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Vietnam is the most divisive,
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morally abrasive war
Americans have ever fought anywhere.
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It's time for the great silent majority
to stand up and be counted.
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00:00:11,374 --> 00:00:15,306
How do you ask a man to be
the last man to die for a mistake?
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We're just going to refuse to do it.
You may be in jail but you won't be dead.
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Military pressure will continue
until a peace settlement is reached.
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We have achieved peace with honor.
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The Americans are leaving.
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The Vietnamese must stay
and face uncertainty.
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In Vietnam, we have reached
the end of the tunnel
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and there is no light there.
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Sync, corrected by icephoenix
www.addic7ed.com
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There's no understanding
of America in the 1970s
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without understanding
how the decade began
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in relationship to
the war in Vietnam.
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Normally, live casualties for the
previous week are released on Thursday.
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But fighting in the last week
has been so bitter that
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military sources released the casualties,
unofficially, today.
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340 Americans and 527 South Vietnamese
were killed last week.
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Enemy dead were reported to be
more than 5,000.
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There was some grumbling among numbers
of young G.I.s taking part in the assaults,
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questioning whether the objective
is worth the bloodshed.
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Nixon did not want to be the first
President of the United States to lose a war.
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It was a matter of
personal pride with him.
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His basic goal was to end the war
as quickly as possible,
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but on honorable terms
that would preserve, in his view,
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credibility as a world power
and as an ally.
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President Nixon will dispatch his
adviser on foreign affairs, Henry Kissinger,
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to Paris for the peace talks.
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It is thought the U.S.
is working on a new proposal
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00:02:55,723 --> 00:02:58,799
to offer to the Viet Cong
and North Vietnam.
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00:02:58,822 --> 00:03:02,975
Nixon's strategy on Vietnam
was to negotiate a peace agreement,
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but at the same time,
to Vietnam-ize the conflict.
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We had to turn the war over
to South Vietnam
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or it was going to be hopeless.
We couldn't fight their war forever.
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The South Vietnamese were
taught to think like Americans,
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act like Americans,
fight like Americans.
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South Vietnam's President Thieu
had said that he wanted nothing more
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than gradually to take over
full responsibility for the war.
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President Nixon started
withdrawing troops almost right away.
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He had a lot to withdraw.
There were over 500,000 men there.
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But he did this very slowly
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as they supposedly shifted the burden
of the fighting to the South Vietnamese Army.
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He was withdrawing so slowly,
a lot of people were getting killed in the process.
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And there was no end to it.
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October 15, 1969.
Vietnam Moratorium Day.
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Surely this is a day
unique in our history.
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Never have so many of our people
publicly and collectively
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manifested opposition
to this country's involvement in a war.
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00:04:03,299 --> 00:04:06,840
It wasn't hippies.
It wasn't radicals and Marxists.
51
00:04:06,863 --> 00:04:09,756
It was ordinary middle-class Americans.
2 million of them,
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00:04:09,777 --> 00:04:12,748
taking the day off from school,
from work.
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00:04:12,772 --> 00:04:17,982
It was a genuine democratic explosion
of anti-war sentiment.
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1, 2, 3, 4, Tricky Dick, stop the war!
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Mr. Nixon has told aides that
the loss of American popular support,
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or the appearance of it, could induce
the new leadership in Hanoi to press on
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in the expectation that
the United States would quit.
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The October Moratorium made Richard Nixon
go to the mountain top, literally.
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He went to Camp David for two weeks
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to write a speech
to answer the anti-war movement.
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The elites had gotten on
the anti-war bandwagon.
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The press, Harvard, the universities,
the East Coast establishment.
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By 1969 they were all anti-war.
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Hell no, we won't go!
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And Nixon wanted to rise up and show
that there was another side. His side.
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00:05:01,301 --> 00:05:03,814
The outsiders,
the people who didn't go to Harvard,
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who revered the flag
and supported our soldiers.
68
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And he wanted to rally them.
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To you, the great silent majority
of my fellow Americans,
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I ask for your support.
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North Vietnam cannot defeat
or humiliate the United States.
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Only Americans can do that.
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The term "silent majority"
clicked with Middle America
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because they were never
represented on television
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and they didn't feel they were
represented in Washington
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00:05:39,736 --> 00:05:41,826
and didn't really have a voice.
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President Nixon proudly displayed
52,000 telegrams from persons who supported him.
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It's time for the great silent majority
just to stand up and be counted.
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At that point he went to 68% approval.
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It gave him the room he needed
to maneuver.
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00:06:04,065 --> 00:06:06,335
Good evening,
my fellow Americans.
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00:06:06,403 --> 00:06:10,685
Tonight American
and South Vietnamese units
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00:06:10,708 --> 00:06:17,192
will attack the headquarters for the entire
Communist military operation in South Vietnam.
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This is not an invasion of Cambodia.
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00:06:22,690 --> 00:06:26,099
Nixon's conviction is that
what you've got to do
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00:06:26,122 --> 00:06:29,723
is cut off the supplies
that the North Vietnamese
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are funneling into the South
to the Viet Cong.
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00:06:32,883 --> 00:06:37,581
And the way to do it is
take out the Ho Chi Minh Trail,
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the route they're using
through Cambodia.
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00:06:40,787 --> 00:06:43,793
They don't quite realize that
Cambodia is its own country.
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00:06:43,816 --> 00:06:47,352
In fact, a country that's always had
tenuous relationships with Vietnam.
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And once they destabilize Cambodia,
you really just have all hell breaking out.
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The Cambodian operation
will continue during the coming days.
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00:06:57,202 --> 00:07:01,738
American units searching for
North Vietnamese troops and installations.
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00:07:01,762 --> 00:07:04,760
But what they will find
or how long they will be here
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00:07:05,977 --> 00:07:08,184
no one can say for sure.
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00:07:11,078 --> 00:07:14,573
The active, large scale American
and South Vietnamese participation
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00:07:14,596 --> 00:07:19,675
in the fighting in Cambodia has brought a cry
of anger from many college campuses.
