The Vietnam War was complicated.

Fact is that we won militarily. We won every battle of significance. That said, while we won battles we did not allow our military to execute a game plan to win the war.

The North was on the verge of admitting defeat after Tet. Then they realized if they could not win on the field they could win in the minds of America’s left.

The North’s propaganda was superb. They were able to unite America’s anti-war left to make this politically impossible to execute much less win.

Even after US pulled ground troops out, our air support of the South was not allowing the North to win. At this point the Soviets were beginning to feel the economic drain and were starting to cut off the North’s supply of SAMs.

However, due to the efforts of US Senator Ted Kennedy (who is now eight years sober), we cut off our air support of the South and the North came through the gates and the genocide began.

The End.

after a three hour exhausting conversation with two other fellas , we distilled down everything we watched.

two of the others were actually n the v.n. war ,over seas.

here is what we agreed upon
A. many great minds that were in positions of power were extremely fearful of the communists gaining control, there.

B. many great minds that were in positions of power were making huge money from America's involvement in the war.

quote:

Originally posted by Sigmund:
Have they interviewed any of the North Vietnamese who tortured our POW pilots? I'm curious as to how they will be portrayed.

Have not watched any episodes, I don't have the patience to sit through 10-12 hours. Maybe in the winter.

I believe the tenth and final episode of the series goes into tortured PoWs going home and Vietcong and US Army reunions years later but I don’t believed they interviewed any of the torturers.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:
Oh, and Richard Nixon was a BAD MAN!!!!!!

Pushing fifty freaking years of this shit. The leftists just can't get past Nixon, who was a choirboy compared to the corruption from the likes of Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Here is Burns on Colbert a couple of nights ago.
At the 3 min mark
What a fuckin' tool.
And I have not watched the series.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPyBjFircWo

How many episodes of this series have aired??

They have already shown all 10 episodes.

If you have a smart TV, or a device such as a Roku, Amazon Fire, etc., you can watch them all using the PBS app. More than likely, you can also watch via the PBS website on a PC or laptop.

Regarding the music, I doubt any documentary has ever had a better soundtrack. Permission was given to use a lot of music you don't normally hear, if ever.

quote:

Originally posted by rusbro:

Regarding the music, I doubt any documentary has ever had a better soundtrack. Permission was given to use a lot of music you don't normally hear, if ever.

Both the familiar popular music and the mostly background stuff specifically written for the doc?

The popular stuff was the background to that generation, it was everywhere. The messages were pretty much universal and very well used in this doc. That said, so much of it was British and a little out of step IMO.

The newly produced background stuff was dark and ominous when the producers wanted to color the topic, light and exotic as they felt needed.

Kind of along those lines, Peter Coyote called out LBJ on the lies but when he talked of Nixon, "lies" came out hissing through clenched teeth. The mind's eye could see him scowling.

OK...thanks y'all.

quote:

Originally posted by Ripley:

quote:

Originally posted by rusbro:
Regarding the music, I doubt any documentary has ever had a better soundtrack. Permission was given to use a lot of music you don't normally hear, if ever.

The popular stuff was the background to that generation, it was everywhere. The messages were pretty much universal and very well used in this doc. That said, so much of it was British and a little out of step IMO.

I heard an interview with Burns and Novick wherein Burns said they got the rights to Beatles and Dylan songs at a "miniscule rate," and that lots of other artists/right-holders followed suit basing price on that, many of which rarely or never sold rights to their songs, or certain of their songs.

I watched it all and as I did I thought about the VN vets here on SF. I was born in 1958 so VN was a background presence for me. I was too young to know what was going on. I studied the war as an adult.

How our 'society' treated these heroes when they came home still disgusts me. They went and bled for our country and 57,000 died as a result. When they came home we shat on them. In my opinion that was a shameful low point in our history.

I believe that our veterans are one of our greatest treasures and should be treated accordingly. I'm waiting hopefully for Trump to do something about fixing the VA. We aren't doing enough for our veterans. They should have the best healthcare that we can provide and they shouldn't have to wait in line for it.

Oliver North: PBS and Ken Burns get Vietnam – and Richard Nixon – wrong, again

Washington, D.C. – When Richard Nixon was in the White House, I was in Vietnam and he was my commander-in-chief. When I was on Ronald Reagan’s National Security Council staff, I had the opportunity to brief former President Nixon on numerous occasions and came to admire his analysis of current events, insights on world affairs and compassion for our troops. His preparation for any meeting or discussion was exhaustive. His thirst for information was unquenchable and his tolerance for fools was non-existent.

Mr. Nixon’s prosecution of the war in Southeast Asia is poorly told by Ken Burns in his PBS documentary "The Vietnam War.” That is but one of many reasons Mr. Burns’ latest work is such a disappointment and a tragic lost opportunity.

It’s sad, but I’ve come to accept that the real story of the heroic American GIs in Vietnam may never be told. Like too many others, Ken Burns portrays the young Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines of the Vietnam War as pot-smoking, drug-addicted, hippie marauders.

Those with whom I served were anything but. They did not commit the atrocities alleged in the unforgivable lies John Kerry described to a congressional committee so prominently featured by Mr. Burns. The troops my brother and I were blessed to lead were honorable, heroic and tenacious. They were patriotic, proud of their service, and true to their God and our country.

To depict them otherwise, as Ken Burns does, is an egregious disservice to them, the families of the fallen and to history. But his treatment of my fellow Vietnam War veterans is just the start. Some of the most blatant travesties in the film are reserved for President Nixon.

