the purpose for which the special session of the united states court of appeals for the second circuit, having been accomplished, this court is adjourned. please join me and my colleagues in a reception in the main lobby on the first floor of the courthouse. as judge wesley alluded to, i invite you to visit the exhibit highlighting some of the history of the second circuit in the north corridor of the library -- of the lobby, i should say. we are adjourned. thank you. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] americane watching history tv, all weekend every weekend on c-span3. to join the conversation like us on facebook at c-span history.

navy flyer john mccain was shot down over north vietnam over his 20th mission in 1957. he ejected from his bomber into a lake and was captured, he was held in filthy conditions despite poor health care. for the years he was told as a pow were spent in solitary confinement. hethe 50th anniversary talked with american history tv about those events and reflects on the worst legacy and in act on it. when you look back 50 years ago when you're playing went down -- plane went down. what is the legacy of vietnam? before we get into a conflict we better have a strategy and a capability to win.

gradualone of those drips that started out with a resolution that supposedly and it is next there to this day -- not clear to this date with ships. then it went through with lyndon a complete lack of focus on strategy on how to bring it to a close. i am very sympathetic. the one thing that overrode most of lyndon johnson's thinking was china. not want to did have a confrontation and a conflagration that would lead to a real conflict there. it cautioned all of our actions so that it was a very gradual then did notich

harm the enemy but it strengthened their resolve. course led to all kinds of implications and repercussions with the new age and the use of drugs. demonstrations right out here on the mall. and million people or however many at was. it really split our society in a that we forget mid mass arrests, demonstrations, chicago , all of us can look back and see on c-span. it was a tumultuous time. most of it was spread by conflict. one aspect of the conflict that i will never ever forget is that we drafted the lowest income level of america and the highest level would get a doctor to say

they had a bone spur. that is wrong. are going to ask every american to serve every american should serve to later in the war we went to that lottery system. for they first years it was the lowest amount of income. there was a lot of minorities who were forced to go. mark on history atthe country asking those the lowest income to do the fighting for us while the wealthy estate home. your planeu are in how apprehensive were you when you are flying into a place like north vietnam? where we had ard horrific fire and i was hit by a missile.

that was on the flight deck and i transferred over to the risk any. what was i think it? i was a young fire quiet -- fighter pilot, that.28 or something like that is what i wanted to do with my life. i wanted to be an combat and go against the enemy. they wereso much that the enemy, that is what i was trying to do. i wanted to do it. it was not as if i was on where i don't want to fly the mission. i was ready to go. i was with my contemporaries and squad mates. we took a lot of losses. great things about being a fighter pilot is you are sure everyone will get shut down but not you. how many vietnamese were around wrench in the water and that lake? first went in.

it was a long story but i was barely able to get back into the service read a bunch of them jumped in. there is a picture which i am sure you will show of them pulling me out of the lake. you can see my arm is broken. once they pulled me out, they were not very happy to see me. i had just finished bombing the place. it got pretty rough. , theyroke my shoulder hurt my knee again, look i don't blame them. we were in a war. i didn't like it but at the same when you are in a war and you are captured by the enemy .ou cannot expect to have tea

they pulled me out of the lake and put me on the truck and beat me up a little and then we went prison thatamous was just a short drive away. it was a five minute drive away. it is a very long story about out who my father was and they decided to give me treatment. finally into dive. -- dive. a nurse me back to health, after they saw me in better health they put me into solitary confinement. i don't hold a grudge against them. i don't like them. there are some that i would never want to see again. at the same time i was part of a conflict. of theht they were some

meanest people i ever met in my life and i never want to see them again. there were several that were good people. they were very kind to me. that is why it was much easier for me to support along with president clinton and others a normalization of relations between the two countries, to heal the wounds of war. >> when you've got back, how much did you talk about/ >> a lot. for my dad hard because i knew what was happening and he did it. everybody that would come through hawaii would want to talk about me. they did the right thing. they said don't talk about the admiral son because that will bring up the whole conversation. yearschristmas for four he would fly all the way up to

and would have christmas dinner with the marines. rings -- marines and soldiers are draftees. they are not there because they volunteer. .hey are 18-year-old kids i have seen those pictures. they are just beautiful. he would come back very happy and restored from that experience. very that she was very -- he was very cognizant that the north presence. valued my there are some his stories we could tell. they offered me a chance to be released. our court of conduct says the -- i knew i ied

was being released. easiesto was not the thing to say. i do not need to bounce around. three years after i had refused i wasmas eve in vietnam in solitary confinement. every cell had a loudspeaker in it. they were playing christmas music. i still remember that one of the songs was i will be home for christmas. that was a bit nostalgic. same guy who was the leader of all the camps told me about a that he is still love to go to. many years later i demanded a visit to create -- visit to.

truly social. that was the only time he did that. he would give me cigarettes and he would tell me about the island and how his father had artery --of the party. thatid there is a island -- it is out in the gulf. he said no one knows about it. after a normalization of relations the prime minister comes to washington and i have him to lunch. he says whatever you want we will do because you are our friend. i said ok, i want to go to the island. he said no one knows about that.

