All language subtitles for VIETNAM WAR - Before During After - 1 - Documentary [2015]_Subtitles01.ENG

(helicopter humming)

♪ When logic and proportion ♪

♪ Have fallen sloppy dead ♪

♪ And the White Knight
is talking backwards ♪

♪ And the Red Queen's
"off with her head" ♪

♪ Remember what the dormouse said ♪

♪ "Feed your head ♪

♪ Feed your head ♪

(helicopter humming)

(soft airy music)

- [Cal] Since the story of
America's war with Vietnam

and how it began.

The history of Vietnam is one of conflict

and great dynastic struggles,

which have led to
fragmentation of the country

over the centuries,

as well as inheriting the
influence of many cultures.

- The idea that there has been one people

called the Vietnamese
throughout the last 2,000 years

is a bit of a modern invention.

- [Cal] After centuries of war in Vietnam,

the one that began in 1955

would be internationally reported news

and last for 20 years.

- America say that they're
fighting an army of peasants.

So how could they possibly lose?

However, these people
culturally know about war

much better than any American has.

(explosion booms)

- [Cal] A war that
America deemed necessary

in the fights against communism.

- These very intelligent
men really thought

that it was the beginning

of the communist takeover of the world.

- It was a genuine,
basic misinterpretation

of what the threat that communism

held for the United States and
the rest of the free world.

- That's one of the really
astounding things about the war:

that such intelligent men
could have been so wrong.

(artillery booming)

- (indistinct) the fact

that the Viet Cong had
entered the American embassy

in Saigon caused a great deal of damage.

It did turn up American public opinion

totally against the war.

- The protests were not
even so much the soldiers,

as their mothers,

because what the hell is
my boy doing in Vietnam?!

- [Cal] The devastation of this war

continues to resonate today.

(tense music)

(uneasy reed music)

Vietnam, the story of
two major river deltas,

the Red River Delta in the north

and the Mekong Delta in the south.

- The three geographic areas
of Vietnam were first settled,

as far as we know from the archeology,

by three different ethnic groups:

the Vietnamese in the north;

the Cham people in that
central coastal strip

who belonged to various
kingdoms known as Champa;

and then the Mekong Delta

was settled earliest by Cambodians.

The Cham people came
actually from across the sea,

probably from the north coast of Borneo,

and they were great sailors
and seafarers and traders,

and they speak a language
that's related to Malay,

and they developed their own civilization

in central Vietnam, largely
influenced by Hinduism

and to some extent Buddhism
as well from India.

- They used to be the dominant kingdom,

the dominant political society
along the South China Sea

for, you know, five or six centuries.

It was the Cham that controlled trade

on the South China Sea.

(light music)

- [Cal] Trade then expanded
from Europe to China,

seeing the arrival of Western traders

as well as Muslim traders from
India and the Middle East.

Slowly, Champa became
mostly converted to Islam,

while Christianity became very important

in the central and northern regions.

- Full scale war broke
out between the Northern

and the Southern Vietnamese kingdoms.

Part of their weaponry

came from trading with the Westerners,

so that the Dutch would supply weapons

to the Trinh in the north,

and the ships would cross
over, the Portuguese ships,

supplying weapons from
Macau near Hong Kong

to the Nguyen family and
the Southern Kingdom.

- Those are the first European contacts,

but they were rapidly
followed by the Dutch

and then the British and the French.

Before the Europeans arrived
and throughout this period,

there were flourishing local,

quite sophisticated
communities and societies,

often with cultures

that had borrowed elements from religion,

to the way that kings ruled,

to political organization from
India more than from China.

- [Cal] Vietnam's interaction with Europe

brought the arrival of
Catholic missionaries,

particularly the Portuguese.

It was not until the arrival
of French missionaries

from the mid-17th century

that their influence across
Vietnam was really felt.

The most significant of these missionaries

was Alexandre de Rhodes.

He studied the Vietnamese language

and compiled the dictionary into French.

