[speaking in vietnamese] built, thisewly quarter. vietnamese] were two or three beds in one cell. kitchen.to the [speaking in vietnamese] >> and areas another section of the kitchen over there. [speaking in vietnamese] >> another section was destroyed. in the water was bad. [speaking in vietnamese] >> we go to the place where americans were found. >> [speaking in vietnamese] >> this is the bathtub. >> [speaking in vietnamese] >> we build up this child -- tub for american pilots. >> [speaking in vietnamese] >> which in the bathtub into what is a bath now. >> [speaking in vietnamese] >> people don't use bathtubs. >> that's the street. >> [speaking in vietnamese] >> they edited a bit. the -- sen. mccain: the windows were bricked over. >> when he said the window i been there with the bars over it, that was not true. sen. mccain: they just directed icked it over, they kept is isolated. there was never any bombshell dry sauntering that you and a half years i was in that prison, nor did we ever go to any bomb shelter because then we would have had to be together and they didn't want that

loses, for the vietnamese, for the north vietnamese is a total war situation, right? so americans vietnam is there only if you have to fight vietnam. pretty much everyone else, it's life as it was before. because of the state of war and the bombing, every man, woman and child effectively starts contributing to the war effort in one way or another. for the vietnamese. a lot of guys being drafted and sent south to fight. the women are being employed to fill in bomb craters or else, to go to the south, not to fight but to serve as nurses, as medics and so on and so forth. and then kids end up being co-opted, as part of your school curriculum. you study math, history and all that great stuff in the morning and in the afternoon, you put out fires, that's usually more of an impromptu thing, you fill in bomb craters, you contribute to the rebuilding of bridges and so forth. so everyone in the north is effectively mobilized for the purposes of the war effort. which is really kind of helps the cause of this. i got this from the vietnamese archives. recognize him? john mccain.

had advisors who were running things with the vietnamese against the south vietnamese at the time. the gulf of tonken was supposed to be a push back. presently, i work for the va, and i see disability claims. and these claims are fraught with incidents of undiagnosed illness, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia. these are not bombs and bullets, but this is the type of things that this war here and the vietnam war has brought to us. we don't seem to get the message that we have to keep our young men and women safe and not put them in this kind of harm's way. thank you very much and have a great day. >> this goes back to our earlier point about agent orange. >> very much so. there are a lot of different aspects to that, and definitely there was -- i mean, every war has a material aspect to it of people benefiting from the war. you know, you can make the argument that the war is fought because of that. i disagree with that. i think it's a byproduct of it. wars are fought because of policy up and down whether it's right or not and not for the economics of it. >> we are beginning a nine-part

, the south vietnamese against the ve vietnamese that time.t was supposed to be a push back to them being run. i presently work for the va and i see disability claims. the claims are fraught with incidents of undiagnosed illness, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia. these are not bombs and bullets, but this is the kind of stuff that war -- this war here that we're in now and the vietnam war brought to us and we don't seem to get the message that we've got to keep our young men and women safe and not put them in this kind of harm's way. thank you very much. have a great day. >> there are a lot of different aspects to that. and definitely there was -- every war has a material aspect to it of people benefiting from the war. i disagree with that. i think it's just a biproduct of it because wars are fought because of policy and not because if it's right or wrong or the economics of it. >> we're beginning a nine part series on c-span and c-span3's american history tv and we were pleased to join you here at the table for the first program as we look at 196

vietnamese government.hey need to own up. i say this to my friends in the government in vietnam. you need to own up that a lot of the stuff went on as a matter of policy. >> i just want to remind our audience that we are focusing on america, 1968, america in turmoil. it's the first of a three-part series on american history tv, all of it available on our website at c-span.org. navy secretary, naval academy graduate, marine corps veteran, but part of the broader navy. and david maraniss who is author of countless books. he is the editor at the "washington post," including "they marched in sunlight." you wanted to follow up. >> it was march 16, 1968 when meliah happened. it wasn't revealed for another year, but when you talk about rules of engagement, that's the worst that can happen when you don't follow rules of engagement. hundreds of old people, kids, just civilians were literally slaughtered by american troops. if it wasn't for another heroic american helicopter pilot who landed between them and stopped

