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DISC 1:
LBJ Goes to War (1964-1965)
With Ho Chi Minh determined to reunite Vietnam, President Lyndon Baines Johnson determined to prevent it, and South Vietnam on the verge of collapse, the stage was set for massive escalation of the undeclared Vietnam War.
America Takes Charge (1965-1967)
In two years, the Johnson administration’s troop build-up dispatched 1.5 million Americans to Vietnam to fight a war they found baffling, tedious, exciting, deadly and unforgettable.
America’s Enemy (1954-1967)
The Vietnam War as seen from different perspectives by Vietcong guerrillas and sympathizers, by North Vietnamese leaders and rank and file, and by Americans held prisoner in Hanoi.
DISC 2:
Tet 1968
The massive enemy offensive at the lunar New Year decimated the Vietcong and failed to topple the Saigon government – but led to the beginning of America’s military withdrawal from Vietnam.
Vietnamizing the War (1969-1973)
President Richard Nixon’s program of troop pull-outs, stepped-up bombing and huge arms shipment to Saigon changed the war and left GIs wondering which of them would be the last to die in Vietnam.
Cambodia and Laos
Despite technical neutrality, both of Vietnam’s smaller neighbors were drawn into the war, suffered massive bombings, and, in the case of Cambodia, endured a post-war holocaust of nightmarish proportions.
DISC 3:
Peace Is at Hand (1968-1973)
While American and Vietnamese soldiers continued to clash in battle, diplomats in Paris argued about making peace. After more than four years, they reached an accord that proved to be a preface to further bloodshed.
Homefront USA
Through troubled years of controversy and violence, U.S. causalities mounted, victory remained elusive, and American opinion moved from general approval to general dissatisfaction with the Vietnam War.
The End of the Tunnel (1973-1975)
Rebroadcast as The Fall of Saigon
South Vietnamese leaders believed that America would never let them go down to defeat – a belief that died as North Vietnamese tanks smashed into Saigon on April 30, 1975, and the long war ended with South Vietnam’s surrender.
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