This opened up the language
to foreign influence.

The French converted an
increasing number of Vietnamese

from Confucianism to Roman Catholicism.

The emperor became angry

and ordered the execution
of many missionaries.

This was a turning point from
friendly trading relations

to aggressive behavior.

The French almost seemed to use

the execution of their
missionaries as a reason to invade.

They were without any territories,

unlike the British in India,

the Portuguese in the Philippines,

the Dutch in Indonesia.

They decided to take over
Vietnam and establish a colony.

- There was this constant tension

between different regions of Vietnam,

and the French arrived in that context.

And indeed conquered Vietnam (indistinct).

- [Cal] Around 1860, the French seized

the area near Saigon.

In the next two decades,

they moved through central
and Northern Vietnam,

with French troops expanding their control

over all six provinces on the Mekong Delta

and formed the colony
known as Cochinchine.

- They divided the country
into those three regions,

which had never been divided into before.

- [Cal] France assumed control

over the whole of Vietnam.

French Indochina was
formed in October, 1887.

Cambodia and Laos were added in 1893.

In the following years,
the French influence

would play a significant
role in shaping Vietnam.

Throughout its history, the
country had been invaded

by a stream of dynasties,

and by the late 19th century,

Vietnam had become vulnerable
to French ambition.

Years of civil war had led to a split

between the North and the South.

It was into this environment

that resentment to French occupation

gave a space for nationalism
and then communism to arise.

The influence of Russia
and China alarmed the USA.

- South Vietnam is already under attack.

(artillery shoots)
♪ Some folks are born ♪

♪ Made to wave the flag ♪

♪ They're red, white and blue ♪

- [Cal] But how did events lead

to such a catastrophic loss of life

and how necessary was
America's involvement

in a war so far from home?

♪ It ain't me, it ain't me ♪

♪ I ain't no senator's son, son ♪

- [Cal] By 1884, France had
taken control over Vietnam,

forming the territories of
Tonkin, Annam, and Cochinchine.

The French were keen to bring
Vietnam under French law.

And it wasn't long before French culture

grew across the country.

- The French conquest
was in fact supported

by some Vietnamese, including Catholics,

but also some others who thought

that the French could bring
modernization to Vietnam.

So there were some Vietnamese
who sided with the French,

including some who benefited economically,

they were distributed lands in the south,

particularly in the Mekong Delta.

So, a new landlord class developed.

- [Cal] As French influence expanded,

they soon established the bureaucracy

and architecture of their towns,

building town halls,
law courts, and schools.

The education system
evolved for the expatriates,

but soon became a fashion

for the wealthy local residents as well.

- [Retro Narrator] In Hue,
capital of the Annam section

of Indochina, the
Japanese always so polite,

do not disturb the
semblance of ancient rule,

likewise, carefully preserved

by the French colonial administration.

In a modern home built for her
by the French (indistinct),

the Empress of Annam brings up
her three attractive children

in truly royal atmosphere.

She accepts with Oriental resignation

the obvious facts of the situation.

(pensive music)

- It was clear to parents that
if they wanted their children

to rise in the bureaucracy
and get positions,

they needed to know the
newly adopted Latin alphabet,

which came to be known as
Quoc-ngu, or the national script.

And so the Vietnamese culture
became internationalized

in a way it hadn't been before,

and at the same time, a new familiarity

with Western political
ideologies including communism.

(dramatic music)

- [Cal] It was into this
climate of French education

that Ho Chi Minh was brought up,

the man who would change
Vietnam's history forever.

As a young man, he was
keen to see the world

and took employments on
ships as a deck hand.

He traveled to America,
lived in London for a while,

where he was rumored to
have spent time as a cook,

and also lived in Paris.

Whilst in Paris, he petitioned
for the independence

and civil rights of the Vietnamese
people from French rule.

When this failed in the US
under president Woodrow Wilson,

Ho Chi Minh became disillusioned,

which furthered his communist zeal.

