Lolled itself into history with names of pride and shame. Words for all time and words of passing fancy. The decade created a new vocabulary in the magnificent and the minuscule. Kennedy,nis kurtz, pope john, john glenn, graham, the beatles, peace corps, clay, leiber, pope paul, the war, nson, warhol, strikes and streisand, dope, black power, goldwater, hippie, dayan, woodstock, the pill, james bond, tiny tim, king, hair, graham, bobby, wallace, golda meir, ecology, the supremes, apollo, psychedelic, wyeth, joe namath, malcolm x, armstrong, nixon, indira gandhi, demonstrations, lem. But no name, no single word repeated itself as often on the pages of the 1960s, and with so much controversy, as the name vietnam. It was a strange mixture of peace and war, a better filled nowhere and everywhere. Life during the day and death during the night. An ally when moment and gone the next. A jungle with barbed wire. Those who wanted to find a war might have to hunt for it. Those who did not want to find a war often became the hunted. There was a larger search for a definition of the word peace. Did peace mean only the absence of war or absence of war and fear . And oppression. Is a story of the 1960s in two parts, of war and debate. In the 1960s, Many Americans did not believe the americans should help solve vietnam and dissent and demonstrations became to some a way of life. In the beginning of the 1960s, the pret threat and prophecy were clear. I face we i think we face a serious and intensified struggle with the communists. We have read stories of seven to 15,000 guerrillas operating in civilm, killing 2000 officers per year, and 4000 Police Officers per year. There has been an election in vietnam where 80 endorsed the government, yet we read how vietnam is in danger because of guerrilla operations carried on by this small, well disciplined, well supplied across the border group of guerrillas. Of ae fight that kind problem, which is going to be with us all through this decade, seems to me to be one of the great problems before the United States. Threat and prophecy were made to a land of many. Hardship, poverty, disease, and war had never eroded the faith of the South Vietnamese. Their faith in something higher and larger than themselves. Some his name to some was s name to others were jesus, and others. The strange combinations of gods in this land, there emerged a belief y, the this was the reason for life itself. The stuff from the stuff from South Vietnam was neither rights nor jungle. Its heart flowed with on design faith undefined faith in undefined in its strength. Too easily a stranger would say he is a buddhist, eighth catholic, but religions were overlapping. The oldest form of christianity in vietnam with solace in this. Since the partition of the vietnam, hundreds of thousands of more catholics came to the south where the practice of religion was still free. [church bells ringing] the country was as mixed as its gods. Of many were full of cluttered patterns. Students, merchants, lovers, shoppers met the splendid nest of the nation. [rooster crowing] most of the populace paid no heed to the glamour of the cities and sounds. A 90 lived in the uncluttered fields where they found an uncommon contentment and orchestration of their life and religion. Of their work and love. But in vietnam, the serenity of life and earth and prayer had a new intruder. The intruder was not always visible, not always apparent. At times, it was difficult to believe he was present in the country at all, but he was. His habits were a irregular, his route unknown, his next steps were never told in advance, the evidence that he was there was fast becoming a part of every horizon. [water flowing] the intruder changed the horizons of rural South Vietnam and the skylines urban northern vietnam. As many refugees escaped from the north, not only shrines where the south, but hospitals as well. And now there was more than the sick to heal. There were hundreds of thousands of wounded. Lets have another retractor, please. Charlton civilians told their stories of grenades, and shells, and men who came to the villages and massacred, talked of pillage and fire, by the vietcong and by men who came from the north. The ones who still lived war deep scars. The memory of a single day would last through their lifetimes, in their minds, and on their bodies. These are films of South Vietnam after the destruction of a village by the North Vietnamese. To those in command of North Vietnam, and the viet cong, the pursuit was a united vietnam under hanoi with a communist government. To those in South Vietnam, the pursuit was to be left alone, but they were not left alone. The story was always the same. It became a daily way of life, a daily way of death. Village after village, city after city. Today, dozens killed in one area, hundreds and another, thousands in another. Often, mass graves were located months after a massacre. The ones who were previously known only to be missing were found, identified, and buried. [anguished voices] narrator in North Vietnam, rallies a victory were held regularly. Deaths and destruction of villages in South Vietnam were hailed as a liberation. [crowd chanting] [automatic gunfire] this South Vietnamese reacted with missions to search for and destroy weapons used against them. In the early 1960s, reconnaissance flights began. From the air, the land looked lush and innocent. Signs of the enemy were nonexistent. If this lush land held secrets, it was rarely apparent from those on the