces together.
1362
01:30:22,959 --> 01:30:25,132
Although the United States
1363
01:30:25,253 --> 01:30:28,382
did not have diplomatic
relations with Vietnam,
1364
01:30:28,506 --> 01:30:32,352
veterans had begun
coming back on their own,
1365
01:30:32,510 --> 01:30:37,516
revisiting places
where they had fought...
1366
01:30:38,683 --> 01:30:41,732
...meeting old foes...
1367
01:30:43,855 --> 01:30:47,576
...planting trees
and building schools,
1368
01:30:47,692 --> 01:30:51,697
trying to put the war
behind them.
1369
01:30:53,281 --> 01:30:56,205
Vallely worked closely
with other veterans,
1370
01:30:56,368 --> 01:30:59,872
including three
United States senators,
1371
01:30:59,996 --> 01:31:03,626
who became among the most
influential American advocates
1372
01:31:03,750 --> 01:31:06,378
for normalizing relations:
1373
01:31:06,544 --> 01:31:09,218
John McCain from Arizona,
1374
01:31:09,339 --> 01:31:14,095
who had endured six years
as a prisoner of war;
1375
01:31:14,219 --> 01:31:17,223
John Kerry from Massachusetts,
1376
01:31:17,389 --> 01:31:20,734
the ex-commander
of a Swift Boat;
1377
01:31:20,892 --> 01:31:23,941
and Bob Kerrey of Nebraska,
1378
01:31:24,062 --> 01:31:27,532
a former Navy SEAL.
1379
01:31:27,649 --> 01:31:30,778
Their task would not be easy.
1380
01:31:30,902 --> 01:31:34,156
Hanoi insisted
the United States make good
1381
01:31:34,280 --> 01:31:38,786
on a promise to provide funds
for reconstruction.
1382
01:31:38,910 --> 01:31:41,880
For its part,
the United States demanded
1383
01:31:41,997 --> 01:31:43,624
a complete accounting
1384
01:31:43,748 --> 01:31:46,877
of the 2,500 Americans
whose remains
1385
01:31:47,002 --> 01:31:49,551
had never been recovered.
1386
01:31:49,671 --> 01:31:55,053
Hanoi, which had more than
300,000 missing of its own,
1387
01:31:55,176 --> 01:31:59,727
refused to cooperate.
1388
01:31:59,848 --> 01:32:04,604
But events both within Vietnam
and far beyond its borders
1389
01:32:04,769 --> 01:32:09,024
slowly moved things along.
1390
01:32:36,718 --> 01:32:42,020
Le Duan died in 1986.
1391
01:32:42,140 --> 01:32:46,441
His successors adopted
what they called doi moi,
1392
01:32:46,561 --> 01:32:50,156
a more pragmatic reformist
economic policy.
1393
01:32:52,734 --> 01:32:56,830
As the Cold War ended,
Soviet aid disappeared,
1394
01:32:56,988 --> 01:33:01,994
and Hanoi finally began
to help U.S. military teams
1395
01:33:02,118 --> 01:33:05,839
search for American remains.
1396
01:33:05,955 --> 01:33:10,506
The architects of normalization
1397
01:33:10,627 --> 01:33:12,800
are the Vietnamese.
1398
01:33:12,921 --> 01:33:15,845
It's not the Americans.
1399
01:33:16,007 --> 01:33:18,180
And the normalization of Vietnam
1400
01:33:18,343 --> 01:33:23,349
is a strategy of the
Vietnamese Communist Party
1401
01:33:23,473 --> 01:33:25,692
to join the world.
1402
01:33:25,850 --> 01:33:27,318
They want to join the world.
1403
01:33:27,435 --> 01:33:30,564
And the United States makes it
hard for them to join the world.
1404
01:33:30,688 --> 01:33:33,532
So John McCain insists,
1405
01:33:33,691 --> 01:33:35,534
"Yeah, you want
to have normalization?
1406
01:33:35,652 --> 01:33:38,872
All your prisoners need to be
out of re-education camp."
1407
01:33:39,030 --> 01:33:41,374
"You want normalization?"
1408
01:33:41,533 --> 01:33:44,537
John Kerry... "1 need all the
information about the missing."
1409
01:33:46,579 --> 01:33:49,128
In 1994,
1410
01:33:49,249 --> 01:33:52,048
after the Vietnamese
met the Americans' demands,
1411
01:33:52,210 --> 01:33:56,386
the United States
lifted its trade embargo.
1412
01:33:56,548 --> 01:34:01,054
Full normalization
came the following year.