He spent time in Russia and China

before being imprisoned
by Chiang Kai-shek.

His reputation at home was developing.

And when he returned in 1941,
he had almost a hero status.

- He was very much a man of the world,

had been educated by the French,

had traveled around the world as a sailor,

worked as a chef in London.

In the Paris peace talks from 1919,

he turned up at Versailles
and demanded freedom

from French colonialism
for the Vietnamese people,

and was thrown out.

- Ho Chi Minh was a member of
the French socialist party,

which split in 1919.

And he joined the communist faction,

which founded the French Communist Party.

- [Cal] During the Second World War,

France had fallen to Nazi
Germany in June, 1940.

The Vichy government in Paris

immediately seeded control
of Saigon and Hanoi to Japan.

Japan enforced the right
to land forces in Vietnam.

They needed to block the
transportation of war materials

through Vietnam to the allies.

When Ho Chi Minh was released
from prison in China,

he returned to Vietnam

to lead the Viet Minh
Independence Movement.

They fought against the Vichy
French and Japanese forces.

- During World War II, Ho
Chi Minh returned to China.

And with General Giap and others

set up a communist resistance
who fought the Japanese.

In 1945, they'd taken over
the north part of Vietnam.

The south was liberated by the British

who, to justify taking
back their own colonies

in the Far East, rearmed the Japanese

to hold the country until
the French turned up

to reoccupy south Vietnam.

(group cheers)

- The Japanese and the French
were very anti-communist.

And the Vietnamese Communist
Party had been founded in 1930

by Ho Chi Minh.

He and the other Vietnamese communists

rejected both the Japanese and the French.

And they were the only large
political party in Vietnam,

which did oppose both the
French and the Japanese,

that at the end of the war,

when both of those groups
lost, the communists

led by Ho Chi Minh were in a
stronger position to take over.

- I remember that many people at the time

talk a lot about Ho Chi Minh,

who they call Uncle Ho.

As a time, everyone thought

he was somewhere up there to help,

but obviously he also human being

with some kind of ambition (indistinct).

- [Cal] People respected Ho
Chi Minh as a great patriot

and were willing to support him.

They were tired of being
dominated by the French

and now the Japanese and
fought for their freedom.

He oversaw many successful
military actions

against the French,

and then against Japanese
occupation of Vietnam

during World War II, supported secretly

by the United States Office
of Strategic Services.

- Ho Chi Minh had
meanwhile formed a alliance

with the United States
and was rescuing French

and American pilots who were
shut down by the Japanese

and delivering them to the American forces

in the south of China.

And so Ho Chi Minh was
able to build an army

with some support from the United States,

and was in a position to take over

once the Japanese were defeated.

- [Cal] Over the years,
Ho Chi Minh had developed

a significant army.

The country was in the
midst of a huge famine.

The Vietnam peasants blamed
the French and Japanese

who were keeping the rice
to feed their troops,

even exporting it to Japan.

After the Japanese had handed Vietnam

to the Viet Minh in 1945,

an estimated 2 million
Vietnamese people have died.

- One of the problems at the
end of the Second World War

is led into a variety of other wars,

particularly in Indochina,
and the Vietnam war,

which the United States
inherited from the French,

which they'd lost, was in fact inherited

from Ho Chi Minh himself
when he had been an ally

of the United States.

And I think that the basic
problem was Ho Chi Minh

was a nationalist first and
foremost, not a communist.

- Since 1945, the American foreign policy

was the containment of communism.

There was the famous domino theory

that if south Vietnam
fell to the communists,

it allows Cambodia, Thailand,
it will now spread down

the Malay Peninsula

until eventually Australia
would become communist.

And one senator famously said,

"we don't want to start fighting them

when they land on Waikiki beach."

- There's no question in my mind

that these very intelligent men,

McNamara and Rusk really thought
that it was the beginning

of the communist takeover of the world.

I mean, the famous Domino Theory,

and they all believed it,
and it was dead wrong.

