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THIS FILM CONTAINS MATURE CONTENT,
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STRONG LANGUAGE AND GRAPHIC VIOLENCE
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Coming home from Vietnam was close
to as traumatic as the war itself.
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For years, nobody talked about Vietnam.
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We were friends with a young couple
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and it was only after 12 years
that the two wives were talking.
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Found out that we both had
been Marines in Vietnam.
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Never said a word about
it. Never mentioned it.
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And the whole country was like that.
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It was so divisive.
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And it's like living in a
family with an alcoholic father.
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"Shh, we don't talk about that. "
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Our country did that with Vietnam.
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It's only been very
recently that, I think,
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that, you know, the baby boomers
are finally starting to say,
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"What happened?
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What happened?"
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What we need now in this country
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00:02:00,156 --> 00:02:04,455
is to heal the wounds and
to put Vietnam behind us.
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The killing in this
tragic war must stop.
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00:02:30,890 --> 00:02:34,889
General Westmoreland's
strategy is producing results.
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The enemy is no longer
closer to victory.
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No matter how you measure it,
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00:02:48,490 --> 00:02:51,355
we're better off than we
thought we would be at this time.
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You have been less than candid
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as to how deeply we
are involved in Vietnam.
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00:03:03,355 --> 00:03:07,089
We have increased our assistance
to the government, its logistics.
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00:03:07,190 --> 00:03:09,555
We have not sent combat troops there.
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You have a row of dominoes set up
and you knock over the first one
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00:03:15,022 --> 00:03:17,456
and the last one,
certainly it will go over.
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00:03:17,555 --> 00:03:19,723
If aggression is successful in Korea,
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we can expect it to spread
throughout Asia and Europe
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00:03:22,389 --> 00:03:23,589
and to this hemisphere.
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00:03:31,493 --> 00:03:37,493
THE VIETNAM WAR
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00:03:58,355 --> 00:04:01,087
Viktor Frankl, who
survived the death camps
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00:04:01,088 --> 00:04:05,723
in World War II, wrote a book
called Man's Search for Meaning.
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00:04:08,256 --> 00:04:10,889
You know, "To live is to suffer.
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00:04:10,990 --> 00:04:15,456
To survive is to find
meaning in suffering. "
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And for those of us who
suffered because of Vietnam,
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that's been our quest ever since.
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America's involvement in
Vietnam began in secrecy.
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It ended, 30 years later, in failure,
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witnessed by the entire world.
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It was begun in good
faith by decent people
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out of fateful misunderstandings,
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00:04:59,022 --> 00:05:03,456
American overconfidence,
and Cold War miscalculation.
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00:05:03,555 --> 00:05:08,889
And it was prolonged because it
seemed easier to muddle through
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00:05:08,990 --> 00:05:12,022
than admit that it had been
caused by tragic decisions,
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made by five American presidents,
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belonging to both political parties.
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Before the war was over, more than
58,000 Americans would be dead.
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At least 250,000 South
Vietnamese troops died
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in the conflict, as well.
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00:05:33,355 --> 00:05:37,290
So did over a million
North Vietnamese soldiers
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00:05:37,389 --> 00:05:38,855
and Viet Cong guerrillas.
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00:05:44,256 --> 00:05:49,256
Two million civilians, north and
south, are thought to have perished,
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as well as tens of thousands
more in the neighboring states
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00:05:52,889 --> 00:05:54,690
of Laos and Cambodia.
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00:05:57,355 --> 00:06:01,490
For many Vietnamese, it
was a brutal civil war;
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for others, the bloody climactic chapter
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in a century-old
struggle for independence.
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00:06:13,822 --> 00:06:16,156
For those Americans who fought in it,
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and for those who fought
against it back home,
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00:06:19,223 --> 00:06:22,723
as well as for those who merely
glimpsed it on the nightly news,
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the Vietnam War was a decade of agony,
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the most divisive period
since the Civil War.
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Vietnam seemed to call
everything into question...
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00:06:37,190 --> 00:06:41,622
the value of honor and gallantry;
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00:06:41,723 --> 00:06:46,256
the qualities of cruelty and mercy;
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the candor of the American government;
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and what it means to be a patriot.
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And those who lived through it
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have never been able
to erase its memory,
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have never stopped arguing
about what really happened,
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why everything went so badly
wrong, who was to blame,
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and whether it was all worth it.
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EPISODE ONE
D�J� VU - 1858-1961
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The French conquest of
Indochina began with an attack
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on the ancient Vietnamese
port of Danang in 1858.
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It took 50 years to lay
claim to the whole region...
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Laos and Cambodia, as well
as the 1,200-mile-long area
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that would come to be called Vietnam.
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All of it was ruled by
a French governor-general
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from his palace in Hanoi.
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00:09:25,589 --> 00:09:28,922
The French largely lived
on plantation estates,
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00:09:29,022 --> 00:09:33,256
and in cities, like Saigon,
made to look as much as possible
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00:09:33,356 --> 00:09:35,455
like those at home.
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00:09:36,790 --> 00:09:39,955
Most did not even bother
to learn the language
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spoken by their subjects.
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Instead they installed a
series of puppet emperors
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00:09:45,823 --> 00:09:47,390
and employed a network
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00:09:47,489 --> 00:09:51,290
of French-speaking Vietnamese
officials... mandarins...
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00:09:51,390 --> 00:09:53,455
willing to carry out their wishes.
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The French put their subjects to
work building roads and canals,
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00:10:01,323 --> 00:10:03,823
railroads and bridges.
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00:10:05,156 --> 00:10:08,492
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111
00:10:08,493 --> 00:10:13,013
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00:10:13,014 --> 00:10:15,581
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113
00:10:16,682 --> 00:10:18,782
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00:10:20,122 --> 00:10:24,356
The Vietnamese people did not
take easily to French occupation,
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00:10:24,455 --> 00:10:28,922
just as they had fought against
earlier invasions by the Chinese.
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00:10:29,022 --> 00:10:33,122
By the early 20th century,
nationalism was on the rise.
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00:10:33,223 --> 00:10:38,522
But anyone who dared resist
colonial rule risked exile,
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00:10:38,622 --> 00:10:41,055
prison, or the guillotine.
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120
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121
00:10:51,451 --> 00:10:56,450
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122
00:10:56,951 --> 00:11:03,200
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123
00:11:03,201 --> 00:11:07,730
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124
00:11:09,231 --> 00:11:10,831
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125
00:11:12,355 --> 00:11:17,010
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126
00:11:17,711 --> 00:11:22,680
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127
00:11:23,481 --> 00:11:26,770
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128
00:11:35,355 --> 00:11:38,489
My hatred for them was pure.
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Pure.
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I hated them so much.
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And I was so scared of them.
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Boy, I was terrified of them.
133
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And the scareder I got,
the more I hated them.
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00:12:06,190 --> 00:12:09,422
I was an 18-year-old Marine
rifleman with the ink still wet
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on my high school diploma.
136
00:12:11,690 --> 00:12:14,123
I didn't want to shame
myself in front of my buddies.
137
00:12:16,256 --> 00:12:18,156
But I was so scared.
138
00:12:18,256 --> 00:12:21,056
I felt like I was hanging
onto my honor by my fingernails
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00:12:21,156 --> 00:12:22,790
the whole time I was there.
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00:12:37,556 --> 00:12:42,889
In the spring of 1919, as the
victorious Allied Powers met in Paris
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00:12:42,989 --> 00:12:46,690
to rebuild a world
shattered by the Great War,
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00:12:46,790 --> 00:12:50,489
President Woodrow Wilson
headed the American delegation
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00:12:50,590 --> 00:12:52,989
housed in the Hotel Crillon.
144
00:12:55,855 --> 00:12:59,656
One day, a tall, slender,
29-nine-year-old man
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00:12:59,755 --> 00:13:02,223
appeared with a petition
for the president
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00:13:02,322 --> 00:13:06,255
he and other Vietnamese
nationalists had written.
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00:13:06,355 --> 00:13:09,822
Inspired by Wilson's declaration
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00:13:09,922 --> 00:13:12,790
that the interests of colonial
peoples should be given
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00:13:12,889 --> 00:13:16,156
equal weight with those
of their European rulers,
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00:13:16,256 --> 00:13:21,556
the man was asking that this
principle be applied to his homeland.
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00:13:21,776 --> 00:13:26,509
The president's secretary
promised to show it to Wilson,
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00:13:26,609 --> 00:13:30,176
but there is no evidence
that he ever did.
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00:13:30,276 --> 00:13:32,776
His name was Nguyen Tat Thanh,
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00:13:32,876 --> 00:13:36,776
but he was now living under
an alias, Nguyen Ai Quoc...
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"Nguyen the Patriot. "
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00:13:40,743 --> 00:13:42,910
During his long, shadowy career,
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he would adopt some 70
different pseudonyms,
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finally settling on "the
most enlightened one"...
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Ho Chi Minh.
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Ho Chi Minh was a man
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00:13:56,187 --> 00:13:58,609
who succeeded in projecting an image
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of somebody who was
totally dedicated to freeing
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his country and his people
from foreign domination
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to the point that he
sacrificed his own well-being,
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his own life, not having
a family of his own.
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To Vietnamese, that's a big sacrifice
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because to us everybody needs a family.
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00:14:23,975 --> 00:14:26,710
Ho Chi Minh was born in 1890,
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the son of a minor official
in the French regime.
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After taking part in a demonstration
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against the puppet emperor and the
Frenchmen who pulled his strings,
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00:14:36,376 --> 00:14:40,442
Ho was expelled from school
and marked for arrest.
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He left Vietnam in 1911 and
remained in exile for 30 years.
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He served as a cook's
helper aboard a French liner,
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00:14:52,710 --> 00:14:55,442
and visited New York and Boston,
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where he worked for a time as a
pastry chef at the Parker House.
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00:15:00,710 --> 00:15:05,975
He shoveled snow in London,
tinted photographs in Paris.
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00:15:07,442 --> 00:15:11,642
There, Ho Chi Minh joined
the French Socialist Party.
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00:15:11,743 --> 00:15:15,210
But when he discovered the
anti-colonial writings of Lenin,
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he became a communist.
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00:15:18,243 --> 00:15:23,808
He was invited to Moscow to study,
underwent training as a Soviet agent,
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was sometimes criticized for
being a nationalist first,
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a communist second, and
then was dispatched to China
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to organize a cell of
other Vietnamese exiles
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and help establish the
Indochinese Communist Party.
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Through it all, "He
was taut and quivering,"
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a friend remembered,
"with only one thought...
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his country, Vietnam. "
189
00:16:04,533 --> 00:16:10,932
By 1940, much of the
world was at war again.
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00:16:17,333 --> 00:16:20,266
Germany had seized most of
191
00:16:20,267 --> 00:16:23,200
Western Europe, including France.
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00:16:26,700 --> 00:16:30,565
Imperial Japan threatened many
of the European colonies in Asia,
193
00:16:30,665 --> 00:16:34,499
and occupied Vietnam, where
they permitted their allies,
194
00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:38,966
the collaborationist French, to
continue to oversee their colony.
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00:16:42,132 --> 00:16:45,632
To some Vietnamese, the
coming of the Japanese
196
00:16:45,732 --> 00:16:50,266
seemed to signal a welcome
end to white colonial rule.
197
00:16:50,565 --> 00:16:53,832
But Ho Chi Minh, still
in exile in China,
198
00:16:53,833 --> 00:16:57,100
saw the Japanese as alien invaders,
199
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no more welcome than the French.
