Page were writing very their reporters in saigon were contradicting what the American Military was saying. So the press and the media were dividing up among these lines. Senators were having to choose sides also, and that was becoming much more of an issue. Adont i think this was High Water Mark in some ways for the administration. From this point on, the support for the war begins to diminish. The opposition begins to increase and affect the news gets worse and the more troops have to be sent in. Thathe hopes of the time rusk was speaking in 1956 that the president was going to limit this war and keep china out of this war and that a were going to not send any more troops and that it was not going to get there was a hope among a lot of people that this was the top, but fact of the matter is, this was just the first step in a decline and that the numbers in the troops in vietnam were going to increase as well as the number of casualties and body bags being sent back were going to be increasing. This was televised, this was the first televised war. Tv cameras were out there with the soldiers, turning down the villages, watching people being napalm, watching the blood and gore. This could be seen in living color in peoples homes. It had a huge impact, a wrenching impact, it divided up the entire nation. The nation was splitting down the middle and increasingly the opposition was growing in congress and in the streets. Have we learned from these hearings . Mr. Ritchie i think what comes across from these hearings is the importance of talking through issues. Talking through issues before you have gotten involved, talking through issues after you have gotten involved. Congress has got to be involved in these policies. The president cant decide matters of war and peace on his own. No president , liberal or conservative, democrat or republican, should. Our constitution was not written for the president to have this exclusive right. We didnt want our president s to be like kings and to send troops off on their own. We have to have a congressional debate and a congressional discussion. We have to have that awareness. And that is the purpose of these hearings. I am not sure if we have had anything like that since then, probably in part because Congress Gets to be involved in much more of the debate than they were up to this point. This was the end of the thattisan foreignpolicy had prevailed since the end of world war ii right on through to the 1960s. This was the beginning of a wasod in which the Congress Going to challenge the president s war powers. So this is a really pivotal series of hearings. I cant think of anything quite comparable to them, but the public and the educated the congress, and according to senator fulbright, he called them educational hearings. Announcer you are watching American History tv, all we can, every weekend on cspan3. To join the conversation, like us on facebook at cspan history. Announcer this year, cspan is touring cities across the country. Up next, our recent visit to greenville, south carolina. Youre watching American History tv, all we can, every weekend on cspan3 all weekend, every weekend on cspan3. The