My choice was to get as close to the action in vietnam as i possibly could. I was writing features about kids from fort worth. It is the single most rewarding thing i ever did in all my years in journalism because this would brighten up their day that someone from their hometown would look them up. My best pictures were not on the periphery of the fighting but were woven through it. The kind of pictures i took showed people waiting for something to happen. I basically tried to block out the emotional side of it in the early years, because i really believe that the journalism of detachment was what war coverage was all about. I was very jingoistic when i got there in the beginning. When i got back, i was convinced the war, whatever our good intentions, simply could not be won. Part of the reason i have always done it is a sense of wanting to be where the action is. In the bigger theater, we cast a light in dark corners around the world that you would not see without photographers. So, to come up with these dramatic, exclusive stories that riveted readers and editors was absolutely thrilling. And drove me to stay covering that conflict and others all my life. [applause] peter good evening, everyone. I am Peter Prichard ceo of the , newseum. Welcome to what i think will be a wonderful program. I want to give a special welcome tonight to our press pass members, friends of the First Amendment society, and our corporate and individual donors who make programs like this possible. If youre not yet a member of the Museum Please consider becoming one. Theres a lot to do here and it is one of the best Museum Memberships in town. Tomorrow, as you know, to mark the 50th anniversary of the vietnam war, the newseum will reporting vietnam, the newseum will open reporting vietnam, a terrific exhibit that explores the often contentious relationship between the military and the press in americas first televised war. The exhibit explores how journalists brought news about the war to an increasingly divided nation. We hope these photos, videos and artifacts will help you better understand that difficult time, which in my view, was a toxic combination of a high casualty war universal construction construction, and widespread rebellion by american youth. Tonight, we will hear from three people who covered the war from different perspectives. Bob schieffer was a 28yearold reporter who was sent to vietnam by the Fort Worth Star telegram to get the local angle. He covered vietnam as a pentagon and white house correspondent. He has anchored cbss face the nation, the number one sunday rated show for the past 24 years and his final program will air on may 31. Peter arnett reported from vietnam for the Associated Press from 1962 until the fall of saigon in 1975, longer than almost all reporters. His fearless reporting made him a target. He was beaten by the south Vietnamese Secret Police in 1963. There is a photo of that in the exhibit. He won a pulitzer for his covered in 1966 and later had a long career at cnn. Photographer David Hume Kennerly won the 1972 pulitzer for photography for his images of vietnam. He was one of the youngest winners, just 25, and he went on to be president fords personal photographer. Conjure booting editor for politico and will cover the 2016 election in a series of photo essays. We are in good hands with our moderator Margaret Brennan. Market joined cbs in 2012 and served as the state Department Correspondent and her foreignpolicy reporting has taken her around the world. If i can add a personal note, 47 years ago on this date, in 1968, i was a young drafty, a specialist five, an intelligence clerk, so to speak, although i did not think we gathered much in a town on them on the mekong delta, wondering whether i would make it alive to the end of my tour. While there, and for years afterwards, i read and studied much of the journalism about the war. A lot of it done by people in this room, trying to figure out if we were doing the right thing. I know that, like me, there are many of you in the audience who have a personal connection to the war in vietnam. We would like to just take a moment to recognize you. First, are there any journalists in the room who covered vietnam . Would you please stand up . Stand up. [applause] fantastic. Are there any people who served in the military in vietnam . [applause] all right. Are there any people who served in vietnam in some other capacity, for ngos, for the state department, the cia, air america, some other agency . You may not want to reveal yourselves. There we go. [laughter] [applause] fantastic. Well, thank you. And we thank you all for your professionalism and your service and your sacrifice in whatever your capacity was in what was often quite an unpopular cause. Tonight is just the first of many programs the newseum will host about vietnam. Over the next 16 months, we will explore how women reporters covered the war, how photographers vivid images affected public opinion, and how the war often divided families and led to distrust in many institutions. Now it is my privilege to introduce the very talented and competent president of cbs news who has brought news back to americas great network, david rhodes. [applause] david thank you for that introduction, peter. For all your kindness tonight towards all of us from cbs. If you like Margaret Brennan tonight, by coincidence, she is cohosting our morning show tomorrow. So she cant linger with you after the program, but you can see her at 7 00 a. M. On channel 9. [laughter] or check your local listings. You know, the last time i was here at the newseum was in november when we marked 60 years of face the nation. As you heard, bob has not angered it for all of those 60 anchored it for all of those 60 years but a lot of them. And he is handing over to John Dickerson after this month. Bob is not just the face of face the nation, he is our chief washington correspondent. And