200
00:16:59,732 --> 00:17:02,966
They were only interested
in exploiting his country
201
00:17:03,065 --> 00:17:08,732
and seizing Vietnamese crops
to fill their own rice bowls.
202
00:17:09,133 --> 00:17:14,900
The time had come, he said, to rally
"patriots of all ages and all types,
203
00:17:14,999 --> 00:17:19,065
peasants, workers,
merchants and soldiers"
204
00:17:19,165 --> 00:17:22,865
to defeat the Japanese and
the collaborationist French.
205
00:17:26,632 --> 00:17:32,165
In February of 1941, after three
decades away from his homeland,
206
00:17:32,266 --> 00:17:36,299
Ho Chi Minh slipped back across
the Chinese border into Vietnam
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00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:40,665
and set up headquarters near
the remote village of Pac Bo
208
00:17:40,766 --> 00:17:43,533
in a limestone cave at
the side of a mountain
209
00:17:43,632 --> 00:17:46,333
he named for Karl Marx,
210
00:17:46,432 --> 00:17:51,900
overlooking a jungle stream
he named for his hero, Lenin.
211
00:17:54,266 --> 00:17:56,900
There, he founded a
revolutionary movement,
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00:17:56,999 --> 00:18:00,732
which he called the Vietnam
Independence League...
213
00:18:00,833 --> 00:18:03,466
the Viet Minh.
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00:18:04,132 --> 00:18:07,655
_
215
00:18:08,456 --> 00:18:11,710
_
216
00:18:11,711 --> 00:18:14,620
_
217
00:18:15,832 --> 00:18:18,999
To build and lead a fighting
force for his revolution,
218
00:18:19,100 --> 00:18:24,233
Ho called upon Vo Nguyen Giap, a
one-time teacher of French history
219
00:18:24,332 --> 00:18:27,999
who had instructed the
children of Hanoi's elite.
220
00:18:28,100 --> 00:18:31,666
Giap was an early convert to communism,
221
00:18:31,765 --> 00:18:35,132
whose life-long hatred
for the French intensified
222
00:18:35,233 --> 00:18:38,533
when they beat his
wife to death in prison.
223
00:18:38,632 --> 00:18:42,832
Inspired by Napoleon,
Lawrence of Arabia,
224
00:18:42,932 --> 00:18:46,499
and the communist Chinese
revolutionary Mao Zedong,
225
00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:48,900
Giap had already begun to develop
226
00:18:48,999 --> 00:18:53,265
a distinctive theory of warfare
that relied on guerrilla tactics
227
00:18:53,365 --> 00:18:58,365
until a full-scale conventional
attack could be mounted.
228
00:18:58,466 --> 00:19:02,499
In the fight for independence
which he believed was coming,
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his armies, Giap said, would
be "everywhere and nowhere. "
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00:19:09,965 --> 00:19:11,532
The reason Vietnamese
231
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had always resort to guerrilla warfare
232
00:19:13,300 --> 00:19:15,865
was because we were a small country.
233
00:19:15,966 --> 00:19:21,199
And it was just a way of fight
the weak against the strong.
234
00:19:21,300 --> 00:19:24,865
Don't fight unless
you're sure you can win,
235
00:19:24,966 --> 00:19:28,300
and surprise is a big element.
236
00:19:30,100 --> 00:19:32,666
Choose your own battle.
237
00:19:38,365 --> 00:19:42,533
I had about 26 guys that day out of 45.
238
00:19:42,632 --> 00:19:44,966
We were always somewhat understrength.
239
00:19:45,065 --> 00:19:47,365
And this day we were
quite understrength.
240
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My platoon's on point.
241
00:19:55,966 --> 00:19:57,632
Go, go, go, go, go!
242
00:19:57,733 --> 00:20:00,499
And all of a sudden the very point man,
243
00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:04,065
the first guy in the column,
said, "VC on the trail.
244
00:20:04,166 --> 00:20:05,432
VC on the trail. "
245
00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:10,932
Before I had a chance to digest this...
246
00:20:11,033 --> 00:20:12,600
...he went down, shot
right through the chest.
247
00:20:15,100 --> 00:20:18,666
And what was a very
well-laid ambush erupted.
248
00:20:29,970 --> 00:20:32,169
I knew I'd lost a bunch of guys.
249
00:20:32,270 --> 00:20:36,470
I said a prayer to
God saying, basically,
250
00:20:36,570 --> 00:20:39,002
"If you need any more guys
from my platoon, take me.
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00:20:39,102 --> 00:20:40,970
Don't take any more of my men. "
252
00:20:41,070 --> 00:20:44,435
As soon as I said it, I
freaked myself out and said,
253
00:20:44,535 --> 00:20:48,602
"Holy shit. Can I
take that prayer back?"
254
00:20:59,943 --> 00:21:02,436
By the spring of 1945,
255
00:21:02,535 --> 00:21:07,870
more than three years after the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor,
256
00:21:07,969 --> 00:21:11,102
the United States government
was looking for allies
257
00:21:11,203 --> 00:21:13,270
behind the lines in Vietnam.
258
00:21:13,370 --> 00:21:15,469
The Americans were hoping to find a way
259
00:21:15,570 --> 00:21:18,835
to undermine Japanese forces there
260
00:21:18,936 --> 00:21:22,102
when they were contacted by Ho Chi Minh.
261
00:21:22,203 --> 00:21:24,003
And so it was decided to drop
262
00:21:24,102 --> 00:21:29,102
an OSS team in to meet with
the Viet Minh leadership.
263
00:21:31,535 --> 00:21:34,770
Paul Hoagland was the medic on the team.
264
00:21:34,870 --> 00:21:38,469
And the first thing he was
told was that he must attend
265
00:21:38,570 --> 00:21:40,402
to their leader, who
was desperately sick.
266
00:21:40,503 --> 00:21:43,469
So he was taken to a grass shack
267
00:21:43,570 --> 00:21:47,902
where a bewhiskered, skinny
man lay on a bundle of straw,
268
00:21:48,003 --> 00:21:49,535
desperately ill.
269
00:21:49,636 --> 00:21:51,270
And that was Ho Chi Minh.
270
00:21:53,703 --> 00:21:58,335
The OSS, the secret wartime
precursor of the CIA,
271
00:21:58,436 --> 00:22:01,602
supplied Ho's ragtag
guerrillas with arms
272
00:22:01,703 --> 00:22:06,503
and marveled at how quickly
they learned to handle them.
273
00:22:06,602 --> 00:22:09,302
Ho Chi Minh began to call his followers
274
00:22:09,402 --> 00:22:13,602
the "Viet-American Army,"
and praised the United States
275
00:22:13,703 --> 00:22:15,602
as a "champion of democracy"
276
00:22:15,703 --> 00:22:18,870
that would surely help
them end colonial rule.
277
00:22:20,136 --> 00:22:23,600
_
278
00:22:23,601 --> 00:22:26,471
_
279
00:22:26,472 --> 00:22:31,190
_
280
00:22:31,191 --> 00:22:33,420
_
281
00:22:33,421 --> 00:22:36,000
_
282
00:22:37,136 --> 00:22:41,703
Meanwhile, famine gripped the
northern part of the country.
283
00:22:41,802 --> 00:22:43,703
Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese
284
00:22:43,802 --> 00:22:45,770
were dying of starvation
285
00:22:45,870 --> 00:22:49,102
while Japanese storehouses
were filled with rice.
286
00:22:52,136 --> 00:22:54,136
In those days, garbage was collected
287
00:22:54,235 --> 00:22:56,370
by people pushing carts.
288
00:22:56,469 --> 00:23:01,070
And my mother remembers that
every morning she would see
289
00:23:01,169 --> 00:23:03,070
these garbage carts going around
290
00:23:03,169 --> 00:23:07,136
and people picking up dead bodies
and throwing them on the cart.
291
00:23:07,235 --> 00:23:08,770
It was incredible.
292
00:23:08,870 --> 00:23:12,402
And people who lived through
it never, never forgot.
293
00:23:13,507 --> 00:23:17,149
Duong Van Mai's father
was the deputy governor
294
00:23:17,250 --> 00:23:21,950
of a province east of Hanoi,
the son and grandson of mandarins
295
00:23:22,050 --> 00:23:24,683
who had all served the French.
296
00:23:24,782 --> 00:23:28,116
He and his wife had 17 children.
297
00:23:28,215 --> 00:23:32,950
Parents who had children
who were, you know, plump,
298
00:23:33,050 --> 00:23:38,015
were very afraid of their
children being stolen and killed.
299
00:23:38,116 --> 00:23:41,215
And it was really like hell on earth.
300
00:23:41,316 --> 00:23:44,782
The government didn't
have a clue on how to deal
301
00:23:44,883 --> 00:23:46,982
with this calamity.
302
00:23:48,550 --> 00:23:49,849
But Ho Chi Minh did.
303
00:23:49,950 --> 00:23:52,183
He directed the Viet Minh
304
00:23:52,282 --> 00:23:55,550
to break into the Japanese
storehouses wherever they could
305
00:23:55,649 --> 00:23:59,782
and distribute the rice to the people.
306
00:23:59,883 --> 00:24:02,450
They were hailed as saviors.
307
00:24:17,316 --> 00:24:20,482
When an atomic bomb destroyed Hiroshima,
308
00:24:20,582 --> 00:24:24,116
and three days later a
second one destroyed Nagasaki,
309
00:24:24,215 --> 00:24:27,250
Japanese surrender seemed imminent.
310
00:24:29,282 --> 00:24:32,849
Ho Chi Minh called upon
all Vietnamese to rise up
311
00:24:32,950 --> 00:24:34,883
and take over their own country
312
00:24:34,982 --> 00:24:37,349
before the Free French could reestablish
313
00:24:37,450 --> 00:24:39,950
their old colonial regime.
314
00:24:40,050 --> 00:24:45,149
They did, in cities and
towns across the country.
315
00:24:48,683 --> 00:24:51,582
On September 2, 1945,
316
00:24:51,683 --> 00:24:54,450
the same day the Japanese
formally surrendered,
317
00:24:54,550 --> 00:24:57,450
hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese
318
00:24:57,550 --> 00:25:02,349
streamed into Ba Dinh Square in
Hanoi to see for the first time
319
00:25:02,450 --> 00:25:05,683
the mysterious leader of the Viet Minh
320
00:25:05,782 --> 00:25:10,415
and hear him proclaim
Vietnam's independence.
321
00:25:14,050 --> 00:25:18,649
With an OSS officer standing nearby,
322
00:25:18,750 --> 00:25:22,715
Ho Chi Minh began with the
words of Thomas Jefferson:
323
00:25:22,816 --> 00:25:25,349
"All men are created equal.
324
00:25:25,450 --> 00:25:28,250
They are endowed by their creator
325
00:25:28,349 --> 00:25:31,450
with certain unalienable rights;
326
00:25:31,550 --> 00:25:34,215
that among these are life, liberty
327
00:25:34,316 --> 00:25:36,515
and the pursuit of happiness. "
328
00:25:39,215 --> 00:25:42,871
_
329
00:25:42,872 --> 00:25:48,872
_
330
00:25:48,873 --> 00:25:51,483
_
331
00:25:52,084 --> 00:25:55,020
_
332
00:25:55,021 --> 00:25:57,361
_
333
00:25:58,982 --> 00:26:01,282
Ho Chi Minh had great hopes
334
00:26:01,383 --> 00:26:06,750
that the U.S. would support the
Vietnam desire for independence,
335
00:26:06,849 --> 00:26:12,482
not necessarily by intervening
but by doing what it could
336
00:26:12,582 --> 00:26:16,215
to support an independence movement.