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00:07:19,743 --> 00:07:23,857
At Kent State University in Ohio,
the protest turned into a riot,
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00:07:23,881 --> 00:07:28,312
with thousands of demonstrators
facing National Guardsmen and police.
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Four students are killed at Kent State.
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00:08:05,086 --> 00:08:08,876
Two students are killed at
Jackson State in Mississippi.
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00:08:08,899 --> 00:08:12,547
Nixon is sort of overwhelmed.
He's bewildered.
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Nixon was very upset by the deaths,
by the belief that he had caused them.
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That was a low point of his presidency.
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00:08:20,724 --> 00:08:25,056
The events of this past week have polarized
not only the opposition to the war
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00:08:25,079 --> 00:08:28,124
but also the opposition to
the anti-war movement.
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Hard-hat construction workers chased and beat
demonstrators in the streets of the financial district.
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Police joined ranks with attacking workers
and laughingly watched students brutally beat.
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Smoke generated by this latest fuss
is tending to obscure the only real question...
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Will the demonstrations have any effect on
shaping the President's Vietnam policies?
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00:08:48,714 --> 00:08:51,373
The answer here remains no.
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A United States military court martial
formally established today
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there was a massacre
of civilians at My Lai.
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It convicted, Lieutenant William Calley,
one of the American soldiers who was there,
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of premeditated murder in
the death of 22 South Vietnamese.
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00:09:13,895 --> 00:09:17,466
William Calley commanded
the unit that went into My Lai,
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a village that was supposed to be
harboring Viet Cong troops.
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We were ferried in by helicopters.
We led on the outskirts of the village.
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We came across some people
who were in the village.
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As I have in this one photograph,
you can see the expressions in their faces
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just before they're about to be shot.
Especially the small child on the left.
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And the one small boy not realizing
what is about to happen.
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In the spasm of violence,
hundreds of people are killed,
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all of them civilians.
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This unit
from the Americal Division lost it.
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They said that, "well,
we just felt like we were killing vermin."
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They pulled the trigger
by somehow tricking themselves
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to think that they're not killing a human,
they're killing an animal.
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The captain and Lieutenant Calley
did not do anything to stop them.
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They had lost it themselves.
It was a complete failure.
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00:10:14,506 --> 00:10:17,747
The White House is acutely aware
that the My Lai scandal
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could bring about a disastrous withering away
of public support for the Vietnam War
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and from Mr. Nixon's plans for a
staged withdrawal of American forces.
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What happened in the Calley case
was not a combat situation.
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He shot in cold blood old men,
women and children.
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And the day that we as a country
fail to recognize
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an act of cold-blooded murder
as murder,
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- then we are no better...
- Fine. But why convict Lieutenant William Calley?
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Why not convict the battalion command?
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Hold it. Hold it. Hold it.
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All right. Fellows.
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This is your defense?
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Every single one of them
that put the man in Vietnam
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should be standing there saying,
"I am guilty too."
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That's how I feel.
Every one of them.
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Vietnam, 5th Cavalry.
Initiating new men.
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Start out by singing a little song.
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♪ You're going home in a body bag,
do-dah, do-dah... ♪
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♪ You're going home in a body bag,
all the do-dah day... ♪
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The day after the initiation,
five men came back in body bags.
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By the '70s, the U.S. Army in Vietnam
had been essentially destroyed.
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Every time we tangled with the Vietnamese
we were getting killed.
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And there was no end to it.
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So you've got what amounted to
a state of individual mutiny in the U.S. Army.
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It's senseless walking down the road.
I'm not going to walk down it.
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I'll walk on the trail.
The whole squad'll walk on the trail.
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We're going to move out
and they're going to be left behind.
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Or I am going to take the point
and they can follow me if they want to.
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It's that simple.
We've got a job to do, we'll do it.
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We're just going to refuse to do it.
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Because it's... You may be in jail,
but you won't be dead.
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You're supposedly withdrawing, right?
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Well, I figure since
we're going home in the long run,
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why don't we just sort of take it easy,
you know?
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Don't go out looking for trouble,
just maybe sit down.
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If they come to us, we'll fight.
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But going out looking for trouble
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and wasting more lives
for just time's sake,
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to me is just absurd. I don't know.
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All the people coming over here now,
they're a lot different than they used to be.
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Like World War II-type people
or the old Vietnam people.
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It's the Woodstock generation
coming to Vietnam.
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The public campaign against
the war in Vietnam
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00:12:54,419 --> 00:12:56,934
took on a new dimension
in Washington today.
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Men who have been there
began demonstrations
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00:12:59,392 --> 00:13:01,846
armed at speeding the end
of the conflict.
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00:13:06,010 --> 00:13:10,962
Businessmen have protested. Students have protested.
Mothers have protested. Everybody has.
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00:13:10,985 --> 00:13:14,288
But the men who fought the war,
who know what it's like, who know what we're fighting,
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00:13:14,312 --> 00:13:16,252
know what they've been made to do,
haven't.
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00:13:16,275 --> 00:13:18,953
And it's the first time in history
that they're going to do that.
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00:13:20,679 --> 00:13:23,479
Lieutenant Paveral died,
so I got a medal.
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00:13:23,502 --> 00:13:25,851
Sergeant John died,
so I got a medal.
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00:13:25,874 --> 00:13:29,046
I got a Silver Star, a Purple Heart,
and the rest of it's garbage.
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It doesn't mean a thing!
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00:13:36,172 --> 00:13:39,820
Good evening. The war in Vietnam
has often been camouflaged
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00:13:39,844 --> 00:13:45,209
by misleading statistics of body counts,
weapons captured, hamlets pacified.
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00:13:45,227 --> 00:13:48,096
But we are now in the midst
of new, more revealing statistics...
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00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:51,173
The 2.5 million words
of the Pentagon Papers.
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00:13:51,388 --> 00:13:54,868
These once-secret papers tell the
agonizing story of the U.S. involvement
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00:13:54,936 --> 00:13:58,542
in Vietnam through four administrations
of expanding commitment.
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00:13:58,565 --> 00:14:02,029
The Pentagon Papers have
touched off the deepest controversies,
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00:14:02,041 --> 00:14:06,546
centering on whether the Presidents
and their men deceived the people.
