holcomb in the city in vietnam. once sy gone the old capital of south vietnam at its heart. islam soon square where journalists diplomats military st. off and spies rub shoulders in its famous hotels during the vietnam war. the area around loves filed square. you've got the caravel on one side, the continental on the other. the old passage, a den where the a p office was in my office, the nbc office, and the vis news office. all of these agencies were there and then down the other end of the square, the wrecks hotel. this was the nucleus of the life that we led as war correspondence at that time, is the saigon that we knew a very small but very pivotal area of sy god, where we sort of made our home for a number of years. 2 0, the caravel was built shortly after the 1st into china war in 1954. at 10 stories. it was the tallest building in the city. and it became a significant base for reporters who arrived in saigon and the early 19 sixty's to cover the vietnam war. joan gardner once a general manager of the caravel,

in 1963 south vietnam was in disarray. the unpopular and autocratic president was deposed in a qu, backed by the u. s. and the caravel was at the center of the war reporting action. the caravel hotel proved its usefulness and burst under the headlines. november 1 of 963. that was when those a military coud a tar, against the covenant of president, no din z m, which led to the assassination of the president. and his brother. in the course of that action of our 24 hour period, the center of saigon was, it was zone. the press retreated in effect to the caravel hotel. and that was when many of the stories were basically if not date one the caravel. we certainly mentioned that a lot of the, what we were saying was from the caravel, the us military officially joined the war in 1964 and hundreds of reporters camera crews and photographers descended on saigon. hotels quickly filled up the passage in building the hotel continental, the majestic and of course, the caravel. it became a desirable location for journalists, particularly

claimed that it did not use chemical weapons in vietnam. it instead, used chemiccal agent and not against personnel. the u.s. has used chemical agent to clear areas to flush out enemy bunkers that began yoursing hush herbicides as defensive measures and then as an offensive strategy. always careful call it a chemical agent. insofars as united states actions in vietnam, and it's refusal to sign the protocol, the u.n. refined its definition in 1967. this is where we get in the idea of eco-side. scientists in the united states and elsewhere began radicalizing themselves and organizing themselves and other sympathetic people to their view of the use of chemical agent in war as ecocide. arthur gulfson coined the term, compared it to genocide, basically saying that if you destroy the means by which a community can support itself from the natural world, then you are essentially killing them and complicit in their death. so gulfson is another scientist rallied, environmentalists and students alike to protest the war not only on humanitarian ground

in the republic of vietnam during the period of 14 to 50 15th april 1972. two days preceding the events of 14 to 15 april 1972, the commander of the 11th airborne patel ian was killed. the battalion command post was destroyed. major duffy was twice wounded but refused to be evacuated. on 14th april, major duffy directed the offense of the -- which was surrounded by a battalion sized ella me element. in the morning hours, after a failed effort to establish a landing zone for re-supplying air graph, he moved close to the enemy anti aircraft positions to call in airstrikes. at this, time major duffey was again wounded by fragments from the recoil list rifle round, and again refused medical evacuation. shortly thereafter, the enemy began and an artillery bowman mint on the base and he remained in an exposed position to direct gunships onto enemy position which eventually silenced enemy fire. -- major duffy assess the conditions on the basin personally ensured the wounded friendly foreign soldiers removed to safety. and the remaining ammunition was appropriately

a bloodied period of the vietnam war. north vietnamese forests -- foresters launched an attack on an air saigon. the first american unit to respond was that of specialist five dwight birdwell. unknown to the men, they were moving to be taking on a full -- they arrived, and their unit took the brunt of the attack with many vehicles disabled. when his tank commander was hit and wounded, birdwell got to a place of safety and took command. he knew his vehicle was on the first line of defense so birdwell stood in his commanders hatch sometimes, expose, at times fully exposed out of the tank, laying down a fire on the enemy. he used machine guns, his personal rifle. his sustained fire, drove back the attackers and created a place of relative safety for his injured men so they could take cover. he provided this until the enemy shot the communication system off his helmet. when he ran out of ammunition, he ran to retrieve an m-16 machine gun and ammo off the helicopter that had been downed during the flight. he kept firing on the