- The French finally built up to a point

where Ho Chi Minh and the
Viet Minh in the North

decided to resist, and they
started to attack the French

in Hanoi in December of 1946,

and the war, which lasted
until 1954, began then.

- [Retro Narrator] Meanwhile
the situation French Indochina

grows graver, as bitter
fighting sweeps through Hanoi,

leaving misery and
destruction in its wake.

French troops move up country

to engage the well-equipped
forces of the Vietnam Republic,

who made a desperate but unsuccessful bid

to massacre the entire French
population of the city.

(dramatic music)

- The French don't let
Vietnam independent.

And that just boost the country
into the Communist hand,

because everyone wanted
it to be independent

and only communist was well organized.

- The only intentions,
as far as I can tell,

that Ho Chi Minh had
(indistinct) any other country,

was South Vietnam.

President Eisenhower's
refused to help the French

with the airstrikes.

At the time, in Dien Bien Phu,

Ho Chi Minh was so able
to marshal his forces,

get Soviet aid in.

At the same time, keep the Chinese

from getting frantic about it

and getting help from them as well.

And then, that was his determination.

Extraordinarily brilliant general.

(explosion booms)

- [Retro Narrator] (indistinct)
French fighting communism

in Indochina as JU 52
planes lend their weight

in an all out offensive against
the red jungle strongholds

of the Viet Minh forces.

- Particularly after the fall of China

to the Mao's communist regime

and the start of the Korean War

in 1949 and 1950 respectively,

the United States began to
give massive military support

and political support

to the French effort
in Indochina from 1950.

- The Americans were
initially very reluctant

to support them,

but partly in exchange
for support for France

and NATO in Europe,

the Americans decided to
support France in Indochina,

which led to American financial support

and advisors and that sort of thing.

(artillery booming)

- [Retro Narrator] The
fight for Indochina goes on.

French pilots flying American planes

take up what the big guns left off,

blasting communist divisions,

which had infiltrated French positions

in the Hanoi (indistinct).

(explosions booming)

- For the next four years of that war,

the United States paid for about 80%

of the French military budget.

And at the same time, the
Chinese were supporting

the Vietnamese independence movement

led mostly by communists and
fought mostly in the North.

- Many, many people from the south,

like everyone in Vietnam
as a time, join Viet Minh,

because their relationship,

their involvement with resistance,

they have the heart for it.

- [Retro Narrator] War comes
to a peaceful rice paddies,

rich prize the reds we're hoping to seize,

until the French, aided
by the loyal Vietnamese,

drove them into the sea.

But from the back waters of war

come the helpless victims of immigration,

the women, the children,
the old and infirm.

Communism past their way.

They have little left
now about a spark of life

that drives them on door
to escape and sanctuary

behind the French lines.

- It's clear that people on all sides,

were fighting for different reasons.

The Americans were fighting
to stop this tide of communism

that would sweep down
from China through Vietnam

into the rest of Indochina,
the rest of Southeast Asia.

The Vietnamese, some of
them may have thought

they were part of an
international movement,

but many of them were just fighting

for their own personal reasons, you know,

to liberate the country
against foreign occupiers

or to get rid of the power of landlords

and that kind of thing.

The war that broke out in 1946
dragged on for eight years

and has its culmination

at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954,

where a very bold move
by the French military

goes completely wrong, and
they're outfought and out thought

by the guerrillas under General Giap.

(explosions booming)

- [Cal] The First Indochina War

came to an end with the Battle
of Dien Bien Phu in 1954,

culminating in a comprehensive
defeat for the French.

France agreed to have its its
forces from all its colonies,

and a conference at Geneva

decided on the division of Vietnam

with control of the north
given to the Viet Minh

as the Democratic Republic
of Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh,

and the South becoming
the State of Vietnam

nominally under Emperor Bao Dai.

This prevented Ho Chi Minh

from gaining control
of the entire country.

After the division of
Vietnam into North and South,

the North is seen as a communist threat

by the United States.