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00:14:06,614 --> 00:14:11,232
Daniel Ellsberg, an official who had
served in the Defense Department
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00:14:11,256 --> 00:14:16,880
and had access to these materials,
he's the one who leaks this to the press.
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00:14:16,904 --> 00:14:19,778
I was the lead reporter in
the Pentagon Papers.
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00:14:19,802 --> 00:14:22,831
Ellsberg turned against the war,
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00:14:22,854 --> 00:14:25,882
and he copied these papers
with the hope that eventually
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00:14:25,894 --> 00:14:28,583
they would be used to embarrass
an awful lot of people,
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00:14:28,606 --> 00:14:32,306
and which would show that
we had made a terrible mistake
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00:14:32,373 --> 00:14:34,279
fighting this war in Vietnam.
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00:14:52,530 --> 00:14:57,654
I think Kissinger was obsessed with secrecy,
and so was Nixon.
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00:14:57,666 --> 00:15:00,539
My first three articles were published,
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00:15:00,563 --> 00:15:04,133
and the Nixon administration
then wanted to stop the whole thing.
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00:15:14,536 --> 00:15:18,766
My argument inside was if you want to
make the case against the Pentagon Papers,
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00:15:18,789 --> 00:15:23,287
get up and charge The New York Times
with publishing national security secrets,
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00:15:23,310 --> 00:15:27,919
gross irresponsibility,
and sabotaging the war in Vietnam.
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00:15:28,244 --> 00:15:31,084
The Justice Department
went to court in New York today
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00:15:31,107 --> 00:15:36,503
and got a temporary order restraining the Times
from publishing the next and last two installments.
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00:15:36,571 --> 00:15:39,707
Attorneys for The New York Times
claim the protection of the First Amendment,
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00:15:39,731 --> 00:15:42,138
which embodies the concept of
freedom of the press,
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00:15:42,161 --> 00:15:45,568
as sufficient to protect their
disclosure of the Vietnam memorandums.
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00:15:47,446 --> 00:15:50,366
The Supreme Court today ruled
that The New York Times
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00:15:50,390 --> 00:15:54,055
may continue to publish
the secret Pentagon Papers.
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00:15:54,396 --> 00:15:57,214
I think the lesson is that
the people of this country
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00:15:57,237 --> 00:16:01,004
can't afford to let the President
run the country by himself.
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00:16:01,028 --> 00:16:04,656
Even foreign affairs,
any more than domestic affairs,
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00:16:04,680 --> 00:16:07,190
without the help of the Congress...
Without the help of the public.
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00:16:07,214 --> 00:16:10,649
If you had to sum up the prevailing
mood here on Capitol Hill,
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00:16:10,673 --> 00:16:13,843
you could do it with two words...
Embarrassment and anger.
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00:16:20,920 --> 00:16:24,241
Because of the following
CBS News Special Report,
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00:16:24,259 --> 00:16:28,193
The Merv Griffin Show will begin
one half-hour later than usual.
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00:16:28,216 --> 00:16:31,663
The President of the United States
tonight disclosed a Vietnam peace offer
224
00:16:31,731 --> 00:16:34,751
that he says has been secretly
offered to the Communists.
225
00:16:34,774 --> 00:16:38,648
The plan calls for withdrawal
of all U.S. forces within six months
226
00:16:38,672 --> 00:16:41,018
and new South Vietnamese elections
227
00:16:41,041 --> 00:16:44,857
in exchange for a cease-fire
and return of all American prisoners.
228
00:16:44,871 --> 00:16:47,043
The offer that I shall now present
229
00:16:47,067 --> 00:16:51,250
on behalf of the government of the United States
and the government of South Vietnam,
230
00:16:51,270 --> 00:16:54,140
with the full knowledge
and approval of President Thieu,
231
00:16:54,164 --> 00:16:56,594
is both generous and far-reaching.
232
00:16:56,611 --> 00:16:59,586
The response from North Vietnam was,
"no, you're missing something.
233
00:16:59,609 --> 00:17:01,229
You've got to overthrow
the Thieu government."
234
00:17:01,253 --> 00:17:05,081
But we were not going to
overthrow an ally as we left.
235
00:17:05,104 --> 00:17:07,083
And that was the sticking point.
236
00:17:07,106 --> 00:17:10,488
We were stuck.
It was a stalemate.
237
00:17:11,533 --> 00:17:13,975
This is the scene
on the White House lawn.
238
00:17:13,999 --> 00:17:18,323
as the Presidential helicopter
waits for President Nixon to begin
239
00:17:18,346 --> 00:17:21,275
what must be surely
one of the most remarkable journeys
240
00:17:21,298 --> 00:17:23,741
ever undertaken
by an American President,
241
00:17:23,764 --> 00:17:25,553
his trip to Peking.
242
00:17:25,576 --> 00:17:32,586
I will undertake what I deeply hope
will become a journey for peace.
243
00:17:33,983 --> 00:17:36,773
Is the food as good
as people say it is?
244
00:17:36,797 --> 00:17:39,462
I'm no expert on Chinese food,
but I liked it.
245
00:17:54,391 --> 00:17:57,796
Nixon was a very geopolitical thinker
and he liked this idea of linkage.
246
00:17:57,819 --> 00:18:02,599
The idea that he could link
U.S./Soviet policy with U.S./Chinese policy
247
00:18:02,622 --> 00:18:06,532
with U.S./Vietnamese policy
and produce one tidy bundle.
248
00:18:06,545 --> 00:18:12,087
Nixon thought that Vietnamese were hirelings
or pawns of the Chinese and the Soviets.
249
00:18:12,111 --> 00:18:18,031
They weren't. They were Communists domestically,
but they were no one's pawn.
250
00:18:18,053 --> 00:18:21,540
They were using the Chinese and the Russians,
playing them off against each other
251
00:18:21,607 --> 00:18:24,761
to get weaponry to fight us
to gain their independence.
252
00:18:28,389 --> 00:18:31,953
The heaviest fighting in a year
broke out in South Vietnam today.
253
00:18:31,976 --> 00:18:36,699
North Vietnamese forces struck at
eight bases manned by South Vietnamese troops
254
00:18:36,723 --> 00:18:39,541
just south of the demilitarized zone.
