Posted on 07/14/2018 12:04:36 PM PDT by eastforker
Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s ten-part, 18-hour documentary series, THE VIETNAM WAR, tells the epic story of one of the most consequential, divisive, and controversial events in American history as it has never before been told on film. Visceral and immersive, the series explores the human dimensions of the war through revelatory testimony of nearly 80 witnesses from all sides—Americans who fought in the war and others who opposed it, as well as combatants and civilians from North and South Vietnam. Ten years in the making, the series includes rarely seen and digitally re-mastered archival footage from sources around the globe, photographs taken by some of the most celebrated photojournalists of the 20th Century, historic television broadcasts, evocative home movies, and secret audio recordings from inside the Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon administrations. THE VIETNAM WAR features more than 100 iconic musical recordings from greatest artists of the era and haunting original music from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross as well as the Silk Road Ensemble featuring Yo-Yo Ma.
(Excerpt) Read more at pbs.org ...
And then there were likes of Jeremiah Denton, RIP.
And how was it in any way different from all the other "specials" about our war on PBS?
In my posts I said what I appreciated was good work. Now I’m not her to be interrogated. You don’t like it; I said it was historic and gave reasons earlier. Catch ya later.
Still, it was his country regardless of his political leanings. If his countrymen didn’t want his political ideals then they are the ones to protest/over ride it. The French wanted to keep the colonies they invaded prior to and after WW2.
I can say that I watched about half of one episode and couldn’t take any more - nothing is held back, but the sections which supported the west’s role in the war were miniscule, while those glorifying Communist North Vietnam’s were extensive and not rebutted - typical Ken Burns dipsy-doodle left wing propaganda......
witnesses from all sides
I would like to see the list and see if it really was from all sides.
Does it cover the side of the Christian and Missionary Alliance and Regions Beyond Christians who adopted western style elections starting in the 1950s and had 10 or more elected mayors in a row assassinated, only to be replaced by another elected mayor who is then assassinated?
Does it cover that Gallup style polls were frequently done in the 50s, 60s and 70s up to the fall. And Up thru ‘66 they were neither pro-communist nor neutral but were overwhelmingly pro-USA. Then, with McNamara’s implementation of Kissinger’s peace, legitimacy, equilibrium policy.
Does it cover the way McNamara was totally clueless about both the Vietnamese and his own Military culture?
Does it cover that our young virile men were in Vietnam at the cusp of the sexual revolution? Does it cover their behavior in town after Playboy and then a few drinks?
I would say, yes it does.
The Tet Offensive was a military disaster for the VC; it was a political disaster for the US. It exposed the lie that we were “winning”; while we cleaned up well during Tet, the US public had been told we were almost done - and obviously we weren’t.
I watched a Vietnam special in which when an anti-war veteran had friends rejoicing when Saigon fell, could only state that he didn’t want THAT outcome - he had no misconceptions about what the communists were.
The VC were southern communists; the NVA were from the north.
What Ken Burns' Vietnam War docu-series on PBS gets wrong
Veterans angry, disappointed following PBS’ Vietnam War documentary
Tet was a disaster for the US because the public had been led to believe we were almost done; an attack of that scale (as costly as it was for the communists) was supposed to be beyond their means. The communists didn’t have to WIN battles - just fight them until the foreigners (French, US, Red Chinese) got tired and left.
After the debacle on the Yalu River years earlier, there is no reason to assume Red China would stand by while we invaded the north. We achieved our goal in Korea (an independent South Korea); Red China achieved its goal as well (a communist north).
I heard about the fall of Saigon while driving from Gelnhausen to Frankfurt in West Germany. I pulled over into a Snell Imbiss parking lot. I set there, alone, for a very long time. Tears were shed and I thought of all of my friends and soldiers who did not come back. We could have had a different outcome.
Most of the VC was from the north, they infiltrated and did fight in the south. No, the VC were mostly from the north, came down the HO CHI MIN trail.
We supported the French with arms, but failed (as we did at the Bay of Pigs) to provide promised air power when it counted. After WWII, France had no interest in fighting in Indochina, but were convinced by Americans that “containment” was necessary; if you see French soldiers at Dien Bien Phu they are wearing US helmets, using US guns and radios - we even lent them an aircraft carrier. They knew their public had no stomach for war anymore, but we convinced them we’d support them - and let them lose at Dien Bien Phu. The battle of Khe Sanh years later was supposed to show how Dien Bien Phu should have played out...
The public was full of liberal college professors who pushed the anti war BS. I recall that very well. The VC and NVA got their you know what kicked during TET 68. I recall voting in late 68. The SF NCO’s and many officers voted for Wallace as we wanted the bombs.
The American people were also furious that a president that in 1916 ran on the slogan “he kept us out of war” had schemed to involve them in it a year later. When it became clear the Central Powers would win (with the Russian surrender, coupled with the French Army mutinies, in early 1917), there was no way we weren’t going to get paid for our loans to Britain.
I don’t know what would have changed the outcome, but it certainly was a worthy cause - and the tens of thousands fleeing in 1975 and afterwards are vindication of that cause.
I tried watching Burns’ “Baseball”, and when he turned to Mario “The Pious” Cuomo and Comedian Billy Crystal as experts, I couldn’t take any more.
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