South Vietnam's Prime
Minister Ngo Dinh Diem

faced the two-year deadline

for a nationwide reunification vote.

However, the US feared
the DM might not win.

In the North, the Viet Minh

had formed the national
liberation front under Ho Chi Minh

known as the Viet Cong,

and started guerrilla warfare
in the south of the country

in an attempt to gain control.

- President Ngo Diem came back to Vietnam

with the acceptance from
the last Emperor Bao Dai

in a referendum.

He ousted Bao Dai, sent
him into exile in France,

and he became president.

- The south was still
administered from Saigon,

until it was good to be an election,

which would then unite the country.

When the Americans realized

that they wouldn't win any
election against the communists,

they backed Prime Minister
Diem in South Vietnam

to set up an independent state,

so it would be analogous
to North and South Korea.

- Because of the influence
of the Korean War

upon American thinking,

when the French lost at Dien Bien Phu,

Eisenhower had to decide
what to do about the country,

he decided to support

the South Vietnamese government in place,

and they supported that dreadful man Diem.

Diem was like a south American dictator,

but whom some American
general, I think, once said,

"He's a son of a bitch, but
he's our son of a bitch."

And that strain of thought

ran through the American government

when they look into their
allies around the world.

And it was a mistake.

- Half of the villages were
under communist rule in 1954.

And it wasn't clear who was
going to come out on top,

and indeed the United States
and the other political groups

also expected that the
communists would win.

- Wasn't anything, great
American conspiracy

to rule the world or anything.

They just didn't want the
Russians to take over.

When they realize that Soviet communism,

as they saw it, was a
menace, which it was,

it would influence
other parts of the world

that they thought they could reach.

And, as a consequence, Vietnam,

after the French were
defeated at the Dien Bien Phu,

was a prime candidate for American help.

- And so the Diem regime
immediately turned its attention

to the religious or the
political religious sects

in the Mekong Delta,
and attacked them first.

And so there was fighting
in the streets of Saigon

in 1954, 1955, and much of it
spread to the Mekong Delta.

There was a sort of civil war

in the early days of the
South Vietnamese regime.

- [Cal] The divisions and
unrest in Vietnam continued.

The rioting intensified,

and the Vietnamese people
continue to see Ho Chi Minh

and the national liberation front

as a way to gain back their independence.

America continued to closely
monitor the situation,

uneasy at the rapid rise
of communism in Vietnam,

which they deemed to be
a direct threat to them.

This mood prompted President
Kennedy to send in aid,

ultimately ending in over
half a million US troops

and a bloody war that
would last for 20 years.

♪ Mama told me not to go ♪

♪ That ain't the way to have fun, no ♪

- [Cal] In the 20th century,

Vietnam had endured invasion
from France and China.

It had seen the creation of
Indochina under French rule

and the development of
French culture and influence

in the coming years.

After the defeat of the French

at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu,
the Geneva Peace Conference

divided the country with
control of the South

now led by Diem, supported by America.

♪ Riders on the storm ♪

- [Cal] North Vietnam was given

to the Democratic Republic of
Vietnam led by Ho Chi Minh.

He formed the national liberation front,

also known as the Viet Cong

and began an uprising against the South.

♪ Into this world, we're thrown ♪

- [Cal] The National Liberation Front

was gaining significant
strength in Vietnam.

To many Vietnamese, the
Viet Minh were heroes.

To America's leaders, Ho Chi
Minh represented communism

and a significant threat.

♪ There's a killer on the road ♪

- For man holds in his mortal hands

the power to abolish all
forms of human poverty

and all forms of human life.

And yet the same revolutionary beliefs

for which our forebears fought

are still at issue around the globe.

- The Viet Minh were able to recruit

in the South, Center and North.

The religious groups in the
South were not able to recruit

in the Center and North,

the Vietnamese nationalist
party was more Northern based

and a Ngo Dinh Diem's following

was largely among Vietnamese Catholics,

in particularly in his home
base of Central Vietnam.

