i took a course on vietnam. so there was a course really dedicated to vietnam, which i took.ut this story was not part of that curriculum. so i did not know this story. >> so many people today say that no one ever teaches them about the vietnam war. and there isn't a lot taught. but why isn't there a lot taught, in your opinion? and what are the lessons of vietnam? before we get into that, we're going to show some excerpts from the film. >> right. well, i would say there are many lessons about vietnam. in terms of what i feel like i've learned in making this film is -- and having a deeper appreciation for getting out of a war after having made this film, that i feel that there were very few options available by april 29, 1975, or even in early april when it became pretty clear that the country was going to fall. and, you know, we were trying to get congress -- or kissinger and ford were trying to get congress to pass a bill that would, you know, provide $722 million to the vietnamese during those final hours. i think that would've been helpful and made some difference, but i

the united states of america lost the war in vietnam after fighting the vietnam war more than twice asworld war ii. the united states was driven out of vietnam in defeat although the united states government never had to formally admit that because there were no surrender documents to be signed. here is video of the last americans leading vietnam from the american embassy in sighaigon. they were fleeing for their lives as the city fell to the north vietnamese. after praising martin luther king jr. earlier in the 1960s for his work on civil rights and voting rights the "new york times" ran this editorial on april 7, 1967 entitled "dr. king's error." in recent speeches and statements, the reverend dr. martin luther king jr. has linked his personal opposition to the war in vietnam with the cause of negative rowro inequality in the united states. he said the war, he argues should be stopped not only because it is a futile war waged for the wrong ends but also because it is a barrier to social progress in this country and therefore prevents negroes from achieving their just place in america

where do you want to go and i said vietnam. he says, you can't go to vietnam! you got the medal of honor. medal of honor recipients don't go back. i said you told me i could go anywhere i wanted. there is a war going on. i'm a professional marine, that's where i should be. he did what generals do. and i went back. i became the battery commander of the same battery you was an observer of the first time. [applause] >> it was only earlier this year you were decorated with the medal of honor, what was your reaction when you got the news? >> i didn't believe it. and i never really worried about it, never thought about it. and i had already received the nation's second highest decoration. so i thought that was as far as it was going to go. and i just continued to march. i didn't worry about anything else. then i got a call from colonel davis over here in the pentagon and he said the high government officials is going to speak to you tomorrow, you need to be standing by the phone. and first thing that come to my mind it was men in black. i said, i've done something wr

in to get himself into the war it drowns the legacy to do everything he did on vietnam. for many years as a president who no one thought was very good as an unsuccessful president but it is important to understand vietnam was part of a bargain that johnson made. part of the reason johnson went along with vietnam he believed in the domino theory that if one country fell to communism others would follow. part of that was politics johnson was a democrat to cavemen page bear remembering in 1950 to have republicans at the white house was attacking german with using anti-communism saving from depression and world war ii. he was scared of the right to believe that for a liberal democrat to succeed you have to be tough on foreign policy. to say again and again and part of the epidemic that led the country deeper into the war had to do with these political fears. you can see i have many conversations where johnson is more and early in 1964 or 65 the war was a bad idea. and also been warned that conservative is a conversation may 27, 1964 talking about vietnam and johnson says i h

there's a lot of unrest about vietnam. many conservatives are saying vietnam is a disaster because johnson isn't tough enough because he isn't willing to bomb the north vietnamese with enough aggression. and they are also saying all of the spin is too high, the deficits are rising, we have to start cutting spending, and much more. so the conservative coalition in the midterm retains its power. in the last part of my book, the third part of my book shows a lyndon johnson who with all of his skills can get much done on capitol hill. it really challenges the notion that that is enough to move bills through. he gets some things but it's nothing like the middle of his presidency. and there's one great conversation i found where one senator in 1967 is talking to him and saying, can't you just move a certain bill? you are the master of the senate, and this conversation. you know, you can get anything done. and johnson is furious. master of the senate, i'm not the master of a damn thing. i can even make this congress do one thing