337
00:26:16,316 --> 00:26:20,015
Ho Chi Minh's hopes for
American support were calculated
338
00:26:20,116 --> 00:26:23,015
but understandable.
339
00:26:23,116 --> 00:26:27,015
President Franklin Roosevelt
had promised a postwar world
340
00:26:27,116 --> 00:26:30,183
that would "respect the
rights of all peoples
341
00:26:30,282 --> 00:26:33,250
to choose the form of government
under which they live. "
342
00:26:36,082 --> 00:26:39,915
But Roosevelt was dead now,
and his successor, Harry Truman,
343
00:26:40,015 --> 00:26:43,782
had inherited a very different world.
344
00:26:43,883 --> 00:26:46,215
The alliance with the Soviet Union
345
00:26:46,316 --> 00:26:50,116
that had won the Second
World War had collapsed.
346
00:26:50,215 --> 00:26:53,849
The Soviets now occupied the
Eastern European countries
347
00:26:53,950 --> 00:26:58,515
they had overrun, and hoped to
spread their influence farther,
348
00:26:58,616 --> 00:27:03,316
into Iran, Turkey,
and the Mediterranean.
349
00:27:03,415 --> 00:27:07,715
A new cold war had begun.
350
00:27:07,816 --> 00:27:10,383
French president
Charles De Gaulle warned
351
00:27:10,482 --> 00:27:13,550
that if the United States
insisted on independence
352
00:27:13,649 --> 00:27:17,316
for her colonies, France
might have no choice
353
00:27:17,415 --> 00:27:20,750
but to "fall into the Russian orbit. "
354
00:27:20,849 --> 00:27:24,250
The United States must
do nothing to undercut
355
00:27:24,349 --> 00:27:29,750
the restoration of France's
empire, including Vietnam.
356
00:27:33,816 --> 00:27:37,316
There were hardly any Americans
in Vietnam, you know...
357
00:27:37,415 --> 00:27:40,349
State Department people,
consular officials,
358
00:27:40,450 --> 00:27:42,649
a few businessmen.
359
00:27:42,750 --> 00:27:44,715
Hardly anyone from this country
360
00:27:44,816 --> 00:27:46,582
knew where Vietnam was located.
361
00:27:46,683 --> 00:27:51,383
George Wickes was part
of a seven-man OSS mission
362
00:27:51,482 --> 00:27:54,816
sent to Saigon, the
largest city in the south.
363
00:27:54,915 --> 00:27:58,383
The United States was
officially neutral,
364
00:27:58,482 --> 00:28:01,250
hoping the French and
Viet Minh could reach
365
00:28:01,349 --> 00:28:04,883
some peaceful solution on their own.
366
00:28:04,982 --> 00:28:08,482
Allied leaders had agreed
temporarily to divide Vietnam
367
00:28:08,582 --> 00:28:11,050
into two separate zones.
368
00:28:11,149 --> 00:28:15,316
Nationalist Chinese troops were
to handle things in the north.
369
00:28:15,415 --> 00:28:18,883
British colonial troops would
try to perform the same task
370
00:28:18,982 --> 00:28:21,782
in the south, where rival factions,
371
00:28:21,883 --> 00:28:25,982
including the French and Viet
Minh, were already fighting
372
00:28:26,082 --> 00:28:28,982
in the streets of Saigon.
373
00:28:29,082 --> 00:28:31,450
No one was in charge.
374
00:28:31,550 --> 00:28:37,316
On both sides, there was brutality
and atrocity and violence.
375
00:28:37,415 --> 00:28:39,950
It wasn't quite a civil war
376
00:28:40,050 --> 00:28:41,915
but it was getting
very close to civil war
377
00:28:42,015 --> 00:28:44,250
in the streets of Saigon.
378
00:28:44,719 --> 00:28:47,686
Lieutenant Colonel Peter Dewey,
379
00:28:47,785 --> 00:28:51,152
the 28-year-old commander
of the OSS in Saigon,
380
00:28:51,253 --> 00:28:53,852
tried to make sense of it all.
381
00:28:53,952 --> 00:28:56,686
Right from the start he was
in touch with everybody...
382
00:28:56,785 --> 00:28:59,519
not only the French, but
very soon he established
383
00:28:59,620 --> 00:29:03,785
a connection with
various Vietnamese groups.
384
00:29:03,885 --> 00:29:09,420
The Viet Minh soon established
themselves as the most successful.
385
00:29:09,519 --> 00:29:12,320
Dewey, who spoke fluent French,
386
00:29:12,420 --> 00:29:15,352
brokered talks between
a Viet Minh spokesman
387
00:29:15,452 --> 00:29:19,152
and the senior French
representative in the city.
388
00:29:19,253 --> 00:29:24,019
His efforts infuriated
British general Douglas Gracey,
389
00:29:24,120 --> 00:29:27,053
who commanded Allied
forces in the south.
390
00:29:27,152 --> 00:29:30,019
Gracey was convinced that French control
391
00:29:30,120 --> 00:29:32,952
should be reimposed as soon as possible.
392
00:29:33,053 --> 00:29:36,385
By conferring with the
Viet Minh, Gracey said,
393
00:29:36,486 --> 00:29:40,952
Colonel Dewey had become
a "subversive" force.
394
00:29:42,486 --> 00:29:45,986
The violence in and
around Saigon escalated.
395
00:29:47,986 --> 00:29:50,719
Colonel Dewey urgently
cabled his superiors:
396
00:29:50,820 --> 00:29:54,320
Vietnam "is burning," he wrote.
397
00:29:54,420 --> 00:29:56,920
"The French and British
are finished here
398
00:29:57,019 --> 00:29:59,553
and the United States," he concluded,
399
00:29:59,652 --> 00:30:01,820
"ought to clear out of Southeast Asia. "
400
00:30:06,152 --> 00:30:10,585
Two days later, September 26, 1945,
401
00:30:10,686 --> 00:30:12,186
he set out for the airport,
402
00:30:12,285 --> 00:30:17,186
prepared to fly to OSS headquarters.
403
00:30:17,285 --> 00:30:22,285
At a roadblock, the Viet Minh
mistook Dewey for a Frenchman
404
00:30:22,385 --> 00:30:24,420
and opened fire.
405
00:30:26,019 --> 00:30:29,219
He was killed instantly.
406
00:30:29,620 --> 00:30:33,420
Ho Chi Minh wrote to the United States
407
00:30:33,519 --> 00:30:37,519
lamenting the death of
Dewey, whom he recognized
408
00:30:37,620 --> 00:30:41,486
as a person sympathetic to his cause.
409
00:30:41,585 --> 00:30:44,319
It seemed a terrible irony that Dewey,
410
00:30:44,420 --> 00:30:46,986
who was doing what he could to help
411
00:30:47,085 --> 00:30:50,752
the Vietnamese independence
movement should have been killed
412
00:30:50,853 --> 00:30:53,120
by the Vietnamese by a mistake.
413
00:31:04,620 --> 00:31:09,385
An elderly African-American
woman answered the door.
414
00:31:14,420 --> 00:31:18,420
I think she knew the instant
she saw us why we were there.
415
00:31:21,385 --> 00:31:23,519
And the padre said, uh,
416
00:31:23,620 --> 00:31:28,220
"I'm... I'm terribly
sorry to inform you,
417
00:31:28,319 --> 00:31:33,086
but your son was killed in Vietnam. "
418
00:31:33,185 --> 00:31:36,252
And she just sat down.
Didn't say a word.
419
00:31:38,185 --> 00:31:41,919
Then the... her husband says,
"No, there's a mistake. "
420
00:31:42,020 --> 00:31:43,720
He comes back with this letter.
421
00:31:43,820 --> 00:31:46,086
And he said, "Look, see?
422
00:31:46,185 --> 00:31:51,086
We got it yesterday, my... our
son was still alive yesterday. "
423
00:31:51,185 --> 00:31:54,153
And the chaplain looked at the letter
424
00:31:54,252 --> 00:31:56,453
and he said, "It's a week old.
425
00:31:56,552 --> 00:32:00,985
I think your son was killed on
the day he wrote this letter. "
426
00:32:08,785 --> 00:32:12,985
In the fall of 1945, a week
after Colonel Dewey's death,
427
00:32:13,086 --> 00:32:16,052
fresh French troops
began arriving in Saigon,
428
00:32:16,153 --> 00:32:20,020
taking over from the British.
429
00:32:20,119 --> 00:32:23,185
They quickly established
control of the city
430
00:32:23,285 --> 00:32:26,486
and set out to reoccupy
the entire country.
431
00:32:28,385 --> 00:32:32,120
Ho Chi Minh hoped somehow
to achieve independence
432
00:32:32,220 --> 00:32:34,220
without a war with France,
433
00:32:34,320 --> 00:32:37,720
and he still hoped the
United States would intervene.
434
00:32:37,820 --> 00:32:41,720
"You never had an empire, never
exploited the Asian peoples,"
435
00:32:41,820 --> 00:32:44,852
he would tell a visiting
American journalist.
436
00:32:44,952 --> 00:32:49,019
"Do not be blinded by
this issue of communism. "
437
00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:54,452
He did not want to fight the
French as an enemy of America.
438
00:32:54,552 --> 00:33:00,753
And, in fact, I saw the letters
he wrote to President Truman
439
00:33:00,853 --> 00:33:05,286
saying, "We believe in the
same things you believe. "
440
00:33:05,385 --> 00:33:08,652
Those letters I saw in the CIA files,
441
00:33:08,753 --> 00:33:12,619
they had never been
given to President Truman.
442
00:33:16,885 --> 00:33:21,485
In June of 1946, Ho Chi
Minh returned to Paris
443
00:33:21,585 --> 00:33:24,520
in a fruitless attempt to
get the French to live up
444
00:33:24,619 --> 00:33:27,820
to a promise they had
made of increased autonomy
445
00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:30,152
for his country.
446
00:33:30,253 --> 00:33:32,052
While Ho was away,
447
00:33:32,152 --> 00:33:35,520
General Giap began
consolidating communist control
448
00:33:35,619 --> 00:33:36,985
of the revolution.
449
00:33:37,085 --> 00:33:39,853
He conducted a merciless purge
450
00:33:39,952 --> 00:33:42,885
of members of rival nationalist parties
451
00:33:42,985 --> 00:33:46,253
and people he called
"reactionary saboteurs"...
452
00:33:46,353 --> 00:33:51,619
landlords and moneylenders,
Trotskyites and Catholics,
453
00:33:51,719 --> 00:33:56,085
men and women accused of
collaborating with the French.
454
00:33:56,186 --> 00:34:00,520
Hundreds were shot,
drowned, buried alive.
455
00:34:00,619 --> 00:34:05,005
_
456
00:34:05,606 --> 00:34:09,900
_
457
00:34:09,901 --> 00:34:12,700
_
458
00:34:13,652 --> 00:34:18,552
On December 19, 1946, after
months of building tension,
459
00:34:18,652 --> 00:34:20,853
fighting broke out in Hanoi
460
00:34:20,952 --> 00:34:23,853
between the Viet Minh and the French.
461
00:34:28,119 --> 00:34:31,286
The Viet Minh proved no
match for French firepower.