in that hes a bit of a keeper of our history. He always has noted to me how hes honored that he has Eric Severides old office. But he also says he is worried that no one knows who Eric Severide was. [laughter] but the newseum can help make sure that people know. And i think it is instructive because, at a time now that we are endlessly told is the most divisive or most divided or most difficult in our nations history, it is important to be reminded that it is not. That apart from the obvious history lessons we have about the 1860s, we have a lot to learn still from the 1960s. This exhibit does. If you think it was a challenge covering washington today, consider the example of those who covered a war in Southeast Asia for a society that itself was almost at war back home. It has been observed in recent months that the irony of bob simons death is that he survived so many near misses along route one in vietnam chronicling wartime only to die along manhattans west side highway in peacetime. Bobs daughter tonya, a 60 minutes producer, wanted very much to be here tonight but the good news is that tonya is very pregnant with who would have been bobs second grandchild. And she could not make the trip for that reason. But tonya and her mother francoise have contributed some of his material to the newseums Permanent Collection as part of this exhibit. So, in tribute to bob, not just his family, but his colleagues have wanted most of all to memorialize the values that he came to represent over a career telling the world about events like those he saw in vietnam over 40 years ago. That is why when the newseum approached john orlando about support for this exhibit, from our ceo, leslie moonves, down through the whole management team, everyone thought it would be most appropriate to do so in honor of our late colleague, bob simon. And we are very grateful that the newseum has given us an opportunity to do that. So, thank you very much. [applause] you can tell that david is a new age person, because the text of his speech was on his iphone. [laughter] i need to do that next time. But we are very grateful for cbs support. Like david, we agree this is a very fitting tribute to bob simon, who was one of the worlds great war reporters. Now please welcome Margaret Brennan and our wonderful panel. [applause] hi, folks. Margaret thanks to all of you for coming out tonight. When i was asked to do this, i was a bit intimidated by the names sitting next to me. If there is one thing journalists love it is a great story. I have to say i had so much fun and enjoyed the phone conversations i got. The great excuse i had to hear some of your stories. And im glad we can share some of them here tonight. But one of the ideas that kept coming up on the telephone from many of you was this idea that people have raised to you. Almost an accusation. Did the media lose the war in vietnam . Was it a factor . And in many ways, that gives us the concept of media not being observers but somehow being actors in this particular conflict. I think that is a really interesting idea. David you said to me on the phone, for many People Television brought the war into their living rooms. But it was, in your opinion, still photography that really affected their hearts. Your craft. I know you had images you wanted to share with us. What really, you thought hit , people, impacted people to bring this war so far away into middle america. David its true. The room is filled with a number of still photographers, friends of mine, they all agree with that statement by the way. [laughter] i the Gold Standard photo for all of us was not a vietnam photo but was joe rosenthals picture of iwo jima. When you look at some of the other photos, this is the one that was heroic. Marines raising the flag. On iwo jima. This is a photograph everyone is seen. Probably the most reproduced picture ever. And when you put that one up against one like this, and this is a 1963 photo by Malcolm Brown did not win the Pulitzer Prize. I believe he wanted next year. But this suggested to president kennedy that he should get involved with vietnam. It is hard to imagine that, but this was a very important photograph. Then eddie adams picture. This photo was so astonishing really for every possible way. , but if you look at joe rosenthals pictures compared with this. Heroism, the red, white, and blue, the good, old american way. And then the dark, underside of war. And this picture of kim phuc running down the road after being napalmed. These photographs tracking the end of americas love affair, such as it was, with the vietnam war. And then this one. This is a picture i did not really know but it was a Pulitzer Prize photo from 1977 a vietnam vet watching a veterans day parade with his little daughter. He lost both legs in vietnam. Its a book end to what i know about the photography of vietnam. And i want to make there is somebody in the room who took one of the greatest pictures of vietnam that shouldve won the Pulitzer Prize. If i were on the jury, i would have given it to him. Frank johnson took this picture. It was called peace church. Frank, stand up, please. [applause] again, the gentleman in the photograph is mike tripp standing next to frank. [applause] this picture, and there have been so many great photos from the vietnam war, but that photo really sums it up. The whole point of showing these is that i believe and i have been asked questions about it all the time, but the pictures really do go right to the heart and soul of your psyche. It is because you can look at them, hold them. The pictures are history. It is a historic scrapbook of what we have gone through. And then this is a picture i took about three years ago on my iphone. But its i cant come to washington without going to the vietnam wall, the vietnam memorial. I have four of my classmates from westlin high school in oregon are on the wall. They got killed before i got