and the puppet government it had set up in one thousand nine hundred nine still in control of south vietnam but maybe you know it repeated here that he still. there is only one emperor or eight divided in geneva in fifty four between the free zone we settle down and in occupied it's only. by the french but not the french. geneva stiction off now because it could not and over to our issue with didn't exist mention. the ration of saigon is only a temporary one. in one thousand four. according to the geneva accord the division was to be temporary with elections in one thousand nine hundred fifty six to settle the matter of reunification those elections never took place their refusal was amply justified if only because the kind of election in visit by the geneva agreement of nineteen fifty for a free election could not have been hell anyone who thinks that a free election was possible in communist north vietnam knows little of how communist operate and could have fallen into a moscow peeping trap and he ought to settle with me on the broader relations committee in one thousand nine hundred fift

the geneva accords were july nineteenth fifty six were openly and would be elected president in south vietnam by least eighty percent of the load and i are trying to read it boasts about believing in self-determination used its power and its prestige and its influence really to get our first puppet government under j.m. not to cooperate in holding those elections that's just a matter of historic record in one thousand fifty five died the emperor of the french had installed as the head of the state of vietnam was deposed and a new later known and the m. was installed as the head of the renamed republic of vietnam. was the us man in vietnam and what had then the french war was quietly becoming the american war. there was sort of a cult of the little fellow in the sharkskin suit and a little mandarin who's going to stop the reds and there was a great many articles on this on the house of the go to him our man inside on. then as now the danger was greatly hyped to drive the country towards war. it was something. a retreat from the united states from vietnam would be a communist a victory of massi

and the puppet government it had set up in one thousand nine hundred nine still in control of south vietnam. but it might be repeated here there is no. there is only one vietnam temporary divide in geneva in fifty four between the free zone with a little thin man and in occupied it's own. by the french woman and the french had . geneva just stiction off. because it could not hand over to her she with. mentioning the geneva agreements the ration of saigon is only a temporary one. in one thousand four. according to the geneva accord the division was to be temporary with elections in one thousand nine hundred fifty six to settle the matter of reunification those elections never took place their refusal was amply justified only because the kind of election in visage by the geneva agreement of one nine hundred fifty four a free election could not have been hell anyone who thinks that a free election was possible in communist north vietnam knows little of how communist operate and could have fallen into a peeping trap. and he ought to settle on the border relations committee in one thousand nine

ranch hand planes helicopters and tanker trucks sprayed nineteen million gallons of herbicides on south vietnam i should mention agent orange which was also one of the main ways that the land was ravaged a place that had been sprayed would would die and the sometimes the leaves of say banana plants would become enormous and then they would die. and it looked like a ghost landscape almost everything had been killed agent orange was developed actually in world war two at that time it was not thought that this had any effect on human beings so this became a wonderful commercial product but also a very potent product that could be used to destroy jungles to destroy food crops to be able to be used as a tactical weapon of war without being considered chemical warfare in the sense of poison gas fifty percent of the agent orange consisted of a chemical called two four five tea which. unless the conditions of manufacture were carefully controlled would become contaminated with dioxin which is an extraordinarily potent toxic chemical so much of the agent orange or this purpose side that was sprayed in v

providing south vietnam that offered a promise for the future. at think kochi man was more successful in suggestion to the people that the future under him would be brighter. there was an argument made that the south vietnamese government was corrupt and out of touch with the people. that is not unusual for government to be labeled corrupt. a great many of the governments are corrupt. that was an argument. the combination of those things created a very difficult circumstance. "if you define poverty as a certain percentage of our population and then try to eradicate it is not possible because there are always be a certain percentage that fits in that category. they immediately started a host of programs there was a job corps. microprograms, health care programs, drug programs community action programs that must've been 12 or 15 different programs the design was that it would bypass governors and mayors, all elected officials. of course that had the effect of anchoring republican and democrat players and public officials because the money would com

the government of if and south vietnam wanted people to maintain sovereignty. if that was the case, there was the focus of the north vietnamese the primary focus was on the delta up. that is a flat bit of land where we were covered with rice and water everywhere you could not walk 400 yards and inundated completely. 1965 the government said things are going bad in the delta up. we one to an american unit there. that was approved by the government and said we have to stipulations. you have to locate the unit deepen vietcong territory and it has to be on the water because they heard the french had a great results with the river operations. some 1966 the ninth division was formed under general george eckhardt and one year later came to vietnam at the same time the u.s. navy came up the river. the ninth division closes vietnam's february 1st 1967 they are located at barakat which was 15 miles east of saigon they were located here and the camp was built they have responsibility for eight provinces and a lot of static requirements to protect communications so that he