462
00:34:35,853 --> 00:34:41,719
Ho, Giap, and their comrades
slipped out of the city
463
00:34:41,820 --> 00:34:45,753
and returned to their mountain
stronghold far to the north.
464
00:34:47,985 --> 00:34:51,119
"Those who have rifles
will use their rifles,"
465
00:34:51,219 --> 00:34:53,219
Ho declared in a radio address
466
00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:56,152
calling for a nationwide guerrilla war.
467
00:34:56,253 --> 00:35:00,119
"Those who have swords will use swords;
468
00:35:00,219 --> 00:35:05,452
those who have no swords
will use spades or sticks. "
469
00:35:09,186 --> 00:35:13,930
_
470
00:35:18,531 --> 00:35:23,665
_
471
00:35:26,166 --> 00:35:31,380
_
472
00:35:31,381 --> 00:35:32,951
_
473
00:35:35,073 --> 00:35:37,672
But the country Ho
Chi Minh hoped to unite
474
00:35:37,772 --> 00:35:41,006
was itself bitterly divided.
475
00:35:41,105 --> 00:35:43,406
Families were being torn apart.
476
00:35:43,506 --> 00:35:47,272
Despite her father's position
in the French government,
477
00:35:47,372 --> 00:35:52,305
Duong Van Mai's sister felt
compelled to answer Ho's call.
478
00:35:53,973 --> 00:35:57,573
My older sister Thang was married
479
00:35:57,672 --> 00:36:02,705
to a man who had great
sympathy for the Viet Minh.
480
00:36:02,805 --> 00:36:05,805
And by that time Ho Chi Minh
had evacuated his government
481
00:36:05,906 --> 00:36:07,205
to the mountain base.
482
00:36:07,305 --> 00:36:10,939
So my sister and her
husband trekked all the way
483
00:36:11,040 --> 00:36:13,272
from Hanoi toward the base
484
00:36:13,372 --> 00:36:16,973
in order to join the
resistance against the French.
485
00:36:19,672 --> 00:36:22,140
So the Vietnam War
was really a civil war
486
00:36:22,240 --> 00:36:23,872
down to the family level.
487
00:36:32,205 --> 00:36:35,805
France poured thousands
of men into Vietnam...
488
00:36:35,906 --> 00:36:40,240
French regulars, European
mercenaries, and colonial troops
489
00:36:40,339 --> 00:36:44,205
from Morocco, Algeria,
Tunisia, and Senegal...
490
00:36:44,305 --> 00:36:49,172
who fought alongside an
army of Cambodians, Laotians,
491
00:36:49,272 --> 00:36:52,172
and anti-communist Vietnamese.
492
00:36:56,006 --> 00:37:00,305
French forces managed to
occupy most of the large towns
493
00:37:00,406 --> 00:37:01,805
and province capitals
494
00:37:01,906 --> 00:37:06,872
and established hundreds
of isolated outposts.
495
00:37:06,973 --> 00:37:11,640
The French also set out to try
to win over rural Vietnamese
496
00:37:11,740 --> 00:37:15,105
through a program they
called pacification...
497
00:37:15,205 --> 00:37:17,305
pacification...
498
00:37:17,406 --> 00:37:22,040
building dikes, schools and
roads, and vaccinating children.
499
00:37:24,872 --> 00:37:27,272
The French would pacify a village
500
00:37:27,372 --> 00:37:31,540
and during the daytime
they could control it.
501
00:37:31,640 --> 00:37:35,140
But at night the Viet
Minh would come back.
502
00:37:35,240 --> 00:37:39,372
And so it was never completely secure.
503
00:37:39,473 --> 00:37:42,906
My father would shake his
head and said, you know,
504
00:37:43,006 --> 00:37:44,473
"Pacification is really futile
505
00:37:44,573 --> 00:37:48,805
because it's like trying to
hold sand in your fingers. "
506
00:37:52,272 --> 00:37:57,372
The Viet Minh mined roads,
blew up bridges and railroads,
507
00:37:57,473 --> 00:38:02,640
ambushed French patrols,
and then disappeared.
508
00:38:04,973 --> 00:38:09,172
French soldiers sometimes took
revenge on the nearest village,
509
00:38:09,272 --> 00:38:11,672
burning homes, raping women,
510
00:38:11,772 --> 00:38:15,973
executing men suspected
of aiding the Viet Minh.
511
00:38:20,839 --> 00:38:23,600
_
512
00:38:23,601 --> 00:38:30,512
_
513
00:38:32,413 --> 00:38:37,473
_
514
00:38:40,474 --> 00:38:46,605
_
515
00:38:46,606 --> 00:38:52,096
_
516
00:38:54,772 --> 00:38:59,573
But the communists proved every
bit as ruthless as the French.
517
00:38:59,672 --> 00:39:02,839
"It is better to kill even
those who might be innocent,"
518
00:39:02,939 --> 00:39:08,672
one commander said, "than
to let a guilty person go. "
519
00:39:08,772 --> 00:39:11,040
And they specifically targeted
520
00:39:11,140 --> 00:39:14,406
anyone who had links to the French.
521
00:39:14,506 --> 00:39:17,600
Once my father started
working for the French,
522
00:39:17,610 --> 00:39:20,973
then he was a target,
especially the higher he rose,
523
00:39:21,073 --> 00:39:22,939
the bigger target he became.
524
00:39:23,040 --> 00:39:29,105
A Viet Minh agent actually came
in with a pistol to shoot him
525
00:39:29,205 --> 00:39:32,772
but at the last moment decided not to.
526
00:39:35,140 --> 00:39:39,072
_
527
00:39:39,073 --> 00:39:44,673
_
528
00:39:45,174 --> 00:39:48,450
_
529
00:39:48,851 --> 00:39:55,000
_
530
00:39:55,301 --> 00:39:59,740
_
531
00:40:01,041 --> 00:40:05,859
_
532
00:40:12,040 --> 00:40:15,405
French casualties continued to mount.
533
00:40:15,505 --> 00:40:18,340
"There are days when
we are so discouraged
534
00:40:18,440 --> 00:40:21,040
that we would like to give it all up,"
535
00:40:21,139 --> 00:40:23,239
a French soldier wrote his mother.
536
00:40:23,340 --> 00:40:26,505
"Convoys under attack, roads cut,
537
00:40:26,605 --> 00:40:29,706
"firing in all directions every night,
538
00:40:29,806 --> 00:40:31,739
the indifference at home. "
539
00:40:41,405 --> 00:40:43,300
While I was there I had the opportunity
540
00:40:43,301 --> 00:40:46,239
to call my mother, you know.
541
00:40:46,340 --> 00:40:49,373
And I was telling my mother
what was happening over there,
542
00:40:49,472 --> 00:40:52,572
and I was telling her
how she shouldn't believe
543
00:40:52,672 --> 00:40:55,540
what she sees in the newspaper
and sees on television
544
00:40:55,639 --> 00:40:58,273
because we're losing the war.
545
00:40:58,373 --> 00:41:01,139
I said, "And you'll
probably never see me again
546
00:41:01,239 --> 00:41:03,912
because we're the most northern outpost
547
00:41:03,913 --> 00:41:06,239
that the Marines have, you know. "
548
00:41:06,340 --> 00:41:08,273
We could literally... could
look right into North Vietnam.
549
00:41:08,373 --> 00:41:10,306
We could see the sparks
when the guns fired on us.
550
00:41:10,405 --> 00:41:12,572
And I said, "And everybody
in my unit is dying.
551
00:41:12,672 --> 00:41:15,340
I probably won't be coming back. "
552
00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:17,472
And my mother said, "No,
you're coming back. "
553
00:41:17,572 --> 00:41:21,306
She said, "I talk to God
every day and you're special.
554
00:41:21,405 --> 00:41:23,239
You're coming back. "
555
00:41:23,340 --> 00:41:25,572
And I said, "Ma,
everybody's mother thinks
556
00:41:25,672 --> 00:41:27,873
that they're special.
557
00:41:27,972 --> 00:41:32,005
You know, I'm putting pieces
of special people in bags. "
558
00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:40,605
President Truman's dramatic announcement
that Russia had the atom secret
559
00:41:40,706 --> 00:41:45,040
caused state departments all
over the world to stir uneasily.
560
00:41:45,439 --> 00:41:49,472
We were very aware that
there was a Cold War
561
00:41:49,573 --> 00:41:55,573
and that we had an enemy, and
that enemy was the Soviet Union.
562
00:41:55,673 --> 00:41:58,740
The United States stood at one pole
563
00:41:58,840 --> 00:42:01,039
and the Soviet Union
stood at the other pole.
564
00:42:01,140 --> 00:42:05,972
It was kind of a Manichean dynamic
that there was evil and there was good.
565
00:42:06,073 --> 00:42:08,006
And we were good, and
the other side was evil.
566
00:42:08,106 --> 00:42:11,173
It wasn't morally ambiguous.
567
00:42:13,972 --> 00:42:18,205
Just a few weeks after
Russia became a nuclear power,
568
00:42:18,305 --> 00:42:20,140
there was more stunning news...
569
00:42:20,240 --> 00:42:26,539
communist forces under Mao
Zedong seized control of China.
570
00:42:26,640 --> 00:42:30,506
Separate communist
insurrections were also underway
571
00:42:30,606 --> 00:42:36,140
in the British colonies
of Burma and Malaya.
572
00:42:36,240 --> 00:42:39,905
In January 1950, Mao formally recognized
573
00:42:40,006 --> 00:42:44,039
Ho Chi Minh's insurgency and
agreed to provide the arms,
574
00:42:44,140 --> 00:42:48,039
equipment, and military
training he had been seeking.
575
00:42:48,140 --> 00:42:52,140
The Soviets recognized
the Viet Minh as well,
576
00:42:52,240 --> 00:42:54,039
and also offered help.
577
00:42:54,140 --> 00:42:57,705
President Truman, who was being blamed
578
00:42:57,805 --> 00:43:01,640
by his political opponents
for having "lost" China,
579
00:43:01,740 --> 00:43:04,073
and having failed to
"contain" communism,
580
00:43:04,173 --> 00:43:10,439
approved a $23 million aid
program for the French in Vietnam.
581
00:43:10,539 --> 00:43:15,372
The United States was no longer neutral.
582
00:43:15,472 --> 00:43:18,305
We were caught on the horns of a dilemma
583
00:43:18,405 --> 00:43:21,039
of how can we maintain our friendship
584
00:43:21,140 --> 00:43:24,872
and our alliance with the French
and support them in Indochina
585
00:43:24,972 --> 00:43:28,606
while we, as a former colony ourselves,
586
00:43:28,705 --> 00:43:31,673
sympathized with the
Vietnamese and their aspirations
587
00:43:31,772 --> 00:43:33,705
for freedom and independence?
588
00:43:38,539 --> 00:43:40,872
A highly trained and
well-equipped North Korean Army
589
00:43:40,972 --> 00:43:43,106
swarmed across the 38th parallel
590
00:43:43,205 --> 00:43:45,173
to attack unprepared
South Korean defenders.
591
00:43:46,939 --> 00:43:50,573
In June of 1950, China's ally,
592
00:43:50,673 --> 00:43:54,173
communist North Korea,
invaded South Korea.
593
00:43:55,805 --> 00:44:00,073
President Truman ordered tens of
thousands of American ground troops
594
00:44:00,173 --> 00:44:03,039
onto the Korean Peninsula.
595
00:44:08,406 --> 00:44:10,905
The United States and its allies
596
00:44:11,006 --> 00:44:15,372
eventually pushed the
invaders back north.