1413
01:34:01,219 --> 01:34:04,519
The new American ambassador
was Pete Peterson,
1414
01:34:04,639 --> 01:34:09,736
who had spent six years
in Hanoi as a P.O.W.
1415
01:34:12,230 --> 01:34:14,324
In November of 2000,
1416
01:34:14,440 --> 01:34:17,614
President Bill Clinton
traveled to Vietnam,
1417
01:34:17,735 --> 01:34:21,615
the first American president
to visit that country
1418
01:34:21,739 --> 01:34:25,289
since Richard Nixon reviewed
U.S. troops there
1419
01:34:25,410 --> 01:34:28,289
31 years earlier.
1420
01:34:30,248 --> 01:34:32,091
Now we can say something
1421
01:34:32,250 --> 01:34:33,923
that was once unimaginable:
1422
01:34:34,043 --> 01:34:38,093
Today, Vietnam and the
United States are partners.
1423
01:34:38,214 --> 01:34:42,811
We have shown
that hearts can change,
1424
01:34:42,927 --> 01:34:44,600
and that a different future
is possible
1425
01:34:44,721 --> 01:34:48,601
when we refuse
to be prisoners of the past.
1426
01:35:53,748 --> 01:35:56,501
I went back to Vietnam.
1427
01:35:56,668 --> 01:36:00,343
I got in touch with
a provincial vets organization.
1428
01:36:04,676 --> 01:36:07,020
This is a huge organization
of Vietnamese vets,
1429
01:36:07,136 --> 01:36:10,515
all former enemies.
1430
01:36:10,640 --> 01:36:12,062
All former enemies.
1431
01:36:12,183 --> 01:36:14,902
But now,
mellowed quite a bit, like me.
1432
01:36:15,019 --> 01:36:17,488
You know, they're guys my age,
grandpas.
1433
01:36:17,605 --> 01:36:23,487
And after we got past the
initial checking each other out,
1434
01:36:23,611 --> 01:36:27,036
and is this a political thing
or not,
1435
01:36:27,156 --> 01:36:34,882
they could not have been
more gracious and more loving.
1436
01:36:34,998 --> 01:36:39,925
They took me under their wing
like a brother soldier.
1437
01:36:40,044 --> 01:36:45,642
We exchanged painful memories,
stories.
1438
01:36:48,761 --> 01:36:52,857
And I did a little ceremony
honoring the guys I'd lost,
1439
01:36:52,974 --> 01:36:56,399
honoring the Vietnamese enemies
that we'd killed.
1440
01:36:56,519 --> 01:37:00,399
And just telling them, you know,
they could be at peace now.
1441
01:37:05,903 --> 01:37:09,749
It was a wonderful,
wonderful trip.
1442
01:37:11,868 --> 01:37:13,586
You know, you don't...
1443
01:37:13,703 --> 01:37:16,297
You don't get closure,
but you get some peace.
1444
01:37:16,414 --> 01:37:18,758
You get some peace...
got some peace.
1445
01:37:28,926 --> 01:37:33,682
In Vietnam, the
land has largely healed.
1446
01:37:33,806 --> 01:37:37,527
Old animosities
have mostly been buried.
1447
01:37:39,645 --> 01:37:42,319
But ghosts remain.
1448
01:37:44,984 --> 01:37:46,406
Americans and Vietnamese
1449
01:37:46,527 --> 01:37:48,621
work together to clean up places
1450
01:37:48,780 --> 01:37:52,080
where Agent Orange
has poisoned the earth.
1451
01:37:52,200 --> 01:37:56,455
Unexploded ordnance,
half-hidden in the ground,
1452
01:37:56,579 --> 01:38:00,755
still takes lives each year.
1453
01:38:00,875 --> 01:38:04,630
Aged mothers and fathers
from northern Vietnam
1454
01:38:04,796 --> 01:38:07,015
still roam the south,
1455
01:38:07,131 --> 01:38:08,303
seeking to discover
1456
01:38:08,424 --> 01:38:10,927
what happened
to their sons and daughters.
1457
01:40:08,085 --> 01:40:12,431
As we finally came
lurching out of Vietnam...
1458
01:40:13,799 --> 01:40:18,976
We were beginning
to doubt ourselves.
1459
01:40:19,096 --> 01:40:23,693
And, uh, that's a foreign
feeling for an American.
1460
01:40:23,809 --> 01:40:27,780
We, we seldom doubt ourselves.
1461
01:40:27,897 --> 01:40:32,869
This turned out to be the most
bitter, the most divisive...
1462
01:40:32,985 --> 01:40:35,704
or second-most bitter
and second-most divisive...