>> guest: the vietnam veterans memorial. and then when i decided to enter the actual competition, i knew drawings wouldn't quite describe it, so i actually took many more months to write that description, which really was about an experiential passage of what that piece is about and how you would walk through it to experience it. and i'm pretty convinced it's that essay, with these various serial pastel images. i think one of the jurors made--made a comment, as he was walking past in the selection process, `he must really know what he's doing to dare to do something so naive.' but then they kept coming back to the design, and i think it was this, again, mix of something very, very pastoral, these sketches, very, very--very young, and then this written essay. c-span: now what year was your design? >> guest: that was 1981; i designed it, and entered it in 1982. c-span: how old were you in '81? >> guest: i was 20--21. c-span: and where did you design it? >> guest: i was at yale as an undergraduate. c-span: what year were you? >

i can't recall that there were during the vietnam war vietnam movies. so i think that it's really inappropriate timing for a film like this, because we're still not out of it and ultimately our reason for the quagmire being stuck in middle eastern wars is the decision of george bush and dick cheney to choose to interview the fight over there. but thank you, c-span. host: jodie posts on twitter, snipers are heroes. they are ours. if not, they're the most despicable cowards for sniping our troops. which is it? sharon independent cockeysville maryland. good morning. caller: good morning. thanks for taking my call. i feel that we have gotten to the point to where we can't even look at a movie that would really show what really happens in a time of war and the emotional and you know, the emotional effects of how people have to deal with being a soldier. are we so sensitive that we can send everybody into a war, but god forbid we should look at it. and this isn't like when we had the vietnam war. the vietnam war was on our televisions every night. and if you

and johnson wasn't focused on vietnam at all. he was trying to deal with selma. mcnamara said why don't we send in two battalions? johnson said, we cannot win this war. mcnamara said, nobody will know. we will at least fly the flag. he was lured into vietnam. one of the reasons dr. king stood up against the war was, he thought he was standing with president johnson. president johnson would say to him over the phone, they are trying to get me to bomb this. you don't know the job i have standing up against the generals. they want more troops. so he felt that plus the meeting with -- who explained to him the buddhist position of the tension between the vietnamese and the chinese. ironically, the one war i had to mediate was between china and vietnam. and so, they were wrong about vietnam. we knew it and nobody would admit it. that, i think -- and i still don't understand what hoover's motivation was, but he had a sick envy or hatred of martin luther king. >> on hoover, yes. i remember hoover sent this memo out describing dr. king. u

you were only in vietnam about 10 days and you served a second tour of duty. why did you go back the second time? >> i was in vietnam 10 days and was with the unit four days when i was in that ambush and ended up with the medal of honor. they really pissed me off you know. but i came home. and i became an aid to the assistant common in the marine corps. he said if you can last a year with me as an aid you can go any place in the world. the year was up and i said time for my orders and he said that's right. where do you want to go and i said vietnam. he said you got the medal of honor. medal of honor recipients don't go back. i said you told me i could go anywhere i wanted. there is a war going on. i'm a professional marine that's where i should be. he did what generals do. and i went back. i became the battery commander of the same battery you was an observer of the first time. [applause] >> it was only earlier this year you were decorated with the medal of honor, what was your reaction when you got the news? >> i didn't believe it. and i never really worried

. >> this is vietnam, on this moped is robert rose.s he's riding past the field with cows on it one of them decides, i'm going to give this guy a little chase. she's the relentless cow. >> wait wait where are you from? where are you going? i want to hang out. let's go along. >> speedy for a cow. >> this is not the only awesome experience robert has had. also in vietnam, he encountered this pretty cool thing. these are actually basket boats. they choreographed a dance on these basket boats gangnam style. these are captured for a tv show called "raw travel tv" to tell us more about this we have robert rose via skype "right this minute," wall the way from vietnam. welcome to the show. >> hello. >> so tell me about all of the crazy experiences you've been having especially with the cow. what happened? >> well you know i was riding the side car, i don't know if you can tell on the video, an old school soviet side car, those are the only motorcycle that vietnam had for a while. i'm in the side car looking pretty goofy. i'm not sure if the co