i got this from the vietnamese archives. the americans bomb and of course the north vietnamese population will rally and mobilize to defend the homeland . what you guys notice about the picture? who is featured prominently? kids. we try to understand why they when -- win in the u.s. loses, specific to the north vietnam, for the americans, if you have to fight in vietnam, for everyone else it is life as it was before. people ignore vietnam because of the state of war and the bombing. every man, woman and child effectively starts interbreeding to the war effort in one way or another. a lot of the guys and of being drafted and are sent south to fight. the women are being employed to fill in bomb craters or to go to the south, not to fight but to serve as nurses and medics and so on and so forth. the kids and up being co-opted. as part of the school curriculum, instead of math and history and all of that stuff in the morning, in the afternoon you would put out fires, you are filling in bomb craters, you contribute to the rebuild

the south vietnamese with u.s. troops responded. the u.s.ed more troops in vietnam and increased spending. over the next several hours, american history tv is going to talk about that transforming year of 1968. also how 1968 changed u.s. politics and topics, that led to the war. this is some of the american history tv programming normally seen weekends here on cspan3. we are able to show it to you this week while congress is on its august break. >> our nine part cspan series, 1968 america and turmoil, continues throughout the week. each day, we focus on a different aspect of the state of the u.s. 50 years ago. tuesday, the 1968 presidential election as former vice president richard nixon faced democratic nominee, the incumbent vice president hubert humphrey, and alabama governor george wallace who ran on the american independent ticket. wednesday it is civil rights and race relations. thursday, the rise of liberal politics, with a special look at the democratic convention in chicago. friday, conservative politics, and richard nixon's rise of

over here, two million american vietnamese -- >> that's different, yes. >> vietnamese-american.ricans of vietnamese descent, that is a scar that has to be healed. i have worked very hard on it over the years. if you are a south vietnamese army veteran in vietnam, you are not a veteran. you have no veteran status. that's one thing i started working on in the '90s. >> explain that. >> you have no veteran status. ironically, it's a little bit like the confederate army after the civil war. that's how states rights got so big. my family is from that part of the country. you are not recognized as a veteran. they were getting no medical care, those sorts of things. and the cemeteries for the arvn, south vietnamese, were allowed to fall apart. there is a big cemetery outside of saigon where they put the word "traitor" over the cemetery where these thousands of south vietnamese soldiers who had been killed. and that needs to be healed. we did this in this country after the civil war. it took a long time, but we did it. there is a confederate memorial in the arlington national cemetery th

the vietcong and vietnamese lost in terms of it. >> this is from the south vietnamese army explaining what was happening in early 1968 at the ted offensive. it runs about a minute and half. . the people of vietnam, tech is a joseph--joyous in sacred time of year. troops seem to promise the people safe holiday free from the ever present anxiety of war. at the temple, people gathered to pay respects to the ancestors. on the eve of the new year, thousands of saigon families faced before the offer -- faced before the altar of their families. additional firecrackers of the celebration became the fireworks of war. the viet cong was taking advantage of the celebration and lost a savage attack on saigon, violating the truce. areas became a blazing inferno. block in ther capital city burned with the fires of viacom treachery. this viet cong treachery. taking place in january 1958. president johnson addressed the nation claiming he would not seek another term. said march 31j 1968. >> their attack during the tech holidays failed to achieve its printable objective. collapse the elected government

the south vietnamese, with u.s. troops, responded. the u.s.etnam and increased spending. over the next several hours, american history tv is going to talk about that transforming year of 1968. and then how 1968 changed u.s. politics and public opinion, which led to ending the war. that's followed by a film about the tet offensive made by south vietnamese armed forces at the time of the military drive. this is some of the american history tv programming normally seen weekends here on c-span3. we're able to show it to you while congress is on its august break. >>> this week, watch the first of our series "1968, america in turmoil" where we look back 50 years to that tumultuous year. starting tonight, we'll discuss the vietnam war. tuesday, a look at the presidential campaign of that year. wednesday, civil rights and race relations. on thursday, a discussion on liberal politics. friday, conservative politics. on saturday, women's rights. watch "1968 america in turmoil" this week at 8:00 p.m. eastern on american history tv on c-span3. and all nine

what are the north -- who do the north vietnamese want that the south vietnamese don't want? who would be the obvious? vietcong. they don't want to recognize them, do they? some of you probably have studied for your final paper project reading the tang memoir of the viet kocong memoir. so they don't want them represented and the north vietnamese are like, we really doan want that puppet government in saigon represented. can you see some of the problems that could result? who gets to come to the table? and then they start argue, what is the table going to look like? do we do a circular? a square in do we put who is going to make that determination? basically here's what the north vietnamese are doing. this is lee duong who ho chi minh's picture there but ho had been outmaneuvered by duon who was a southerner time and time again for the last two or three years. he pushed the tet offensive even though they're saying not a good idea. continue to try to wear them down. putting our forces out in the open just makes it easy for him. but he thought and believed generally that the sou