quick overflights. And so the missions were preserved on film for later study by trained and unhurried eyes. Each flight brought a precious cargo of photographs. [gunfire] [camera shutter clicking] charlton the evidence was unmistakable, South Vietnam was under threat from external forces, and if it was going to stay alive and answer that threat, it would need support. On the occasion of your new years celebration, my fellow americans and i extend our very best wishes for the prosperity and wellbeing of the government and the people of vietnam. In your struggle against aggressive forces of communism, the sacrifices that you have willingly made, the courage you have shown, the burdens you have endured, have been a source of inspiration to people all over the world. Let me assure you of our continued assistance in the development of your capabilities to maintain your freedom, and to defeat those who wish to destroy that freedom. Charlton and so the americans came to vietnam. Other countries came as well to help the South Vietnamese, australia, new zealand, the republic of korea, malaysia, the republic of china, thailand and the philippines. [explosions] [helicopter overhead] charlton just beyond the village were the vietcong and North Vietnamese. Civilians of the village were evacuated before the battle that was sure to come. [indiscernible conversations] [helicopter overhead] [engine idling] [helicopter whirring] [automatic gunfire] [gunfire continues] charlton discovered were the prisoners taken by the North Vietnamese and the vietcong. [drumroll] [indiscernible voices] [automatic gunfire] [indiscernible voices] [indiscernible voices] [military drumroll] [engine idling] charlton the battle, for today, is over. The battle for tomorrow has yet to begin. And in the night that separates the two, the enemy would resupply and regroup and replan to attack the village again. The daybyday price of holding a village was not cheap. [military drumroll] charlton in the 1960s, 40,000 americans were killed in vietnam, and there were another 1000 whose fate were not known. And the wives of the missing appealed to the representatives of North Vietnam. We are very puzzled about why they wont tell us whether or not the men are alive or dead. It seems a very simple thing for them to do. They have told many wives to come back and demonstrate against the United States government, and they implied that we should join that womens strike for peace, and that this would be the most helpful thing that we could do to help our men. Once we educate the general public, not only in this nation but worldwide, to the true facts that these men are not being treated the way hanoi would like to paint the picture. And i believe public pressure will be brought to bear upon hanoi, and they will be shown up for the dishonesty and distruth they are putting forth. They tell the world, we have not heard, we do not know. Please, just let us know if our husbands or sons are alive. This is so little to ask. Im going to see senator mcgovern, since he has been to paris and has talked with the North Vietnamese. I have written to the secretarygeneral of the u. N. , and i have written several times and have not received a reply. In one of my most recent letters to senator fulbright, i said, last summer, i wrote to you, asking for an appointment with you and expressing the idea that the most vociferous critics of the war had very probably lengthened the war and thus had a detrimental effect on the possibility of release for the prisoners. At that time, you refused to see me on the grounds that my idea was so preposterous, and that was his phrase, that visiting with me would serve no purpose. Let visiting with me would serve no purpose. We are going back today to paris in hopes of finding the information we originally went 17,e seeking on september the North Vietnamese promised to send us letters involving our husbandsstatus and wellbeing. We have not received those letters. We still want to know about our husbands. We want to know what we can tell our children concerning their fathers. Real the beginning, the rough treatment came at first, when they were trying to get military answers from you. After that, they tried to force you into appearing before the delegations to say you received humane treatment. They would throw rocks at you, hit you. One of the little ones came up and hit me in the side of the mouth and it dislodged a filling. Camp, theyto the refused to give me medical treatment, saying i was going to die in four hours if i did not give them the information. I finally passed out. The North Vietnamese tried to get him to appear in front of a delegation and say he received humane treatment. He refused because his treatment had not been humane. He had been tied up with ropes to such a degree that he still has large scars on his arms from the rope burns which became infected. He was deprived of sleep, beaten, had his fingernails removed and put in solitary, but the North Vietnamese insisted he make the false statement and through him in a cell alone to think about it for 38 days. I feel a strong obligation to the men back there. They know im going to come back here and tell the truth and that is what they wanted. [drums beating] [drums beating] [drums beating] [drums beating] end the war end the war end the war end the war end the war end the war end the war end the war end the war end the war end the war the great free debate, perhaps the greatest of all time surfaced in the United States when the country gave