255
00:18:40,022 --> 00:18:43,760
The North Vietnamese are unnerved
by the fact that the Americans
256
00:18:43,783 --> 00:18:48,339
seem to be making peace
with both the Soviets and the Chinese.
257
00:18:48,362 --> 00:18:51,410
They're feeling alienated
from their principal allies.
258
00:18:51,433 --> 00:18:55,960
They see the Easter Offensive as
a bold effort to perhaps bring the war to a close,
259
00:18:55,983 --> 00:19:00,008
or at least put themselves in a much better
position with respect to negotiations.
260
00:19:00,031 --> 00:19:03,673
The President has decided to
keep American troops out of fight
261
00:19:03,697 --> 00:19:06,398
and to keep them
coming home on schedule,
262
00:19:06,421 --> 00:19:09,474
no matter what happens
to the South Vietnamese.
263
00:19:09,497 --> 00:19:13,124
According to top officials here,
he will limit U.S. counteraction
264
00:19:13,148 --> 00:19:17,028
to massive air strikes against
enemy forces and installations
265
00:19:17,096 --> 00:19:19,452
in South as well as North Vietnam.
266
00:19:19,475 --> 00:19:23,148
The Americans respond in great force.
267
00:19:23,171 --> 00:19:27,839
And so you see an absolutely
massive aerial bombardment.
268
00:19:27,907 --> 00:19:31,688
The latest, and in some ways,
the greatest of Mr. Nixon's gambles
269
00:19:31,712 --> 00:19:37,294
in his efforts to end the war, as he says,
"with honor and not defeat."
270
00:19:38,284 --> 00:19:41,645
Now the world is waiting to see
how the American minefields
271
00:19:41,669 --> 00:19:44,123
will affect the
North Vietnamese supply system.
272
00:19:44,146 --> 00:19:47,406
Will they really strangle the enemy's
most important supply line?
273
00:19:47,430 --> 00:19:51,159
The North Vietnamese fail
in this effort to have a breakthrough
274
00:19:51,182 --> 00:19:56,119
as a result of this offensive,
and they suffer massive casualties.
275
00:19:56,589 --> 00:20:01,197
It helps to advance the negotiations
in a way that hadn't been possible before.
276
00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:05,767
Henry Kissinger has dropped out of sight again
and nobody is saying where he is.
277
00:20:05,790 --> 00:20:09,783
The President's top adviser left the western
White House yesterday with his children.
278
00:20:09,801 --> 00:20:12,516
There has been speculation
he might have gone to Paris
279
00:20:12,539 --> 00:20:15,810
to renew secret peace talks
with North Vietnam's Le Duc Tho.
280
00:20:17,671 --> 00:20:22,696
The North Vietnamese position began to change
a few weeks before the 1972 election.
281
00:20:22,720 --> 00:20:24,727
They knew Nixon was unpredictable.
282
00:20:24,739 --> 00:20:29,502
So they say, "if we get this mad-man re-elected,
as it looks like he's going to be,
283
00:20:29,522 --> 00:20:31,706
"and he doesn't have to worry
about re-elections ever again,
284
00:20:31,729 --> 00:20:34,873
what the hell is he going to do to us
from now on?"
285
00:20:34,941 --> 00:20:39,279
So on October 8 in Paris,
the North Vietnamese presented
286
00:20:39,302 --> 00:20:43,649
a proposal which for the first time,
after three or four years of endless negotiations,
287
00:20:43,673 --> 00:20:48,376
dropped their political requirement
that we overthrow the Saigon government.
288
00:20:49,010 --> 00:20:51,902
I remember stepping outside at a break,
289
00:20:51,914 --> 00:20:54,790
and Kissinger and I
were in a garden in Paris
290
00:20:54,814 --> 00:20:58,106
and we shook hands and we said,
"we've done it."
291
00:20:59,644 --> 00:21:04,092
We believe that peace is at hand.
292
00:21:04,878 --> 00:21:08,941
There will be a return of
all American prisoners
293
00:21:08,953 --> 00:21:14,412
within 60 days
after the agreement comes into force.
294
00:21:14,986 --> 00:21:19,851
Now with the election just 12 days away,
the Nixon administration says peace is at hand.
295
00:21:19,919 --> 00:21:22,856
It might appear that someone has
pulled a rug out from under McGovern.
296
00:21:22,878 --> 00:21:24,393
Hello?
297
00:21:36,212 --> 00:21:40,275
Kissinger telling us "peace is at hand"
was seen in the United States
298
00:21:40,287 --> 00:21:43,868
as a cynical ploy
to win the election.
299
00:21:43,891 --> 00:21:46,870
The fact is Kissinger is telling Saigon
300
00:21:46,894 --> 00:21:48,831
this is the best you're going to get.
301
00:21:48,855 --> 00:21:51,332
Thieu was afraid that
he was being sold out,
302
00:21:51,356 --> 00:21:55,442
and that once the Americans left
it would be a short matter of time
303
00:21:55,465 --> 00:21:57,623
before his own government fell.
304
00:22:10,624 --> 00:22:15,008
Looked like we had a peace deal.
Kissinger had said "peace is at hand" publicly.
305
00:22:15,031 --> 00:22:16,769
No deal.
306
00:22:26,368 --> 00:22:30,254
Massachusetts is the only state
going for McGovern.
307
00:22:30,278 --> 00:22:33,558
Now President Nixon is swept back
into the White House.
308
00:22:33,626 --> 00:22:39,158
The victory landslide though it is
seems to be Mr. Nixon's alone, not his party's.
309
00:22:39,182 --> 00:22:43,171
I think Nixon was resolute.
"Now I am liberated.
310
00:22:43,195 --> 00:22:45,750
"Now I am never going to
have to run again.
311
00:22:45,774 --> 00:22:49,160
Now I'm going to be
whom I wish to be."
312
00:22:54,930 --> 00:22:59,220
The United States has resumed
full-scale bombing of Haiphong area.