597
00:44:15,472 --> 00:44:17,772
Meanwhile in southern China,
598
00:44:17,872 --> 00:44:20,240
Mao's military was beginning
to turn the Viet Minh
599
00:44:20,340 --> 00:44:24,140
into a modern fighting force,
600
00:44:24,240 --> 00:44:28,305
capable of inflicting a heavy
toll on the French occupiers.
601
00:44:35,673 --> 00:44:37,439
In July, the Truman administration
602
00:44:37,539 --> 00:44:40,405
quietly dispatched transport planes
603
00:44:40,506 --> 00:44:43,073
and a shipload of jeeps to Vietnam.
604
00:44:43,173 --> 00:44:48,840
Thirty-five military advisors
went along to oversee their use.
605
00:44:50,673 --> 00:44:53,573
None of them, and no one
in the American embassy,
606
00:44:53,673 --> 00:44:57,673
spoke a word of Vietnamese.
607
00:44:57,772 --> 00:45:02,073
But the United States was
now officially in Vietnam.
608
00:45:04,305 --> 00:45:06,472
In October of 1950,
609
00:45:06,573 --> 00:45:09,640
hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops
610
00:45:09,740 --> 00:45:11,905
began pouring into North Korea,
611
00:45:12,006 --> 00:45:16,039
driving the allies
back down the peninsula.
612
00:45:16,140 --> 00:45:20,056
As that fighting raged,
Truman continued to
613
00:45:20,057 --> 00:45:23,972
increase military aid for
the French war in Vietnam.
614
00:45:27,205 --> 00:45:29,140
If aggression is successful in Korea,
615
00:45:29,239 --> 00:45:32,473
we can expect it to spread
throughout Asia and Europe
616
00:45:32,572 --> 00:45:33,806
and to this hemisphere.
617
00:45:36,440 --> 00:45:41,605
We are fighting in Korea for our
own national security and survival.
618
00:45:48,373 --> 00:45:52,705
In the autumn of 1951, a
young Massachusetts congressman
619
00:45:52,806 --> 00:45:56,672
named John F. Kennedy
dined at the rooftop bar
620
00:45:56,772 --> 00:45:59,406
of the Hotel Majestic
overlooking Saigon.
621
00:46:00,806 --> 00:46:02,806
As he and his party ate,
622
00:46:02,906 --> 00:46:07,239
they could hear the thunder of
guns across the Saigon River.
623
00:46:07,339 --> 00:46:10,373
French commanders assured Kennedy
624
00:46:10,473 --> 00:46:12,973
that with more American support,
625
00:46:13,072 --> 00:46:16,239
French rule would be re-established.
626
00:46:16,339 --> 00:46:19,906
But Kennedy spent two
hours with Seymour Topping,
627
00:46:20,005 --> 00:46:22,105
a seasoned American reporter,
628
00:46:22,205 --> 00:46:24,806
who gave him a very
different perspective:
629
00:46:24,906 --> 00:46:27,605
the French were losing, he said,
630
00:46:27,705 --> 00:46:31,473
and many Vietnamese, who had
once admired the Americans,
631
00:46:31,572 --> 00:46:35,705
were beginning to despise
them for backing the French.
632
00:46:35,806 --> 00:46:39,040
Kennedy believed the reporter.
633
00:46:39,140 --> 00:46:42,406
Unless the United States
could persuade the Vietnamese
634
00:46:42,505 --> 00:46:46,072
that it was as opposed to
"injustice and inequality"
635
00:46:46,172 --> 00:46:47,672
as it was to communism,
636
00:46:47,772 --> 00:46:50,739
he told his constituents
when he got home,
637
00:46:50,839 --> 00:46:56,105
the current effort would
result in "foredoomed failure. "
638
00:47:04,740 --> 00:47:09,873
In 1952, General Dwight
Eisenhower was elected president,
639
00:47:09,973 --> 00:47:14,906
in part because he promised to
take a tougher stance on communism.
640
00:47:16,091 --> 00:47:20,839
That year, American taxpayers were
footing more than 30% of the bill
641
00:47:20,940 --> 00:47:23,873
for the French war in Vietnam.
642
00:47:24,273 --> 00:47:29,505
Within two years, that number
would rise to nearly 80%.
643
00:47:32,940 --> 00:47:35,205
And many of you ask this question:
644
00:47:35,306 --> 00:47:37,572
Why is the United States spending
645
00:47:37,672 --> 00:47:39,473
hundreds of millions of dollars
646
00:47:39,572 --> 00:47:43,672
supporting the forces
of the French Union
647
00:47:43,772 --> 00:47:47,272
in the fight against
communism in Indochina?
648
00:47:47,373 --> 00:47:49,605
I think perhaps if we
go over to the map here,
649
00:47:49,705 --> 00:47:54,040
I can indicate to you why
it is so vitally important.
650
00:47:54,140 --> 00:47:56,473
Here's Indochina.
651
00:47:56,572 --> 00:48:01,239
If Indochina falls, Thailand is
put in almost impossible position.
652
00:48:01,339 --> 00:48:04,406
The same is true of Malaya
with its rubber and tin.
653
00:48:04,505 --> 00:48:09,540
Now may I say that as far as the
war in Indochina is concerned,
654
00:48:09,640 --> 00:48:14,205
that I was there, right on the
battlefield, or close to it,
655
00:48:14,306 --> 00:48:16,906
and it's a bloody war,
and it's a bitter one.
656
00:48:22,306 --> 00:48:27,040
By 1953, the French had been
fighting for seven years.
657
00:48:27,140 --> 00:48:30,373
They had suffered
over 100,000 casualties
658
00:48:30,473 --> 00:48:33,605
and failed to pacify the countryside.
659
00:48:33,705 --> 00:48:37,373
Six commanders had come and gone.
660
00:48:37,473 --> 00:48:39,640
Nevertheless, the seventh commander,
661
00:48:39,739 --> 00:48:42,772
General Henri Navarre,
assured his countrymen
662
00:48:42,873 --> 00:48:44,306
that victory was near.
663
00:48:44,406 --> 00:48:47,440
"Now we can see it clearly," he said,
664
00:48:47,540 --> 00:48:51,373
"like the light at the
end of the tunnel. "
665
00:48:53,373 --> 00:48:57,272
Meanwhile, large parts of the
French population were horrified
666
00:48:57,373 --> 00:48:59,973
by reports of French brutality
667
00:49:00,072 --> 00:49:02,772
and the widespread use of napalm...
668
00:49:02,873 --> 00:49:07,540
gelatinized petroleum
that burned foliage,
669
00:49:07,640 --> 00:49:10,105
homes, and human flesh.
670
00:49:13,040 --> 00:49:16,440
When returning French troops
disembarked at Marseilles,
671
00:49:16,540 --> 00:49:20,906
members of the longshoremen's
union pelted them with rocks.
672
00:49:21,005 --> 00:49:24,072
Parisian leftists began
to call the conflict
673
00:49:24,172 --> 00:49:27,306
"La Sale Guerre"... "The Dirty War. "
674
00:49:35,752 --> 00:49:38,053
The camera was a close-up,
675
00:49:38,152 --> 00:49:41,220
was over the shoulder
of this storm trooper
676
00:49:41,319 --> 00:49:44,852
who had a kid by the scruff
of his shirt and he smacks him.
677
00:49:44,953 --> 00:49:46,053
People screaming...
678
00:49:46,152 --> 00:49:50,919
At that moment in time, I realized that
anybody who really cared for America
679
00:49:51,020 --> 00:49:55,986
was sent halfway around the world
chasing some ghost in a jungle.
680
00:49:56,085 --> 00:49:59,120
In the meantime, my
country's being torn apart.
681
00:49:59,220 --> 00:50:01,419
So I saw somebody who looked like my dad
682
00:50:01,520 --> 00:50:03,020
hitting somebody who looked like me.
683
00:50:03,120 --> 00:50:04,953
Whose side would I be on?
684
00:50:13,053 --> 00:50:15,553
In Korea, three years of combat end
685
00:50:15,652 --> 00:50:19,652
as United Nations and communist
negotiators at Panmunjom sign a truce.
686
00:50:19,812 --> 00:50:22,780
In July of 1953,
687
00:50:22,879 --> 00:50:26,245
the Korean War ended in
a negotiated settlement
688
00:50:26,345 --> 00:50:28,280
and a still-divided peninsula.
689
00:50:28,454 --> 00:50:31,755
American policymakers saw it as proof
690
00:50:31,855 --> 00:50:35,155
that communism in Asia
could be contained.
691
00:50:35,255 --> 00:50:36,987
And in Washington, a dramatic
evening press conference...
692
00:50:37,088 --> 00:50:40,121
That fall, the French
indicated their willingness
693
00:50:40,220 --> 00:50:44,188
to begin talks to end
the fighting in Vietnam.
694
00:50:44,287 --> 00:50:47,720
Ho Chi Minh agreed to meet.
695
00:50:47,820 --> 00:50:51,688
But before the negotiators
were to convene in Geneva,
696
00:50:51,787 --> 00:50:56,787
each side sought to improve
its position on the battlefield.
697
00:50:58,387 --> 00:51:00,954
General Navarre set up a fortified base
698
00:51:01,054 --> 00:51:03,920
in a remote valley in
northwestern Vietnam
699
00:51:04,021 --> 00:51:08,487
called Dien Bien Phu, where
he hoped to lure the Viet Minh
700
00:51:08,588 --> 00:51:10,588
into a decisive battle.
701
00:51:12,688 --> 00:51:15,887
Navarre was certain that
superior French firepower
702
00:51:15,987 --> 00:51:20,987
and air support would crush
any attack by the Viet Minh.
703
00:51:21,088 --> 00:51:23,655
He and his commanders
saw no need to worry
704
00:51:23,755 --> 00:51:28,188
about the jungle-covered hills
that overlooked his 11,000 men,
705
00:51:28,287 --> 00:51:31,188
dug in on the valley floor.
706
00:51:31,287 --> 00:51:35,521
The artillery commander
was so confident of victory,
707
00:51:35,621 --> 00:51:39,655
he complained, "I have
more guns than I need. "
708
00:51:42,720 --> 00:51:45,355
General Giap saw his chance.
709
00:51:45,454 --> 00:51:49,920
"We decided to wipe out at
all costs the whole enemy force
710
00:51:50,021 --> 00:51:52,954
at Dien Bien Phu," he remembered.
711
00:51:55,021 --> 00:51:58,687
To do it, he pulled off one of
the greatest logistical feats
712
00:51:58,855 --> 00:52:00,787
in military history...
713
00:52:00,887 --> 00:52:03,987
a feat that would be
restaged in propaganda films
714
00:52:04,088 --> 00:52:07,287
and celebrated for decades.
715
00:52:07,387 --> 00:52:11,255
A quarter of a million
civilian porters...
716
00:52:11,355 --> 00:52:12,688
nearly half of them women...
717
00:52:12,787 --> 00:52:17,588
moved everything he needed
for a siege, from sacks of rice
718
00:52:17,688 --> 00:52:22,987
to disassembled artillery pieces,
on foot through the jungle.
719
00:52:23,088 --> 00:52:27,855
Giap surrounded the
valley with 50,000 soldiers
720
00:52:27,954 --> 00:52:33,088
and 200 big guns, dug-in
and camouflaged so well
721
00:52:33,188 --> 00:52:37,755
they could not be spotted from the air.
