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Tonight on PBS, Bill Moyers Journal will focus on the LBJ telephone and office tapes created during the escalation in Vietnam, in a program called "Hearing History".
Bill Moyers considers a President’s decision to escalate troop levels in a military conflict. Through LBJ’s taped phone conversations and his own remembrances, Bill Moyers looks at Johnson’s deliberations as he stepped up America’s role in Vietnam.
President Lyndon Johnson’s taped conversations are a treasure-trove for both historians and current policy makers. On the JOURNAL, Bill Moyers explores the tapes to review Johnson’s deliberations as he stepped up America’s role in Vietnam. Some of the names on the tape, such as Robert F. Kennedy, will be familiar to Americans young and old — others less so.
The origins of the Vietnam War lie in 1945, when the British ignored Ho Chi Minh’s declaration of independence and restored French rule to the country.
After a protracted conflict with Ho Chi Minh’s nationalist forces and a massive defeat at Dien Bien Phu, the French left Vietnam in 1954.
During the Cold War many foreign policy analysts subscribed to "The Domino Theory" — which contended that should one country come under communist rule, its neighbors were likely to follow suit. President Eisenhower, worried about the spread of communism, sent U.S. advisors to train forces in South Vietnam in 1956, and President Kennedy increased American forces significantly, with 12,000 U.S. military advisors stationed in Vietnam by 1962.
But it was under President Johnson that the U.S. escalated the conflict to a full scale war.
Bill Moyers served in several roles in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, among them stints as LBJ’s chief of staff, and LBJ’s Press Secretary. For my money, it will be difficult to find anyone who can speak more knowingly about White House events during the Vietnam War.
There is a timeline for events in Vietnam, paired with clickable audiotapes of LBJ, on Moyers’ website, as well as a Who’s Who of the Vietnam escalation debate.
Must. See. Tee. Vee!
15 Comments
Ever have a movie spoiled by someone telling you the ending? *G* We here on the West Coast haven’t had a chance to view this episode.
That’s a joke, right? The Moyers show hasn’t aired anywhere, yet, and don’t we pretty much know how the story comes out? Confused…
Is fighting a war because somebody might become a form of political government that one doesn’t like. In Vietnam it was the communists.
Evidently because Afghanistan and the taliban are like the communists in our eyes. We are fighting to keep people from become the type Government we don’t like.
We by our political leaders have been so indoctrinated by rhetoric that we belive all others should live under what we feel is right.
From the time men were put on this earth many forms of Government and the people under them not only survived but built great civilisations. Even Kings, Warlords, Dictators, Czars and Emporers and as many government names as rulers managed quite well.
Then came America. Who from it’s inception started telling all the other Coutries they were wrong and we were right.
From the egyptians to modern Russia and China other countries have done quite well on other forms of Government, they may not have all the so-called freedoms we possess but have managed.
They also have problems, but as we all can see we are not problem free.
Some are more fically sound, more stable, and have a more prosperous outlook than us.
Yet we continue to rail against others and their forms of government, We rail against communists, socailists, and facists, theocracy’s.
Yet willing to fight wars over types of Government, we fail to take a good look at our own. One that doesn’t work, has us on the brink of bankruptcy, can’t or won’t provide us with healthcare, can’t provide us with a stable economy, protect us from threats domestic as in the Banks, Wall Street, and Corporate dominance. Can’t protect us from terrorist attacks, and hasn’t solved any problems but makes more daily. They have squandered the wealth of our Nation on a bloated Military, useless wars, and Corporate Welfare.
If we are going to fight wars over types of Government, maybe we should start in our own back yard, over our own Government.
UPDATE: Transcript is now available. Moyers’ closing remarks:
His remarks got it knocked don’t they.
Not enough people will hear, read, listen, or understand what He said.
“The PBS mainstay Bill Moyers said he was retiring from weekly television and would end his Friday night public affairs show, “Bill Moyers Journal,” on April 30, 2010. That date will also be the last for “Now on PBS,” which has been canceled.
Mr. Moyers said he had been planning for some time to retire the program on Dec. 25, but was asked by PBS to raise the funds to continue through April, which he did. ”
http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/20/bill-moyers-to-leave-weekly-television/?src=twt&twt=nytimestv
How I will miss him….I can think of no other, esp with the kind of history and truth he provides…..what a loss.
Thanks for this info, blue. I am distressed, to put it mildly. Bill Moyers and NOW! are the core of why I contribute to my PBS affiliate.
Moyers was the host of NOW, and then he retired, and came back with the Journal. He’s 75, and is damned well entitled to retire anytime he wants. One could always hope he decideds to return, and that he lives to be 150.
This was an absolutely fascinating Bill Moyers segment. I agree with the other bloggers who say the escalation of this war is wanted most by those who won’t have to fight it in order to prove to the world that American leaders are not weak. It was really heartwrenching to literally hear President Johnson discuss his reservations and trepidation about the war. I can’t imagine a more difficult decision a president must make, and it should always be taken very seriously and with much consideration, whether or not he is being crucified for “dithering.” Sending our young men and women into a war that can’t be won is just senseless.
I watched it last night on Oregon OPB.
Yeah, it is truly sad when one of the very few voices of reason leaves the scene. And Brancaccio (?) isn’t close to the same gravitas that Moyers has.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Maria Hinojosa seemed to be the one doing all the work lately on Now. I didn’t understand where Brancaccio went — was there a contract dispute? Too bad, he could be very good. I will miss this show.
Yup. Takes a lot more than salutin’ caskets to be a great Prezydent. Seems like we could use a Chief Exec who can exclaim out loudly ENOUGH!
And mean it.
I just posted this same notice over at Derrick Crowe’s diary, Interview with Matthew Hoh. I’m the same age as Bill Moyers, and can understand his reasons for stepping out of the fray, yet we have never needed his courageous journalism more than now. After reading Derrick’s article and listening to Matthew, I felt the sorrow at Bill Moyers’ announcement lifting – those two young ones are coming along fine.
I hope Bill Moyers will leave us a huge Journal of his experiences and knowledge of what really happened all during those years I was a member of the masses who must not be allowed to know the truth about the Dirty Deals of our Secret Government.
Here is the link to one of the finest, if not the best, presentations of Bill Moyers made in 1987.