as you know, the french colonized indochina in the 19-century. during the end of world war ii, the japanese, they were occupying indochina, and they overthrew the french governing authority. placed the french military in containme containment camps. please pay attention to the word nationalism. they failed to do two things, the japanese. one, they did not give this government an army. so you had independent vietnam with its own government and no army. secondly, there was a very special vietnamese political leader who nobody ever heard of. and he is a descendant of the first king that came to power. had the japanese brought him back in the waning months of world war ii to be the leader of vietnam, history would have been different. the japanese lose the war. and there is a free for all among vietnamese as to who is going to create a government. who is going to have the power. in this, in early september ho chi minh and his viet minh plus communist they stage a coup in hanoi and proclaim themselves an independent vietnam and proclaim themselves a g

as you know, the french colonized indochina in the 19th century. during world war ii, towards the end, the japanese were occupying indochina. they overthrew the french governing authority. they placed the french military in containment camps and created a vietnamese government, and nationalist government. please pay attention to the word nationalism, i want to talk about this a lot. they failed to do two things, the japanese. one, they did not give this government an army. you had an independent vietnam with its own government and no army. secondly, there was a special vietnamese political leader who nobody's ever heard of. he is a descendent of the first king of the dynasty who came to power in 1802. he was a nationalist, anti-french, in exile in japan. had the japanese brought him back in the waning months of world war ii to be the leader of vietnam, history would have been completely different. they didn't do that. the japanese then lose the war. british troops come back to south vietnam, chinese troops come to north vietnam, and there is a free

the japanese had 50,000 troops in saigon, vietnam, back then french indochina. moving from french indochina to the philippines or singapore was not an easy thing so fdr and general marshall had the war department worn the bases to go on high alert. had anblem was that if i hour, i could go over what happened at pearl harbor. it is a perfect storm of mistakes and everyone there believes they were in command, but they were in command with the attitude of it doesn't matter anyway because we are really not going to be attacked so why bother? , that is a bad way to do it. other commanders had done that, but if it was 1932, 1934, 19 36, sash or 1936 and you were a commander in hawaii, you could have that and -- attitude and you were fine and you could spend two years in hawaii and not do all lot. in december of 1941, it was a poor way to run things. i do not think fdr directly knew it would be pearl harbor, but he knew an attack was coming. what i blame him foremost with pearl harbor is he had given 1900 and i after -- antiaircraft guns away to other countries and had

. >> not the southeast asian, not the indochina, not the lay-ose, or the lay-aas, but the laos in the house. >> catzie was born in a refugee camp in laos, her parents forced from their home in a war torn country. >> they didn't want to pass on the trauma of war to me so they didn't tell me about it. >> but she is taking a different approach with her daughter. embracing where she's from and seeking out others to share that history. >> i learned that people want to share their stories but they're not really sure how. >> so she created a website called laos in the house. >> a project that promotes storytelling in the lao american refugee community through the mediums of art. >> she collects stories across the nation featuring lao refugees and immigrants. >> i wanted to find a way to teach about the history of how laos americans came to be but in way that was like a community effort. >> the stories are featured on the website, creating a home that brings attention and appreciation for the laos community. >> i like hearing how different people's experiences were >> because we didn't have i

he made those decisions on indochina later in his presidency without really being decisive.he used a completely false accusation, the missile gap, against the eisenhower administration, which was completely unfounded. it seems to me, his presidency, was just crisis driven and foreign policy terms. we have the bay of pigs, the cuban missile crisis. what were his genuine political goals? >> that is one of the great questions. there is no doubt there was a strong political aspect to kennedy. he wanted the top job. he probably wanted it without having a particularly clear agenda as to what he wanted to defending apart from the nation and so forth. one point on the missile gap, because that is -- there was a big debate about where the united states had fallen behind the soviet union, and i do think you can make the argument that kennedy was somewhat cynical, although there was an opening because eisenhower had appointed this high profile commission that came out with an alarmist report saying the united states had fallen behind , and kennedy sort of pounced on that. it helped to

. >> both the washington and oakland bombs were set to protest against american involvement in indochinaots of little bombs is the first bomb gets page one news. when you're up to the 30th bomb, it's on page six. >> a bomb exploded today at los angeles international airport. >> some groups said, only by being more ruthless can we achieve our goals. >> at least two people were killed and more than 30 injured. >> in lower manhattan, an explosion this afternoon left at least three dead. >> the explosion took 11 lives in a baggage claim area. >> terrorists felt they had to innovate either in the direction of higher profile targets or higher body counts. >> in birmingham, england several bombs blew up in the center of the city tonight. at least 17 people are dead. at least 70 more are injured. >> the first bomb went off in a crowded pub near the birmingham city center. minutes later and less than a hundred yards away, a second bomb exploded in another pub. there had been 200 people inside. police said they were still searching for bodies in the rubble. >> terrorism only works when it shocks p

the japanese had 50,000 troops in saigon, vietnam, back then french indochina.iving to the fdr and general marcia had the war department worn the bases to go on high alert. if i had an hour, i could go over what happened at pearl harbor. it is the perfect storm of mistakes. everyone there believed -- they were in command, but in command with the attitude it does not matter anyway because we will not be attacked, so why bother? that is a bad way to do it. other commanders had done that, but if it was 1932, 1934, 19 36, and you are a commander in hawaii, you could have that attitude and you could spend two years in hawaii and not do all lot. but in december 1941, it was a poor way to run things. i don't think fdr directing new about pearl harbor, but he knew an attack was coming. for 1900im anti-aircraft guns and given away hundreds of fire planes. they did not have the weapons either. they were very shorthanded. admiral richardson had gotten fired -- we point this out in the book -- he was pacific fleet commander in 1940 and of realist, and a very capable officer

indochina will never allow north china willey know never allow north korea to collapse. they are willing to push the envelope as well as they can. that creates problems for the united states because the united states has a policy that is aimed at treating china as part of the solution, which is that if 85% of north korea's external trade is with china, we can go after slave labor exports and all his other sorts of things, but it 85% of the traders with china, then china is part of the solution in terms of cutting that trade down and putting pressure on north korea. the problem is china is never going to put a truly pressing amount of economic squeeze on north korea because for fear that they will collapse the regime. the chinese and masseter himself had a op-ed -- ambassador himself had a op-ed were he essentially said that. china is willing to put some pressure on, but is afraid it will collapse the regime. that is music to north korea's ears. that is the box we are caught in, right now. >> thank you, victor. >> i am not familiar with those and i am not an expert as far