313
00:22:59,243 --> 00:23:03,825
The North Vietnamese said American planes
carried out heavy attacks around those cities tonight,
314
00:23:03,849 --> 00:23:08,929
and Hanoi's armed forces shot down a large number
of planes and captured several pilots.
315
00:23:09,923 --> 00:23:14,858
First Lieutenant.
Navigated B-52.
316
00:23:15,209 --> 00:23:18,204
Nixon wanted the Communists
to think that he was crazy
317
00:23:18,227 --> 00:23:20,943
in the hopes that that would drive them
back to the bargaining table.
318
00:23:22,292 --> 00:23:25,040
A lot of the civilian areas were hit,
apparently.
319
00:23:25,063 --> 00:23:28,084
Civilian areas must have been hit.
320
00:23:28,095 --> 00:23:34,318
And I don't want to say that it was
not a very painful thing to have to do.
321
00:23:34,342 --> 00:23:37,785
When 8,500-pound bombs
come off of one plane
322
00:23:37,808 --> 00:23:40,166
that's the closest thing to
a nuclear weapon.
323
00:23:40,189 --> 00:23:43,765
The response to the Christmas Bombing
was such an outrage.
324
00:23:43,777 --> 00:23:50,539
Here is this small third-world country that
the United States is bombing back to the Stone Age.
325
00:23:50,563 --> 00:23:53,686
The word from the President is
military pressure will continue
326
00:23:53,710 --> 00:23:55,718
until a peace settlement is reached.
327
00:23:55,741 --> 00:23:59,377
Within days after this so-called
"Christmas Bombing,"
328
00:23:59,445 --> 00:24:02,840
the North Vietnamese came back to us
and wanted to re-open the negotiations,
329
00:24:02,863 --> 00:24:05,764
made some concessions,
and within weeks we had an agreement.
330
00:24:05,788 --> 00:24:10,302
So whatever one thinks of the bombing,
it produced peace within about a month.
331
00:24:14,047 --> 00:24:17,300
Good evening.
The Vietnam War ended today.
332
00:24:17,323 --> 00:24:20,263
Ended officially in this room in Paris.
333
00:24:20,287 --> 00:24:23,878
The treaty basically said the
South Vietnamese get to keep their government.
334
00:24:23,902 --> 00:24:27,141
The North Vietnamese get to
keep their soldiers in South Vietnam.
335
00:24:27,164 --> 00:24:31,950
The North Vietnamese will release
the 500 American P.O.W.s.
336
00:24:31,974 --> 00:24:35,080
And everybody promises to stop fighting.
337
00:24:35,403 --> 00:24:38,088
As far as this administration is concerned,
338
00:24:38,112 --> 00:24:43,222
we've done the very best that we can
against very great obstacles,
339
00:24:43,246 --> 00:24:46,707
and we finally have achieved
a peace with honor.
340
00:24:46,731 --> 00:24:50,640
I know it gags some of you
to write that phrase, but that is true.
341
00:24:50,663 --> 00:24:54,695
And most Americans realize it is true.
342
00:24:54,719 --> 00:24:58,218
It is the Americans who are celebrating.
They are leaving.
343
00:24:58,241 --> 00:25:00,714
The Vietnamese are not celebrating.
344
00:25:00,737 --> 00:25:06,329
They must stay and face the uncertainty
of whatever is going to happen to them next.
345
00:25:06,352 --> 00:25:09,765
In Hanoi,
the American military involvement
346
00:25:09,788 --> 00:25:12,593
in the Vietnam War
finally came to an end.
347
00:25:12,604 --> 00:25:17,457
For if anything or anyone symbolized
the American agony of Vietnam,
348
00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:19,256
it was the prisoners
349
00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:23,954
Most were pilots, and many had spent
more than six years in prison.
350
00:25:23,978 --> 00:25:25,979
Now they are on their way home.
351
00:25:26,003 --> 00:25:32,466
It wasn't really until we rolled down the runway,
finally lifted off enemy soil
352
00:25:32,486 --> 00:25:37,034
that we all broke loose and started
hugging and kissing the Air Force nurses.
353
00:25:37,891 --> 00:25:42,688
It was just unbelievable,
and it was all euphoria.
354
00:25:42,712 --> 00:25:47,044
Family gathered in the den to watch
the arrival of the planes from the Philippines.
355
00:25:47,067 --> 00:25:51,635
There was no word as to which of the three planes
Lieutenant Colonel Purcell would be on.
356
00:25:51,659 --> 00:25:55,416
The first one landed, but it wasn't that one.
Then came the second plane.
357
00:25:55,440 --> 00:25:59,187
Someone in the family said that
he won't be on this one either.
358
00:26:03,135 --> 00:26:05,100
But he was.
359
00:26:36,984 --> 00:26:40,342
We were greeted by thousands of people.
360
00:26:40,360 --> 00:26:45,069
They let out the schools and everyone
was waving flags and calling our names.
361
00:26:45,092 --> 00:26:46,595
It was a great, great homecoming.
362
00:26:46,619 --> 00:26:50,390
We are honored
to have the opportunity
363
00:26:51,529 --> 00:26:56,414
to serve our country
under difficult circumstances.
364
00:27:06,058 --> 00:27:10,086
They were legitimate heroes.
They had suffered terribly, and here they were home.
365
00:27:10,098 --> 00:27:15,443
And it gave the country something to cheer about
after having so little to cheer about.
366
00:27:29,502 --> 00:27:34,222
Mr. Nixon said he does not plan to
greet returning P.O.W.s because,
367
00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:39,166
"this is a time when we should not grandstand it.
We should not exploit it."
368
00:27:39,987 --> 00:27:44,097
So many of the soldiers that
came home from Vietnam in the early '70s
369
00:27:44,120 --> 00:27:46,752
couldn't wear their uniforms in public.
370
00:27:46,777 --> 00:27:49,431
They were called baby killers to their face.
371
00:27:49,454 --> 00:27:53,954
And it really was very disturbing.
It distressed us all
372
00:27:53,978 --> 00:28:00,008
to think that those comrades in arms
had come back to such a negative reception,
373
00:28:00,022 --> 00:28:02,759
where we had come back
to ticker tape parades.