was between china and vietnam. and so they were wrong about vietnam. and we knew it and nobody would admit it. and that i think plus -- and i still don't understand what hoover's motivation was. but he had a sicken i have or hatred of martin luther king. >> let me just put in two points. on hoover i remember i was then bob mcnamara's assistant in the pentagon and hoover sent out this memo describing dr. king to all the cabinet officers. unbelievable. but you're right about the selma thing. after bloody sunday when the march resumed johnson sent troops, we nationalized the guard so that we could protect the marchers. i was -- my instruction was to send memos to the white house every two hours. about those marchs. and they're actually -- >> you can read them. >> you can read them. they're actually on the lbj library tapes. every two hours where they were, how far they had gotten. i sent them to jack volente who would bring them into the president. the questions would come back. he just didn't -- he was so focused on selma and on that march working, it wa

vietnam. we have heard so many times that vietnam was in vain, that american soldiers died for nothing, that we had no business being there. with every move americans made in vietnam, we, behind the iron curtain, felt the soviet grip lose strength, and it gave us time to breathe and stay alive because you kept them busy in vietnam. they lost track of us. there was no more evil empire thanks to you. as a little girl, i did not dream of rights charming coming on a white horse to carry me off to his castle. i knew i needed a lot more than that. i needed an american fighter pilot. [laughter] that would, on a fighter jet blow up everything, and carry me off to america. i am the luckiest woman alive to have found him and honored to spend the rest of my life with him, loving him and taking care of him. [applause] by the time i came to america, i was numb. i was not dead but i had never really been alive either. that is what depression does to you, it slowly kills your spirit first. only after that, i

and so they want to take what they know over to vietnam. japan's communications state minister nishime and his vietnamese counterpart hyung exchanged a memorandum in hanoi. ministry officials say japan aims to improve vietnam's postal system and heighten the level of trust among vietnamese people in their postal services. japan will also provide practices and information relating to banks and insurance businesses. the japanese government plans to work with its private sector in realizing the project in vietnam. it would help introduce japanese companies. the government hopes to launch such projects in other emergeing economies too. it has already exchanged a memorandum with myanmar. >>> massive recalls over air bags made by a japanese company have rocked the global auto industry. now japanese authorities are thinking about expanding the role of safety inspectors. transport ministry officials currently limit their focus to carmakers. under the new proposal they would look at auto parts makers as well. at the center of the recalls are air bag

their desire for a -- with vietnam. it works the other way on capitol hill. the cuban-american legislators bring hearts and minds to the embargo. that tends to be deferred to somewhat by their colleagues on the hill. there are many dynamics that make vietnam and cuba sufficiently different. john makes a good point that we can have ex-appropriation claims will be similar but the dynamic on capitol hill is different. >> over here please. >> i have a question on specifics. do you all have any idea on licensing policy changes like in the nitty-gritty like the aviation industry? we have got issues with de minimus content. a plane in europe. the spanish carrier happens to be a plane going in and out of cuba that becomes a problem for boeing or airbus if it has a u.s. engine etc. etc.. with that is changing with the high-level policy how soon could we expect perhaps licenses granted or changes in the regulations on the specific issues? >> the administration has announced they expect opec to promulgate new rags in the next few

our export competitors as an example in vietnam offers credit to cuba and cuba uses vietnam as their principles source of rice for their local economy. >> meaning that a kernel of rice traveling from the mekong delta to cuba makes it rather than arkansas or texas. >> there is aen advantage when it comes to the logistics and timing of delivery. request we're 700 miles from the port where we can export rice to cuba and deliver within two-week window easily where if you're coming from southeast asia you're talking 45-60 days. time is money as well. it also limits where the rice can be discharged. >> professor, a lot of americans thought we had an embargo with cuba and they're surprised to find that the united states is the greatest suppliers to that island. >> a number of years ago there were holes punched in the embargo, which allowed shipment of certain products, certain medicines, and certain agricultural products including rice chicken parts and some others. u.s. exports to cuba has been in the range of $300 million too $400 million per year. as is this program is suggesting under t

