All language subtitles for Cold War - S01E11 - Vietnam (1954–1968) (480p x265 EDGE2020).eng

[gunfire]

[gunfire]

[explosions]

NARRATOR: Thousands of
square miles were laid waste.

Billions of dollars
were spent.

3 million died

as the Cold War
moved to Vietnam.

D ♪

BRANAGH:
Dien Bien Phu, 1954.

One of the defining battles
of the Cold War.

Despite substantial
American backing,

the French
finally lost control

of their Vietnamese colony.

They were defeated
by the communist-led army

of General Giap.

[speaking Vietnamese]

The Dien Bien Phu campaign
was a huge victory.

It was the first time
a poor feudal nation

had beaten a great
colonial power

that had a modern industry

and a massive army.

The victory meant a lot,

not just to us,

but to people
all over the world.

BRANAGH:
There was a new regime in Vietnam.

It was nationalist.

But it was also
communist.

After Dien Bien Phu,

the French left Vietnam
for good.

An International Peace
Conference

temporarily divided Vietnam
into North and South,

and agreed
that countrywide elections

would be held in 1956.

America opposed
the elections.

They never took place.

It was felt
that the elections

could not be free
in the North in particular.

I would say
that was part of it.

The other was that

a sense that

even if free elections
were held

they probably would be
dominated

by the Communists

and the Communists
would gain control.

BRANAGH:
Ho Chi Minh, North Vietnam's leader,

had lived in France
and trained in Moscow.

To many Vietnamese
he was a national hero,

but Washington saw him
as an instrument

of the communist bloc.

The North Vietnamese embarked
on radical land reforms.

Landowners and so-called
rich peasants

were persecuted
pillared, and imprisoned.

The party's cruel policies

helped aggravate
a refugee crisis.

By 1955,

close to a million people,

some encouraged
by American agents,

had fled south.

In South Vietnam,
the United States underwrote

the regime
of President Diem,

an anti-communist,

determined to resist Hanoi.

Ruthless and autocratic,

Diem was intolerant
of any opposition.

In 1960,
to fight Diem

and to unite the country
under Hanoi,

the communists created
the National Liberation Front,

known to its opponents
as the Viet Cong.

Such movements
were encouraged by Moscow.

[speaking Russian ]

[ Applause ]

Let every nation know

whether it wishes us well or ill,

that we shall pay
any price,

bear any burden,

meet any hardship,

support any friend,

Oppose any foe

to assure the survival

and the success of liberty.

[ Applause ]

BRANAGH:
Within a year of his election,

after suffering
the Bay of Pigs fiasco in Cuba

and a crisis
in Berlin,

President Kennedy set out
to show strength in Asia.

MAN: The objective was to
prevent the dominoes from falling.

The loss of Vietnam
would trigger the loss

of Southeast Asia,

and conceivably even
the loss of India,

and would strengthen
the Chinese

and the Soviet position
across the world.

BRANAGH:
Village leaders in the South

who supported Diem,

were being assassinated
by the National Liberation Front

or Viet Cong.

In 1961 alone

an estimated 4,000
Diem officials were killed.

To isolate the peasants
from Viet Cong control,

Diem's troops burned
entire villages to the ground.

The inhabitants
were moved

into fortified
"Strategic Hamlets,"

built under the supervision
of American advisers.

These upheavals were
extremely unpopular

and won new recruits
for the Viet Cong.

Advisers
from the United States

trained
the South Vietnamese army

in counter insurgency.

Violence was routine.

The actions of the ruler,
President Diem,

have been declared autocratic

and perhaps
his personal actions

are to some degree,

but one realizes
the chaos he faced,

the complete anarchy
that existed there,

it's conceivable
that autocratic methods

within a democratic framework
were required

to restore order.

The regime of Mr. Diem did
create a kind of framework,

a kind of government
with all the structures

for governing
the country.

Of course,
his policy provoked

a lot of discontent

among the intellectuals.

BRANAGH:
Summer 1963.

Saigon witnessed
horrifying scenes.

Buddhist monks
burnt themselves to death

in protest
at Diem's religious intolerance.

[ People screaming ]

South Vietnamese protestors organized

a wave of demonstrations.

A group of generals plotted
a coup against Diem

and sounded out
America's support.

You get cables like that
from some part of the country

or the world or the other
almost every week

and as a kind
of a standard reply,

you say the United States
cannot participate

in anything like this.

We cannot aid it,

we cannot do anything
to be involved

and we will examine
any new government

on its own merits.