was the most sacred, most important task of the presidency barely five years after america left south vietnam, reagan spoke at the veterans of foreign wars convention and reminded america that vietnam had been a noble cause. the rush to blame america first in our conflict with totalitarian regimes and the days of holding our military men and women in low esteem came to an end with the reagan presidency. and although his greatest achievement, the collapse of the soviet union, would occur on his successor's watch, the writing was on the wall by the time ronald reagan left office. and his successor deserves credit as well. his recommitment to freedom during our twilight struggle with what was truly an evil empire quite literally saved the world and liberated millions and millions of people. it is no surprise that he will be honored in prague, budapest, and krakow, the home of his great partner pope john paul ii, later this summer for his role in exposing the great lie that was the soviet union. ronald reagan succeeded as president because he knew what he was about. in his farewell address from t

about their own struggles purpose of bill taye was a major influence for the democracy movement in south vietnam that had an interesting role on a trajectory but this is the single moment in american history. anything else? >> you touched on it a bit but it how much to go into was set leaders and those the numbers supporting the leaders? >> when you say clash you may -- you need? >> okay. what they can apply in this research was a memo that summarize where the planning was at the time. i got all the records from the organizing committee and went through page by page. finding a memo with a listing all of the speakers at the march every unemployed worker was crossed out. but thought that the speaker is represented the the group that were well-connected folks and a lot of people in the movement to wanted ordinary people to get a chance to get up there to say their piece. but there was some tension and disappointed because it was a slick produced operation that that any time he made day compromise to surround him in the office and would call him a traitor and a sellout and then he said now children,

the government of vietnam, south vietnam water land and people to maintain their sovereignty. and so if that's the case, it was, been the focus of the north vietnamese its primary focus is always on the delta. the delta is a flat bit of land where we were covered with rice, water everywhere. you could walk 400 yards without crossing a stream. inundated completely. in 1965 the government of south did not do things are going bad in the delta. the north are taking our rice crop. we want an american unit there. that was approved by the government. they said with two simulations. one, you have to locate these unit deep into the territory and has to be on the water. on the water because they had heard the french a great results and they want of river operations. so in 1966, the first of february, the ninth division was formed. one year later they came to vietnam. at the same time it was formed the u.s. navy was told to come up with the river to reinforce. so the 9th division close in vietnam in the first if ever, 1967, one year to the day they were located at barakat, bearcat cat wa

he held a variety of different posts in different countries including burma, japan, south vietnam and south korea. in 1979, he served on the national security council staff for the president. and in 1982, he served as the national security advisor for then-vice president george h.w. bush. in 1989, he was appointed as ambassador to south korea where he served until 1993. after which he left government service and took on the position as chairman of the korea society. he currently holds the position of chairman emeritus of the korea society. don gregg has been here many times in my time here giving electric tours, classes in our winter study term. i've met him on several occasions. but there's two things i learned just recently about him. one of which shows us the true breadth of his accomplishment in foreign policy and international relations. it turns out in a 1995 book by tom clancy called "opp center," there is a character, the ambassador of the south korea character, fictionalized to be sure but nonetheless that character's name is known as gregory donald. [laughter] >> and, in fac

was the most sacred, most important task of the presidency barely five years after america left south vietnam, reagan spoke at the veterans of foreign wars convention and reminded america that vietnam had been a noble cause. the rush to blame america first in our conflict with totalitarian regimes and the days of holding our military men and women in low esteem came to an end with the reagan presidency. and although his greatest achievement, the collapse of the soviet union, would occur on his successor's watch, the writing was on the wall by the time ronald reagan left office. and his successor deserves credit as well. his recommitment to freedom during our twilight struggle with what was truly an evil empire quite literally saved the world and liberated millions and millions of people. it is no surprise that he will be honored in prague, budapest, and krakow, the home of his great partner pope john paul ii, later this summer for his role in exposing the great lie that was the soviet union. ronald reagan succeeded as president because he knew what he was about. in his farewell address from t

but for those of us who had stepped forward and served in order to attempt to bring democracy to south vietnam, that was a great moment of inspiration. once he was elected, ronald reagan governed with the same sense of certainty about the greatness of our system and the goodness of our people. he convinced strong, talented people to join his administration with george shultz as secretary of state and cap weinberger as secretary of defense, he brought two lions into his cabinet who didn't always agree, which was rather famous in washington at the time, but who were able to combine fierce, competitive intellects with decades of valuable experience. when ronald reagan left the white house, our military had been rebuilt, our people had regained their pride in our country, and in their optimism for its future. the united states was again recognized as a leading nation in the world community. and the failed governmental concept that had produced the soviet union was on the verge of imploding. not because of external attack, but soon to disappear at the hands of its own citizens who could look to the