sanctions on south africa, that is related to the question about vietnam and king's stance on vietnam. the new york times, and a lot of liberals, criticized king for venturing into foreign policy. he was out of his depth. the congressional black caucus and bill gray of philadelphia achieved an amazing victory in reversing a policy that was very dear to the hearts of the reagan administration. i think that is an extraordinary achievement. i think you do look at civil rights legislation at any time especially from the perspective of today, with resegregation and massive incarceration and execution rates and so on, it does not measure up. it does not measure up to the dream and to the aspiration. it does not measure up to people's hopes and needs today. but i think what happened, the mood of success is not only different from the 1970's, when people were perpetually disappointed with moving the agenda in congress and elsewhere , but when you compare the rest of the liberal agenda, you do not have successes like that. the reason is, i think, the opposition to civil rights leaves the great

white house turns against him being so aggressive against the president and his war on vietnam of the last poll taken in his life the "harris poll" found nearly 3/4 of the american people thought he was irrelevant. so white america turns on him. inside of black perk, america, that number is 60% of black folk thought he was irrelevant. i just don't mean black folk. i mean roy wilkins at naacp come out against him. whitney young and urban league come out against him. the leading black leaders of era. karl rowe juan comes out against him. ralph bunch another know pell peace prize laurie i can't think comes out against him. i can't quote on c-span, what thurgood marshall, supreme court justice thurgood marshall said about dr. king, what he felt on him during that era. everybody turns on martin white folks, black folk media, white house. he has to navigate that and talk about racism and poverty and militarism and nobody wants to hear about that. they turn their back on him. he dies broke. in the last year of his life he can't get a book deal. can't get a paid speech. he is disinvited to th

people do not realize that about the vietnam war. the reason why they had to stop that war is because we were killing officers, and there were people in my unit -- i was leaving. i got on plane and went home , but people were planning on killing a kernel it was that serious. but what i am interested in is if in your experience in the military is there that kind of -- yeah is there that kind of dissatisfaction from the level of wanting to stop it? >> so the 1st question, i do not think we will see a major policy change. rely upon military solutions, and we will see more of the same. your previous question ideologically they are unable to see these things. while there is a great degree of cynicism on behalf of people who may have otherwise enlisted the fact is the military has been forced to confront the reality of what they have done. there is no movement like vietnam in this country or in the military. obama announced -- he did not announced, but announced, but it came out that troops would be staying on in afghanistan. which is absu

with vietnam. it works the other way on capitol hill. they bring a hearts and minds commitment to the embargo that tends to be deferred to somewhat by their colleagues on the hill. many dynamics that make vietnam and cuba sufficiently different. the mechanics of the diplomatic negotiated rapprochement will be similar to the dynamic on capitol hill. on licensing policy changes? we have issues with the minimalist content, if the spanish carrier happens to be a plane going in and out of cuba, that becomes a problem for boeing. with everything that is changing with a high level policy, how soon we expect licenses granted or changes in the regulations on the specific issues? >> the administration has announced they expect new regulations in the next few weeks. time will tell. we will see a loosening of sanctions. >> i do not know what they will say beyond what is on the white house fact sheet. what will happen as result of the policy changes that will free up resources to at least speed the process alon

i said vietnam. you can't go to vietnam. you got the medal of honor first time. medal of honor recipients don't go back. but general, you told me if i lasted a year with you i could go any place i wanted. and i said you know, there's a war going on, i'm a professional marine, that's where i should be. so general walton did what generals do. and i went back, i became the battery commander of the same battery i was a forward observer in the first time. [ applause ] >> it was only earlier this year that you were decorated with the medal of honor. what was your reaction when you got the news? >> i didn't believe it. and i never really worried about it, never thought about it. i received the nation's second highest decoration. so you know, i thought it was going to go. and i just continued to march. i didn't worry about anything else. and when i got a call from g-1 colonel davis over here in the png, and he said well government officials want to speak to you tomorrow, you'd be standing by the phone. and the first thing that comes to mind was i said i've done something