BRANAGH: But Washington
did nothing to stop the coup.

President Kennedy was
receiving mixed messages.

Some officials even said

America's Vietnam policy
was succeeding.

They expected to withdraw

the force of 16,000
military advisers

by the end of '65,

and that the first unit
of withdrawal

would be completed
within 9O days,

by the end
of December, 1963.

BRANAGH: Events
overtook the plan to withdraw.

On November 1, 1963

a group of generals
attacked the Presidential Palace,

believing that they had,

or would have
American support.

By the next day
the government was overthrown.

Diem and his brother were
murdered by their own soldiers

after they had earlier
taken refuge in a church.

At first, the people of Saigon
responded with enthusiasm

to Diem's overthrow.

But it left the country
with no clear leader.

Within three weeks
of Diem's murder,

President Kennedy was himself
assassinated.

As Kennedy was
buried in Arlington Cemetery,

America remained committed
to South Vietnam.

We are going to build

a great society --

WhEFE HO man Of woman

are the victim of fear,

or poverty or hatred.

Where every
man and woman

has a chance
for fulfillment,

and prosperity
and hope.

BRANAGH: Lyndon Johnson
had vast ambitions at home.

But, like Kennedy,
he was determined

not to lose Vietnam
to the communists.

How do you do?

You know
the Vice Premier.

Nice to see you, sir.

BRANAGH: Johnson sent
McNamara to re-pledge America

to South Vietnam's cause.

The strategy was unchanged,

the promises
more spectacular.

We'll stay for as long
as it takes.

We shall provide
whatever help is required

to win the battle

against
the communist insurgents.

BRANAGH:
General William Westmore land,

a veteran of Korea
and World War ll,

took charge
as President Johnson began

to increase
the American war effort.

This was the type of war

that we'd had
no experience with before...

and we were
on a learning curve

and some of our policies

were kind of trial and error
in character.

BRANAGH:
In August 1964,

an American destroyer,
the USS Maddox,

on patrol
in the Gulf of Tonkin,

exchanged fire with North
Vietnamese torpedo boats.

The President has asked
that the destroyer force

be doubled
and that an "air cap"

a combat air patrol --

be available
at all times on call to it,

and as I think you know,
he's issued instructions

that in the event
of a further attack

upon our vessels
in international waters

we are to respond
with the objective

of destroying
the attackers.

BRANAGH: Two days later,
the ship's captain thought

he was again
coming under attack.

One of the pilots
was not so sure.

Well, I was over that--
those destroyers

for over
an hour and a half,

below a thousand feet,
lights off,

watching everything
they did.

I could hear 'em
chit chatting oh the radio,

the Maddox and the Joy,

they seemed to have
some intermittent radar targets.

I took it upon myself
to get out there

where they thought
the boat was

and try to kill it
if they didn't.

But it was
it was fruitless.

And I'd go down there
and there was nothing.

BRANAGH:
Ignoring the conflicting evidence,

the Pentagon insisted
there had been a second attack.

In retaliation
for this unprovoked attack,

on the high seas,

our forces have
struck the bases used

by the North Vietnamese
patrol craft.

BRANAGH:
Johnson used the incident

to push the Tohkih Gulf
resolution through Congress.

It would allow the President
to wage war in Vietnam.

In South Vietnam,

the Viet Cong were
stepping up operations.

They now had 170,000 men
and women in the field.

They could move
and operate throughout

most of the country.

They repeatedly
launched attacks

in the heart of Saigon.

[ Overlapping conversations ]

[speaking Vietnamese]

INTERPRETER:
People were fighting back.

We would establish contacts
with them,

and guide them.

The protest movement
of students and intellectuals

including Catholics
and Buddhists,

was widespread.

When people saw that
our methods were effective,

they would join us.

BRANAGH:
Saigon was in a constant state of crisis.

Ministers came and went,

with each regime
as unpopular and corrupt

as the last.

Johnson was exasperated.

I was sitting with him
one day

when he got news
that there was

another coup
in Vietnam

and another general has
ascended to the power platform

and he, frustrated,
said, "Hot damn,

I'm getting sick and tired

of this Goddamn coup shit
in Vietnam.

It's got to stop."

BRANAGH:
Johnson was in the throes

of the 1964
election campaign.

The Great Society
he hoped to build

was the central issue.

But Communism
and the Cold War were,

as ever,
near the top of the agenda.

One,

two,

three,

four,

five,

SEVEN...

