COLD WAR: VIETNAM, 1954-1968 {PART 11 OF 24} (TV)

Summary

The eleventh in this twenty-four-part documentary series examining the events of the Cold War, from 1917 to the early 1990s. This series consists of interviews and archival footage, accompanied by historical narration by Kenneth Branagh. This episode, concerning the War in Vietnam, begins with information about the battle of Dien Bien Phu, which ended French colonialism and marked the beginning of Vietnamese independence. Although an international peace conference had determined that the Asian country would hold national elections in 1956, General Andrew Goodpaster, aide to President Eisenhower, explains the American government's fear that elections would lead to communist rule of Vietnam. U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara also expresses the opinion that Vietnam was strategic in the Cold War, with potential to set the stage for future political struggles in Southeast Asia. Vietnam had already found a national hero in the northern Communist leader Ho Chi Minh, and by 1960 the National Liberation Front (NLF) was gaining strength with Soviet support. While Ho Chi Minh's radical land reform led to mass migrations to the South, policies by U.S.-backed anti-communist southern President Ngo Dinh Diem were also alienating the population. In 1963 violent protests erupted in Saigon, and, as U.S. State Department Assistant Secretary Roger Hilsman explains, a number of leaders in the South Vietnamese Army plotted a coup against President Diem. After the assassinations of Diem and President John F. Kennedy, President Lyndon Johnson ushered in a new period of American participation, placing General William Westmoreland in charge of the U.S. presence in Vietnam. Vice-Admiral James Stockdale describes the ambiguous situation in the Gulf of Tonkin, which led to the1964 American Tonkin Gulf Resolution; and Tran Bach Dang of the NLF discusses the civilian protest movements that fed the NLF in Saigon. Igor Ognietov, a Soviet adviser on Vietnam, echoes McNamara's words on the strategic importance of Vietnam, explaining the Soviet commitment to Vietnamese Communists. The U.S. began to fight on a large scale, with the American public's full attention. Footage follows of Morley Safer's and Howard Tuckner's reports from the war front. Vietminh Supreme Commander General Vo Nguyen Giap, General Westmoreland, and Lieutenant-Colonel George Forrest give their accounts of the brutal fighting across Vietnam; and Ho Chi Minh trail drivers Kin Nuoc Quang and Do Cong Ty recall the activity around that important Viet Cong supply route. Next, Jack Valenti, aide to President Johnson, speaks about Johnson's concern that U.S. aggression in North Vietnam near the Chinese border might provoke the Chinese and Soviets, unleashing a nuclear world war. Meanwhile, China and the Soviet Union quarreled over their contributions to the war in Vietnam, as Fyodor Mochulski, Deputy Ambassador to China, and Igor Yershov, Soviet adviser to Vietnam, recall. Uneasiness grew on the American side as well, with a growing anti-war movement and general concern about high U.S. casualties. The 1968 Tet Offensive confirmed American fears about an unwinnable war. Both Johnson and McNamara prepared to leave office, and new U.S. Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford recalls his own shock on realizing that the United States had no real plan for the Vietnam War. The program concludes with information about Johnson's 1968 Paris peace negotiations; and South Vietnamese politician Bui Diem describes the talks that occurred between the South Vietnamese and presidential contender Richard Nixon, which stalled the negotiations. Commercials deleted.

Cataloging of this program was made possible by The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, 1999.

This selection from the Alan Gerry Cable Collection has been made available by the Gerry Foundation, Inc.

Details

• NETWORK: CNN
• DATE: December 6, 1998 Sunday 8:00 PM
• RUNNING TIME: 0:46:50
• COLOR/B&W: Color
• CATALOG ID: T:58871
• GENRE: Public affairs/Documentaries
• SUBJECT HEADING: Cold War; Vietnam War; Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam, Battle of, 1954; Gulf of Tonkin Resolution; Tet Offensive, 1968; Communism; U S - Officials - Talk/Interviews; Vietnam - Officials - Talk/Interviews; She Made It Collection (Pat Mitchell)
• SERIES RUN: CNN - TV series, 1998-1999
• COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

• Pat Mitchell … Executive Producer
• Jeremy Isaacs … Executive Producer
• Vivian Schiller … Senior Producer
• Martin Smith … Series Producer
• Neil Cameron … Producer
• Isobel Hinshelwood … Series Associate Producer
• Alison McAllan … Series Associate Producer
• Gillian Widdicombe … Production Executive
• Ted Turner … Series Concept by
• Tessa Coombs … Research
• Svetlana Palmer … Research
• Steve Bergson … Film Research
• William Shawcross … Writer
• Carl Davis … Music by
• Kenneth Branagh … Narrator
• Bui Diem
• Clark Clifford
• Do Cong Ty
• Dwight D. Eisenhower
• George Forrest
• Andrew Goodpaster
• Roger Hilsman
• Ho Chi Minh
• Lyndon B. Johnson
• John F. Kennedy
• Kin Nuoc Quang
• Robert McNamara
• Fyodor Mochulski
• Ngo Dinh Diem
• Richard M. Nixon
• Igor Ognietov
• Howard Tuckner
• Morley Safer
• James Stockdale
• Tran Bach Dang
• Jack Valenti
• Vo Nguyen Giap
• William Westmoreland
• Igor Yershov