vietnam was not so much. and so i wondered if you think that changes the stake -- that it's a different way to cover war because war changes. yes, all of the above. the way you reacted to the different situations. >> no question. jessica, you write, quite an eye-opening book and you write about special forces and you also -- and they are the most male of all units in the military in my view. they never like it when we show up. but you -- you get deep into their culture and you get deep into the culture of the afghan special force, how did you do that, how did you get them to let you? >> there was a natural divide and then the men would do the sort of more kind of thing and at the start, not be in one kind of reporting because you had access. women obviously -- as i matured in the war, i see differently but started out, yeah, i wanted to do the same stuff that guys did. why couldn't i get access to afghan commanders and that's where the story was and at the time the u.s. calling out, the story was very much wh

relations with vietnam from 1945 through 1967. and it takes al higg to focus richard nixon's attention on this. which he doesn't this phone call that sunday morning. >> hello. >> general. >> hello. >> yes, sir. >> what about the casualties last week? you got the figure yet? >> no, sir, but it's going to be quite low. >> yes. >> it should be last week or bitter. >> it should be less than 20. i would think, 20. when do you get that? do you -- >> we don't get it officially till monday afternoon. but we can get a reading on. it >> right, well, monday afternoon officially? well let's wait till then. fine, okay. nothing else of interest in the world today? >> yes, sir, very significant. this darn new york times exposÉ, of the most highly classified documents of the war. >> oh that. i see. i did not read the story. but you mean that was leaked out of the pentagon? >> sir, the whole study that was done for mcnamara and then carried on after mcnamara left by clifford and the peace mix over there. this is a devastating security breach of th

both are about vietnam.ichael here was corresponded and wrote a fantastic in the 70s about his time as a correspondent with the vietnam experience was like. hazard was a marine combat correspondent which is a job that i had. he wrote about his experiences during marine boot camp.ho now i have to talk about war literature it's hard to talk about a war story without moving the ball forward a little bit. i was fascinated with the vietnam war as a teenager. my older accent i still kind of emperor the few wars in american history there eloquently and completely rendered as in vietnam were to happen drip right when that was o publishin. tim o'brien was a combatonlose a rumor of war james webb field of fire producer all books i saw coming up as a kid. much of that literature pushed me towards the military. which by all metrics should be a bit odd but yet was credible, report literature much of it on the high arch site is antiwar i'm thinking works by the authors i just mentioned.ar has motivated more people into li

soup to nuts kennedy in vietnam. those kinds of narratives are out there and they're they're worthwhile and valuable. i was interested in a smaller segment of the kennedy vietnam story which relates to his planning to withdraw the united states from vietnam by 1965. lots has been lots have been written about this recently and because of some material that kennedy taped we have a way to try to get to the bottom of what kennedy was thinking about vietnam yet large but also what he was thinking about with respect to this planning that had been going on since the summer of 1962 to get the united states out by 1965 a time when he expected that he would still be present. so the conversation we're going to hear is from early october 1963. it will feature defense secretary robert mcnamara chairman of the joint chiefs maxwell taylor. they have just come back from a fact-finding trip to vietnam and they deliver to kennedy this report, which says a variety of things about the way the the administration should be handling a real

before vietnam not allowed in after vietnam women automatically got credentialed and media organizations looked at women as staff were during y vietnam the almost never saw staff woman. >> and jessica you were in afghanistan and there were quite a few women in afghanistan. >> i think it would be surprising. you would be judged by america's policy would make comments. i can say i got a job in afghan ---- and a journalist who is writing for big american news organization. obviously you have access to women which is half the population and that's one of the problems we were finding you don't have a correspondent there. you wanteded to cover the story and it's something that i tried to do in washington d.c.. t it's not accessible to the lol journaliste. that we have there. >> that's interesting. sylvia did you see the same thing in bosnia? i remember there being lots of women there and many of them went on to bigger careers. >> absolutely, yeah and what was also different about the whole croatia and bosnia and later kosovo there were no american troops. there were no officials who could tell

opposing the war in vietnam saying they would support people who chose not to go to vietnam and as a result of that julian julian bond was not seated. he was elected to the state legislature at georgia. remember nick they refused to see them. so this is the reaction right? king leaves the protest about bonds failure to be seated, but he still you know, but by 60 70s ready and one of the things that again the war is escalating, but he sees a magazine ramparts magazine. early in 67 which has a photo essay on the children of vietnam. and it describes over a million deaths. and casualties. i mean wounding equipping or of children with images of people napalm children and an essay talking about the tools of war that america is using know gases bombing defoliants and and this really shakes him up so has to speak out. and he joins a march in chicago, but his big coming out is in new york city and a speech. he gives it riverside church. pointing at the wrong thing and it's called beyond vietnam a time to break the silence. and this is one of the strongest public statements made against the w

