e he will lead without regard to party, and i believe he will do that. i believe the nation will be proud of him as we are of other secretaries. >> next, a 14 minute portion of a july 1965 u.s. army big picture episode titled "not for conquest." robert mcnamara updates reporters olivia damore, -- on the vietnam war and reviews military efforts around the world that the defense departments insist are required to maintain peace.

[playing taps] >> piece. -- peace. war is a time when fathers bury sons. peace and freedom are the most valuable possessions of any society. peace, any day of it, must be bought and paid for. as the principal power in the military alliance of the free world, the goal of the united states is to use its strength to maintain the peace against the threat of conquest. in a dangerous and changing world, a massive military

establishment is necessary to our common defense. this is the responsibility of the president. under him, by law, the secretary of defense is charged with securing and maintaining that military establishment. the secretary is mr. robert mcnamara. sec. mcnamara: i have here one of the new family of communist chinese weapons. this is a machine gun of their 7.62 class, ammunition for this can only be supplied from chinese sources. this gun there is the chinese arsenal mark -- bears the chinese arsenal mark, supplied to north vietnam. >> a chinese gun. roots of infiltration. the secretary keeps americans informed through news

conferences. an informed nation is a prepared nation. the united states today is prepared against every form of aggression, from guerrilla warfare two ballistic missiles. an american desert. this is an ear -- an early test, before our country, along with other nations, agrees to testing of nuclear weapons. today, our nuclear power is such that, in the words of our president, the combined restrictive power of every battle ever fought by man, is like a firecracker against the sun.

this is the awesome power. and the power we have today is more than any adversary or combination of adversaries. the fact that we have it is the greatest deterrent to nuclear war. helping to protect us against nuclear attacks, our radar installations, networks of sensitive nerve ends, part of a ballistic missile warning system called the news. a nerve center of our disk -- alert system is the underground headquarters of the air command. no surprise attack could catch us unprepared. an underground silo, enough of our power would survive to ensure the destruction of any aggressor nation. across the world, the winds of

war are fanned by aggression against south vietnam. pressure and cruelty by the viet cong, not only villages and towns destroyed, but transportation as well. the south vietnamese military forces have been fighting the viet cong or years. wherever they could find them. sometimes, it was across the dry, hot planes under a merciful -- under a merciless sun. sometimes, it was during the steamy monsoon season. and sometimes, it was from the very trains the viet cong tried to destroy. whatever the season, there was always the jungle, tangled hostile, forbidding. a jungle where the viet cong

melted away into the dense undergrowth whenever attacked. wherever they thought, the south vietnamese gave no quarter, and asked for none. viet cong infiltrated north vietnamese are flushed out while the search continues by where he patrols, day in and day out. -- wary patrols, day in and day out. this war demands a cruel price in terms of human suffering. at the request of the south vietnamese, the united states under three american presidents, has been providing military assistance and advisers without interruption. in the air, we developed a way to overcome the rugged

vietnamese terrain by making air highways with helicopters. and then suddenly, aircraft and airstrips were damaged as infiltrators from north vietnam grew more bold, striking directly at u.s. equipment and at our men. living quarters of american advisers to the south vietnamese are destroyed. the infiltration commanded and directed from north vietnam increases. secretary o'mara holds -- mcnamara holds a news conference. sec. mcnamara: south vietnamese and u.s. navy and air force strikes against north vietnam have been designed to impede this infiltration of men and materials. and infiltration with make -- which makes the difference between a situation which is manageable, and one which is not manageable, internally, by the

government of some vietnam. the airstrikes have been limited to military targets infiltration targets, to barracks, transit points, supply depots, ammunition depots, routes of communication, all feeding the infiltration lines from north vietnam into laos and south vietnam. more recently, there has been added to this target system, railroads, highways, and bridges , which are the foundation of the infiltration routes. these strikes of been designed to increase the dependence on an already overburdened road transport system, by denying the use of the rail lines in the south. the summary of our objectives have been force that -- forcing them off the highways.