BRANAGH:
Johnson played up Cold War fears

in his election commercials,

painting his Republican
adversary

as a trigger-happy
warmonger.

MAN ON PA:
Ten, nine

eight, seven

six, five

four, three

two, one

zero!

JOHNSON:
These are the stakes.

To make a world in which

all of God's children
can live.

Or to go into the dark.

We must
either love each other,

or we must die.

BRANAGH:
Johnson won by a landslide.

North Vietnam
was a peasant society

with virtually
no industry.

Ho Chi Minh sought aid
from China

and the Soviet Union.

[ Cheering ]

In February 1965,

Hanoi gave Soviet Premier
Alexei Kosygin

a warm welcome.

He agreed
to increase military aid

to the North Vietnamese.

[speaking Russian ]

INTERPRETER:
We used to say,

"When Vietnam is reunited,

it will be
a wonderful example

for the other nations
of South East Asia."

It was all in the context
of an ideological struggle --

the Cold War.

The argument was about
which system would last,

which one
was progressive.

"Here was a good example,"
people said.

"Look at Vietnam."

BRANAGH: While Soviet
Premier Kosygin was still in Hanoi,

the Viet Cong launched
an attack on Pleiku airbase.

Eight Americans were killed.

A hundred more
were wounded.

Johnson responded
with air power.

He launched Rolling Thunder,

a campaign of bombing
against the North.

He hoped it would
boost Southern morale

and get Ho Chi Minh
to the negotiating table.

The North did not respond.

It became
more and more clear

that President Johnson was
going to have to choose

between losing
South Vietnam,

or trying to save it

by introducing
US military force

and taking over a major part
of the combat mission.

BRANAGH:
The first American ground troops landed

at Da Nang in March, 1965.

MAN:
I can remember one of my squad leaders

when we were leaving Okinawa

and he said,
"Hot damn, Vietnam!"

We were all
kind of hot to go,

hot to get
into something,

do something that was
other than

a training drill

and there was
a kind of a feeling --

I don't know if anybody
ever said this --

a sort of feeling
that being US Marines,

OUF mere PFESEHCE

in Vietnam

was going to terrify
the enemy

into quitting.

BRANAGH: The United States
had embarked on what would be

the longest military war
in its history.

BRANAGH: Three weeks
after the marines landed,

the Viet Cong bombed
the American Embassy in Saigon.

We need a stretcher
over here.

Stretcher!

Stretcher is
right over here!

Johnson believed
communist China

lay behind such attacks.

Their target is not
merely South Vietnam --

it is Asia.

Their objective is not
the fulfillment

of Vietnamese nationalism,

it is to erode
and to discredit

America's ability to help
prevent Chinese domination

over all of Asia.

BRANAGH:
In fact China was now supplying less aid

than the Soviet Union.

Although they got
few aircraft,

North Vietnamese pilots
were being trained

in the Soviet Union.

[speaking Russian ]

INTERPRETER:
Our position was clear --

Vietnam was
defending its independence.

It was fighting
against the Americans,

so we had to help them.

And I must say
that in the Soviet Union,

this point of view
was fully supported.

BRANAGH:
The situation in South Vietnam worsened

as Viet Cong attacks
continued.

In June,

a military outpost
at Dong Suay was destroyed.

An elite South Vietnamese
regiment was decimated,

and there were
many civilian casualties.

McNamara returned to Vietnam
to reassess the war.

He looked
for the statistics

that would help him
manage the conflict.

DIEM:
But somehow Mr. McNamara came

and he never let
the Vietnamese general

ask him the question
one way or the other

and he came out
like a machine gun

asking a lot
of statistics like that

and with his yellow pad,

he put down
all the indications

and as soon
as the answers were given,

he took up
and left.

He was not interested
that much

about the opinion
of the Vietnamese at all.

BRANAGH:
President Johnson was now convinced

that without the support
of a massive American army,

South Vietnam was doomed.

I have today
ordered to Vietnam

the Air Mobile Division,

and certain other forces

which will raise
our fighting strength

from 75,000 to 125,000 men

almost immediately.

Additional forces
will be needed later,

and they will be sent
as requested.

BRANAGH:
Vietnam was a television war.

MAN: Come on, let's move
in with those other guys.

This is what the war
in Vietnam is all about.

[speaking Vietnamese]

The old
and the very young.

The marines have
burned

this old couple's cottage

because fire
was coming from here.