nixon arrived in the capital of south vietnam. u.s.erick reinhart, represents of the president and a throng of vietnamese citizens greeted them n. no other place were the nixons to see a bigger change than their previous visit. then this land had been in the throes of war. today it was a peaceful and free republic. while riding into saigon, signs over the world testified to the friendship vietnam feels toward the american people and their elected representatives. this happened to be a time of national rejoicing. everywhere there were people carrying banners, marching in celebration of the second anniversary of the presidency. [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ >> thousands gathered on the spacious lawn before the presidential palace to cheer the republic and the president when mr. nixon came to be received by the young nation's chief executive. [cheers and applause] ♪♪ >> the two leaders conferredded for an hour and a half. mr. nixon extended president eisenhower's warmest personal congratulations, well earned by a man and his people who had th

to the united states from vietnam by 1965. lots have been written about this recently. ingbecause of some material that kennedy taped, we have a way to try to get to the bottom of what kennedy was thinking about of vietnam at large, but also when he was thinking about in respect to this planning that have been going on since the summer of 1962 to get the united states out by 1965. the time when he expected he would still be president. the conversation we are going to hear is from early october, 1963. it will feature defensive secretary robert mcnamara, and chief secretary maxwell taylor. they have just come back from a fact finding mission in vietnam. they deliver to emily this report, which is a variety of things about how they should be handling a really trembling ally in north vietnam. but more than that, they give kennedy a plan to extricate the united states from conflict that looked like it was in some trouble at the time. so we are going to hear kennedy ask about this thousand. that's 1000 troops to get out by the end o

both of them are about vietnam.ichael herr was a correspondent and i write about his time as a correspondent and what the vietnam experience was like. hazard was the marine corps correspondent which was a job i had and he wrote about his experience during marine boot camp. i have to talk about war and its hard not to talk about war story without -- a little bit. i was fascinated with it. there are few words in american history that are eloquently rendered in vietnam and they happened to grow up when it was publishing. larry heinemann's close quarters james webb's field of fire. these are books that i coming up as a kid. that literature push me toward the military which biometrics should be a bit and was incredibly common. waruc literature much it is considered to be antiwar. and it motivated more people to fight in the war. people at engage with that subject and have become interested in wars as a profession. many my friends it was in the military barge on the back of antiwar stories to the fact that this is truth p

on august 19, 1945, the anti-colonial won in vietnam revolution formally vietnam then remained a colonyut in fact by the time of the second world war. it was already a joint protectorate of france and japan in which the japanese role was increasingly intensified in the spring of forty-five, japanese troops staged a military coup in indocia. and the french administration. liquidated. all this time, the revolutionary mood was growing. among the vietnamese themselves. as a result, on august 19, hanoi was completely under the control of troops to the vietnam independence league of yatmia, led by ho chi minh city. they staged a rally. on theater square. a few days later, the declaration of independence was solemnly proclaimed, but finally from foreign dependence. vietnam did not get rid of another 8 years for the usual control over indochina, france fought and then for almost two decades there was a big vietnam war with the participation of the united states. on august 19, 1965, the trial of the auschwitz criminals ended. this was already the second series of auschwitz trials, during which 2

both of them are about vietnam. michael hare was a correspondent and i wrote a fantastic book in the late 70s about his time there is of correspondent and about what the vietnam experience was like hazard was a marine combat correspondent, which is a job that i had. and he wrote about his experiences in the battle of way city and during marine boot camp. now you know i have to talk about war literature. it's hard not to talk about a war story without the literature of war sort of ample, you know moving that ball a little bit. i was fascinated with the vietnam war as a teenager and until milder extent kind of still am. there are a few wars in american history that are eloquently and completely rendered in literature vietnam. and i happen to grow up right when much of that literature was publishing think of. know tim o'brien's the things they carried and if i die on a combat zone larry heinemann's close quarters and paco's story a rumor of war, you know, james webb's fields of fire. these are all books that i saw comi