Because of endless fairy tales told by Ken Burns and others, many Americans associate Richard Nixon with the totality and the worst events of Vietnam. It’s hardly evident in the Burns “documentary,” but important to note; when President Richard Nixon was elected in 1968, he inherited a nation – and a world – engulfed in discord and teetering on the brink of widespread chaos. His predecessor, Lyndon Johnson, was forced from office with a half million U.S. troops mired in combat and fierce anti-American government demonstrations across the country and in our nation’s capital.

Ken Burns may not recall – but my family remembers do: It was Lyndon Johnson who sent my brother and me to war. It was Richard Nixon who brought us home. It is very likely we are alive today because Richard Nixon kept his word.

That’s not the only opportunity for accuracy Mr. Burns ignored. He could have credited President Nixon with granting 18-year olds the right to vote in July 1971 with the 26th Amendment to our Constitution [does “Ken” even recall the slogan, “Old Enough to Fight – Old Enough to Vote!” He should. Burns turned 18 that same month.].

President Nixon pressed on to all but finish the war. As promised, he brought our combat units home, returned 591 Prisoners of War to their wives and families, ended the draft, leveraged the conflict to open ties with China and improved relations with the Soviet Union. He pushed both Communist giants in Beijing and Moscow to force their North Vietnamese puppet into a negotiated settlement. Yet, he is portrayed in the Burns documentary as a cold-blooded, calculating politician more interested in re-election than the lives of U.S. troops in combat.

Contrary to the film’s portrayal, Nixon had a complicated strategy to achieve “Peace with Honor.” His goal was to train and equip the South Vietnamese military to defend their own country in a process he called “Vietnamization” and thereby – withdraw American troops.

President Nixon succeeded in isolating the North Vietnamese diplomatically and negotiated a peace agreement that preserved the right of the people of South Vietnam to determine their own political future. Imperfect as the Saigon government was, by 1973 the South Vietnamese had many well-trained troops and units that fought well and were proud to be our allies. This intricate and sophisticated approach took shape over four wartime years but receives only superficial mention in Mr. Burns’ production.

Despite Democrat majorities in both houses of Congress, Nixon – a deft political powerhouse – attained consistent support from America’s “Silent Majority.”

If Mr. Burns read President Nixon’s memoir or his two successive books in which the former president recounts his emotional anguish at the war’s toll – "No More Vietnams" and "In the Arena" – there is little evidence in the PBS production. Instead, Burns cherry-picks from the infamous “Nixon tapes” to brand the president as a devious manipulator, striving for mass deception – a patently false allegation.

By the time President Nixon resigned office on August 9, 1974, the Vietnam War was all but won and the South Vietnamese were confident of securing a permanent victory. But in December 1974 – three months after President Nixon departed the White House – a vengeful, Democrat-dominated Congress cut off all aid to South Vietnam.

It was a devastating blow for those to whom President Nixon had promised – not U.S. troops – but steadfast military, economic and diplomatic support. As chronicled in memoirs written afterwards in Hanoi, Moscow and Beijing, the communists celebrated. The ignominious end came with a full-scale North Vietnamese invasion five months later.

Despite the war’s tragic conclusion – and the trauma that continues to afflict our country – there is little in the Burns so-called documentary about the courage, patriotism and dedication of the U.S. troops who fought honorably, bravely, and the despicable way in which we were “welcomed” home.

The PBS “documentary” frequently reminds viewers of the “gallant nationalist fervor” among the North Vietnamese. But the South Vietnamese are portrayed as little more than conniving urchins and weak pawns of the imperialist Americans.

In a technique favored by the “Progressive-Left,” Mr. Burns uses a small cadre of anti-war U.S. and pro-Hanoi Vietnamese “eyewitnesses” to explain the complicated policies of the U.S. government. Mr. Burns apparently refused to interview Henry Kissinger, telling the Portland Press Herald he doubted “...Kissinger’s authority to adequately convey the perspectives of the U.S. government.” This alone disqualifies this “documentary” as definitive history on the Vietnam War.

Though Ken Burns and his collaborators claim otherwise, the real heroes of “The Vietnam War” were not U.S. protestors, but the troops my brother and I led. They fought valiantly for our country and the president who brought us home.

Since meeting President Nixon in the 1980s, I have always remembered how he understood the incredible sacrifice of American blood in the battlefields of Vietnam. He was dedicated to ending the war the right way and committed to sustaining American honor. He kept his promise to bring us home.

Ken Burns failed to keep his promise to tell all sides about the long and difficult war in Vietnam. Mr. Burns, like John Kerry, has committed a grave injustice to those of us who fought there.

quote:

Originally posted by parabellum:

That’s not the only opportunity for accuracy Mr. Burns ignored. He could have credited President Nixon with granting 18-year olds the right to vote in July 1971 with the 26th Amendment to our Constitution [does “Ken” even recall the slogan, “Old Enough to Fight – Old Enough to Vote!” He should. Burns turned 18 that same month.].

President Nixon pressed on to all but finish the war. As promised, he brought our combat units home, returned 591 Prisoners of War to their wives and families, ended the draft, leveraged the conflict to open ties with China and improved relations with the Soviet Union. He pushed both Communist giants in Beijing and Moscow to force their North Vietnamese puppet into a negotiated settlement. Yet, he is portrayed in the Burns documentary as a cold-blooded, calculating politician more interested in re-election than the lives of U.S. troops in combat.

Let me add that Burns overlooked putting a man on the moon. That had a massive effect on a fractured nation's psyche.

Excellent piece, parabellum; thank you.

BTW, the Ken Burns thing is free on Kanopy, which is available to many who have a county/city library card.

But, is there a better Vietnam War documentary that someone can suggest?

It's running on Netflix currently too.

When it aired in 2017 it was available on the PBS website, and in their app. Probably still is.