150 homes were leveled

in retaliation
for a burst of gunfire.

In Vietnam,
like everywhere else in Asia,

property, a home,
is everything.

A man lives with his family
on ancestral land.

His parents
are buried nearby.

Their spirit is part
of his holding.

If there were Viet Cong
in the hamlets,

they were long gone.

The women and the old men
who remained

will never forget
that August afternoon.

BRANAGH:
The Viet Cong kept fighting.

In response to
the American troop build-up,

Hanoi was preparing to send
thousands of North Vietnamese

to join the fighters
in the South.

Westmore land feared
that South Vietnam

would be out in two.

In the la Drang valley
in the Central Highlands,

the armies would meet
head-on

in the first major battle
of the war.

[speaking Vietnamese]

The battle at la Drang

was our first
big victory.

We concluded that
we could fight the Americans

and win.

The key thing was to force
the Americans to fight

the way we wanted --

that is,
hand to hand.

BRANAGH: Although the Americans
defeated the North Vietnamese

at la Drang,

casualties
were heavy.

2,000 North Vietnamese soldiers
were killed.

300 elite American infantry
died in the battle.

The attitude of the enemy
was, uh,

was not comparable

to what our attitude
would have been

under the circumstances.

He was ready,
willing and able

to pay a far greater price

than I would say
we Caucasians would.

My casualties
in my company

were relatively light,
and I say relatively light.

I lost 17 killed
and about 43 wounded

so the unit was almost
combat ineffective

with those kind
of casualties,

but fortunately
we were able to weather

that particular piece
of the battle.

BRANAGH:
The Gls had gone to South Vietnam

to fight communism.

But often they met hostility
from those

they thought
they were helping.

American troops found it
impossible to tell

which Vietnamese were friends
and which were foes.

CAPUTO:
How do you distinguish a civilian

from a Viet Cong?

Well, of course,
he shoots at you

or he's armed.

But how about --

what happens
after a fire fight

and you find bodies out there,

but no weapons?

And we were told,
"Well, if it's dead

and it's Vietnamese,
it's VC."

That was the exact words.

You would go out, you would
secure a piece of terrain

during the daylight hours

and you'd surrender that --

and I mean literally
surrender,

not be forced off,

well maybe surrenders
probably not a good word,

but you'd give it up
because you --

the helicopters would come in
and pick you up at night

and fly you back

to the security
of your base camp.

BRANAGH:
Instead of trying to hold territory,

the Americans used
their superior mobility

to launch search
and destroy missions.

[ explosion ]

The attempt to save
South Vietnam

was destroying it.

Viet Cong operations
continued.

[speaking Vietnamese]

INTERPRETER:
At 8:00 in the morning of March 23rd,

we hit them.

Our artillery
destroyed aircraft.

We killed not only
some guards,

but also
the American Quartermaster.

Our commando unit
also attacked

the police training school.

We killed many
trainee police officers

whilst they were
watching a movie.

BRANAGH:
In another attempt to encourage

the North Vietnamese
to negotiate,

Johnson stopped
Rolling Thunder.

Then started it again.

The tactic failed.

The Communists' vital
supply route

was
the Ho Chi Minh trail.

It was a network of tracks

linking the North
with the South

via the jungles
of Central Vietnam,

Laos,
and Cambodia.

[ Man speaking Vietnamese]

INTERPRETER:
The enemies assumed we dared not

drive during
the day.

In fact we drove
both day and night.

We had to keep
changing our tactics

to keep ahead
of the enemy.

Their plan
of attacking the trail

was very malicious
and changed all the time.

But we out-maneuvered them.

[speaking Vietnamese]

One night we counted
14 cannons firing,

reddening and lightening
the whole sky

with explosions.

It was like fireworks night
in Hanoi.

We were constantly driving
through bullets and smoke.

BRANAGH:
The trail wove through theoretically neutral

Laos and Cambodia.

Both suffered
heavy American bombing.

Over the years,
Cambodia --

the border area
of Cambodia and Laos

were used freely
by the enemy,

but by virtue

of the policy
of my government

we could not
fight the overt war

or deploy troops overtly,

military troops,

into those countries.

On one or two occasions,
the chiefs recommended

US military intervention

in North Vietnam,

and stated that
they recognized this might

lead to Chinese

and/or Soviet
military response,

in which case
they said,

"We might have to consider
the use of nuclear weapons."

The President was worried
about China and Russia.

He didn't know.