birth to , 100 voices in universities, in town halls, and in washington im opposed to this war not only because i think it is morally and legally wrong, but because i think it is destroying the good name and the leadership of the United States. Furthermore, i believe that the war is militarily unwinnable. If we should succeed in bombing vietnam to rubble, we will only find ourselves up against the chinese. What i could do with is more compassion and more sympathy, with those tens of thousands of civilians in South Vietnam who have been killed in kidnapper by the viet cong and north Vietnamese Forces as a matter of deliberate policy, and the far larger tens of thousands of South Vietnamese military who have been killed and wounded simply because North Vietnam is trying to seize South Vietnam by force. I lost a really dear friend over there. They brought his body home to me. All of a sudden, i began wondering, what are we doing over there . Is this what honor is all about . Is it worth it . I dont think it is. All of us tend to place greater value on our own people. Can you really draw a line as to whether it is worth one american life, if that by saving that american life, you subject probably thousands of vietnamese to death . Human life is human life. We believe that this war is illegal from every point of view, completely immoral, and i would like to add for myself that it is detrimental to the best interests of the United States. How do you feel about the charges that america is immoral and wrong in this war . I feel they are false. I think if people who make these statements could go over and see whats going on they would think it is a just war. We cannot just now dishonor our word or abandon our commitment, or leave those who believed us and who trusted us to the terror and repression and murder that would follow. I dont think theres any evidence, any real reason to believe that kind of mass execution would take place. The very fact that practically 2 million of the North Vietnamese fled to South Vietnam to escape the communist regime is an indication that this government did not represent the will of the people. Not only are we bleeding our men, having them die in vietnam, we are spending at about the rate of 30 billion a year, 2. 5 billion a month in vietnam. That is more than we spend on our entire housing program, more than we spend on our entire Poverty Program in a year. This money must be diverted back to our domestic needs. We must end this futile war. War. Al the vietnamese never existed the invasion of any and all outsiders, the french, the japanese, and now the americans. [applause] and let me say as one who is in opposition to our policy in Southeast Asia, long preceded the rising tide of revolt against it, there can be no peace by negotiation. Of southf is part vietnam, a part that is like an alien body fed, supplied, supported, and kept up in some state of vigor by a Hostile Force outside the country namely, North Vietnam. I wonder how we in this country or somebody in any other western european country would feel if such a force existed in their ranks and somebody from the outside would tell us now, be a good boy and let those people determine your fate. It started out as a colonial war and became a civil war. We intervened on one side, a thing which this country has never done before and i hope never does again. Think do you think what you have gone through and what you will have to go through for the rest of your life is worthwhile . Yes, i do. Because i think just about all people should think of just one thing right now, and thats freedom. And the only way we are going to get freedom is to protect ourselves, whether it is in this country or other countries that need help, and i think a lot of people feel the same way as i do. I have said we ought to publicly indicate our willingness to accept the new government in South Vietnam, which could be a coalition government. Or a fusion government. I dont really care what they call it. You would have to anticipate it would include elements of the National Liberation front. This is really what the war has been fought about. The purpose of communism is to have a policy in government. To dominate in South Vietnam under communist regime. Under those flirting with communism, i can only say, have you ever lived under a totalitarian government . I have lived under two types, national socialistic, as well as communism, and i know what im talking about. Why dont you ask a hungarian or czech or a pole or anyone else how they like it before you really ignore the facts of life and support something you would not for yourself or for your children . If we cease bombing, we are in a sense calling the bluff of other governments who have said this is the key and confront them with the responsibility of following through the imperative logic of their pronouncements in this respect. It is a risk or peace. That might be one element, but i dont hear very many people talking about the invasion of South Vietnam by the North Vietnamese. It seems to me the two go handinhand. There have been four or five bombing halts. The soviets have asked us to halt the bombings for two weeks, the suggestion being they thought negotiations could begin within that period. The bombing halt lasted 37 days and was resumed. I have now ordered that all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam cease, as of 8 00 a. M. Washington time friday morning. This is the kind of peripheral struggle that i think should be compromised. I do