In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam
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In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam
Date: Tuesday, April 25, 1995 - 08:00PM
More video info at iop.harvard.edu/node/2719
In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam
Date: Tuesday, April 25, 1995 - 08:00PM
More video info at iop.harvard.edu/node/2719
Those were some tough questions at the end directed a RS Mac. He handled them pretty well.
Good discuss
McNamara had to balance 3 major factions - Congress who supported the war, LBJ who wanted to find a way to win, and military generals who wanted to use nuclear weapons. Eventually he was one of the only leaders in the LBJ Administration who believed we needed to pull out, then he quickly was replaced by LBJ. Any anger over the Vietnam War should be directed at LBJ and Nixon, the military leaders, and the Congress who supported the war. Nixon even expanded the war into Cambodia. McNamara at least tried to reconcile with the public decades later - not LBJ, not Nixon, not Kissinger.
Don’t forget JFK.
USA also abandoned MIAs WWI & Korean war explain this? & Well documented The French Foreign Legion paying big$$ ransom for POWs 25 years from Vietnam (though usa would pay ransoms also). Outrageous!😱 The two best books by far are: 1) AN ENORMOUS CRIME by Bill Hendon, and 2) ABANDONED IN PLACE by Lynn O'shea. both are meticulous in their research and documenting sources. There's plenty of more videos books testimony, documenting governments abandoning their people unfortunately nothing new.
Unconscionable😡 Intentionally Abandoning our Living U.S. POWs😮: kzhead.info/sun/jKaRp5R9j4yobIk/bejne.htmlsi=NAuy8Ak6avb4GrC7 an abomination!
Ok
Nixon pulled out the troops. USA troops should have gone into Cambodia early in the war. Nixon went into Cambodia to go after the bases there
25April1995
start at 10min
He never assumed he lied and still does it in this video 30 years later. He is trying to justify himself.that followed orders, basically he was an obsequent, that never recognized his personal mistakes. At least if he would have ask for forgiveness
What year was this?
Ca. 95. Clinton administration
Date: Tuesday, April 25, 1995 - 08:00PM
I was 2&1/2yrs old when JFK was killed,earliest memory,mostly emotional,but there none the less. 10 when given a book(by a bookseller!) 1:33 In Memoriam. I was pro dem, 'til about 12,when abortion was the new"good"thing. Voted for Reagan en 1980.
McNamara, so jocular and enjoying the spotlight again- no real appreciation or penitence about the deaths of 68,000 Americans plus millions of indigenous people….directly due to the hubris and blind ambition of him and his keepers- Why doesn’t someone ask him how he could have assisted Kennedy in an attempt to withdraw from Viet Nam, and then so easily capitulate to Johnson’s escalation….Does he possess any soul or character? I have no respect for this man-
Did you ever see his documentary "The Fog of War?" He cries in it a few times.
Hi Brian, I watched Fog of War and a man who accepted no responsibility for his action or decisions. I think he and Rumsfeld are cut from the same cloth. Steve
He seemed pretty contrite to us.
I read the book. It is excellent and goes into detail about his mistakes and the mistakes of the JFK and LBJ's administrations. He does cover the loss of lives on both sides and the people of Vietnam. Keep in mind that some US soldiers died even after he left the Pentagon. He tried to get LBJ's adminsitration to negotiate in multiple ocasions and get out but LBJ still believed that military victory was still possible. They could not reconcile over this and that is why he left. History proved him right. The terms the US got under the peace agreements under NIxon could have been obtained when McNamara was secretary.
@@brianw.5230 Big deal-- that's meaningless. Vietnam was his Waterloo. He was a highly educated, yet misguided d-bag who thought you cold run a war via statistics. He was wrong....and unnecessarily sent many US men to their deaths and to years of torture as POWs. As the SECDEF, he should NEVER have tolerated LBJ picking targets personally, and/or writing overly restrictive ROEs that severely limited our ability to threaten and destroy enemy aircraft and SAM sites. And to have allowed a Politician/CLOWN like Westmoreland oversee the effort, was simply another big waffle print on his Johnson. The big lesson that he taught future generations was that if you are going to commit Americans to fight, give them the resources and leadership to prevail. Worked GREAT in Desert Storm 1990/91...and Rumsfeld and company pretty much forgot that lesson post 9/11...we completely blew OIF/OEF/HOA....because of our failure to consider the postwar environment and resulting dynamics.