in new york side speaking at the riverside church giving a speech called beyond vietnam. and kane calls america of the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today. he was on record to be opposed to this is the first time he gives a major address to condemn the war. and he lays out in detail our relationship with vietnam one of the rare times king reads the entire text he was an orator and to go off the script and would freestyle so he was good of script i'd like some people who has to use the teleprompter for everything they say. but dr. king gave a speech beyond the economic and called them the greatest perthite -- purveyor of violence and also called the triple threat racism, poverty and militarism ironically 50 years later same triple threat. racism but military -- poverty and deal with terrorism the next day everybody turned on him. the media turned i don't mean fox news. they were not around steadier times, "washington post", "time" magazine and then the white house. they work together to pass the voting rights act with johnson but they passed that piece of legi

vietnam, kissinger, working for richard nixon, oversaw the slaughter in vietnam, cambodia and laos. it led to the death of millions -- many thousands more died from the effects of agent orange, unexploded bombs the cover the countryside. henry kissinger was one of the principal architects of the coup in chile in 1973. overthrew the democratically elected allende. >> they were taken out of the senate hearing room and henry kissinger continued with his testimony. and those are some of the headlines, this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from park city, utah, where the sundance film festival is wrapping up. with groups around the country taking on issues of police brutality and accountability, we go back 50 years to another movement confronting the same issues. it was the 60's. as black history month is about to begin, we spend the hour with a remarkable new documentary that just premiered here called, "the black panthers: vanguard of the revolution." >> the thing that led to the panthers was what we were seeing on tele

from vietnam have been invited to perform.sang local folk songs. including one of the most popular, "chankom." ♪ for yuri, this was the first time to listen to vietnamese songs in concert. she seems inspired. >> translator: they are beautiful songs. i hope i can sing them in vietnamese one day. >> translator: i hope my kids can work as a bridge between vietnam and japan when they grow up. >> the school principal wants to take advantage of the diversity of the community to educate his students. >> translator: we're encouraging multiculturism at our school. we are teaching them the importance of overcoming the differences of culture or religion and that it's okay to live as who you are. ♪ >> all the children at the performance sang together. this may be the new face of modern japan. fumio kanda, nhk world, yokohama. >>> it's time now for our check of the weather. residents in northeastern areas of the u.s. are seeing heavy snow and preparing for the worst. meteorologist robert speta joins us with more. >> yes. what we have out h

i know vietnam is very unpopular.draft also kind of applies that everybody has to fight and there's a certain demographic that will not fight and not as the wealthy. they always figure at how to get out of it. i have no idea what the future holds. ya, i'm not sure. >> are there any anti-muslim movement that we keep track of rather than work right now? >> yeah. i'm sorry. [laughter] surprisingly about 750 billion, three quarters of a trillion dollars is spent on the military. very little goes towards proper mental health care. there's a huge gap as far as taking care of soldiers held. particularly their mental health. we have a veteran suicide once every 65 minutes in this country. 22 a day. so a lot of the groups are trained to do with that. making the most out of what they have out of general support. because they're such a need to look inward and take care of each other and provide the support that government isn't providing groups are having a harder time projecting outwards and being more political. there's a long

another highlight was introducing our helicopters into vietnam, a very controversial item. and we finally got armament on our helicopters which change the way -- ever since that time. so it made a great difference in vietnam and in the gulf wars and in society and military ever since, to have helicopters and particularly armed helicopters. >> prior to that helicopters had primarily been used for transport and for command and control. so it did change the nature of warfare as we know it. and one of his class mates, as a matter of fact oversaw the development of a little something called the blackhawk. so it was really an exceptional class involved in a lot of innovation. so the book is not just about war, it's about the innovation that occurred in periods of peacetime in between when this class was in areas of unprecedented military latitude where they were told as wes pointers -- west pointers go out and do something anything, but do it. thaw became directors of the apollo tech, they worked on helicopters, they put the first communication satellite into space which gave us

and i guarantee you this is a way to send more jobs particularly to vietnam and malaysia. what's happening now is that labor rates are going up slightly in china. this panics the corporations. they want other places to go. vietnam's an even cheaper labor platform than china and so it's cheap labor coupled with really minimal environmental protection. you can do just about anything you want to. >> i brought two headlines from the same day's edition of the "washington post." one says "obama looking to mend fences with congress is reaching out to democrats." the other one, in the same edition of the "washington post," says "obama says he willing to defy democrats on his support of trans-pacific partnership." what do you make of that? >> well, it's the typical obama. >> well, it's the typical obama. you know during the big -- it goes back. early in his political career, there was a big fight in chicago in 2006. the city council voted to pass a big box minimum wage bill, $13 an hour. they said there's no factory work left, thanks to nafta and pntr, so if walmart wants to move i