you have the vietnamese americans over here, 2 million -- americansnamese of vietnamese descent, thata scar that needs to be healed. i've worked very hard over the years. you are a south vietnamese army veteran in vietnam you have no veteran status. host: explain that. >> you have no veteran status. it's a little bit like the confederate army after the civil war. that's how states rights got so big. you are not recognized as a veteran. no medical care, no sorts of things. the cemeteries for the south to fallse were allowed apart. a big cemetery outside of saigon where they put the word traitor. thousands of south vietnamese .oldiers who'd been killed that meets be healed. we did this in this country. it took a long time. we did it. there's a confederate memorial in arlington national cemetery put in there in 1912. i like to take them there and say this is how we make peace. we bring people together. we could do a whole show on that. host: we're talking with james as wend david maraniss look back on 1968. john from los angeles, vietnam war veteran, thank you for waiting. and.r: thank y

who did the north vietnamese want that the south vietnamese don't want? who would be the obvious? the vietcong. they don't want to recognize them, do they? some of you studying for your final paper project, reading the vietcong memoir. so they don't want them represented. and the north vietnamese are like, we don't want that puppet government in see conrepresented. did you see some of the problems that could result? who gets to come to the table? and then they argue what is the table going to look like? do we do a circular or a square, who is going to make that determination? basically here is what the north vietnamese are doing. and ho chi minh's picture is there, but ho had been outmaneuvered for the last two to three years. he pushed the tet offensive, even though others were saying not a good idea. continue to try to wear them down. putting our forces out in the open makes it easy for them. but he thought and he believed generally that the south vietnamese people were ready for the revolution. he's a hard liner. the negotiating tactics is this. talking while fighting, fighting

north vietnamese from march 9 to march 12. he tells the story of a tiger that saved his life during the battle. the national archives hosted this hour-long event. >> i ask all vietnam veterans or united states veterans who served on active duty in the u.s. armed forces at any time during the period of november 1, 1955-may 15 1975 to stand and be recognized. [applause] as you exit the theater after this program, national archives staff and volunteers will present you with the the unum veteranole -- vietnam pin. on the back of the pen is embossed a grateful nation thanks and honors you. the united states of america vietnam memorial commemoration and a national initiative and the pen. this program is for remembering vietnam. our staff combed through the national archive records and across the country to find events that tell the stories recounted in the 12 episodes of the exhibit. one of the most powerful features of the exhibit is hearing the voices of veterans giving visitors a firsthand account of their experiences during the

there adkins: our purpose was prediction of the north vietnamese committee case and's -- north vietnamese committee --e in's and trying to stop north vietnamese communications and the troops who were supported their. -- coming outff of the trail. and to cut off the supply? bennie adkins: that is correct. we cut off supplies and occasionally we might get a few of the north vietnamese there. >> i know some of the programs berethe cia and the green , they are kind of intermixed? bennie adkins: i have heard of that organization, yes. [laughter] >> can't talk about that. [laughter] we havemar jackson: time for one more question. aboutl us a little bit the statue that has been made in your honor. bennie adkins: it is super humbling. there was a statue made. someone in kansas develop this. was take thest did and put a soldier showing people who had has had -- had his leg blown off and it also has north vietnamese weapons and north vietnamese hand grenades. it has a copy of the dog tag of each of the five that paid their ultimate price. in somethinge the park in my hometown where i was born. kati

. >> the north vietnamese. i'm half awake. the proves the americans can never hold the initiative. no matter how many people, you're never going to hold this country. by doing a mass military engagement you're showing you may lose the battle -- >> but what are the indicators that people are going to rise up? go ahead. >> you have your intelligence network. your network is telling you things. you have to believe them to a certain extent. you can look at your political cadres and the fact they have survived and they have been successful in assassinating south vietnamese officials. we have been successful for ten years. we can just show them we can be here and have success. >> other indicators, electionse another general strongman takes over. the president starts to then crack down a little bit or perceived to crack down on the buddhists and so there is an uprising inside of saigon to the point that units are fighting each other in the streets of saigon. now, if i'm watching from the outside, what does that tell m