In Korea nobody thought
the Chinese were

going to cross the Yalu
with a million men

and we were
caught by surprise.

And I remember
time after time,

when the military would
suggest mining Haiphong,

or sending in warplanes
to bomb Haiphong,

he said, "Hell no."

He said, "Some damn aviator
will drop a bomb

down a Russian smoke stack

and then I've got
World War Ill on my hands."

BRANAGH:
The scale of Soviet aid to North Vietnam

was affected
by growing tensions

between the Soviet Union
and China.

[speaking Russian ]

INTERPRETER:
The Chinese demanded that we hand over

all military equipment
for Vietnam

on the Soviet Chinese border

and that China
in its turn

would pass it on
to the Vietnamese.

We discovered later
that the Chinese weren't

handing everything
oven

Some of the equipment
they unloaded for themselves.

[speaking Russian ]

INTERPRETER: What surprised
me was that we could send

the newest anti-aircraft
missiles to Egypt,

a capitalist country,

but not to Vietnam.

Our commanders used to say
that it was

because there was
a danger they would fall

into
the hands of the Chinese.

BRANAGH:
Moscow sent missiles to North Vietnam.

And more than
a thousand Soviet advisers

worked on air defenses
against the Americans.

[Yershov speaking Russian ]

INTERPRETER:
When they entered our target zone,

we saw six planes
on our screen.

With the first missile
we shot a plane.

We fired a second
ahead of the plane

and the plane flew
into the missile.

None
of the pilots survived.

BRANAGH: Each year the
American casualty rate increased.

VALENTI:
I would go in the President's bedroom,

at 7:00 in the morning.

Every morning,
he'd be on the phone,

with a 12-hour
time difference,

checking the casualties
of the day before.

"Mr. President, uh,
we lost 18 men yesterday.

Mr. President, we lost
160 men.

We had 400 casualties."

Morning after morning
after morning.

BRANAGH:
At the beginning of 1967,

the Americans used 852s
to bomb communist bases

near the South Vietnamese
capital, Saigon.

They were trying
to clear the area

of Viet Cong.

The savagery
and apparent futility of the war

aroused increasing dissent
back home.

This confused war

has played havoc

with our domestic destinies.

Despite feeble protestations
to the contrary,

the promises
of the great society

have been shot down

on the battlefield
of Vietnam.

The pursuit
of this widened war

has narrowed
the promised dimensions

of the domestic
welfare programs,

making the poor,
white and negro,

bear the heaviest burdens
both at the front

and at home.

BRANAGH: Desperate to
put more pressure on Hanoi,

in August Johnson extended
the bombing of the North

to within 10 miles
of the Chinese border.

First I would like
to make it clear that

these air strikes are
not intended

as any threat
to communist China,

and they do not,
in fact,

pose any threat
to that country.

We believe that Peking knows
that the United States

does not seek to widen
the war in Vietnam.

[ Chanting ]

BRANAGH:
Johnson was weakened by the growth

of the anti-war movement
in America.

I“ [ Country Joe McDonald
sings ] I“

I“ Come on mothers
throughout the land I“

I“ Pack your boys
off to Vietnam I“

I“ Come on, fathers,
don't hesitate I“

I“ Send your sons off
before it's too late I“

I“ Be the first one
on your block I“

I“ To have your boy
come home in a box I“

PAndit's1,2,3 ♪

I“ what are we fighting for I“

I“ Don't ask me
I don't give a damn I“

I“ Next stop
is Vietnam I“

J“ And it's 5, 6, 7
open up the Pearly Gates I“

I“ Yeah, there ain't no time
to wonder why I“

I“ Whoopee!
We're all gonna die I“

FORREST:
When you turned on AFN

and you saw riots
in the streets and whatever,

and guys were saying,
"Wait a minute.

Why am I fighting here

when these guys at home
are saying

this is
the wrong thing to do?

BRANAGH: In public Johnson
staged a show of optimism and support

for General Westmore land
and his troops.

The enemy is not beaten,

but he knows that he has
met his master in the field.

He is trying
to buy time,

hoping that
our nation's will

does not match his will.

J*[ woman singing
in Vietnamese 1P

BRANAGHI
In 1968,

in the fields
and on the rivers,

massive preparations were
being made by the communists

for concerted attacks
throughout South Vietnam.

I“ [singing continues 1P

Weapons, ammunition
and supplies were

moved to the South
for an offensive planned

for the Vietnamese New Year,
Tet.

The communists hoped to spark
a general uprising

across the country.