And so the Viet Minh built

the biggest political organization.

The Viet Minh were able
to recruit the peasants,

whereas most of the other political groups

didn't show much interest.

- To communist party, that
there were, its discipline,

there are lots of people,

it has the ability to take power

from the top right down into the villages

and mobilize large numbers of people.

- By the early 1960s, Hanoi's policy

shifted further again towards
supporting the guerrilla war

that was already developing
fast in the south.

And meanwhile, the United
States had built up

its own forces.

They had surpassed the Geneva limit

on foreign forces in South Vietnam.

- The position of this administration

has been carefully considered,

and we have sought to make it
just as clear as we know how

to the government's concern.

- [Cal] President Kennedy
pledged aid to Diem.

It hadn't been long since America

had not been able to defeat
the communists in North Korea.

And they were intent on not
losing to them again in Vietnam.

♪ Fighting soldiers from the sky ♪

- [Cal] In 1961, 400 American Green Berets

special advisers are sent to
train soldiers in the fight

against the Viet Cong
guerrillas under Ho Chi Minh.

In October that year,
general Maxwell Taylor

reports to the president
and advises Kennedy

to expand the number
of US military advisors

and to send 8,000 combat soldiers.

The number of troops sent by Kennedy

will eventually surpass 16,000 by 1963.

- There was a serious mistake for Kennedy

to get involved as he did

with American force in
that part of the world,

thinking that this great
monolithic Soviet-style communism

would rule the roost,

when he could have played
it differently, I believe,

and fought it more subtly.

- The great word the Vietnam War gave us

was escalation, because
it starts off with Kennedy

sending in just 400 military advisers

who were actually special forces,

organizing and controlling action,

and then more go in, and then more go in.

- He should have fought it

with the limited aid
he gave them initially,

with the development
of the special forces,

the Green Berets as they're called,

and another small tactical units,

and not created this great surge

of North Vietnamese resentment.

- South Vietnam is already under attack,

sometimes by a single assassin,

sometimes by a band of guerrillas,

recently by full battalions.

The peaceful borders of
Burma, Cambodia and India

have been repeatedly violated.

And the peaceful people of Laos

are in danger of losing the independence

they gained not so long ago.

- The eventual result was
that the United States decided

that the South would lose very quickly

if it didn't change policy

and that the United
States needed to move in

with regular forces on a large scale.

- The Chinese or the
communists or nationalists

were age-old enemies of the Vietnamese.

It was the threat of Soviet communism

and the fact that China
had fallen with now

in a way that was assisted by the Soviet

was to the Americans,

they created this monster
in their imaginations,

and they had to go and fight it.

(light music)

♪ There's something happening here ♪

♪ What it is ain't exactly clear ♪

- And the final analysis, it's their war.

They're the ones who have
to win it or lose it.

We can help them. We
can give them equipment.

We can send our men out there as advisors,

but they have to win it,
the people of Vietnam,

against the communists.

All we can do is help and
we make it very clear,

but I don't agree with those
who say we should withdraw.

That'd be a great mistake.

♪ Stop, hey, what's that sound ♪

♪ Everybody look what's going down ♪

- [Cal] President Kennedy
was conflicted about Vietnam.

He realized that he couldn't
give up the territory,

but faced the crisis by July.

Despite increased US support,
the South Vietnamese military

was not making any ground
against the Viet Cong forces.

- [Retro Narrator] The
regime of South Vietnam

is President Ngo Dinh Diem comes to an end

in a wave of violence.

A few days before the army revolt,

these last pictures showed a man

who seemed to have no premonition

of the horrible death he was to meet.

- [Cal] The situation in
Saigon was intensifying

as the Viet Cong fought against Diem,

ultimately leading to his death.

- [Retro Narrator] Mortar
fire concentrates on tanks

and armored carriers bucking
the way to the palace.

For two and a half hours,

the palace comes at the heavy bombardment

before the white flag is raised.

