or with the the enemies call the , american vietnam war. brian: how did you approach this differently? mark: this is the first time a journalist like me would have access to get to meet vietnamese participants. i was able to tell the story through both the american soldiers and marines to five and who fought and also the vietnamese viet cong. i think as time is gone by there was a lot of documentation in the archives and hanoi as well as here in bethesda, maryland, at the national archives. there are also the records of the johnson administration at the lbj library. all of william westmoreland s papers are there. johnson s national security council staff papers. so 50 years is kind of a good time i think to go back. the record is established. the participants are still alive. brian: in the early part of the book you say the battle would be the bloodiest of the war and a turning point not just in that conflict, but in american history. why? mark: well up until the tet offe
brian: how did you approach this differently? mark: this is the first time a journalist like me would have access to get to meet participants so i was able to tell the story through both the american soldiers and marines to five and also the vietnam ease viet cong, the north vietnamese army. i think as time is gone by there was a lot of documentation in the archives than hanoi as well as here in bethesda, maryland, at the national archive. there are also the records of the johnson administration at the lbj library. all of william westmoreland s papers are there. the national security staff papers. so 50 years is kind of a good time i think to go back. the record is established. the participants are still alive. brian: in the early part of the book you say the battle would be the bloodiest of the war and a turning point not just in that conflict led in american history. why? mark: well up until the tet offensive, which this is part of, general westmoreland had argued that this