over there. For that reason, and i said it in the video, but it was the biggest story of my lifetime. I was the class photographer for 1965 graduating class. As the class photographer, i felt i had to go to vietnam to show what my class was going through. And that was my motivation. All of you are here on memorial day, any day, go to that wall. It is the most astonishing place on the face of the earth. Thank you. [applause] margaret and i think so many of those images, people have a visceral reaction when they see them. I want to bring up another image here that might surprise some of you. It did when i saw it. Do you recognize the two men in that photo . And the one that the gun is pointed out, came a point that out . You have servicemen military , police pointing a gun at Bob Schieffer here. In the other gentleman is peter arnett. Tell me about this photo what , was happening . What did you do . Bob that was the president of cbs news at the time. [laughter] i was telling the mp, aim it at the other guy. Bob here is what happened. That photo was taken by eddie adams, who took the great photo. We were in saigon and this was 1966. We had gone out to cover this riot. The buddhists were rioting and this american mp said we could not do it. We set of corsican, you cannot stop us from going. The guy then pulled out his weapon. And eddie adams camera went up, ok, buddy, you pull your weapon out, you use it. I said, eddie, hes pointing it at me. Eddie said, i was pretty sure he was bluffing. [laughter] peter and it was much more graphic than that. Eddie said, shoot him. It will be a better picture. True story. Bob i hope that picture in my office, too. But [laughter] peter let me explain it a little. The american mps did not have jurisdiction in saigon during the war. That was the purview, the control of the South Vietnamese. So this mp appeared at a buddhist protest. We were just two of many journalists that were trying to get through to the protest. The next morning, i followed it up eddie took the picture and we sent it off on a regular wire photo feed that night. The next morning, i go to the czar of information in saigon at the time, to complain, because you know, i did not want to be faced with this kind of problem again. He said to me, well, we already had a wire from the state department. Secretary of state dean ruskin says he does not want to see a picture like that again in the newspapers. And he says, however, we are going to go ahead and charge you anyway. I said, charge me with what . He says, assault with a pencil and a pad. [laughter] there were some who believe that the pencil and pads were more effective, sometimes, than guns. Margaret its interesting, as well. I think this is something very unique about the conflict in vietnam. That you all highlighted. Which is that there is a very different sort of rules of the road for journalists who were covering the war. In particular, there was not Media Censorship instituted by the military like there have been in past conflicts. Bob it is one of the few wars in American History where there was no censorship. Margaret as an official policy. Bob as an official policy though as peter and david will tell you, the way they censored you was through transportation. They could sometimes stop you from going to an area. After a while, you would figure out how to get there. David most of the time we did. Peter the reason would there was no censorship it was that president kennedy, president Eisenhower Kennedy and johnson and nixon did not want to reveal or could not reveal their real intentions about leading vietnam to some kind of positive resolution for the United States. They kept saying, we are helping out. We have advisors. We are here in a limited war. Margaret instituting an official policy would be acknowledgment of actual war. Peter they were not willing to acknowledge that this was turning into a real war. They feared the political invocations of that. Secretary of state dean ruskin in an interview i had with him after the war, said they worried that if you had declared censorship, it would implicate a wider involvement of the American Public in the war. Of course they did not want it. Politically it was not acceptable. So, really, how it worked out, was that the Kennedy Administration and johnson attempted to influence Media Coverage in two ways. One was working with management back in the United States, whether it was television management, news management, trying to impress upon them the National Interest in having positive news out of vietnam. Then they sent barry and many other hundreds of information officials to saigon to try and talk to us about rethinking the war in more positive terms. But the reality was that our management, the Associated Press management, the president , he wanted the facts there was a competitive story. He did not want us in the field deciding not to cover an event or incident simply because it did not look good for the government. He insisted that we have accurate, true coverage, and he wanted to have the responsibility of deciding what would go out to ap members. I think the networks did the same thing. Margaret did you experience that, david . Any kind of editors being summoned in washington because of what you were sending back home . David by the time i got over there, american involvement was really winding down. I found the military to be really cooperative about taking me out and wherever you wanted to go. You just cant on a you just hop on a helicopter and go. I think one thing that gets overlooked, if you look at talking about the policymakers thinking the press lost the war. We did not start it. We didnt finish it. And the politicians did a real dandy job of botching it up. But we were able to get out in the field. And the soldiers in the field loved having us show up, because we were kind of a lifeline to the outside world. It is not like today, where you can pick u