Ken Burns' "The Vietnam War" (1 Viewer)

Denver said:
I expect that Burns will edit the film clips and interviews
to support his personal point of view.
I have no interest in Burns' point of view.
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You are absolutely correct. Nor am I interested in anything the New York Times puts forth.
 
Go for Broke said:
Not strong at all Brad. I just prefer to learn about the soldier's individual experience, the heat, boredom, fear, confusion of literally hell on earth. I'm more interested in the Vietnam war, because we still have many combat veterans alive to give firsthand accounts of their experience.
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Over the last 6 months I have read numerous books which describe the typical GI's life in Vietnam. PM me if you want the list. That is exactly what I was interested in also. But Brad is right one must know the politics behind this war.
Gary
 
I thought it was pretty good. I would have liked to seen a bit more on the history of Vietnam though. That could have been better fleshed out. I didn't care for the rewind at the beginning. I also thought inserting the experiences of the various soldiers in the history of Vietnam disrupted the flow but I understand why they did it.
 
jazzeum said:
I thought it was pretty good. I would have liked to seen a bit more on the history of Vietnam though. That could have been better fleshed out. I didn't care for the rewind at the beginning. I also thought inserting the experiences of the various soldiers in the history of Vietnam disrupted the flow but I understand why they did it.
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Brad as I used to say "we think a like". I too disliked the rewind and inserting the soldiers experiences. I just hope they play music from the period. There is something about when they do it it puts me right back in time. The Hard Rain song was on the right track.
Gary
 
Gary,

I thought the rewind was a little gimmicky. Forgot to note but mentioning all those sponsors at the beginning of the show, holy cow! Thought I was going to fall asleep waiting for it to end.
 
jazzeum said:
I thought it was pretty good. I would have liked to seen a bit more on the history of Vietnam though. That could have been better fleshed out. I didn't care for the rewind at the beginning. I also thought inserting the experiences of the various soldiers in the history of Vietnam disrupted the flow but I understand why they did it.
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I also found that rewind annoying. -- Al
 
jazzeum said:
Gary,

I thought the rewind was a little gimmicky. Forgot to note but mentioning all those sponsors at the beginning of the show, holy cow! Thought I was going to fall asleep waiting for it to end.
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Brad somebodys got to pay for this since I never donate to PBS! I did see the name Koch. I guess he is one of the brothers who I hear a lot of people always complaining about using his wealth to fund politicians.
Gary
 
Assuming that Ken Burns set out to portray real history in his depiction of the Vietnam Conflict, he made two critical mistakes. First, he completely ignored the fact that thousands of Vietnamese fought alongside the French at Dien Bien Pho. Burns portrays the battle as the "heroic Vietnamese peasants" against the "evil French oppressors", but the reality was vastly more complex. Second, his portrayal of Ho Chi Min was thin and incomplete. Whatever this man was at the beginning, by the time the war began he had become one of the most ruthless, bloodthirsty, oppressors in all of Asia. His post-partition treatment of Vietnamese Catholics, of which there were tens of thousands in the north, was nothing short of demonic.
 
I agree that the treatment of Vietnamese history was a little thin, unfortunately, and that he neglected the Vietnamese who fought at Dien Bien Phu. I also noticed some factual errors. As with his other series, people aren't going to like some of the things he does; there were some major discussion what he emphasized and left out in his Jazz series, for example.

However, on balance, I think it's been good so far. He could have added more details about the plotting by the Generals to overthrow Diem, the various crosses and double crosses but essentially I think he's gotten it right so far.

At least he has people watching, which can lead to people finding out more than is shown.

Getting back to tonight's episode, I thought it was interesting that one person said his earliest recollection of Vietnam was the Buddhist monks burning themselves. That was mine too. I remember reading about it in Time magazine; I was about 12 at the time. I also remember Madame Nhu. Oddly enough, I don't remember Diem's overthrow and murder but do remember about the monks and Madame Nhu.
 
jazzeum said:
I agree that the treatment of Vietnamese history was a little thin, unfortunately, and that he neglected the Vietnamese who fought at Dien Bien Phu. I also noticed some factual errors. As with his other series, people aren't going to like some of the things he does; there were some major discussion what he emphasized and left out in his Jazz series, for example.

However, on balance, I think it's been good so far. He could have added more details about the plotting by the Generals to overthrow Diem, the various crosses and double crosses but essentially I think he's gotten it right so far.

At least he has people watching, which can lead to people finding out more than is shown.

Getting back to tonight's episode, I thought it was interesting that one person said his earliest recollection of Vietnam was the Buddhist monks burning themselves. That was mine too. I remember reading about it in Time magazine; I was about 12 at the time. I also remember Madame Nhu. Oddly enough, I don't remember Diem's overthrow and murder but do remember about the monks and Madame Nhu.
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I've enjoyed it so far. What strikes me most about the history from 1919 until the 1960s were the many missed opportunities and miscalculations by the US to have resolved the issue by granting independence. The US and Vietnam had common cause on the issue of self-determination during most of that time. Ironically through our blunders Ho was forced more and more into the communist camp. The US presidents post WWII were increasingly pressured to be tough on Communists and were stuck. Truman and Wilson, however, had opportunities to settle the question. Vietnam was always about nationalism and independence and only became a pawn for the Cold War when they were denied those basic rights. The unwillingness to stand on principle and oppose the colonial powers after WW I and II came back to haunt us in a big way. A real tragedy. All the more since it could have been avoided. In that light, I can understand the "rewind" at the beginning of episode one which otherwise came off a bit odd. I think it was intended to show that all the violence and destruction was pointless and avoidable.
 
So far I have enjoyed it and have found it very interesting. Some of the highlights for me have been the pictures of the student war protests that occurred in May 1970 at Kent State University, Kent, Ohio. I was a senior there at the time and took many pictures of the events that were occurring on campus over that entire weekend. I witnessed the shooting first hand and was published in Time Magazine. Was also interviewed by the FBI as a result of the photos I had taken. To help meet some of our student/married expense I worked as an ER/Radiology orderly at Robinson Memorial Hospital in nearby Ravenna, Ohio where many of the wounded students were taken for treatment . . . was called in to work to help cover the extra work load. My wife and I lived in married student housing and had to endure the military occupation and curfews for several weeks thereafter . . . . a very interesting summer to say the least . . .
:smile2: Mike
 
Fascinating Mike. Thanks for sharing your account.

I believe a later episode will explore the shooting in more depth. I believe the shooting was the cause of subsequent demonstrations across the country. I was in DC when those happened. I remember them like yesterday.
 
I'm liking it so far. Its going to really ramp up in 1967, 1968, 1969. Our local PBS station are also airing the war experiences of the local soldiers here. I heard Hawaii soldiers had one of the highest casualty rates in the war per capita.
 
I was glad that they ended episode two without getting into the details of the JFK assassination or even mentioning the name of his assassin. There are a surprising number of folks who believe JFK was assassinated with the complicity of the US military/CIA to ramp up the war in Vietnam. Of course there is zero evidence that JFK intended to pull the US out of Vietnam and his administration engaged in an increase in US involvement during his administration. But there are some that are convinced to this day that the CIA knocked him off because he intended to withdraw from Vietnam.
 
The following article from the Times' Vietnam 67 series contains articles commenting on the series. Some are critical, some not.

Discussing the Vietnam War

Christian Appy, a Vietnam historian at the University of Massachusetts, is evaluating each episode after it airs. See Vietnam War
 
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I recommend reading Neil Sheehan's book on John Paul Vann, "A Bright and Shining Lie". Good book. -- Al
 
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