722
00:52:40,640 --> 00:52:45,981
On March 13, 1954, Viet Minh
artillery on the hillsides
723
00:52:46,080 --> 00:52:49,347
began raining down 50 shells a minute
724
00:52:49,448 --> 00:52:52,414
on the French troops huddled below.
725
00:52:54,780 --> 00:52:56,515
The airstrip was destroyed.
726
00:52:59,580 --> 00:53:02,647
The besieged troops
could only be reinforced
727
00:53:02,747 --> 00:53:05,580
and resupplied by airdrop.
728
00:53:09,180 --> 00:53:10,881
The French artillery commander,
729
00:53:10,981 --> 00:53:15,948
who had underestimated his
enemy, committed suicide.
730
00:53:16,128 --> 00:53:19,128
The airlift to Dien
Bien Phu continues...
731
00:53:19,227 --> 00:53:21,660
vital men and supplies
for the heroic garrison
732
00:53:21,760 --> 00:53:24,494
that has defied the massed Viet
Minh onslaughts for over six weeks.
733
00:53:24,595 --> 00:53:27,595
Today, Dien Bien Phu is a human dam
734
00:53:27,695 --> 00:53:29,595
trying to stem the red tide
735
00:53:29,695 --> 00:53:31,795
that threatens to engulf Southeast Asia.
736
00:53:33,461 --> 00:53:37,795
The French government begged
President Eisenhower to intervene.
737
00:53:37,894 --> 00:53:41,195
He refused to act without
Congressional approval
738
00:53:41,295 --> 00:53:44,160
and support from European allies.
739
00:53:44,260 --> 00:53:46,295
Britain said no
740
00:53:46,394 --> 00:53:50,160
and the Congress would not
support unilateral action.
741
00:53:50,260 --> 00:53:51,528
The communists
742
00:53:51,628 --> 00:53:54,195
under Ho Chi Minh are able to
claim that they are fighting
743
00:53:54,295 --> 00:53:56,827
for independence and the
French appear to be fighting
744
00:53:56,927 --> 00:53:59,195
for a maintain...
maintenance of colonial rule.
745
00:53:59,295 --> 00:54:00,628
I therefore believe
746
00:54:00,727 --> 00:54:03,927
that before the United States
moves in, in any degree,
747
00:54:04,028 --> 00:54:06,561
that independence must
be granted to the people,
748
00:54:06,660 --> 00:54:08,327
that the people must
support the struggle.
749
00:54:10,128 --> 00:54:14,061
"I am convinced," Eisenhower
confided to his diary,
750
00:54:14,160 --> 00:54:18,994
"that no military victory is
possible in this theater. "
751
00:54:19,095 --> 00:54:21,727
Still, without consulting Congress,
752
00:54:21,827 --> 00:54:25,660
the president had secretly sent
more American transport planes,
753
00:54:25,760 --> 00:54:31,427
their markings painted over and
flown by civilian contractors,
754
00:54:31,528 --> 00:54:36,095
to help resupply the desperate
French troops at Dien Bien Phu.
755
00:54:39,860 --> 00:54:42,028
Everyone understood
that in and of itself,
756
00:54:42,128 --> 00:54:45,660
Vietnam didn't mean very much.
757
00:54:45,760 --> 00:54:49,894
But they believed, I
believed, if we lost it,
758
00:54:49,994 --> 00:54:52,827
that the rest of Asia
would tumble to communism.
759
00:54:52,977 --> 00:54:57,777
You have broader
considerations that might follow
760
00:54:57,877 --> 00:55:02,645
what you would call the
falling domino principle.
761
00:55:02,745 --> 00:55:05,277
You have a row of dominoes set up,
762
00:55:05,377 --> 00:55:07,145
and you knock over the first one,
763
00:55:07,245 --> 00:55:11,111
and what will happen to the
last one is the certainty
764
00:55:11,210 --> 00:55:14,111
that it will go over very quickly.
765
00:55:35,310 --> 00:55:41,345
On the afternoon of May 7,
1954, after 55 days of siege,
766
00:55:41,444 --> 00:55:46,578
the exhausted French forces
at Dien Bien Phu surrendered.
767
00:55:49,178 --> 00:55:53,910
They had lost 8,000 men,
killed, wounded, or missing.
768
00:55:57,254 --> 00:56:01,145
General Giap had lost
three times as many,
769
00:56:01,245 --> 00:56:04,377
but he had won a great victory.
770
00:56:05,410 --> 00:56:09,833
_
771
00:56:09,834 --> 00:56:14,080
_
772
00:56:14,081 --> 00:56:20,756
_
773
00:56:21,511 --> 00:56:26,377
Even Duong Van Mai's parents
could not help but be impressed.
774
00:56:26,477 --> 00:56:28,511
They were very proud
775
00:56:28,611 --> 00:56:31,245
that the Viet Minh had
defeated the French,
776
00:56:31,345 --> 00:56:33,245
this great Western power.
777
00:56:33,345 --> 00:56:37,178
Admiration and respect on the one hand,
778
00:56:37,277 --> 00:56:39,511
but fear on the other hand.
779
00:56:39,611 --> 00:56:42,310
And fear was the stronger emotion.
780
00:56:44,011 --> 00:56:46,678
"We have been caught
bluffing by our enemies,"
781
00:56:46,777 --> 00:56:50,477
Senate Minority Leader
Lyndon Johnson said.
782
00:56:50,578 --> 00:56:55,578
"Today it is Indochina,
tomorrow Asia may be in flames.
783
00:56:55,678 --> 00:57:01,777
And the day after, the Western
Alliance will lie in ruins. "
784
00:57:01,877 --> 00:57:04,845
We should have seen it as
the end of the colonial era
785
00:57:04,944 --> 00:57:08,044
in Southeast Asia, which it really was.
786
00:57:08,145 --> 00:57:10,511
But instead we saw it in Cold War terms,
787
00:57:10,611 --> 00:57:15,277
and we saw it as a
defeat for the free world
788
00:57:15,377 --> 00:57:17,145
that was related to the rise of China.
789
00:57:17,245 --> 00:57:22,245
And it was a total
misreading of a pivotal event,
790
00:57:22,345 --> 00:57:24,944
which cost us very dearly.
791
00:57:30,977 --> 00:57:32,944
The former home of
the League of Nations,
792
00:57:33,044 --> 00:57:35,210
Geneva, Switzerland,
where East is meeting West
793
00:57:35,310 --> 00:57:36,611
in the international conference
794
00:57:36,710 --> 00:57:41,178
that may decisively affect
the political future of Asia.
795
00:57:41,277 --> 00:57:44,544
The day after the fall of Dien Bien Phu,
796
00:57:44,645 --> 00:57:48,310
diplomats from nine
nations gathered in Geneva
797
00:57:48,410 --> 00:57:51,178
to settle the future of Vietnam.
798
00:57:51,277 --> 00:57:55,310
The talks dragged on for
nearly two-and-a-half months.
799
00:57:58,345 --> 00:58:00,111
Despite their victory,
800
00:58:00,210 --> 00:58:03,877
Ho Chi Minh and General
Giap could not keep fighting
801
00:58:03,977 --> 00:58:09,111
without more support from
China and the Soviet Union.
802
00:58:09,210 --> 00:58:12,611
But China had lost a
million men in Korea
803
00:58:12,710 --> 00:58:15,678
and did not want to become
involved in another war
804
00:58:15,777 --> 00:58:17,345
along its border.
805
00:58:17,444 --> 00:58:23,178
The Soviet Union was hoping
to ease tensions with the West.
806
00:58:23,277 --> 00:58:28,145
Both of Ho Chi Minh's communist
patrons urged him to agree
807
00:58:28,245 --> 00:58:30,111
to a negotiated settlement,
808
00:58:30,210 --> 00:58:34,511
a partition like the one
that had ended the Korean War.
809
00:58:34,611 --> 00:58:37,944
Ho had no option but to give in.
810
00:58:41,877 --> 00:58:44,645
In the end, no one was satisfied.
811
00:58:46,678 --> 00:58:51,645
Vietnam was temporarily to be
divided at the 17th parallel.
812
00:58:51,745 --> 00:58:56,178
The 130,000 French-led
troops stationed in the North
813
00:58:56,277 --> 00:58:58,345
were to withdraw to the South,
814
00:58:58,444 --> 00:59:02,345
and somewhere between
50,000 and 90,000 Viet Minh
815
00:59:02,444 --> 00:59:05,111
were to "re-group" to the North.
816
00:59:05,210 --> 00:59:06,977
The two halves would be separated
817
00:59:07,078 --> 00:59:11,377
by a demilitarized zone until
an election could be held
818
00:59:11,477 --> 00:59:14,678
to reunify North and South Vietnam,
819
00:59:14,777 --> 00:59:19,910
an election everyone knew
Ho Chi Minh would win.
820
00:59:21,477 --> 00:59:24,550
_
821
00:59:24,551 --> 00:59:26,580
_
822
00:59:26,581 --> 00:59:28,581
_
823
00:59:29,382 --> 00:59:33,392
_
824
00:59:36,845 --> 00:59:41,659
_
825
00:59:41,660 --> 00:59:46,595
_
826
00:59:46,596 --> 00:59:48,775
_
827
00:59:54,310 --> 00:59:55,844
We had started walking up
828
00:59:55,944 --> 00:59:57,810
and we had probably gotten about
a third of the way up the hill
829
00:59:57,911 --> 00:59:59,411
and then they unleashed on us.
830
01:00:02,277 --> 01:00:04,411
We were in the middle of
this horrible shit sandwich.
831
01:00:04,511 --> 01:00:06,511
That's what we called it.
832
01:00:11,610 --> 01:00:15,478
One of the things that I
learned in the war is that
833
01:00:15,578 --> 01:00:19,177
we're not the top species on
the planet because we're nice.
834
01:00:22,045 --> 01:00:25,177
People talk a lot about how well
the military turns, you know,
835
01:00:25,277 --> 01:00:27,978
kids into, you know,
killing machines and stuff.
836
01:00:28,078 --> 01:00:30,578
And I'll always argue that
it's just finishing school.
837
01:00:39,245 --> 01:00:40,511
Braving the dangers
838
01:00:40,512 --> 01:00:42,911
of the open sea in tiny, rickety craft,
839
01:00:43,011 --> 01:00:45,411
thousands of Roman
Catholic and Buddhist faith
840
01:00:45,511 --> 01:00:47,777
have found life impossible
under the communists.
841
01:00:47,877 --> 01:00:51,344
For them, it's freedom or nothing.
842
01:00:54,511 --> 01:00:56,478
Under the Geneva Accords,
843
01:00:56,578 --> 01:00:59,411
civilians living in
either half of Vietnam
844
01:00:59,511 --> 01:01:01,745
who wanted to relocate to the other
845
01:01:01,844 --> 01:01:04,844
would have 300 days to do so.
846
01:01:04,944 --> 01:01:08,844
My mother and father wanted to stay
847
01:01:08,944 --> 01:01:10,944
and meet my sister Thang again
848
01:01:11,045 --> 01:01:13,377
because they knew Thang would come back.
849
01:01:13,478 --> 01:01:15,710
But on the other hand
they couldn't risk that.
850
01:01:15,810 --> 01:01:20,677
They were convinced that when
Ho Chi Minh and his government
851
01:01:20,777 --> 01:01:22,911
arrived in Hanoi,
852
01:01:23,011 --> 01:01:26,545
my father would be the
first one to be killed
853
01:01:26,645 --> 01:01:28,511
and all of us would be persecuted.