vietnamese as he a prison still. there was no exercise area or any open area like we saw in the other prison. >> how many were there with you? >> there was about i think it was about 50 or 60 of us in there at one time and then after they moved us all into large -- this you can't tell too much from the camera but this prison covers a very large city block. very large city block. we were in where the individual cells are. 1970 and 1971, they moved us into large cells with 40 or 50 each which was another part of prison. s as i say, the large cells were quite nice compared with the small ones. >> we were there on a couple different days. one day when i was there. i don't have the tape now. standing there looking at the prison. there are not many cars in hanoi. all of a sudden a 27-car procession came by with the prime minister of malaysia. all for the purpose of setting up a trade relation. the former prime minister of singapore was there also when we were there. does it worry you on the trade side that we are waiting t

weapons, it is showing the north vietnamese hand grenades. it has a copy of the dog tag of each of the five that paid the ultimate price. and, the statue is now in a park in my hometown where i was born. they did make me a second copy that i have. >> i know you have said to me more than once and two other people how important family has been through this process. >> i have a great family myself. i have a wife that happened to be the wife of a special forces soldier. we have been together 62 years. she said i don't count right, because that is her age. i said it is absolutely important to have that support. at the present time, i have two sons living. one son is a minister and has a doctorate degree in theology, and a doctorate of ministry. my other son is a surgeon and a practicing physician at the present time. i have a daughter who is doing graduate work. she, at the present time, runs my organization for me and takes care of the paperwork for me. >> even today, you are still getting some family support. >> still, family is a necessity a --

but in 1968, the north vietnamese and the viet cong launched the tet offensive and the south vietnameseu.s. troops responded and the u.s. added more troops and increased spending. other the next several hours, "american history tv" is going to talk about that transforming year of 1968 and how it changed u.s. politics and public opinion which lead to ending the war. followed by a film about the tet offensive made by south vietnamese armed forces at the time of the military drive. this is some of the "american history tv" programming normally seen weekends here on c-span 3. we're able to show it to you this week while congress is on its august break. >> this week on "american history tv" on c-span 3. watch the first of the nine part series 1968, america in turmoil. each night we look back 50 years to that year and starting tonight we'll discuss the vietnam war. on tuesday, a look at the presidential campaign of that year. wednesday, civil rights and race relations. thursday, a discussion on liberal politics. friday, conservative politics. saturday, women's rights. watch 1968, america in t

a 20 minute film shot by vietnamese armed forces. to protect civilians and restore order in the capital city. some of this may be disturbing to some viewers. ♪ ♪ >>> at the end of january, 1968 saigon was alive as everyone prepared -- for the people of vietnam, tet is a joyous and sacred time of year. the first spring of the second republican of vietnam. -- from the ever present anxiety of war. and both gathered to pay respects to their ancestors. the new year and thousands of saigon families before their ancestors. the traditional fire crackers of the celebration of war. the noisy celebration and the attack on saigon. violent -- lareas of the city were a blazing infern on o. >> block after block in the capital city burned with the fires of viet cong treachery. >> people fled and many fell victim. soldiers reacted quickly and -- >> seventh district of the capital. first, fifth, and seventh districts of the capital, at the saigon radio, and at strategic intersections throughout the city, wherever the enemy appeared, south vietnamese t

>> the vietnamese and south vietnamese. >> when it comes to us? >> us needed to take a backseat to the south vietnamese and let them handle their business. >> any problem with that? >> it is going to take a whole lot of us to help. >> they are not ready to take over. they need support and some of the resources to be successful. >> okay. keep going. >> they would still have to face what westmoreland faced, conventional forces -- >> so the military reality on the ground haven't change even though you have swapped the viet cong. >> just like jeremy said earlier. if we took the front stage of defeating them like iraq. and we tried to put a iraqi face on it, they are not ready. >> the president has some issues here. nobody is agreeing to the way forward. the d.o.d. puts a happy face on things and cia goes everybody is terrible, i'm going to drown myself. and you have everything in between. they agree that if they are going to take over the fight, they are not ready for it. what ultimately becomes nixon's strategy, we'll spend time on vietnamization. an