later we got on a boat and spent the night looking at the sunset from the balcony of his bedroom. >> that is an amazing story. >> it was not real big, not small. you could probably walk from and to end in half an hour. we spent the night there. as i say he came to washington and he has since passed away. for --thenterpreter

man in the paris peace talks. officein my wall in my there is a cable that was sent back to the state department. that the tea break was the north vietnamese negotiator. he said that the vietnamese had and tended to release the admiral son but he had refused. documentsart of the that were declassified because everybody was worried that we left americans behind. stories but senator

mitchell set up a committee headed by john kerry. part of the deal was the conspiracy theory of the secret documents will prove that we left americans behind. everything report is has to be declassified that has anything to do with pows did one of the documents that came out was the one i mentioned to create -- to you. that was very remarkable, thousands of documents came out. that one was more than interesting. about -- wek you are going through the area where we see a lot of hate speech.

you came out you of the vietnam war and got over it. relate that to what our president said about you. war hero,u are not a what did that feel like? here is a guy who had five deferments. how do you process that? >> you have ignored it. i watch what he does not what he says. i think the important thing about that statement though was not about me. long ago after he said that because occasionally havee come to us and they served in a war and did not get a medal that they earn. we will do the research and fromy a 92-year-old man scottsdale, arizona who was a

prisoner of war in germany weighed 110 pounds when he was free.y we gave him his medals. it was wonderful. it was very moving. before andng to him he said senator, why is it that donald trump does not like me? , he does. so do all americans. it was not what he said about me because i am and the arena, there is a 92-year-old man who came out of a prison. that is what i take exception to. how much of this hate speech came out of it time and our

where the government was not telling us the truth. >> the government was not telling us the truth. -- theye apparatus was of a gradual escalation. drive them to the negotiating table we would come to a useful and. what was happening was it was pumping up the morale of the north vietnamese because they thought they were beating us to they thought they would be able to fight back. the whole concept was fatally flawed. when thethat point was talks in paris had broken down finally richard nixon said white them out. b-52s and other

aircraft and took out all of the resistance. they agreed to negotiate. problem had a lot to do with a believe that somehow you can convince the enemy to compromise when the enemy does not think that they are being beaten. of course with the tet offensive there was so much of a morale boost and the chinese and the russians were giving them everything they wanted. still the most heavily defended place in the history of the world was had a white -- with surface to air defense missiles near hanoi. they would be offloaded to a vehicle.

what an place and while we watched it. we watched it. then those missiles were fired at american aircraft. it is worse than ridiculous. , hadirst target i had already been bombed full-time. it was a pile of rubble so i did it again. not far away from it was a bridge that was not on the approved list. that is not the way to fight a war. >> there was a soldier who said you were not tortured. i was treated like a king. the featherbed had some lumps in it. we have told people that we have not tortured, i know you have been hints that idea. why is it so hard for governments to tell the truth? communist --assic

the think they would say yes we broke his arm again. we >> don't do it either. that is one of the problems that i have had. particularly and the use of that is one of the most embarrassing chapters of american history is the way we thated -- there is a story a man was being waterboarded and they sent a man back to the cia simply cannot get anything out of him. the answer was waterboard him some more. crime --emed they were theys a war crime because waterboarded people. it is a war crime.

by the way the cia has gotten away with it. they have destroyed the film and a lot of the information. it will be a black mark on the history of this country that we did that. i will never forgive the cia for what they did. comparison, we know a lot about your torture. what has been harder for you live into the torture or living to the cancer? cancer is arough challenge that i have. living through torture you never know what is going to happen. you never know after they are going to say come on out. at least with this fight that i am in i know the enemy and i know that -- what we have to do.

we take the consequences. -- ie also say i have had am the most fortunate person of all the thousands you have interviewed that you will ever know. i have had the best and full life that anyone could possibly have. i look at this challenge with joy and happiness. with gratitude. gratitude that i have had the opportunity to serve the country. noticed any change in the way the people are approaching you since you have dealt with this latest? grexit has been more sympathetic. -- somee there are glad glad that i am going. me that when id 100 senators and

were in their seats that was the first time that happened. -- a incredible outpouring of support. >> what is your treatment now? >> i received radiation and chemotherapy. i have had it done twice. now i am waiting for a mri. nobody expected me to have the , i don't have a problem sleeping or eating. i am exercising all the time. i am in fine shape. let's see what happens. i have full them before. before.d them impact of thee vietnam war on our military up to this time? >> the impact on our military from the vietnam war was a after the warow,

was over the chief of staff of the united states army came to the armed services committee and said you have a hollow army. military was eroded because antiwar, inequities of the draft. we were in bad shape. if i may be a bit parochial ronald reagan came in with a commitment to rebuild the military and we did. it is good now. there are a lot of problems right now. it is not the morale issue we had marines and company officers who were discharging half the company because they were not performing. they had the authority to throw them out.

famous marine said -- a media person said you are throwing these guys out, what is happening? grexit i guy over there is my driver. if we are the only two left that is what i'm going to do to fix the marine corps. problem orry big challenge to rebuild our military after what happened after the vietnam war. >> senator, thank you for your time. are watching american history tv, a weekend every weekend on c-span3. likeerman the conversation us on facebook at c-span history. up next on american history tv's real americaac