854
01:01:31,245 --> 01:01:33,277
And I remember the day we left.
855
01:01:33,377 --> 01:01:36,645
I looked around and I thought,
"I never come back here again. "
856
01:01:39,011 --> 01:01:40,911
It was extremely traumatic.
857
01:01:41,011 --> 01:01:45,610
It was like the ground was
suddenly cut from under you.
858
01:01:45,710 --> 01:01:51,177
In the end, some 900,000 refugees,
859
01:01:51,277 --> 01:01:54,877
including more than half of all
the Catholics living in the North,
860
01:01:54,978 --> 01:02:00,145
fled to the South, many of
them aboard American ships.
861
01:02:04,511 --> 01:02:08,078
The United States hoped somehow
to encourage the building
862
01:02:08,177 --> 01:02:10,411
of a legitimate government in the South.
863
01:02:12,545 --> 01:02:17,245
That government was now
headed by Ngo Dinh Diem.
864
01:02:17,344 --> 01:02:20,011
Both a Roman Catholic and a Confucian
865
01:02:20,110 --> 01:02:22,210
in a largely Buddhist country,
866
01:02:22,310 --> 01:02:27,210
he was a celibate bachelor who
had once planned to be a priest.
867
01:02:27,410 --> 01:02:33,511
The war for us really started
when we became the partner,
868
01:02:33,611 --> 01:02:38,645
or I would say the
victim, of President Diem.
869
01:02:38,745 --> 01:02:43,678
We were going to help him turn
South Vietnam into a democracy.
870
01:02:43,777 --> 01:02:46,345
That's what he said he wanted
to do. And we believed him.
871
01:02:47,044 --> 01:02:52,444
Like Ho Chi Minh, Diem had spent
years abroad seeking support
872
01:02:52,544 --> 01:02:56,210
for his own brand of
Vietnamese nationalism.
873
01:02:56,310 --> 01:02:59,710
He was a veteran politician
whose loathing for the French
874
01:02:59,810 --> 01:03:03,578
was matched only by his
hatred for the communists,
875
01:03:03,678 --> 01:03:07,345
who had imprisoned him and
buried alive his eldest brother
876
01:03:07,444 --> 01:03:09,810
and his nephew.
877
01:03:09,910 --> 01:03:13,245
Diem was aloof, autocratic,
878
01:03:13,345 --> 01:03:16,611
mistrustful of anyone
much beyond his own family.
879
01:03:16,710 --> 01:03:20,611
He also proved to be
shrewd, resourceful,
880
01:03:20,710 --> 01:03:24,745
and skilled at exploiting the
weaknesses of his opponents.
881
01:03:24,845 --> 01:03:30,777
But he faced a daunting task
in creating a new country.
882
01:03:30,877 --> 01:03:33,877
The French, who still
had thousands of troops
883
01:03:33,977 --> 01:03:37,444
stationed in the South, detested Diem.
884
01:03:37,544 --> 01:03:41,310
Several provinces were under
the sway of religious sects
885
01:03:41,410 --> 01:03:43,777
with armies of their own.
886
01:03:43,877 --> 01:03:47,977
Tens of thousands of Viet
Minh soldiers had gone north,
887
01:03:48,078 --> 01:03:50,178
but several thousand cadre...
888
01:03:50,277 --> 01:03:53,611
trained and dedicated
Communist Party workers...
889
01:03:53,710 --> 01:03:59,645
had stayed behind to organize
resistance in the countryside.
890
01:03:59,745 --> 01:04:03,810
And Saigon itself was
ruled by the Binh Xuyen,
891
01:04:03,910 --> 01:04:07,310
a crime syndicate backed by the French.
892
01:04:07,410 --> 01:04:09,611
And the French were
behind the Binh Xuyen,
893
01:04:09,710 --> 01:04:11,111
sort of supporting them
894
01:04:11,210 --> 01:04:14,277
because they didn't
want Diem to succeed.
895
01:04:14,377 --> 01:04:16,310
And that became the central contest.
896
01:04:18,345 --> 01:04:20,355
Some in the CIA believed
897
01:04:20,356 --> 01:04:24,310
that Diem could be the
savior of South Vietnam.
898
01:04:24,410 --> 01:04:26,345
Others were not so sure.
899
01:04:26,444 --> 01:04:28,578
"He is a messiah without a message,"
900
01:04:28,678 --> 01:04:31,611
one diplomat reported to Washington.
901
01:04:31,710 --> 01:04:35,178
The U.S. ambassador agreed.
902
01:04:35,277 --> 01:04:38,578
On April 27, 1955,
903
01:04:38,678 --> 01:04:41,000
President Eisenhower decided
904
01:04:41,001 --> 01:04:45,410
to end American support
for Diem's regime.
905
01:04:46,578 --> 01:04:49,777
But then Diem made an all-out assault
906
01:04:49,877 --> 01:04:52,178
on the Binh Xuyen syndicate.
907
01:04:54,578 --> 01:04:56,377
Suddenly in the middle of the day
908
01:04:56,477 --> 01:05:00,977
we heard gunfire and then we saw flames
909
01:05:01,078 --> 01:05:03,410
and the neighborhood was burning.
910
01:05:03,511 --> 01:05:05,695
There are hundreds of dead and wounded
911
01:05:05,696 --> 01:05:09,310
on both sides as the street fighting
continues for an entire week.
912
01:05:09,410 --> 01:05:12,645
For the United States, the
situation presents a grave problem.
913
01:05:14,578 --> 01:05:17,544
Diem finally regains control of Saigon.
914
01:05:19,277 --> 01:05:23,544
In the end, Diem's forces prevailed.
915
01:05:23,645 --> 01:05:29,511
Eisenhower now saw no option
but to stick with Diem.
916
01:05:29,611 --> 01:05:34,977
The French then announced their
intention to withdraw completely
917
01:05:35,078 --> 01:05:41,210
from South Vietnam, ending
nearly a century of occupation.
918
01:05:41,410 --> 01:05:46,377
Diem became wildly popular
because he seemed to embody
919
01:05:46,477 --> 01:05:48,977
the nationalist cause in the South.
920
01:05:49,077 --> 01:05:50,977
He succeeded in getting the French
921
01:05:51,077 --> 01:05:53,010
out of Vietnam all the way.
922
01:05:53,111 --> 01:05:56,577
And Ho Chi Minh had only got
them out of the northern half.
923
01:05:56,678 --> 01:05:58,933
Flush with victory,
924
01:05:58,934 --> 01:06:01,934
Diem called for a
referendum in the South.
925
01:06:02,577 --> 01:06:07,977
The CIA warned him not to
meddle too much with the returns.
926
01:06:09,178 --> 01:06:10,977
But when the ballots were counted,
927
01:06:11,077 --> 01:06:16,845
Diem claimed to have
won 98.2% of the vote.
928
01:06:18,745 --> 01:06:24,278
On October 26, 1955, Ngo
Dinh Diem named himself
929
01:06:24,377 --> 01:06:30,010
the first president of the
brand-new Republic of Vietnam.
930
01:06:30,111 --> 01:06:33,911
The election to reunify
the North and South
931
01:06:34,010 --> 01:06:37,577
that had been promised at
Geneva would never be held.
932
01:06:39,678 --> 01:06:43,710
He became our ally,
or rather our master,
933
01:06:43,810 --> 01:06:46,310
because the goal of preventing
934
01:06:46,411 --> 01:06:48,510
the communists from
taking over the South
935
01:06:48,611 --> 01:06:55,144
was so strong that we couldn't
afford for him to lose.
936
01:06:55,245 --> 01:06:57,978
So Diem started to boss us around.
937
01:06:58,077 --> 01:07:00,077
And this was a typical relationship.
938
01:07:00,178 --> 01:07:02,545
You need any ally you believe
939
01:07:02,644 --> 01:07:05,577
to be the centerpiece
of your foreign policy.
940
01:07:05,678 --> 01:07:07,178
They understand that right away.
941
01:07:07,277 --> 01:07:09,945
And the tail wags the dog.
942
01:07:14,111 --> 01:07:16,678
From the Far East comes
a distinguished visitor.
943
01:07:16,777 --> 01:07:19,445
President Ngo Dinh Diem
of Vietnam is accorded
944
01:07:19,545 --> 01:07:22,478
one of President Eisenhower's
rare airport greetings,
945
01:07:22,577 --> 01:07:24,978
as he arrives for a
four-day state visit.
946
01:07:25,077 --> 01:07:28,810
President Diem, one of America's
staunchest allies in Southeast Asia,
947
01:07:28,911 --> 01:07:31,545
will seek an increase in
aid to shore up his country
948
01:07:31,644 --> 01:07:33,445
against increasing communist pressure,
949
01:07:33,545 --> 01:07:39,010
a request to which the president
lends a sympathetic ear.
950
01:07:39,111 --> 01:07:43,045
Most politicians, Democrats
as well as Republicans,
951
01:07:43,144 --> 01:07:45,045
now seemed to share the changing views
952
01:07:45,144 --> 01:07:46,978
of Senator John F. Kennedy.
953
01:07:47,077 --> 01:07:50,644
South Vietnam is "our
offspring," he said.
954
01:07:50,745 --> 01:07:52,344
"We cannot abandon it. "
955
01:07:52,445 --> 01:07:56,710
If it fell, the United States
would be "held responsible
956
01:07:56,810 --> 01:08:01,111
and our prestige in Asia
will sink to a new low. "
957
01:08:01,210 --> 01:08:06,545
There had never before been
a South Vietnamese nation,
958
01:08:06,644 --> 01:08:09,877
but Americans, who had rebuilt
much of their own country
959
01:08:09,978 --> 01:08:13,577
during the New Deal and had
helped rebuild Western Europe
960
01:08:13,678 --> 01:08:14,911
through the Marshall Plan,
961
01:08:15,010 --> 01:08:19,678
were convinced they could
build one nonetheless.
962
01:08:21,844 --> 01:08:25,745
Eisenhower ordered scores
of American civilians
963
01:08:25,844 --> 01:08:29,545
to South Vietnam, full of
plans for economic development
964
01:08:29,644 --> 01:08:33,377
meant to win, he hoped,
the hearts and minds
965
01:08:33,478 --> 01:08:35,178
of the Vietnamese people.
966
01:08:38,144 --> 01:08:41,245
But those civilians would
always be outnumbered
967
01:08:41,344 --> 01:08:42,844
by military advisors,
968
01:08:42,945 --> 01:08:47,344
with orders to modernize,
train, and equip Diem's forces,
969
01:08:47,445 --> 01:08:53,210
now called the Army of the
Republic of Vietnam... the ARVN.
970
01:08:53,310 --> 01:08:58,745
Some ARVN officers found
American methods unsuited
971
01:08:58,844 --> 01:09:01,478
to the guerrilla war
they expected to wage
972
01:09:01,577 --> 01:09:03,710
against the communists.
973
01:09:03,810 --> 01:09:06,478
Most American military
advisors were veterans
974
01:09:06,577 --> 01:09:07,877
of the war in Korea,
975
01:09:07,978 --> 01:09:11,644
determined to prepare
South Vietnamese forces
976
01:09:11,745 --> 01:09:17,178
to slow a conventional
invasion from the North.
977
01:09:17,277 --> 01:09:20,877
But no one in North Vietnam
978
01:09:20,978 --> 01:09:24,510
was planning a conventional invasion.
979
01:09:24,611 --> 01:09:28,510
Ho Chi Minh was focused
on rebuilding his country,
980
01:09:28,611 --> 01:09:32,478
devastated by more than a decade of war.
