Ken Burns - Viet Nam

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I watched President Nixon outlining his “Peace with Honor” plan on TV. That was in January, 1973.
 
I had a friend who filed for Conscientious Objector status and offered to write a letter for me. At the time, I felt it was less about conscientious than 'I just don’t want to go to a place where I’ll get shot at. And the “enemy” with their vast fleets of B-52s and carrier based aircraft… oh, wait, they didn’t have that.
 
Exactly right. Presidents come and go but they always inherit a lot of people with other interests. And get those “secret, I had no idea” briefings.
 
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My parents are pretty into this series, however I don’t have much time to watch it, with my school workload being the size it is.
 
Racial injustice is a salient feature of our nation’s continuing history, whether people want to hear about it or not.
 
Really want to see this. I’ve talked to a lot of Vets who say it is well done, yet hard to watch. Regarding the “just war” (a term which I hate) I am constantly reminded of this Jimmy Carter quote from his Nobel Peace Prize speech:

"Ladies and gentlemen:

War may sometimes be a necessary evil. But no matter how necessary, it is always an evil, never a good. We will not learn how to live together in peace by killing each other’s children.

The bond of our common humanity is stronger than the divisiveness of our fears and prejudices. God gives us the capacity for choice. We can choose to alleviate suffering. We can choose to work together for peace. We can make these changes - and we must.

Thank you."
 
Were you a helicopter pilot? My older brother was a commissioned officer in thecArmy as well. He flew military ntelligence officers to various sites.His helicopter exploded in mid air in 1971 shortly after having dropped off some officers. He was twenty years old.😪😪😪
 
dvdjs said:
Racial injustice is a salient feature of our nation’s continuing history, whether people want to hear about it or not.
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No, not when it’s overdone to the point of making Ken Burns’ own prejudices quite obvious.
 
Given the magnitude of it, it is hard to over do it.
Tell me, what was his prejudice?
 
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Nixon was forced to resign because of Watergate. His plan was “Vietnamization” of the war, withdrawing U.S. troops while promising to resupply South Vietnamese forces with equipment.

Ho Chi Minh’s plan was to continue the war while at the negotiating table. He figured on five more years, and withheld a full blown invasion of the south because he thought that would cause Nixon to unleash a furious bombing campaign.

But Nixon was out, Ford was in, and when it came time to appropriate funds to resupply South Vietnamese forces, Congress refused.

Ho Chi Minh sped up his timetable. As the North Vietnamese Army approached Saigon, the U.S. Ambassador offered to evacuate a high South Vietnamese official to safety in the U.S. He declined, saying that he would remain with his people and expressing sadness and surprise that the U.S. would so readily abandon his nation and the promises they had made. This story is recounted in the Michael Lind book.

A priest of our diocese (now) was at that time in seminary in South Vietnam. When the NVA took over the South, the seminaries were closed and seminarians sent to reeducation camps. During the next several years, he made several unsuccessful attempts to escape the country, but was caught and imprisoned each time. A third attempt was successful. A loss for Vietnam, a gain for our diocese.
 
dvdjs said:
Given the magnitude of it, it is hard to over do it.

Tell me, what was his prejudice?
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That’s just silly. Plenty of room to overdo it in 10 episodes.

I don’t know if Ken Burns is a racist or is he was pandering to his typical PBS audience, or if his PBS editors/backers requested/required the final outcome or a bit of all three, but it was way way over the top.

And it was offensive.
 
Yes, why were the French there in the first place? Get a copy of The OSS and Ho Chi Minh by Dixee Bartholomew-Feis. Just like our wartime “ally,” the Russians, we were allies of convenience and Ho Chi Minh wanted to kick out all imperialist powers from the region. But that won’t be covered.
 
dvdjs said:
Many words. But none are responsive to the question.
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My last response was indeed responsive to your question. If you don’t comprehend that, I’m not sure what to tell you? Good luck.
 
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You could tell me: what was the prejudice; what did he pre-judge?
Which is what I asked.
 
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Ho Chi Minh assassinated his political rivals.

He was a militant atheist.

en.wikipedia.org

Ho Chi Minh - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

And he bought into all that Communist, military atheist rhetoric.
 
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Sorry, I cannot watch it at this time. Too many men there lost their lives, due to the incompetency of politicians and higher-ups. I was opposed to the war, but would never blame or abuse the men who went there (I was abused by one who returned). It was not their fault. I was nearly crying a couple of nights ago when explaining my reasons for not watching.
 
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