. >> not telling anyone and never checking in with vietnam air traffic control. >> the fact that the westerly turn happens at the point of handover between malaysia and vietnam, for many is the strongest evidence that something nefarious was going on. >> you've investigated many incidents. is that coincidence that everything seems to go wrong at this particular, critical moment? >> it can't be coincidence. i don't believe in coincidence with my accidents. it just seems to me that there was something. now, it doesn't mean that it was nefarious, it doesn't mean anything else, but remember there's a lot of systems doing a lot of things at that time as well. >> so the critical moment is immediately after this handover. when you're essentially in this kind of no man's land in the sky -- >> yeah, nobody's watching right then. >> for 19 minutes, no one was watching and flight 370 would vanish. >>> coming up -- a critical mistake by air traffic control with time running out. >> the aircraft was still flying, as we know now. that just is so painful to think about, that four hours later, no on

that were opposed to the war before they went, when they were in vietnam, serving in vietnam, they all remained pretty vocal among each other about how, you know, this is bad, we shouldn't be here. i'm trying to think of nonprofane ways to describe the kinds of things i heard them talk about saying in their various camps that they were in, in vietnam. how much of that talk did you hear in iraq? >> you know, i think there's plenty. as soldiers, you know, we're prone to complain, because we don't have a lot of power over our personal lives or what we're doing beyond our orders and somewhat our mission is. there's certain aspects that we hate and disagree with. i probably talked to a hundred different soldiers that had a hundred different point of views why we were deployed to iraq from oil to the holy war. there weren't really good reasons given by our country, so a lot of service members were kind of inventing why they were there, from what they were reading or hearing or what they felt. so it's, like i said, it was really ambiguous at the time i was there, especially as these things we

this time in vietnam. that's coming up on "war stories."o,as my personal financial psychic, i'm sure you know what this meeting is about. yes, a raise. i'm letting you go. i knew that. you see, this is my amerivest managed... balances. no. portfolio. and if doesn't perform well for two consecutive gold. quarters. quarters...yup. then amerivest gives me back their advisory... stocks. fees. fees. fees for those quarters. yeah. so, i'm confident i'm in good hands. for all the confidence you need. td ameritrade. you got this. >>> by 1966, america was embroiled in the vietnam war. before its end, almost 9 million men and women would serve in vietnam. more than 50,000 would never come home. the best jet in the world was the f-4 phantom. its top speed 1650 miles an hour. 1200 miles per hour faster than the p-51 mustang. it relied not on guns but on heat-seeking, radar-guided missiles. >> i loved the f-4. >> in october of 1966, world war ii ace robin olds went into combat again. for the now 44-year-old colonel, the planes looked different but dogfi

this time in vietnam. that's coming up on "war stories."i wasn't going to invite people over and when i saw what their homes looked like." "my kids couldn't go outside and play. they couldn't go to the park." "i didn't know where i was gonna go, what i was gonna do." "my other concerns were the leaks in the wall, the mice running around." "it was brutal. it was a scary, scary place to be." "we're in darkness, but there is always a little bit of light, and if people help, the light becomes greater." "the fact that people want to help without getting anything in return." "they're experiencing your dream with you." "you can stand in your own house and say i helped build this!" "just walking into that house was the beginning of a different life." "happiness, peace, stability, are all the words that come to mind when i think of our home." "because of this house, i am free!" "because of this house, i'm home." you can change the lives of families in your community and around the world. join us. habitat, we build. >>> by 1966, america was embroiled