1463
01:40:35,821 --> 01:40:38,370
war in our entire history.
1464
01:40:38,491 --> 01:40:42,962
And we still hurt because of it.
1465
01:40:45,248 --> 01:40:49,048
We have feelings of guilt
about Vietnam.
1466
01:40:51,170 --> 01:40:54,595
More than four
decades after the war ended,
1467
01:40:54,715 --> 01:40:57,969
the divisions it created
between Americans
1468
01:40:58,094 --> 01:41:01,473
have not yet wholly healed.
1469
01:41:01,597 --> 01:41:05,773
Lessons were learned
and then forgotten;
1470
01:41:05,893 --> 01:41:10,774
divides were bridged
and then widened;
1471
01:41:10,898 --> 01:41:17,031
old secrets were revealed and
new secrets were locked away.
1472
01:41:17,154 --> 01:41:21,284
The Vietnam War was a tragedy,
1473
01:41:21,409 --> 01:41:25,289
immeasurable and irredeemable.
1474
01:41:28,332 --> 01:41:31,677
But meaning can be found
in the individual stories
1475
01:41:31,836 --> 01:41:34,180
of those who lived through it,
1476
01:41:34,297 --> 01:41:37,392
stories of courage
and comradeship
1477
01:41:37,508 --> 01:41:39,476
and perseverance,
1478
01:41:39,594 --> 01:41:42,973
of understanding and forgiveness
1479
01:41:43,097 --> 01:41:47,944
and, ultimately, reconciliation.
1480
01:41:52,398 --> 01:41:55,823
"They shared
the weight of memory.
1481
01:41:55,943 --> 01:41:59,197
"They took up what others
could no longer bear.
1482
01:41:59,322 --> 01:42:02,952
"Often, they carried each other,
the wounded or weak.
1483
01:42:03,075 --> 01:42:06,875
"They carried infections.
1484
01:42:06,996 --> 01:42:09,090
"They carried chess sets,
1485
01:42:09,206 --> 01:42:11,629
"basketballs,
1486
01:42:11,751 --> 01:42:15,221
"Vietnamese-English
dictionaries,
1487
01:42:15,338 --> 01:42:21,892
"insignia of rank,
Bronze Stars and Purple Hearts,
1488
01:42:22,053 --> 01:42:28,686
"plastic cards imprinted
with the Code of Conduct.
1489
01:42:28,809 --> 01:42:31,733
"They carried diseases,
1490
01:42:31,896 --> 01:42:35,196
"among them malaria
and dysentery.
1491
01:42:35,316 --> 01:42:41,665
"They carried lice and ringworm
and leeches,
1492
01:42:41,781 --> 01:42:47,788
"paddy algae
and various rots and molds.
1493
01:42:47,912 --> 01:42:54,340
"They carried the land
itself... Vietnam,
1494
01:42:54,460 --> 01:42:58,260
"the place, the soil...
1495
01:42:58,422 --> 01:43:00,766
"a powdery orange-red dust
1496
01:43:00,925 --> 01:43:07,399
"that covered their boots
and fatigues and faces.
1497
01:43:07,515 --> 01:43:10,769
"They carried the sky.
1498
01:43:10,935 --> 01:43:13,779
"The whole atmosphere,
1499
01:43:13,938 --> 01:43:16,612
"they carried it...
1500
01:43:16,732 --> 01:43:20,487
"the humidity, the monsoons,
1501
01:43:20,611 --> 01:43:24,741
"the stink of fungus and decay,
all of it.
1502
01:43:24,865 --> 01:43:26,959
"They carried gravity.
1503
01:43:27,118 --> 01:43:29,837
"They moved like mules.
1504
01:43:29,954 --> 01:43:32,548
"By daylight,
they took sniper fire;
1505
01:43:32,665 --> 01:43:34,463
"at night, they were mortared.
1506
01:43:34,583 --> 01:43:38,053
"They crawled into tunnels
and walked point
1507
01:43:38,170 --> 01:43:40,468
"and advanced under fire.
1508
01:43:40,631 --> 01:43:43,475
"But it was not battle,
1509
01:43:43,592 --> 01:43:46,471
"it was just the endless march,
1510
01:43:46,637 --> 01:43:49,561
"village to village.
1511
01:43:49,682 --> 01:43:54,062
"They marched for the sake
of the march.