374
00:28:05,906 --> 00:28:08,105
The American language has changed
since you went away.
375
00:28:08,117 --> 00:28:10,031
It may even have changed
since you returned.
376
00:28:10,054 --> 00:28:13,615
So the conversation of your wives, friends,
and your children may seem strange.
377
00:28:13,638 --> 00:28:17,485
The Today Show devoted
an entire two-hour episode
378
00:28:17,497 --> 00:28:20,937
to explaining, ostensibly,
to the prisoners of war
379
00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:25,127
what had happened in America
in their absence.
380
00:28:25,150 --> 00:28:29,788
They left a country where
The Sound of Music was the most popular movie.
381
00:28:29,811 --> 00:28:34,845
They returned to one in which
Last Tango in Paris was the most popular movie,
382
00:28:34,868 --> 00:28:39,160
which involved unspeakable carnal acts
that are illegal in most states.
383
00:28:39,184 --> 00:28:42,298
Whatever you do,
don't call a group of women "girls."
384
00:28:42,321 --> 00:28:44,796
It's no longer
considered a compliment by many.
385
00:28:44,863 --> 00:28:48,087
We came home to quite a different world.
386
00:28:48,110 --> 00:28:52,111
It was like Rip Van Winkle waking up
after nearly six years in a prison camp.
387
00:28:52,135 --> 00:28:56,580
It was just unbelievable that our culture
had changed to that point.
388
00:28:57,939 --> 00:29:00,980
In South Vietnam,
both the Saigon government and Communists
389
00:29:01,003 --> 00:29:03,913
have accused each other
of new cease-fire violations,
390
00:29:03,936 --> 00:29:07,573
motivated by attempts to gain
more villages and territory.
391
00:29:07,597 --> 00:29:10,421
The Nixon administration
again expressed confidence
392
00:29:10,489 --> 00:29:13,139
the cease-fire will prove effective
before long.
393
00:29:13,162 --> 00:29:17,713
Mr. President, we have been allies
in a long and difficult war.
394
00:29:17,737 --> 00:29:25,794
And now you can be sure that
we stand with you as we continue to work together
395
00:29:25,818 --> 00:29:28,337
to build a lasting peace.
396
00:29:28,361 --> 00:29:32,865
Nixon promised that if the North Vietnamese
renewed the offensive,
397
00:29:32,889 --> 00:29:36,358
he would send the B-52s back to Hanoi.
398
00:29:36,382 --> 00:29:40,926
Well, it didn't happen
because he was caught up in Watergate.
399
00:29:53,274 --> 00:29:56,045
Washington is a city that
revolves around controversy
400
00:29:56,068 --> 00:29:59,344
during office hours and elegant
social events at night.
401
00:29:59,356 --> 00:30:02,233
These, of course, are days where
there is no shortage of controversy
402
00:30:02,257 --> 00:30:05,920
with the sensational testimony before
the Watergate Committee on Capitol Hill,
403
00:30:05,943 --> 00:30:10,144
with Henry Kissinger still trying to
get that cease-fire agreement implemented.
404
00:30:10,161 --> 00:30:11,570
For a few hours tonight,
405
00:30:11,594 --> 00:30:15,369
attention will be shifted away from those
daytime problems here at the White House.
406
00:30:15,386 --> 00:30:19,078
The guests of honor are 600 Americans
who were held prisoner of war
407
00:30:19,101 --> 00:30:23,224
at some time or other during the
long and agonizing Vietnam conflict.
408
00:30:23,799 --> 00:30:29,158
All of us would like to join in
a round of applause for the brave men
409
00:30:29,181 --> 00:30:32,213
that took those B-52s in and did the job.
410
00:30:36,114 --> 00:30:40,127
Nixon was overjoyed
when the P.O.W.s came home.
411
00:30:40,150 --> 00:30:44,214
And they were overjoyed to see him.
Nixon was a hero to the P.O.W.s.
412
00:30:44,237 --> 00:30:48,031
Because as all of you know,
if they hadn't have done it, you wouldn't be here tonight.
413
00:30:49,676 --> 00:30:53,679
But while he was cheering the P.O.W.s,
Nixon was thinking,
414
00:30:53,703 --> 00:30:56,181
"Watergate's going to take me down."
415
00:30:56,205 --> 00:30:59,445
That night when it was over,
he went back to his study
416
00:30:59,469 --> 00:31:04,263
and got his daughters down and said,
"you know, I might have to resign."
417
00:31:04,287 --> 00:31:08,699
Good evening. The Congress
of the United States in a historic action
418
00:31:08,723 --> 00:31:13,418
today made effective a limitation
on the powers of the President to make war.
419
00:31:13,485 --> 00:31:18,680
The House and then the Senate overturned
President Nixon's veto of the War Powers Bill.
420
00:31:18,703 --> 00:31:22,607
And despite his opposition,
that measure now becomes law.
421
00:31:23,297 --> 00:31:27,251
Does this override
the new developments in Watergate?
422
00:31:27,270 --> 00:31:30,206
I think this has no relationship
at all to Watergate.
423
00:31:30,229 --> 00:31:33,035
This is a prerogative of the
Congress of the United States
424
00:31:33,047 --> 00:31:35,873
that several Presidents have
tried to take unto themselves.
425
00:31:35,892 --> 00:31:39,033
But the people of this country are
demanding that never again
426
00:31:39,056 --> 00:31:42,909
do we stumble into a Watergate.
Excuse me...
427
00:31:42,932 --> 00:31:47,277
The people of this country are demanding
that we never again stumble into a Vietnam.
428
00:31:51,817 --> 00:31:59,280
At 9:04 this evening, Richard M. Nixon
became the first President ever to resign his office.
429
00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:05,770
There is the President waving good-bye.
You can hear the applause.
430
00:32:05,789 --> 00:32:09,765
As we bind up
the internal rules of Watergate,
431
00:32:09,788 --> 00:32:13,997
more painful and more poisonous
than those of foreign wars,
432
00:32:14,020 --> 00:32:20,141
let brotherly love
purge our hearts of suspicion and of hate.
433
00:32:20,165 --> 00:32:22,989
There was this collective
sigh of relief in the country.