day of march, i had been sent to -- [inaudible] for a fortnight to evacuate the wounded of the south of vietnam when i learned of the terrible attack launched on dien bien phu. several planes were destroyed on the ground before they could take off. miraculously, two flight nurses managed to evacuate injured soldiers. i was very sad to be far from the battlefield. the first attack was directed on -- [inaudible] to my southwest of the central position. terribly intense. each supporting position followed fiercely, but -- [inaudible] from the french position. in the trenches they are ten times greater in number and -- [inaudible] in a few hours the shelters exploded under enemy fire. by early morning there were practically no able-bodied officer. [inaudible] a shell landed in the middle of the central position. it fell on the shelter of the commander of the foreign legion. and the dien bien phu lost a precious leader. around 5 p.m. an enemy rebarrage started against gabrielle. after the -- [inaudible] of the ground assault at 8 to 1, the -- [inaudible] despite attack. it could -- [inaudible] the co

he held a variety of different posts in different countries, including burma, japan, south vietnam and south korea. in 1979 he served on a national security council staff for the president. and in 1982 he served as the national security advisor for then vice president george h.w. bush. in 1989 he was appointed as ambassador to south korea where he served until 1993. after which, he left government service and took on the position as chairman of the korea society. he currently holds a position of chairman emeritus of the korea society. donald gregg is a great friend and son of williams college. he has been here many times in my time here, given lectures, classes in our winter study term. i've met him on several occasions but there's two things i learned just recently about him. one of which shows us the true breadth of his accomplishment in foreign policy and international relations. it turns out that in a 1995 book by tom clancy called, "ops center". there is a character, ambassador of south korea character, fictionalized to be sure. but that character is named gregory donald. in fact

he held a variety of different posts in different countries including burma, japan, south vietnam, and south korea. in 1979, he served on the national security counsel staff for the president, and in 1982, he served as the national security adviser for then vice president george hw bush. in 1989, he was appointed as ambassador to south korea where he served until 1993 after which he left government service and took on the position of chairman of the korea society, and he currently holds the position of chairman amaretis of the society. don't is a great friend and son of the williams college. he's been here many times giving lectures and classes. i've met him on several occasions, but there two things i learned just recently about him, one of which shows us the true breath of his accomplishments in foreign policy and international relations. it turns out that in a 1995 book by tom clancy called "opt center" there is a character and nevertheless that name of the character is gregory donald and it's believed to be based losely on our own donald greg. i learned his middle name is finny. fo

i had the opportunity to work in south vietnam in 67 and 68 and has been quite a bit of time in regard operations in the northern half of cambodia, laos, burma, and north vietnam. i am very much aware of the cia, air america, deals made with some of the lords. guest: alex, it's -- it is interesting that you spent time in vietnam during that time and got a sense of it on the ground. what happened in afghanistan is a function of their other

i had the opportunity to work in south vietnam in 67 and 68 and has been quite a bit of time in regard operations in the northern half of cambodia, laos, burma, and north vietnam. i am very much aware of the cia, air america, deals made with some of the lords. guest: alex, it's -- it is interesting that you spent time in vietnam during that time and got a sense of it on the ground. what happened in afghanistan is a function of their other agrarian markets shutting down. they had grown cotton, pomegranates, other things. these were real coveted ojects -- products. the soviet invasion cost infrastructu to be destroyed, factories that process cotton, for example. by the time the soviets had left, afghanistan had discovered a few things. first, that all this infrastructure had been destroyed. infrastructure had been destroyed. secondly, they had destroyed products like orland and pistachios and etc.. there were drug suppliers who were looking for a place where poppies could be grown. predictably one where the government was unstable, center to a lot of debris and wear a black market could

because of that, we got into korea and south vietnam because of the communists. south korea is a much wealthier country than north korea. they have a much bigger economy , a greater population than north korea. why do we have all these bases all around the world that we cannot afford? guest: your final thought. the caller is actually correct. one wonders why we still have on forces in germany to protect against the russians moving across the river. the soviet union does not exist anymore. yet we still have cold war military bases. we're defending south korea and from north korea when south korea is perfectly capable of its own defense. in many cases, the americans impose our way of doing things on them. we need to rethink our strategic position around the world. we cannot afford to maintain an empire or be the world's policeman any more. host: cato.org is michael tanner's website. he is a senior fellow at the cato institute if you would like to read his article. you can go to national review.com. coming up, we will talk about the unrest in the middle is. we will