not mean by that we go out and run away. I do not mean that at all. It surely would cause great nations to go to it is not of the kind of importance that surely would cause great nations to go to all out war. If you are going to fight a war, i believe in winning because you are losing lives, so this is one thing that should be the number one priority. Whenever you enter a war, my idea if get everything you can, as fast as you can, and get it over with. I have preached this. Im not saying anything new. Until the president stands up and says we are bringing all the troops home as quickly as we can bring them home, we are bringing them home now, i think the antiwar sentiment in the country will continue to grow. You have to bring them home immediately. Ending a conflict is not so simple as just calling it off and coming home because the price for that kind of peace could be 1000 years of darkness for generations yet unborn. You do not think there should be a demonstration against the war . No. Do you think it does any good, that it might hurry the withdrawal . No, i dont think it will hurry up anything. It might delay it. Do you have any children . Yes, i have three boys. Any of them old enough to take part . One will be 18 next month. Last spring, jerry grossman, a boston businessman, the president of the massachusetts peace action council, suggested it might be possible to begin to put together an effort across the country to take time from regular activities and devote those to working against the war. A lot of americans are against war, but a lot of them that are against it dont really know anything about it. They half know about it and dont really try to understand , they dont know the vietnamese people. They dont really know the vietnamese people or understand the situation. They know they will not become stronger, but they believe you will become weaker and weaker. Wake up in the morning when we rise can you imagine a protester in hanoi, how far he would get if he wanted to protest North Vietnam sending troops into South Vietnam or laos or cambodia . Have the authoritys taken any action against you as a result of burning your card in central park in new york . None whatsoever. How do you feel about those who say to those who say you are prolonging the war because of this kind of action . We want the war to stop and we think the best way for it to stop is for the United States to get out of vietnam. The moratorium probably encourages North Vietnam not to negotiate. End the war end the war end the war end the war peace now peace now peace now peace now end the war end the war end the war peace end the war end the war we wont go we wont go you stupid idiots, you know . Whats your name . Never mind my name. Im a freedom fighter. You are idiots. The russians will shoot you if they come. You are hanging around the streets you demonstrators. You should be out working or do something in hospitals. Its a disgrace what youre doing. It is your own country. Im ashamed for america, but im not an american. Im a hungarian. Many people have been dying since in memoriam. That is nothing new, people dying for freedom. People have to die for their children, for their future. America, like you here, now. Because you are misled. Deep inside, im sure you are all very, very decent people who want the best for humanity, but humanity is finished in a communist country. Do you know what it means having communists go to hungary, czechoslovakia . Dont turn away now. You should listen to them. Stupid idiots. The people here are fighting for freedom. Everybody here is a hero. Every American Fighting is a hero. You will realize when its too late. End the war end the war end the war the debate went on. The demonstrations went on and every president of the United States during the 1960s voiced his endorsement of the United States position. Todays conflict reached ruthlessly for domination over Southeast Asia and are to break trying our will to foil the attempt. The use communists make of democracy, when they seize power, and the effectiveness with which they manage the Police Apparatus so that dissent cannot arise and so that the people can no longer express their will, the liquidation by gunfire of the opposition or by forcing them out of the country to be refugees this suggests a kind of problem we will have in this decade. In my judgment, it is an extremely difficult matter for the free nations to deal with. I must say it is a matter to which we must address all of our energy and all of our attention. This nation will keep its commitments from South Vietnam to west berlin. Since i took office as president , no single question has occupied so much of my time and energy as the search for an end to the war in vietnam. An end fair to the people of South Vietnam, fair to the people of North Vietnam. And fair to those others affected by the outcome. We have offered a number of proposals which would bring peace and provide selfdetermination, and we are ready to consider any other proposals that have the same objective. Many urge that if only we halted our bombing of the north, peace would follow. Nearly a year has passed since the bombing of the north was halted. Three months have passed since we began the process of troop replacement, signaling both our own genuine desire for settlement and the increased readiness of the South Vietnamese to manage their own defense. As i announced on tuesday, by december 15, our troop strength in vietnam will have been reduced by a minimum of 60,000 men. On september 