981
01:09:35,010 --> 01:09:38,545
The communists imposed
brutal land reforms
982
01:09:38,644 --> 01:09:40,810
modeled on those underway in China
983
01:09:40,911 --> 01:09:45,577
with a ruthlessness that
left thousands of people dead,
984
01:09:45,678 --> 01:09:49,045
including not only landlords
who had sided with the French,
985
01:09:49,144 --> 01:09:53,411
but also many villagers who
had fought with the Viet Minh.
986
01:09:56,077 --> 01:09:59,810
Ho Chi Minh was still
determined to reunite Vietnam.
987
01:09:59,911 --> 01:10:04,111
But he worried that if he took direct
military action against the South,
988
01:10:04,210 --> 01:10:08,277
the United States would be drawn
more deeply into the struggle.
989
01:10:08,377 --> 01:10:11,810
He cautioned his comrades in
the South to put their faith
990
01:10:11,911 --> 01:10:15,678
in political agitation
and avoid violence.
991
01:10:18,111 --> 01:10:20,077
But that message rang hollow
992
01:10:20,178 --> 01:10:24,745
among embattled Southern
revolutionaries struggling to survive
993
01:10:24,844 --> 01:10:29,745
under Diem's increasingly harsh regime.
994
01:10:29,844 --> 01:10:34,377
In a campaign he called
"Denounce the Communists,"
995
01:10:34,478 --> 01:10:37,777
Diem had imprisoned tens
of thousands of citizens
996
01:10:37,877 --> 01:10:44,010
without trial and ordered the
executions of hundreds more.
997
01:10:44,111 --> 01:10:48,010
Now, the communists took
matters into their own hands
998
01:10:48,111 --> 01:10:51,777
and began attacking South
Vietnamese officials.
999
01:10:52,810 --> 01:10:55,765
_
1000
01:10:55,766 --> 01:10:58,952
_
1001
01:11:00,453 --> 01:11:04,433
_
1002
01:11:05,234 --> 01:11:10,000
_
1003
01:11:11,701 --> 01:11:13,950
_
1004
01:11:13,951 --> 01:11:16,200
_
1005
01:11:16,601 --> 01:11:20,010
_
1006
01:11:20,011 --> 01:11:22,800
_
1007
01:11:22,801 --> 01:11:24,968
_
1008
01:11:25,969 --> 01:11:29,100
_
1009
01:11:31,478 --> 01:11:35,545
As violence in South
Vietnam intensified,
1010
01:11:35,644 --> 01:11:38,277
new leaders emerged in Hanoi.
1011
01:11:38,377 --> 01:11:41,745
Ho Chi Minh would remain
the face of the revolution
1012
01:11:41,844 --> 01:11:45,710
around the world, but he
now began to share power
1013
01:11:45,810 --> 01:11:48,978
with men who were growing
impatient with his caution,
1014
01:11:49,077 --> 01:11:53,611
men about whom Americans
knew almost nothing.
1015
01:11:55,745 --> 01:11:58,678
The most important proved
to be a carpenter's son
1016
01:11:58,777 --> 01:12:04,877
from Quang Tri province
in the South named Le Duan.
1017
01:12:04,978 --> 01:12:08,445
He had helped found the
Indochinese Communist Party,
1018
01:12:08,545 --> 01:12:12,010
survived nearly ten
years in a French prison,
1019
01:12:12,111 --> 01:12:15,210
and proved himself a
shrewd political infighter
1020
01:12:15,310 --> 01:12:18,745
as he rose to become First
Secretary of the party.
1021
01:12:20,644 --> 01:12:25,600
_
1022
01:12:25,601 --> 01:12:29,501
_
1023
01:12:29,802 --> 01:12:34,430
_
1024
01:12:35,231 --> 01:12:41,000
_
1025
01:12:41,501 --> 01:12:48,960
_
1026
01:12:53,510 --> 01:12:57,577
By 1959, Le Duan and his hardline allies
1027
01:12:57,678 --> 01:13:01,611
were gaining influence within
the North Vietnamese Politburo
1028
01:13:01,710 --> 01:13:04,310
and beginning to change its policy.
1029
01:13:04,411 --> 01:13:08,178
They now argued that
Hanoi should do everything
1030
01:13:08,277 --> 01:13:11,377
within its power to help
Southern revolutionaries
1031
01:13:11,478 --> 01:13:13,777
remove Diem by force.
1032
01:13:15,877 --> 01:13:21,100
_
1033
01:13:21,101 --> 01:13:26,350
_
1034
01:13:26,651 --> 01:13:30,351
_
1035
01:13:30,352 --> 01:13:32,112
_
1036
01:13:32,113 --> 01:13:34,026
_
1037
01:13:35,411 --> 01:13:38,945
Now, bands of 40 to 50 armed Viet Minh
1038
01:13:39,045 --> 01:13:42,344
began slipping back
home into South Vietnam,
1039
01:13:42,445 --> 01:13:46,210
following jungle paths hacked
through the Laotian mountains
1040
01:13:46,310 --> 01:13:50,810
that the Americans would soon
call the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
1041
01:13:56,810 --> 01:14:00,010
Violence against the Diem
regime steadily accelerated.
1042
01:14:09,945 --> 01:14:15,077
On the evening of July
8, 1959, at Bien Hoa,
1043
01:14:15,178 --> 01:14:17,010
20 miles northeast of Saigon,
1044
01:14:17,111 --> 01:14:21,245
six American military
advisors were watching a movie
1045
01:14:21,344 --> 01:14:22,877
in their mess hall.
1046
01:14:24,577 --> 01:14:26,611
Viet Minh guerrillas,
who had crept silently
1047
01:14:26,710 --> 01:14:30,277
into the compound, opened
fire through the windows.
1048
01:14:35,945 --> 01:14:38,844
Major Dale Buis from Pender, Nebraska,
1049
01:14:38,945 --> 01:14:41,045
and Master Sergeant Chester Ovnand
1050
01:14:41,144 --> 01:14:44,545
from Copperas Cove, Texas, were killed.
1051
01:14:46,745 --> 01:14:51,045
They were the first American
soldiers to die from enemy fire
1052
01:14:51,144 --> 01:14:53,045
in the Vietnam War.
1053
01:14:54,697 --> 01:14:57,264
We must prove all over again,
1054
01:14:57,365 --> 01:15:03,098
to a watching world, as we sit
on a most conspicuous stage,
1055
01:15:03,197 --> 01:15:04,798
whether this nation,
1056
01:15:04,897 --> 01:15:08,997
conceived as it is with
its freedom of choice,
1057
01:15:09,098 --> 01:15:13,665
its breadth of opportunity,
its range of alternatives,
1058
01:15:13,764 --> 01:15:16,130
can compete with the
single-minded advance
1059
01:15:16,231 --> 01:15:17,897
of the communist system.
1060
01:15:18,197 --> 01:15:23,830
On November 8, 1960, John
Fitzgerald Kennedy was elected
1061
01:15:23,931 --> 01:15:26,565
president of the United States.
1062
01:15:26,664 --> 01:15:30,397
His vice president was
Senator Lyndon Johnson.
1063
01:15:30,498 --> 01:15:34,464
They had narrowly beaten
Vice President Richard Nixon
1064
01:15:34,565 --> 01:15:37,798
and his running mate,
Senator Henry Cabot Lodge.
1065
01:15:39,265 --> 01:15:42,197
During the campaign,
both Kennedy and Nixon
1066
01:15:42,298 --> 01:15:46,731
had pledged to hold the line
against international communism
1067
01:15:46,830 --> 01:15:49,431
wherever it seemed to be a threat.
1068
01:15:49,530 --> 01:15:53,431
But very few Americans
knew or cared about
1069
01:15:53,530 --> 01:15:55,865
what was going on in Vietnam.
1070
01:15:57,780 --> 01:15:59,980
Six weeks after Kennedy's election,
1071
01:16:00,081 --> 01:16:03,047
at a remote jungle
village called Tan Lap
1072
01:16:03,148 --> 01:16:04,980
near the Cambodian border,
1073
01:16:05,081 --> 01:16:08,915
representatives of southern
revolutionary groups
1074
01:16:09,015 --> 01:16:13,114
met to form a new organization
to replace the Viet Minh,
1075
01:16:13,215 --> 01:16:16,081
dedicated to overthrowing Ngo Dinh Diem
1076
01:16:16,180 --> 01:16:20,081
and ousting the
foreigners supporting him.
1077
01:16:20,180 --> 01:16:25,680
Behind the scenes, Le Duan and
his communist comrades in Hanoi
1078
01:16:25,780 --> 01:16:29,780
were orchestrating everything.
1079
01:16:29,881 --> 01:16:31,581
The new organization would be called
1080
01:16:31,680 --> 01:16:35,915
the National Liberation
Front... the NLF.
1081
01:16:37,515 --> 01:16:40,581
The armed wing of the NLF was called
1082
01:16:40,680 --> 01:16:43,347
the People's Liberation Armed Forces,
1083
01:16:43,448 --> 01:16:46,881
but its enemies in Saigon
and Washington preferred
1084
01:16:46,980 --> 01:16:49,015
a more disparaging term.
1085
01:16:49,114 --> 01:16:52,480
In their eyes, the revolutionaries were
1086
01:16:52,581 --> 01:16:55,980
Communist Traitors to
the Vietnamese Nation...
1087
01:16:56,081 --> 01:16:57,581
the Viet Cong.
1088
01:17:10,747 --> 01:17:15,838
_
1089
01:17:16,739 --> 01:17:20,285
_
1090
01:17:23,586 --> 01:17:27,600
_
1091
01:17:27,601 --> 01:17:32,278
_
1092
01:17:32,279 --> 01:17:35,130
_
1093
01:17:36,531 --> 01:17:42,520
_
1094
01:17:48,015 --> 01:17:50,414
Let every nation know,
1095
01:17:50,515 --> 01:17:56,114
whether it wishes us well or ill,
1096
01:17:56,215 --> 01:18:02,248
that we shall pay any
price, bear any burden,
1097
01:18:02,347 --> 01:18:07,215
meet any hardship, support any friend,
1098
01:18:07,315 --> 01:18:12,315
oppose any foe, to assure the survival
1099
01:18:12,414 --> 01:18:13,780
and the success of liberty.
1100
01:18:26,147 --> 01:18:28,614
For me, I'd always thought of courage
1101
01:18:28,715 --> 01:18:33,215
as charging enemy bunkers
or standing up under fire.
1102
01:18:33,615 --> 01:18:39,248
But just to walk, day after
day from village to village
1103
01:18:39,347 --> 01:18:43,881
and through the paddies
and up into the mountains,
1104
01:18:43,980 --> 01:18:48,147
just to get up in the morning
and look out at the land
1105
01:18:48,248 --> 01:18:51,847
and think, "In a few minutes
I'll be walking out there
1106
01:18:51,948 --> 01:18:55,080
and will my corpse be there, over there?
1107
01:18:55,181 --> 01:18:57,514
Will I lose a leg out there?"
1108
01:18:58,414 --> 01:19:02,181
Just to walk felt incredibly brave.
1109
01:19:02,280 --> 01:19:05,047
I would sometimes look
at my legs as I walked,
1110
01:19:05,147 --> 01:19:07,547
thinking, how am I doing this?
1111
01:19:13,085 --> 01:19:17,085
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1112
01:19:17,086 --> 01:19:19,086
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