Meanwhile, Diem and his
brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu

had fled the palace in disguise.

They were later captured
only to die in an armored car

that was taking them to prison.

- [Cal] Three weeks later in the US,

the nation was to be shocked
by the tragic assassination

of President Kennedy
on November 22nd, 1963.

- [Retro Narrator] At
1:25, the motorcade moves

into the downtown area.

Death is six minutes away.

In a warehouse a sniper
with a rifle poised waits.

The cheers of the crowd almost
muffled the three shots.

The assassin's aim is deadly.

- From Dallas, Texas, the flash,

apparently official,
President Kennedy died

at 1:00 PM Central Standard Time,

two o'clock Eastern Standard
Time, some 38 minutes ago.

Vice President Lyndon Johnson

has left the hospital in Dallas,

but we do not know to
where he has proceeded.

Presumably, he will be taking
the oath of office shortly

and become the 36th president
of the United States.

- [Cal] Lyndon Johnson was
thrust into the presidency

after the assassination.

The country was in disarray.

The worsening situation in Vietnam

had been Kennedy's most pressing problem.

And Johnson inherited
America's commitment to Vietnam

and to defeating communism.

- President Johnson, for
all his great virtues,

wasn't very strong foreign policy.

He had been in the Navy
during the Pacific War

and he believed, one,

that overwhelming force
worked, militarily.

And number two, he was a
great Texan wheeler dealer.

He figured if he waved a big stick,

he could negotiate with Ho Chi Minh.

Ho Chi Minh didn't want
to negotiate with anyone.

He knew eventually he would win.

They could control how many
people they were losing,

and all they were doing was
keeping their casualties

down to below their birth rate.

- [Cal] In August, 1964,

an incident of the Gulf of Tonkin

triggered a reaction
from president Johnson.

- The termination of all Americans

to carry out our full commitment

to the people and to the
government of South Vietnam

will be redoubled by this outrage.

- [Cal] Ultimately,
this reaction would lead

to the beginning of a war in Vietnam,

a war that still resonates.

The justification remains
a question to this day.

(dramatic music)

Lyndon Johnson became the 36th president

of the United States

after the assassination of John F. Kennedy

in November, 1963.

He inherited an economic crisis in America

that saw him proclaim a war on poverty.

He had inherited another
conflict: a war on communism,

and America's commitment to Vietnam.

The increased strength of the Viet Cong

and the rise of communism

demanded more resources from Johnson.

But until now, he had resisted the need

to escalate the situation.

However, in August, 1964,

President Johnson decided to act

after events at the Gulf of Tonkin.

- [Retro Narrator] Destroyers
of the United States Navy

are assigned routine
patrol from time to time.

Sunday, August the second,
1964, the destroyer Maddox

was on such a patrol.

Shortly after noon, the
calm of the day is broken

as general quarters sound.

(alarm blasts)

- When the Gulf of
Tonkin (indistinct) comes

instant comes without long,

and that there's a (indistinct) report

that American warships have been attacked

by Vietnamese patrol boats,
they used this as an excuse.

- [Retro Narrator] The
Gulf of Tonkin incident

illustrates this capability
for instant retaliation

against unprovoked attack.

- [Cal] The USS Maddox's
captain sent a report

that three North Vietnamese torpedo boats

supposedly fired on them,

but then center attraction
than it had been foul weather

and not an attack.

However, President Johnson
ignored the retraction

and ordered the bombing
of torpedo boat bases

and an oil depot.

- President Lyndon Johnson

obtained a almost unanimous
approval from the US Congress

to escalate the war in Vietnam,

and bombing aircraft was sent North.

- He knew everyone on Capital Hill,

he could get anything that he wanted.

They gave him this Gulf
of Tonkin resolution,

which he said it was like
grandmother's night shirt.

It covered everything.

And it just gave him carte
blanche to fight how he wished.