434
00:32:23,013 --> 00:32:27,662
Okay, we have a new President.
It's a new day. Let's see how things go.
435
00:32:27,686 --> 00:32:33,397
Secretary Kissinger... The President has already
announced that he will stay in the cabinet.
436
00:32:33,465 --> 00:32:37,802
Sophisticated Vietnamese believe
they're the ultimate victims of Watergate.
437
00:32:37,826 --> 00:32:42,225
They think Congress cut U.S. aid
to settle a score with former President Nixon.
438
00:32:42,248 --> 00:32:45,618
Cronkite News.
March 18, 1975.
439
00:32:45,642 --> 00:32:50,020
According to Pentagon sources,
the North Vietnamese have now penetrated to a point
440
00:32:50,043 --> 00:32:53,760
some 25 miles east of
the provincial capital of Ban Me Thuot,
441
00:32:53,783 --> 00:32:55,345
which fell over the weekend.
442
00:32:55,369 --> 00:32:59,980
The cease-fire that wasn't a cease-fire
involved a lot of bloody combat.
443
00:33:00,003 --> 00:33:05,683
For the first 11 months,
the South Vietnamese fought quite well.
444
00:33:05,707 --> 00:33:10,220
But by 1975,
it became more and more clear
445
00:33:10,244 --> 00:33:14,185
that the North Vietnamese were
building up a formidable logistical system
446
00:33:14,208 --> 00:33:18,176
that portended real danger
for the South Vietnamese.
447
00:33:18,243 --> 00:33:21,789
The Communists began
the first major attack of their offensive.
448
00:33:21,813 --> 00:33:25,271
Saigon's troops made a stand.
It was a vital one.
449
00:33:25,295 --> 00:33:27,864
The entire central highland might be lost.
450
00:33:27,888 --> 00:33:32,565
And South Vietnam could be cut in two
by the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong.
451
00:33:33,164 --> 00:33:36,152
The plan
that the North Vietnamese conceived
452
00:33:36,175 --> 00:33:37,778
would be a two-year plan.
453
00:33:37,801 --> 00:33:43,229
What happened was that when attacking
the central highland town of Ban Me Thuot,
454
00:33:43,241 --> 00:33:45,941
the Thieu government lost its composure.
455
00:33:45,965 --> 00:33:49,116
Government troops were
secretly ordered by President Thieu
456
00:33:49,139 --> 00:33:51,992
to pull out of
the central highland provinces.
457
00:33:52,901 --> 00:33:57,587
The withdrawal quickly became a rout.
Civilians and soldiers fleeing in panic,
458
00:33:57,611 --> 00:34:01,779
leaving behind huge supplies
of American-made war materials.
459
00:34:01,803 --> 00:34:06,290
The North Vietnamese never dreamed
it would result in such a dramatic decision
460
00:34:06,358 --> 00:34:10,504
as to abandon the highlands
which had been fought over for 12 years.
461
00:34:10,528 --> 00:34:13,980
So they reconvened
their central military committee
462
00:34:14,003 --> 00:34:19,042
and determined that the iron is hot
and this the time to strike.
463
00:34:19,617 --> 00:34:24,274
President Thieu said he would not abandon Hue
but the people are leaving anyway.
464
00:34:24,297 --> 00:34:29,013
Thieu said he would not abandon Quang Tri,
and that city is now gone.
465
00:34:29,392 --> 00:34:35,227
The world witnessed the tragedy of
the overrunning of Quang Tri,
466
00:34:35,251 --> 00:34:39,680
followed by Hue, followed by Danang.
And the next thing you know,
467
00:34:39,703 --> 00:34:45,738
those of us sitting in Saigon
are watching our map legitimately bleed red.
468
00:34:49,402 --> 00:34:52,202
A somber Henry Kissinger
outlined in a news conference
469
00:34:52,226 --> 00:34:56,433
what he saw as the choices
now facing the United States.
470
00:34:56,456 --> 00:34:59,932
What we face now
is whether the United States,
471
00:34:59,955 --> 00:35:03,789
not just will withdraw its forces,
which we achieved,
472
00:35:03,812 --> 00:35:08,599
and not just will start the end of
the loss of American life,
473
00:35:08,622 --> 00:35:11,640
but whether it will
deliberately destroy an ally
474
00:35:11,663 --> 00:35:15,860
by withholding aid from it
in its moment of extremity.
475
00:35:15,927 --> 00:35:20,824
There is a new Harris Poll out today on
how people feel about continued military aid to Vietnam.
476
00:35:20,848 --> 00:35:23,586
Only 17% favor that
477
00:35:23,609 --> 00:35:27,308
and almost 3/4 of those questioned
are opposed to further military aid.
478
00:35:27,331 --> 00:35:33,323
It is a tragedy
unbelievable in its ramifications.
479
00:35:33,335 --> 00:35:39,308
I must say that I am frustrated
by the action of
480
00:35:39,331 --> 00:35:42,071
the Congress in not responding to
481
00:35:42,082 --> 00:35:48,352
some of the requests both for economic
and humanitarian and military assistance in South Vietnam.
482
00:35:48,376 --> 00:35:53,464
When you consider how much we've spent
in blood and treasure in Southeast Asia,
483
00:35:54,107 --> 00:35:56,809
and how little we've bought with the money,
484
00:35:56,832 --> 00:36:02,914
I should think that now
the time has finally come to say no more.
485
00:36:15,325 --> 00:36:18,856
A Communist commando unit,
probably Viet Cong,
486
00:36:18,880 --> 00:36:24,281
has slipped into Saigon and dug itself beneath
this American bridge over the Saigon River.
487
00:36:24,304 --> 00:36:30,410
Above them, South Vietnamese helicopter gunships
circle and fling down their salvo of rockets.
488
00:36:30,433 --> 00:36:36,646
Soldiers behind me are firing at Viet Cong units
who are 500 yards away, no more.
489
00:36:36,669 --> 00:36:42,740
This is the closest to fighting has ever come
to Saigon since the Communist Offensive in 1968.
490
00:36:42,763 --> 00:36:45,018
Reporting from ABC News, Saigon.