in some vietnamese. oddly enough, most of the vietnamese were recruited out of prison and they were good week on people. i mean, hard-core. they were in prison for robbery, bank robbery, whatever. we recruited them and god at the same time. that was a prevailing thing but it happened on a couple occasions. i actually recruited by gunnar, and 79 was a former north vietnamese office said he was in the pow camp next door. i recruited him out of the pow camp and he said he wants to come out, work with us if they trust him, i was going to trust him. to this day, we betrayed in the end. not us but the government. basically they signed away our pows and all the other stuff in the agreement with the north vietnamese. they basically gave the north vietnamese license to do what they wanted to do, which was destroyed the people. they were the terms of the yellow rain. they were the victims of out and out genocide after the war. i went back after the war in a lot of the little people that we had, they had their arms

thehould thank the south -- north vietnamese for that.we still don't have a promise of full cooperation particularly regarding the laotian problem. >> as a way of explanation, when cp -- when c-span went to hanoi, handler or a guide provided by the government. his name was mr. hung. we asked at the minute we got there if we could go to the prison where senator mccain was held and they said, we will get you there one way or another. one afternoon they said it was time to go. what you will see is haphazard talked. we took off into prison 29. i wanted to go up to the corner of the present to listen for a while to see what you could hear. you will see if that is there. if you don't mind watching, we will come back and get your reaction. >> the section over there is newly built. from here forward. newly built. from this tale of the car , it is in the board tact. >> these were cells right here? >> no. this is storage. and i observe the daily life from this position. the behavior of the american pilots. >> were they out here in the courtyard? >>

vietnamese division descend upon the south, and becomes a close thing. only with a massive amount of american airpower and the fighting skills of the very brave arvin, they are managing to stave this off. by this point, the only thing that we want is to get out. ironically, we have to bomb the north vietnamese to make them a great to us giving up. part of the peace agreement, though, is a cease-fire freeze, wherever the north vietnamese troops have made it in 1972 is where they stopped. any problems? 140,000 are getting ready for what? >> once we are gone, you do whatever you want. >> from 1972 to 1975, the north vietnamese are building asphalt roads, their laying pipe line they are bringing reinforcements and, and when 1975 hits, no more guerrillas, they quickly overrun the self. in the midst of this, gerald ford tries to live up to a promise that richard nixon had made. that if you in a bind, we have got your back, brother. gerald ford goes to the congress and says how about some money so we can help out our vietnamese brothers. the response from congr

and there are regular north vietnamese troops here. this demonstrates that even the operational level of infiltration hasn't worked and certainly you haven't enticed north vietnam in any way to stop what they're doing. the tet offensive is kind of -- it's a major issue for the entire war but it's certainly a turning point for the air campaign in the north. so much so that this long campaign is going to slowly but surely come to a close. it's a 44-month on and off, like i said, eight bombing pauses. all the pauses you have for weather but you still fly 300,000 sorties. you lose 922 aircraft in that campaign and the p.o.w.s that come with that, which we'll spend more time in the next lesson. >> they made a big point about the operational metrics being a large reason for the failure of "rolling thunder." would you agree with that? bomb drops or sortie rates? >> that's not telling you about effects. this will come out. the air force starts really kind of going in, like, who cares how much we do, what effect does it have in the end? so that

and one thing we have to do is stop the north vietnamese -- north vietnamese support of epic we could use bombs, power, to send a message. to persuade north vietnam to stop supporting the insurgency in the south. we want the status quo on north and south vietnam. then, that airpower campaign can show to south vietnam, and i put in here, and north vietnam, even to our allies, look at u.s. resolve, when we are in conflict in this cold war environment. this is our resolve against communism. >> that the more practical ideas are, we need some kind of strategic destruction of north vietnamese ability to make war. and as we got in the text. where are all-where is all the material really coming from for them to make this work? is it the north industry or not? but this is the idea, and not only a strategic to go after transportation, systems, industrial base, but also to prevent that stuff are moving around. so, that transportation line, that reason for it is, even it is coming from the outside to help prevent that in keeping north vietnam sustained. let them feel the pain of war. likewise, le

just vietnamese refugees.rience, having been a prisoner of war, tortured by the north vietnamese over 5.5 years during his time in detention there. how do you think that shaped his work in later life? well, shaped a lot. he is one of the most frequent visitors to vietnam. i remember back in 2000, 25 years after the fall of saigon, he went to vietnam and visited a prison and spoke to the journalists and said, you know what, the wrong guys won the war. and they robbed the best people, through thousands of people fleeing by boat, they sent hundreds of thousands of people to their re—education camps. so he knew that as a politician, he needed to push for the normalisation of diplomatic relations but at the same time, he needed to support the vulnerable and the courageous of vietnam's so every time he went back to vietnam, he would take time to meet up with civil society leaders. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme. we speak to the man making premier league history — neil etheridge is