2, 1969, North Vietnams chief negotiator in paris said that if the United States committed itself to the principle of totally withdrawing its forces to South Vietnam, and if it withdrew a significant number of troops, hanoi would take this into account. I repeat here today what i said in my speech of may 14, that we are prepared to withdraw all of our forces from South Vietnam, and the replacement of 60,000 troops is a significant step. The time has come for the other side to respond to these initiatives. The time has come for peace. We in the United States want to end this war, and we are ready to take every reasonable step to achieve that goal, but let there be no question on this one fundamental point. In good conscience, we cannot, in the longterm interest of peace, we will not accept a settlement that would arbitrarily dictate the political future of South Vietnam and deny to the people of South Vietnam the basic right to determine their own future free of any outside interference. [applause] but the demonstrations and parades continued with the yell of hell, no, we wont go. In South Vietnam, there were other parades where cries of hell, no, we wont go were nonexistent. For without defense, their families and country would live no more. [singing in foreign language] [singing in foreign language] hell, no, we wont go. Hell, no, we wont go. Hell, no, we wont go. Hell, no, we wont go. Hell, no, we wont go. But still, the cries went on. Into the closing nights of 1969, candlelight parades marched down pennsylvania avenue in washington, and a freshly lit torch became one symbol to one group in one land and became another symbol to another group in another land. [singing in foreign language] the flames were still bright on december 31, 1969. If that fire would be a permanent light of freedom or would be extinguished was not to be known within the decade. The United States had given lives and treasure and prestige to buy time for the South Vietnamese to face alone what had to be faced. In the last year of the 1960s, the troops of the United States were leaving behind trained and equipped South Vietnamese to defend their destiny, for the guns of the north within the south were not silent. Though the decade was done, the struggle of the South Vietnamese to be free was still unfinished. [fire crackling] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] if you like American History tv, keep up with us during the week on facebook, twitter and youtube. Learn about what happened this day in history, and see preview clips of upcoming programs. National World War Ii Museum in new orleans hosts an author to talk about his book. Here is a preview. Now living outside of point is ours, take a train into the city and eventually determine where he is living through friends. Written, sylvia goes in a pretty little dress to the door to this twobedroom, small, onestory house and knocks on the door. Who answers . Ricardo clement. Imagine he invites her and, they are having a conversation and she cannot quite determine one way or the other if this person you will see later in this presentation what he looked like by the time he was captured, they were two largely different men. The almost look like two different people. She could not quite tell one way or another whether it was him. She asked him who he was, he i ami am nicholas uncle, living here and that is where the conversation ends. All of the sun, he comes in. You can imagine your exgirlfriend showing up at your house, that is that enough. Even worse, you know your father is a war criminal and living under an alias. Not being terribly bright, he grabs sylvia and ushers her out of the house and says i will be right back, father. That, right . I can always tell if the audience is paying attention, whether they get that. Sylvia helps determine this is another letter finds its way across the sea. The doctor determines i have enough information, i will do something about this. The americans will not help me, my own company will not help me, i will go to the one people who actually should care about these war criminals. I will go to the israelis. Learn more about the capture herem at 2 00 p. M. Pacific on American History tv. Every saturday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on American History tv on cspan3, go inside a Different College classroom and hear about topics ranging from the American Revolution to u. S. President s, to 9 11. With most College Campuses closed due to the impact of the coronavirus, watch professors transfer to a virtual setting to engage with our students. Gorbachev did most of the work to change the soviet union, halfway,n met him encouraged him and supported him. Madisonom of the press, originally called it freedom of the use of the press. It is freedom to publish things, not a freedom for what we refer to as the press. Lectures in history, on American History tv on cspan3, every saturday at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. It is also available on the podcast. This fall, American History tv is winding back the clock to feature archival films about historic campaigns. Next, assignment washington, the correspondent marino de medici, profiling an italian newspaper journalist as he goes about his daytoday duties in washington and covers the 1976 president ial contest between president gerald ford and challenger jimmy carter. Marino washington is like a room with an enormous circular window. You are looking all over
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