nixon arrive in the capital of south vietnam. u.s.frederik reinhart, representatives of presidency am and a throng of vietnamese citizens greeted them. in no other place where the nexus to see such a change their previous visit to asia. then, this land had been in the throes of war. today it was a free and republic. while visiting saigon, signs testified to the french vietnam feels with the american people and their elected representatives. this happened to be a time of national rejoicing. everywhere, there were people carrying banners, marching in celebration of the second adversary of diem his presidency. thousands gathered on the spacious lawn before the presidential palace to cheer the republic and president diem when mr. nixon came to be received by the nations young chief executive. the two leaders conferred for an hour and a half. mr. nixon extended president eisenhower as warmest personal congratulations. well earned by a man and his people who had shown astonishing progress and spirit through two difficult years. at president

and other related illnesses from vietnam. we were called cowards. we were spit on by vfw, american legion. our own government fought us. we fought for agent orange recognition and we got it. this bill should be passed immediately. over soldiers are -- host: have you seen the provisions that would help those exposed to agent orange, they are included in this bill as well. caller: yes. this bill should be passed. this may be one of the reasons why we can't recruit enough soldiers. they see that their fathers,, their uncles their brothers are dying and not getting compensated. do you think a young man or woman wants to join the military and see how their relatives or friends are being treated? it is despicable the way that this government treats our veterans. plain and simple. anybody who opposes this bill should be exposed for being a traitor. there is nothing more important than our military, in our opinion, and the veterans that have served. host: so on this debate with senator toomey about the budgetary gimmick in this legis

that drove me crazy reading the memoirs of those who cover the vietnam war. didn't know what they wore i knew none of that so thankfully they left a lot for me to use that was very much friends and families andnd love affairs and i i had terrible love affairs. that is part of war. as we all know it's all 24/7. >> i love that part and i've been missing it forever so i did appreciate that. so what is striking is these women don't really hang out with each other they are pretty much working alone and did you have female friends that was important to you? >> yes from the later years it was a very collegial place to work and that you would share forces and advice. >> we hung out together. and then this was in the grade. >> there were a lot of women. we were always pretty much the fsame. and we did hang out together. >> both books to something very interesting which is the history of your own war and that is the subtext of this book and i had not thought about it in so long. it's interesting to read that. how long did it take you to figure out what is in and what i

what is approved of the words of kamala until -- about vietnam. he was a decorated combat marine in vietnam, before he wrote one of the great novels of that war, matter when. his regrets, he says, quote, that the prudence we learned from our involvement in china was derived from vietnam syndrome. he was not to say, if by vietnam syndrome we mean that belief that u.s. should never again engage in a, military inventions in the form of civil wars and without clear objectives and clear exit strategy. and b, nation building and countries whose history and culture we are ignorant and see, sacrificing our children when our lives, way of life or government for the people are not directly threatened. then, we should never take over the vietnam syndrome. it is not an illness, it's a vaccination. close quote. that vaccination war off and so we went off to iraq. thereby validating the accident, the only thing we learned from his threes that we do not learn from history. today however, we commemorate the 75th anniversary of one of the great contributions to we

the words of carl spoke about vietnam, a decorated combat marine in vietnam before he wrote one of the great novels of that war. and his regrets he says that the prudence we learn from our involvement in china has been widely derived as vietnam syndrome. and he went on to say, this vietnam syndrome remained at the least that the u.s. should never again engage in a military defense of informed civil war without clear objectives and strategy. and also nationbuilding whose history and culture we are ignorant and another that affecting her children when our lives and way of life on government by and for the people are not directly threatened. and then we should never get over the vietnam syndrome, it is not an illness, is a vaccination that was a quote. and that vaccination wore off and so we went off to erect rated and there by validating that the only thing that we learn from history is that we do not learn from history. and today however we commemorate the 75th anniversary of the great contributions of the western civilizations of political rhetoric but as i close up to indulgence, a br

it's ironic it ended up like vietnam but that's another subject.his experiences in libya as a child and abroad ales in exile and history and end of the dictatorship along with the return to libya after the arabsspring to search for his father's remains. i am no different. i live as we all live in the aftermath. i think about writing of my own family history in this context especially as i set out to write about my dad and stepdad and how they influenced me as a kid or the missteps. my relationship with my father in history doesn't have the way to c the story i could not help but feel a i connection to the surge s as it relates to my own. was i searching for my own father's needs or service, where does the history end and my own begin? of both my father and stepfather were in the air for force and my father was in the cold war as an air traffic controller. my mother and grandfathers were also in the military. they gave me the sort of inspiration to evaluate my role in the context of that history. now thet last two these are really personal for me. o