is it north vietnamese industry or not? so, this is the idea, this -- and not only a strategic to go after the transportation system industrial base, but also to prevent that stuff from moving around. so, that becomes -- that transportation line, that's the reason for it is even if stuff is coming from outside to help prevent that from keeping north vietnam sustained, make them feel the pain of war. likewise, let's do an interdiction, an operational interdiction campaign that prevents that material from going from the north down to the south, primarily through laos. you got to stop that movement. so that's the development that's happening in 1964, if we do a strategic air campaign. then there's another incident. there's a lot of small attack. things are still happening, the insurgency is still happening in the south, and then we get a situation in the gulf of tonkin right off the shores of north vietnam where patrol boats attack intelligence gathering ships there. and i'm not concerned about who's provoking what, i don't wa

many more north vietnamese deaths than south vietnamese soldiers or american soldiers. ultimately the american-backed forces prevail. it's not a win, the north vietnamese are pushed back, but this type of attack, this coordinated attack is something that the johnson administration didn't predict was going to happen, was saying there is no way that the north vietnamese have this power, have this capacity to do this sort of thing and they also don't have the -- they also, you know -- there is no way they are going to prevail. they were right on the second point. but one of the things that made tet so important and so visible was because there was fighting going on in the cities, it was the fighting going on right in the range of television cameras. it's where all the foreign correspondents were located. so the fighting is beamed from the streets of the cities of vietnam back to the united states and it becomes much more visible. when it's guerrilla warfare in the jungles and hamlets you hear about it afterwards, but actually seeing this warfare erupt on the streets of vie

the air force and the south vietnamese air force will get this into one. the navy gets two, three, four and 6b and the air force gets five and six a. that was a great example. later in the work when there is a recognition of response and the idea of we are going to allow the airfield and there is an effort to after those who are having great success we will go after the airfield outside of hanoi and the navy wanted apart. it took extra coordination to break down the barriers and about the confliction. other than that you are kept to your place. this shows refueling tracks and it also shows something very significant and i think the reading did a good job of search and rescue. a couple good pictures. a picture of eb 66 that is jamming any radar. there is the general of the seventh air force commander. the intellectual air force commander. he will pen a book. a good book for us to reflect on. once again we have a fact dominated air force structure. this is the aircraft you think might be carrying out these missions in total. this would have been too much of

now, 40 years later, because of the successes of many vietnamese americans, that whole past has been forgotten by many americans and also by many of the vietnamese americans themselves, some of them oppose accepting new immigrants and refugees so they're repeating what john kelly himself is doing. but i grew up in the vietnamese refugee committee in the 1970s in california, and there were many of us who were doing things like welfare cheating and much, much worse and we've over come that, many of us have. not that vietnamese are perfect or undocumented immigrants are perfect, but that given the opportunity in the united states, these populations tend to succeed. >> so in the end, you're a storyteller, and the story is very important. the narrative is very important. you say that donald trump has succeeded in dominating the narrative and that people like yourself need to get better at countering the narrative and the storytelling. >> and we're all story tellers. when donald trump says make america great again, he's telling a story in four words that is very sed uktive to many people a

and south vietnamese propaganda posters. in addition to the records, we have produced films where we have interviewed people who have experienced these 12 episodes, and they talk about their first-hand experience, and it is a wonderful way to view the war from different perspectives. >> it has been portrayed as an exciting adventure. it was none of those things for a moment. i wish people understood better. i wish people had a better understanding of what it does to people who participate in it. >> i think i would like them to remember what it was like during the war. the destruction, the killing, the violence, and think about what it is now, at peace. that was my feeling with the war ended. i did not care who won. i did not care who lost, i only cared that the war ended, and that vietnam now experiences peace. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. >>> we are spending the week here on c-span3 while congress is on its august break. showing you some the programs normally seen only on the weekends. comin

were by identity to the vietnamese -- i had a debt to pay for the vietnamese to help my father's day life. the biggest piece march was held at the beach at july. there was a frightening incident and my base and i reported it, and a year later, there was a fracking a week. the reporting of it of us running of the word through g.i. antiwar papers, that's what stopped the war. is that i had to get this army out of vietnam before destroyers itself. we were going to take over the military, that was my goal area i had no affiliations, just a working-class kid from chicago and i saw that i can 68 convention on it not want to fight with the cops, i wanted to go to vietnam to work against the war. we succeeded, we stopped the war, we stopped the draft. the gis and the people in the streets, god bless them. kent state happened while i was in vietnam i was outraged. was coming, i don't know what i would've done if nixon came into my sites. you had to be there. every g.i. ipass to paper out to come nobody refused it. i have to jump in, we can sense your motion in her voice and it's been 50 years