>> the fighting in some vietnam continues. although military targets and north vietnam are heavily hit the numbers of infiltrated north vietnamese soldiers into the south steadily increases. the viet cong terrorizes the countryside continually with savage hit and run tactics. the rapid increase of infiltration begins to create an unfavorable manpower balance. the secretary addresses the nation on this serious problem. sec. mcnamara: according to the latest intelligence available to us, the number of hard-core full-time viet cong communists, regular combat and combat support in south vietnam, totals

65,000 men. in addition, between 80 and 100,000 part-time or a regular -- or irregular drills. the total, 165,000. >> the secretary announces that there will be a buildup of american ground combat forces in some vietnam to overcome the unfavorable manpower balance. this increased military support by the united states starts arriving shortly and is the largest free world contribution to south vietnam's struggle against communist aggression. in addition to the american troops, other nations, great and small, contribute financial support and manpower, including combat troops from australia new zealand, and korea. our combat forces were deployed

to areas known to be the strongholds -- known to be viet cong strongholds. once again, the helicopter becomes indispensable in the struggle against the communist terrorists who, like quicksilver, break up and spread to inaccessible areas when they are attacked. but very little, if anything, is inaccessible to our troops in helicopters. but helicopters and modern equipment cannot be the full answer. or here in vietnam, it is up to the individual fighting man to go by foot, to seek out, find and destroy the enemy. tactical airstrikes support the infantry's efforts, helping eliminate the hard-core viet cong.

the navy provides fighters support for ground operations. finally, prisoners of war. all of this massive american

effort, because the people, and the government, of the united states, have a commitment to the south vietnamese people, and to freedom. for us, our commitment is a matter of national honor. we intend to keep it. our objective in southeast asia is limited. we do not seek to destroy the north vietnamese people. we do not seek military bases in south vietnam. we are seeking to help the south enemies people retain their right to control their own destiny. to develop politically economically and socially, as they choose. without interference from foreign directive aggression. this is our commitment in south vietnam. and, every commitment must be bought and paid for. >> in a world of 120 nations the defensive freedom remains our duty.

all day, every day. as president johnson said, upon our strength and wisdom rests the future. not only of our american way of life, but of the great society of re-men -- three men. -- free men. the president said, let us know that we walk the road of peace. with our strength, we seek to shoulder the piece of mankind -- the peace of mankind. we are armed to settle differences by peaceful profits -- processes. we have a superiority of arms. those arms are not for conquest. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> freedom and equality. he is always to the right and always to the wrong. >> filmmakers robert gordon and morgan neville talk about their documentary, "best of enemies," on a debate over war politics, god, and sex. >> there is not someone in their ear unlike today. today, i believe there is someone saying, the numbers are dwindling, talk about hot topics , talk about salacious topic number two. whereas then, i don't think that was the norm in tv at the time. i don't think these guys needed as morgan said he did not need that.

>> howard smith was the moderator. a news man who is embarrassed by this. he was moderating, but he disappears for sometimes five, or more minutes at a time, and today, you would not have a moderator not jumping in every 30 seconds. i think really everybody at abc stood back and let the fire burn. >> tonight at 8:00 eastern and pacific on c-span's "q&a co -- q&a. >> monday on the communicators michael o'rielly on key issues like net neutrality, the internet and the public's influence on policy. >> when an item is presented to the commissioner level, that document should be made available publicly. i think i would provide an opportunity for everyone to come in and know exactly what we are thinking. you would allow people to hone in on as -- on problematic

issues. people raise concerns, they often don't know exactly what is being put forward. they are doing rifle shots in many different scattered structures. that is problematic from my point of view. i would rather people target exactly what they would like to see fixed and not spend time on needless things. >> monday night on "the communicators" on c-span2. >> up next, american history tv looks back 50 years to president johnson's signing of the medicare bill. an idea that lbj said president truman inspired a generation earlier. over the next two and a half hours, we will revisit the politics and strategy behind the legislation designed in president johnson's words, to ensure every citizen against the ravages of illness in his old age. we will hear from lbj himself in a series of white house telephone calls with aids and

members of congress. our special programming concludes with a 1965 bill signing ceremony in the presence of former president truman at his presidential library in independence, missouri. up first and aspen institute panel discusses how president johnson succeeded in getting medicare through the political process. speakers include linda johnson robb, -- lynda johnson robb and others. this is about one hour. mark: our first panel is called lbj and the battle to pass medicare and medicaid, why johnson succeeded where others failed. we thought it would be important to look at the complicated early history of medicare and how difficult it was for previous administrations to enact legislation that so many of us now take for granted. besides