expended to finance directly or indirectly combat military forces in or over the shores of north vietnam, south viet in a, laos and cambodia. no funds heretofore appropriated may be obligated or expended directly or indirectly. that's an all encompassing language that we have used as a template to shut off the funding that is automatically appropriated in obamacare and i think inappropriately appropriated in obamacare. for those who thing that is old piece of history and something that hasn't been used in the modern era and therefore isn't a model or a precedent, we go back 200-plus years for those years i don't have problems with the constitution, but just in the 110th congress, first two years of nancy pelosi's congress, mr. speaker, she forced 44 votes, might have been some in the rules committee, most of them came to the floor, 44 votes by this united states congress that were designed to unfund, underfund or undermine our troops. and i have those all on record on a spreadsheet with hyperlinks to the language and we fought that off through the 110th congress because the effort was to end th

then there was the german invasion there was the same thing with the chinese revolution with vietnam with south africa with our pastor in there with israel and mubarak and company and it has always failed we always support the rich in the end makes it very unpopular over to and we have no way to impose our will to the rest of the world we have the possibility in the colonial period but this finished and we should realize that we just don't have the will to impose our will and the will that we want to impose is usually. we have to we have to get the only advice to the hopi and the americans is to leave the other people leave their own history it may be tragic but there's nothing we can do about it i came. back and many have to thank you they are literally running from the thank you. now u.s. lawmakers are pushing for renewal of the patriot act which allows security agencies to carry three private telephone and e-mail records the majority of congressmen said that a lot of plans the public from the threat of terror but as long as he began it if you can reports many people view it as a violation of

he was in vietnam but he did not have the access and the south vietnamese were wary of him.veloped any of the sort of influence or access that had made him so valuable. we tried, but the vietnamese were very different and he was not able to perform in vietnam that she had been able to perform in the philippines. he tried, he just failed. >> drawing on your experience from the cia, but the same of the advanced interrogation techniques and also about the drone attacks on the borders that have killed so many civilians? >> i am absolutely against a defense interrogation tactics. i was appalled when it was employed by the bush administration and did makes the point -- and it makes the point that got us that they in addition than what we were able to obtain by normal interrogations matters are methods. i am deeply, deeply sorrowful that we employ those techniques. i taught a course here last year on making sense of the cia. one of the guest speakers that i had was the chief of the station in tehran when the embassy was seized. the iranians knew that he had been the chief of the st

vietnam. at the time, incidentally, the south vietnamese were doing a very good job and of not only holding their job, but even gaining some ground. but once they couldn't have the fuel to run the tanks and planes, couldn't buy more ammunition, so they collapsed. as a result, the soviet union was so emboldened that it had a dramatic expansion of the areas where it assumed not physical control, but brought people within the communist circuit. namely, the horn of africa, ethiopia, yemen. they went into, jumped into the southern part of africa in the angola and, ultimately, the western hemisphere and nick nicaragua. if -- i believe we should be very careful of what commitments we make. but if we are perceived to withdraw from afghanistan under domestic pressures before meeting our minimum requirements that we believe are required for our own security, then we can trigger that same kind of more aggressive expansion of the jihadists on the one hand and a shying away of others who had been relying on us to get the job done. i think there are serious consequences. but it's also suggests that we should n

the country security is threatened, we need to react to the north korean attack on south korea, we need to go into vietnam, whatever. a cost benefit analysis never in any serious way receiving any of those wars. why? because the country was rich. the united states could afford to go to war. we could have guns and butter, both. why did i say up until 2008? because i am of the strong opinion, i'm just a history. i look backward rather than forward, but i'm of the strong opinion that the united states has outrun at least for the foreseeable future its era of elective wars. i cannot believe that the united states would choose to go to war, welcome as the united states did with spain in 1894. without a lot of people saying wait a minute, we can't afford it. do you know what that's going to do to the deficit? so the united states may have reverted now, recently sent a financial meltdown of 2008, to the way the country was before the very that i talk about. it wasn't that rich, and war like any other kind of national activity, something that cost money. and when the money gets tight, some people think strong sec

hindsight the taft was to try to get the south vietnamese government capable of organizing and training and equipping their own forces and providing something for the vietnam but offered a promise for them for the future. i think ho chi minh was more successful in suggesting to the vietnamese people that the future would be brighter for those people, and there was an argument made that the south vietnamese government was corrupt and out of touch with people. it is not unusual for the governments to be labeled corrupt. i don't know that the north vietnamese government under ho chi minh was not correct. that was an argument, and the combination of those things i think created a very difficult circumstance for lyndon johnson and the united states of america. >> in 1968 richard nixon was elected. he comes to you and asks you to take on the office of the economic opportunity, one of the crown jewels of the society. not very popular with republicans or nixon who basically wanted. not a great career move for you but you did it. what was your rationale? >> i voted against the legislation when it passed. sargent shriver recently passed away had been the person who