- It is my duty to the
American people to report

that renewed hostile actions

against United States
ships on the high seas

in the Gulf of Tonkin
have today required me

to order the military
forces of the United States

to take action in reply.

♪ The Eastern world, it is explodin' ♪

♪ Violence flarin', bullets loadin' ♪

♪ You're old enough to
kill but not for votin' ♪

♪ You don't believe in war ♪

♪ But what's that gun you're totin' ♪

♪ And even the Jordan
river has bodies floatin' ♪

♪ But you tell me over and
over and over again my friend ♪

♪ Ah, you don't believe we're
on the eve of destruction ♪

- But repeated acts of violence

against the Armed Forces
of the United States

must be met not only with alert defense,

but with positive reply.

That reply is being given
as I speak to you tonight.

♪ Ah, you don't believe we're
on the eve of destruction ♪

- [Cal] Full-scale military action

on Vietnam had begun.

The Viet Cong retaliate
with a bombing onslaught

on a US air base.

- One of the major impacts

of the United States
buildup of ground troops

in South Vietnam was that
the communist guerrillas

in the South started recruiting

at an increased level themselves.

And in fact, from 1964 to 1965,

the communist guerrillas
quadrupled their recruitment.

Meanwhile, the United States
was building up its forces

at an even faster rate
to hundreds of thousands.

- The American commitment on
the ground in South Vietnam

rises from 12,000 to 200,000.

And suddenly, everyone
in America is affected.

- [Cal] Despite a campaign

for deescalation of US involvement,

Johnson's attack on Vietnam
is greeted with much support

in the USA and his popularity rises.

He wins a landslide
victory to be US president.

Within a year, he had given the command

for Operation Rolling Thunder to begin.

♪ And it's been the ruin
of many a poor boy ♪

♪ And God I know I'm one ♪

- Forced us on both sides built up

with the contribution made from
North Vietnam regular troops

coming into the fighting as well.

And the destruction that was
being conducted and carried out

in the villages of South Vietnam,

particularly the populated areas

where the impact was greatest,

but also in the forested areas,

the level of destruction
escalated enormously

from the mid-'60s onwards,
and had an enormous impact

on the Vietnamese people's livelihood,

on the way people tried
to survive in the cities,

fleeing from the countryside,
where the war was strongest,

into the cities.

The cities began to fill
up with rural refugees,

protest movements developed in the cities.

♪ Is a suitcase and a trunk ♪

- [Cal] The continuous
arrival of US troops

and a large buildup of
the South Vietnamese army

meant that America could
inflict large casualties,

not just on the Northern
Vietnamese regulars

who had moved south, but
also on the guerrillas

and the south Vietnamese
communists regular troops as well.

Large scale rioting in Saigon continues.

- We have made a national pledge

to help South Vietnam
defend its independence.

And I intend to keep our promise.

("House Of The Rising Sun" by The Animals)

- America could not
politically invade the North

because they hadn't declared war.

This was a police action.

So that they couldn't invade North,

but they did fill their way with bombing.

(explosion booms)

This was called Operation Rolling Thunder,

and they just tried to
pulverize all the industry,

all the supply lines,
everything in the North.

And in a month, they would drop

as much ordnance on North Vietnam,

as it has been dropped in
the whole of World War II.

("House Of The Rising Sun"
by The Animals continues)

(explosions booming)

- [Cal] This bombardment of air raids

would last three years

together with the
deployment of agent orange.

♪ The other foot on the train ♪

- [Cal] This was just the start of a war

that would rage for many years,

a war that would affect
Vietnam and America

for decades to come.

♪ To wear that ball and chain ♪

(helicopters humming)

♪ Some folks are born
made to wave the flag ♪

♪ They're red, white and blue ♪

♪ And when the band plays
"Hail to the Chief" ♪

♪ They point the cannon at you, Lord ♪

♪ It ain't me, it ain't me ♪

♪ I ain't no senator's son, son ♪

♪ It ain't me, it ain't me ♪

♪ I ain't no fortunate one ♪