Posted on 09/29/2017 9:21:11 AM PDT by rktman
In Ken’s world, the USSR and KGB didn’t exist.
Another thing I didn’t know, 30K americans fled to Canada but there 30K canandians who fought for USA..
Agree. I was a child in the 1960s and what I recall was the war seemed to be endless since it was filling up my entire life at that point. Of course as a child I had no perspective or real understanding of the issues involved. When it finally ended after the US withdrawal in 73 and the collapse of South Vietnam in 75 I had realized the Watergate affair had allowed the dims to withdraw any request for support and that allowed the commies to finally win. The dims started this and ended it. It was their war and the blood of many was on their hands. If it had been run properly as you suggest a la Patton and Lemay it would have been over quickly
He kept making Johnson and Nixon paranoid that soviets/north Vietnam had direct contact with Anti War movement. I believe after fall of USSR it was proven they had a lot of influence. but the fact a lot of their leaders went over to vientam.
And don’t forget the Australians were there side by side with America.
Wanna learn more? Go to an active combat zone (Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq), stay awhile on the front lines, make friends, watch them become pieces and parts, watch them die in your arms, then come home to be spit on, cursed, threatened etc - you’ll pick up a lot more than watching some lefty’s idea of a war. You’ll also learn to hide, slink into the shadows and generally become invisible.
War IS Hell.
bfl
as were the South Koreans.
If Nixon had unleashed the B52s , mined Haiphong harbor like he did to get the POWS back and peace treaty signed and went into Cambodia the week after he took office instead of putzing around for 4 years the war would have ended in February 1969 and countless American and Vietnamese lives saved and Vietnam would be free today
great series as good as the 13 hour one a few years ago and more participant interviews.
Good description of doings in Saigon from before the war to the fall.
Good descriptions of some battles like on hills when US troops or marines were surrounded and some hero stood up.
Goot coverage of NV strategy.
Downside making Kerry look like a hero instead of the traitor who interjected himself into the negotiations.
All and all good contribution to the history of the war.
i recommend Burns on the civil war (lots of letters from soldiers and their families good comments from historians). jazz, and baseball.
All 10 episodes available too stream at PBS web site.
The part about France is wrong. FDR opposed British and French colonialism, which created some tensions during WWII. When the French were losing at Dien Bien Phu they appealed to America for help but Ike absolutely refused. Few know it but Ike was also an Asia hand and he wanted no part of a land war in Asia, unlike some Democrats I recall.
JFK got into Vietnam because the government was Catholic, even though they were predominantly Buddhist.
But when he saw that supporting a Catholic government was going to be counter-productive, he had their leader killed.
Austrialia was declared ally but Canada wasn’t. these guys came on their own and volunteered to fight for us...
“As a Viet Nam combat vet (1965-1966) I do not trust anything the media put out about Viet Nam. So I skipped it.”
What really, really, got me, was a reporter. He was asked if, he was on a patrol with Americans, would he advise them of an ambush he knew of.
He answered “no”. I still hold a lot inside me and I hope it never breaks loose. Welcome home Bro.
Don’t use anything on pbs or by burns “to learn more”. Go elsewhere.
I was a child at the time of the War, so I cannot comment on how accurately they portray it.
I am struck at how much of the goings on I could remember. The names, places, the photos, and a lot of the story. I would have been around 9-10 in 68-69.
That said, I don’t find the parts on the anti war side THAT bad. In fact, during the earlier episodes its relfected that most of the protesters were white kids in college who did not want to be drafted. It all but came short of calling them pussies. I felt pretty good about that.
And where the show commented on the idiocy of the military leaders they made it pretty clear that the men on the hills were doing their duty and getting it done.
I did not think I would like the series, but I find it compelling. I am DVRing it so I can watch it in smaller chunks—a couple of hours a night for a couple of weeks is a little to much immersion.
I watched the bottom half of this series mainly to see the film footage, I didn't believe for a minute that anything on PBS would be accurate or unbiased.
Well, it was a disaster, wasn’t it? The war, I mean. Good intentions didn’t turn it into a good war. Our highly-paid leaders can screw up royally, and we have to live with the consequences.
The problem with john kerry and jane fonda and their like, is that they wound up ashamed of their country.
And, we of them.
I recall that part of the episode and it sounded to me like the French were blackmailing the US to support their colonial efforts. ‘Threatening’ a more friendly stance with Soviet Union and communist sympathizers within France if the US did not support them in VietNam.
Did I infer too much from what was presented?
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