did vietnam do that to -- >> guest: well look, vietnam -- the war in vietnam gave rise to that wonderful phrase from george aiken the liberal vermont senator, let's declare victory and come home. i'm not going to get into the install because it's a complex analogy and in a sense almost an hour's worth of television time. but let me speak to what the president was saying help was saying, what we need to do is stop hyperventilating about this terrorism threat. i mean, lots of people -- okay, so, for example, 12 journalis have been murdered by -- or 16 people were recently murdered in paris, a number of car afternoonis who provoked jihaddists islamic fanatics with their cartoons, but 16 people how big is that? how important ought that to be? let us turn our attention -- in that speech he said -- referred to some woman who had been badly scared in the terror attack and this woman's comment what you know i move on. now that's very admirable for this woman who suffered atrociously in a terror attack to say that's her reality. it's very hard for a nation to do that. leon trotski supposedly once

i was involved in some of the most serious fights in vietnam. i could name them but i'd probably bore you. one night by accident i always would walk the lines and talk to the young kids, particularly if we had a casualty. because they didn't have the kind of background, and they were young, and to just lose your best friend was something monumental. but one night i was walking, i was sitting in the edge of the foxhole and foot kicked the dirt, one of them said to me, general, you don't have your weapon. i don't know why i said it but i said why do i need a weapon? i got you to protect me. and they'll never get by you. from then on everybody thought that was great. the general was going to rely on us. but those are little things that you do just to sort of personalize. the other morning, show you how current things can be, the other morning i had a -- i was shaving , not that you care, i do once in a while. the telephone rang. and a little squeaky voice obviously from a young lady, asked if general kelley was there, yes speaking. and she gave me

over the vietnam war, jane fonda is offering a big mea culpa.ts photos that suggested that she was anti-american troops. she was seen sitting with a helmet gun on an anti-aircraft battery. she made the comments friday in frederick, maryland. and according to the frederick news post she said quote, whenever possible i try to sit down with vets and talk with them because i understand it makes me sad. it hurts me and it will to my grave that i made a huge huge mistake. i made a lot of people think i was against the soldiers. i know my dad was a vietnam vet, and when you bring up jane fonda he doesn't want to talk about her. >>> if you want to sound smart today, tell your friends that the record for the applause interruptions belongs to president bill clinton. interrupted for applause 128 times. our current president averages around 90 interruptions. see what happens tonight. >>> next a look at the stories we'll be talking about in the days ahead. "morning joe" moments away. can't say thank you enough. you have made my life special by being apart of

>> i don't think this is vietnam for him.hink in general he tried to be restrained including with isis and his strategy is not to let each event dictate what he does militarily. in that way he's living with the memory of vietnam and trying to avoid that kind of confrontation. >> when you went in to writing this book you said you went into it with the sort of conventional wisdom about lbj and that your mind was really changed. as did you your research what was it that changed your perception of this president and why do you think that he's so widely understood the other way? >> i listen to many tapes of him. i learned he understood better than anyone that his power was limited and he always used to say the only power i have is nuclear and i can't even use that and in some ways lyndon johnson taught me that the power of the presidency depends on a congress that will work with them. >> you say in the piece for "the washington post," according to him, lyndon johnson says i'm not a master of a damed thing. i can't make this congre

because we are fighting a no-win war in vietnam -- a war we don't want to win. and i don't like no-win wars, especially wars our men are getting butchered in. don't you want to stop this war? don't you care about what's happening over there? well, i care -- i care a lot. >> sabato: another precedent for modern campaigns from 1964 is that the issues that really matter don't get discussed. vietnam, which became the issue for four years -- johnson was the peace candidate, and it was one of the reasons why he won. he actually said during the campaign, "we're not about to send american boys 9,000 or 10,000 miles away from home to do what asian boys ought to be doing for themselves." and we all know what actually happened. people should've probed johnson more about what he might have done. it's a lesson for us in every campaign. make the candidates discuss the issues that really matter, as we see them, rather than allowing them to put certain subjects off limits because it suits their political needs. >> the legacy of the '64 convention and the barry goldwater nominat