-- north vietnamese was both heavily armed by both the soviet union and china. however, they were bitterly at odds at that point, so they were competing with each other for a greater influence in north vietnam and that worked out well for the north vietnamese because they could play them off and get more weaponry. >> north korea, who was funding north korea at this time and explain what was happening and how that's relevant to what we're seeinged to? -- seeing today. >> in north core e-- korea, the were playing both sides against the middle. they had patrons in the soviet union and in china, but at the same time they were always doing their own thing, so for example, they seized the "uss pueblo". >> what happened there? >> it was on a spy mission in what most people consider international miles beyond the 12 mile limit. what happened in january of 1968 is that the north koreans seized this american naval ship and it was lightly armed, it was ill-prepared and they were unable to fight off the submarine chasers and mig fighters that went after the ship and so -- b

and the north vietnamese were panicked.were panicked. >> when that bombing was over, there was very strange silence and then the announcement on the radio that they were going to sign an agreement to end the war. >> a few days later, all the prisoners were called out and the commanding officer of the camp read off the provisions of the settlement and one part of the settlement is prisoners will be returned by order of capture. while we were waiting, they said mccain, come in, we need to talk to you. and there was about eight vietnamese in this room. officers. and they had a tape recorder. and they said mccain, you're going to be leaving now. and we saved your life, as you know. don't you want to have a parting message of thanks for the doctors who took such good care of you? and i looked at them and i said, "you want me to thank the doctors?" they say yeah. "well, first of all, i'd like to say where the [ bleep ] have you been for the last five years? can i say that?" going home was something that we looked forward to for s

but, it was in the north vietnamese interest to negotiate with the south vietnamese and the american. but, then strangely at the last minute, the south vietnamese walk away from the negotiation, they said no, we are not going to negotiate anymore. these are talks that have been ongoing. they had been moving toward some conclusion and concession, getting closer, johnson and humphrey were hopeful something would be resolved before the election, because that would have been useful for them politically. south vietnam steps away, and the whole thing falls apart. for a long time, there has been speculation that the nixon campaign had something to do with it, and there was no cream. i want to end with this one piece. here you are taking history class, you have been talking about the past, and one of the things that we always need to remember is that the -- our interpretation of the past is never status. often times our understanding of what happened in the past can be changed for the introduction of new evidence. so, just a few weeks ago, a biographer of nixon this biography is coming out, j

was a vietnamese descent. it's been revealed they openly penned letters to the u.s. president with a huge even based in california it may be almost half a century since the end of the vietnam war but under the surface there are still rumblings with some still willing to fight for a cause they never saw come to fruition. one of the two us nationals who were sentenced as we just saw is hung james knew and the u.s. embassy in vietnam has released a statement saying it will support him until his release and deportation to america some locals say that the group people longs to just doesn't understand that times have changed. we have one thing on my this reactionary group which carries out acts of sabotage against the vietnamese government is deplorable the government is determined to maintain peace and stability so that the country can develop and prosperity be brought to the people in the groups members should not delude themselves into thinking what they do is right what they don't understand the times have changed they don't understand the position they put themselves

of americans in 19 5 did not want to accept vietnamese refugees. for a country that primeds itself on the american dreams, refugees are simply un-american, despite the fact that some of the original english settlers of this country, the puritans, were religious ref fee -- refugees. today syrian refugees days a -- face a similar reaction. to some these europeans -- refugees seem uneuropean and attacks in paris, san bernardino, california, and orlando, florida, have people fearing that refugees could be islamic radicals. forgetting that those refugees are some of the first victims of islamic statement. here is a really powerful connection to the perception of vietnamese refugees as potential come analyst infiltrators when they were the ones seeing prosecution at the hands of communists in aisha. i continue. because nose judgments have been rendered on many cast out, it's important for those of us who were refugees to remind the world of what our experiences mean. whether i told her that i, too, was a refugee he stopped joking and said you don't look