[ Duong speaking Vietnamese]

Taxis carried chrysanthemums
into Saigon

for the Tet market.

Hidden underneath them
were AK47s.

The people supported
the revolution.

They helped us.

We were able to penetrate
the security in the city.

We changed our clothes,

and carried fake
identity documents.

The people of Saigon
hid us in their houses.

I didn't want the enemy
to know

that I knew what
was going to happen.

I did know.

I made a mistake
in not making that known

to the American public,

because they were
caught by surprise.

BRANAGH:
The strength of the Tet offensive

came as a shock to
Westmore land

and the American public.

On television they saw
their South Vietnamese allies

fighting the Viet Cong
in the streets of Saigon itself.

Worse still, they saw
the American Embassy

penetrated
by Viet Cong commandos.

Now CIA men and MPs
have gone into the Embassy

and are trying to get
the snipers out

by themselves.

BRANAGH:
With the Tet offensive at its height,

leading American
politicians

were turning
on the President.

It is said the Viet Cong
will not be able

to hold the cities,
and that is probably true.

But they have demonstrated
that despite

all of our reports
of progress,

of government strength,
and of enemy weakness,

that half a million
American soldiers,

with 700,000 Vietnamese
allies,

with total command
of the air,

total command
of the sea,

backed by the huge resources
and the most modern weapons

that we are unable
to secure

even a single city
from the attacks

of an enemy
whose total strength

is about 250,000.

[gunfire]

BRANAGH:
The fiercest battle was to recapture

the ancient city
of Hue.

How long do you think
it's going to take you

to get through this city?

We'll be here another
few weeks anyway,

cleaning it out.

It'll take a little while
to get out of here.

You lost any friends?
- Quite a few.

We lost one the other day --
good buddy of mine.

The whole thing
stinks really.

BRANAGH:
When Hue was eventually retaken,

the Americans found that
thousands of civilians

had been murdered
by the communists.

Tet was a major defeat
for the Viet Cong.

Their main objective --

to inspire
a nationwide uprising --

had failed.

But Johnson had been
stunned

by the scale
of the Tet offensive.

Disillusioned,

Secretary of Defense
McNamara was leaving office.

Johnson replaced him
with Clark Clifford.

I'd ask questions like,

"when is the war
going to end?"

"Well, we don't know."

"How many more men do you think
we're going to lose?"

"Well, we really
don't know."

Then I finally got down to it and said,

"What is our plan

to win the war
in Vietnam?"

Turned out
there wasn't any.

The plan was just
to stay with it

and ultimately hoping

that the enemy would
finally give up.

BRANAGH: Johnson was
persuaded that the war could not

be won on the battlefield,

and that he must
negotiate.

I renew the offer
I made last August,

to stop the bombardment
of North Vietnam.

We ask that talks
begin promptly,

that they be serious talks

on the substance of peace.

BRANAGH: What he said
next surprised the World.

JOHNSON:
I shall not seek,

and I will not accept,

the nomination of my party

for another term
as your President.

BRANAGH:
In May 1968,

peace negotiations
began in Paris.

They were soon
deadlocked.

The communists were
determined

to rule
a united Vietnam.

But the United States was
not prepared

to abandon the South.

As the difficult negotiations
continued,

the Republicans were
campaigning for the presidency.

We want Nixon!

We want
Nixon!

We want Nixon!

We want
Nixon!

BRANAGH:
In public, Richard Nixon supported

Johnson's peace efforts.

I have pointed out
time and again,

that at the time the President
of the United States

has the responsibility

and is trying to negotiate
in Paris

for an honorable end
to the war,

that we should give him
every chance

to bring that war
to a conclusion

before this election
and before his term ends,

and that certainly no candidate
for President,

and certainly I will not
make any statement

that might pull the rug out
from under him,

and that might destroy
the chance

to bring the war
to a conclusion.

[ Applause ]

BRANAGH:
In fact, Nixon's campaign team

was having secret talks

with the South Vietnamese
government.

I was in touch
with the Republicans,

with the entourage
of Mr. Nixon

and the Republican urge us
to stand firm.

The worst point was --

at least
for Lyndon Johnson was,

when he realized

that negotiations
were stalled,

and I do know this,

that he heard

close to the election time in '68,

that Nixon

or one
of Nixon's emissaries

was telling
the South Vietnamese,

"Don't make a deal.

You'll get a better deal
under Nixon."

BRANAGH:
America's war in Vietnam

was to last
another four years.