1512
01:43:54,186 --> 01:43:57,907
"They plodded along slowly,
dumbly,
1513
01:43:58,023 --> 01:44:02,119
"leaning forward
against the heat, unthinking,
1514
01:44:02,236 --> 01:44:05,831
"all blood and bone,
simple grunts,
1515
01:44:05,948 --> 01:44:08,326
"soldiering with their legs,
1516
01:44:08,492 --> 01:44:10,915
"toiling up the hills
and down into the paddies
1517
01:44:11,036 --> 01:44:15,792
"and across the rivers and up
again and down, just humping,
1518
01:44:15,916 --> 01:44:21,594
"one step and then the next
and then another.
1519
01:44:21,714 --> 01:44:23,261
"They made their legs move.
1520
01:44:25,384 --> 01:44:27,227
They endured."
1521
01:44:41,317 --> 01:44:44,571
# When I find myself
in times of trouble #
1522
01:44:44,695 --> 01:44:47,824
# Mother Mary comes to me #
1523
01:44:47,948 --> 01:44:50,326
# Speaking words of wisdom #
1524
01:44:50,451 --> 01:44:53,671
# Let it be #
1525
01:44:53,788 --> 01:44:56,541
# And in my hour of darkness #
1526
01:44:56,707 --> 01:45:00,428
# She is standing
right in front of me #
1527
01:45:00,544 --> 01:45:03,013
# Speaking words of wisdom #
1528
01:45:03,130 --> 01:45:06,100
# Let it be #
1529
01:45:06,217 --> 01:45:09,391
# Let it be, let it be #
1530
01:45:09,553 --> 01:45:12,727
# Let it be, let it be #
1531
01:45:12,890 --> 01:45:16,235
# Whisper words of wisdom #
1532
01:45:16,352 --> 01:45:19,652
# Let it be #
1533
01:45:19,772 --> 01:45:22,616
# And when the brokenhearted
people #
1534
01:45:22,733 --> 01:45:26,533
# Living in the world agree #
1535
01:45:26,654 --> 01:45:29,373
# There will be an answer #
1536
01:45:29,490 --> 01:45:32,710
# Let it be #
1537
01:45:32,827 --> 01:45:35,922
# For though
they may be parted #
1538
01:45:36,038 --> 01:45:40,134
# There is still a chance
that they will see #
1539
01:45:40,251 --> 01:45:42,504
# There will be an answer #
1540
01:45:42,628 --> 01:45:45,757
# Let it be #
1541
01:45:45,881 --> 01:45:49,260
# Let it be, let it be #
1542
01:45:49,385 --> 01:45:53,265
# Let it be, let it be #
1543
01:45:53,389 --> 01:45:56,063
# Yeah,
there will be an answer #
1544
01:45:56,183 --> 01:45:59,232
# Let it be #
1545
01:45:59,353 --> 01:46:02,573
# Let it be, let it be #
1546
01:46:02,690 --> 01:46:06,945
# Let it be, yeah, let it be #
1547
01:46:07,111 --> 01:46:09,910
# Whisper words of wisdom #
1548
01:46:10,030 --> 01:46:14,206
# Let it be #
1549
01:46:14,326 --> 01:46:16,749
# And when the night is cloudy #
1550
01:46:16,871 --> 01:46:21,217
# There is still a light
that shines on me #
1551
01:46:21,333 --> 01:46:24,177
# Shine until tomorrow #
1552
01:46:24,295 --> 01:46:27,890
# Let it be #
1553
01:46:28,007 --> 01:46:31,477
# I wake up
to the sound of music #
1554
01:46:31,635 --> 01:46:34,935
# Mother Mary comes to me #
1555
01:46:35,055 --> 01:46:38,025
# Speaking words of wisdom #
1556
01:46:38,142 --> 01:46:41,146
# Let it be #
1557
01:46:41,270 --> 01:46:44,194
# Yeah, let it be, let it be #
1558
01:46:44,315 --> 01:46:49,162
# Let it be, yeah, let it be #
1559
01:46:49,320 --> 01:46:51,823
# There will be an answer #
1560
01:46:51,989 --> 01:46:55,334
# Let it be #
1561
01:46:55,451 --> 01:46:58,500
# Let it be, let it be #
1562
01:46:58,662 --> 01:47:02,963
# Let it be, yeah, let it be #
1563
01:47:03,083 --> 01:47:06,053
# There will be an answer #
1564
01:47:06,170 --> 01:47:09,174
# Let it be #
1565
01:47:09,298 --> 01:47:12,393
# Let it be, let it be #
1566
01:47:12,509 --> 01:47:17,106
# Let it be, yeah, let it be #
1567
01:47:17,222 --> 01:47:19,771
# Whisper words of wisdom #
1568
01:47:19,892 --> 01:47:22,896
# Let it be. #
120745
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