491
00:36:45,042 --> 00:36:49,981
Now there are reports that the Communists
have the city within artillery range.
492
00:36:50,005 --> 00:36:52,039
At least the airport.
493
00:36:52,050 --> 00:36:56,160
Many Americans on the ground
in South Vietnam at that time
494
00:36:56,183 --> 00:37:03,320
felt serious obligation to Vietnamese
whom they had worked with and knew.
495
00:37:19,638 --> 00:37:23,227
They were running in panic,
not because the NV were so hot on their heels
496
00:37:23,251 --> 00:37:25,670
but because of the threat
that the NV were coming.
497
00:37:26,693 --> 00:37:30,348
They city was suddenly choked
with people, lorries and cars
498
00:37:30,360 --> 00:37:33,977
all chasing one American
evacuation convoy after the other.
499
00:37:36,219 --> 00:37:40,800
I borrowed a truck
with a bogus Embassy license plate on it
500
00:37:40,824 --> 00:37:45,850
and stuffed people in the truck
and drove them through the gate.
501
00:38:05,668 --> 00:38:10,975
The airport received sporadic rocket fire
from Communist forces closing in on the city.
502
00:38:11,043 --> 00:38:16,813
Minutes later came the report
that all Americans are to be evacuated immediately.
503
00:38:16,837 --> 00:38:23,496
By the 29th at noon, there were
about 2,500 people in the U.S. Embassy
504
00:38:23,519 --> 00:38:27,295
who can only be gotten out by helicopter.
505
00:38:27,319 --> 00:38:32,464
The scene at the U.S. Embassy
here in Saigon is total chaos.
506
00:38:32,487 --> 00:38:36,755
The Embassy gates were closed, and we,
like the frightened Vietnamese and their families,
507
00:38:36,778 --> 00:38:39,972
had to fight and claw our way out.
508
00:38:46,110 --> 00:38:52,464
I turned to help them if I could,
but I couldn't get anyone out.
509
00:38:52,488 --> 00:38:57,847
50 at a time took off to the carriers
waiting in the South China Sea.
510
00:38:57,870 --> 00:39:02,794
There was no room, so the Navy men ordered
the pilots to ditch the helicopters in the ocean.
511
00:39:02,812 --> 00:39:07,795
We were living in a period of
what the Greeks call hubris.
512
00:39:07,801 --> 00:39:10,067
Overweening pride.
513
00:39:10,091 --> 00:39:14,306
This was this eighth-rate military power.
How were they going to defeat us?
514
00:39:14,806 --> 00:39:19,384
Once it became a reality,
seeing the pictures on television
515
00:39:19,407 --> 00:39:24,253
of not only a retreat,
but a disorderly retreat.
516
00:39:24,276 --> 00:39:27,329
and that ache within ourselves,
we end up saying,
517
00:39:27,352 --> 00:39:30,370
"this is not who we thought we were."
518
00:39:30,394 --> 00:39:34,399
To see what was in store
for the South Vietnamese people,
519
00:39:34,419 --> 00:39:37,972
to see the visions of our helicopters
and people struggling to get out,
520
00:39:37,988 --> 00:39:41,350
terrible triage and choices
that had to be made.
521
00:39:41,360 --> 00:39:45,541
was clearly one of the lows in my life.
522
00:39:45,565 --> 00:39:49,177
The Communist forces,
some of them riding in Russian-made tanks,
523
00:39:49,201 --> 00:39:54,236
some in captured American jeeps,
rolled into Saigon about 3.5 hours
524
00:39:54,260 --> 00:40:00,158
after the end of the dramatic American evacuation
of U.S. nationals and many South Vietnamese.
525
00:40:01,708 --> 00:40:05,467
There's no way to capture
in one evening's broadcast
526
00:40:05,490 --> 00:40:10,618
the suffering and the grief of 30 years
of a subcontinent at war.
527
00:40:10,641 --> 00:40:14,485
There's no way to capture
the suffering and grief of our own nation
528
00:40:14,509 --> 00:40:17,961
in the most divisive conflict
since our own Civil War.
529
00:40:19,076 --> 00:40:22,120
In Vietnam, we've finally
reached the end of the tunnel
530
00:40:22,143 --> 00:40:24,507
and there is no light there.
531
00:40:24,530 --> 00:40:28,382
What is there, perhaps,
was best said by President Ford...
532
00:40:28,399 --> 00:40:30,571
A war that is finished.
533
00:40:31,229 --> 00:40:34,218
The Vietnam War produced a
million unwritten stories
534
00:40:34,286 --> 00:40:37,137
of human misery and human dignity.
535
00:40:37,161 --> 00:40:42,283
In all, the war in the South
produced over 11 million refugees.
536
00:40:42,295 --> 00:40:45,945
430,000 civilians died in the war
537
00:40:45,969 --> 00:40:52,796
according to an American estimate,
along with 254,000 South Vietnamese soldiers.
538
00:40:52,820 --> 00:40:58,642
The United States has spent more than
$350 billion on Vietnam.
539
00:40:58,710 --> 00:41:01,690
And it may end up
being much higher than that.
540
00:41:01,714 --> 00:41:06,878
The other loss we also know about,
even though we don't talk about it very much.
541
00:41:06,901 --> 00:41:11,714
And when we do,
it's as if it were some kind of index or score.
542
00:41:11,737 --> 00:41:17,599
56,000 lives,
plus about 150,000 seriously wounded.
543
00:41:17,622 --> 00:41:20,319
Many of whom will never recover.
544
00:41:20,343 --> 00:41:27,171
So, when some future politician for some reason
feels the need to drag this country into a war,
545
00:41:27,239 --> 00:41:31,586
he might come out here to Arlington
and stand maybe right over there somewhere
546
00:41:31,599 --> 00:41:35,399
to make his announcement
and to tell what he has in mind.
547
00:41:35,422 --> 00:41:40,201
If he can attract public support
speaking from a place like this,
548
00:41:40,218 --> 00:41:44,310
then his reasons for starting a new war
would have to be good ones.
549
00:41:44,682 --> 00:41:48,874
Sync, corrected by icephoenix
www.addic7ed.com