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- American Experience/PBS - Last Days in Vietnam
Premiered on PBS April 28, 2015 (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/lastdays/?flavour=full)
"During the chaotic final days of the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese Army closes in on Saigon as South Vietnamese resistance crumbles. The United States has only a skeleton crew of diplomats and military operatives still in the country. As Communist victory becomes inevitable and the U.S. readies to withdraw, some Americans begin to consider the certain imprisonment and possible death of their South Vietnamese allies, co-workers, and friends. Meanwhile, the prospect of an official evacuation of South Vietnamese becomes terminally delayed by Congressional gridlock and the inexplicably optimistic U.S. Ambassador. With the clock ticking and the city under fire, a number of heroic Americans take matters into their own hands, engaging in unsanctioned and often makeshift operations in a desperate effort to save as many South Vietnamese lives as possible."
- American Experience/PBS - My Lai
"What drove a company of American soldiers -- ordinary young men from around the country -- to commit the worst atrocity in American military history? Were they “just following orders” as some later declared? Or, did they break under the pressure of a vicious war in which the line between enemy soldier and civilian had been intentionally blurred? AMERICAN EXPERIENCE focuses on the 1968 My Lai massacre, its subsequent cover-up, and the heroic efforts of the soldiers who broke ranks to try to halt the atrocities, and then bring them to light."
- CBS News Special Report: "1968 My Lai Massacre" (2 hr 14 min)
The My Lai Massacre, was the Vietnam War mass killing of between 347 and 504 unarmed civilians in South Vietnam on March 16, 1968. It was committed by U.S. Army soldiers from the Company C of the 1st Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 11th Brigade of the 23rd (Americal) Infantry Division. Victims included men, women, children, and infants. Some of the women were gang-raped and their bodies mutilated. Twenty-six soldiers were charged with criminal offenses, but only Lieutenant William Calley Jr., a platoon leader in C Company, was convicted. Found guilty of killing 22 villagers, he was originally given a life sentence, but served only three and a half years under house arrest.
- Dick Cavett's Vietnam
"Dick Cavett’s Vietnam examines the conflict and its impact on America through the prism of interviews conducted by the iconic host of The Dick Cavett Show.
"'While I started out to do an entertaining talk show, you couldn’t keep Vietnam out of the conversation,' says Dick Cavett in a new interview in the documentary. Joining Cavett are a mix of actor/entertainers (Woody Allen, Warren Beatty, Jane Fonda, Groucho Marx and Paul Newman), politicians (Senators Barry Goldwater, Wayne Morse, Edmund Muskie, and Vice President Hubert Humphrey), sports figures (Muhammad Ali) and more."
- PBS - The Draft
STORIES OF SERVICE
The Draft | The History of America's Draft
Aired: 04/27/2015 02:12 Rating: TV-PG
"America’s place on the world stage has always depended on its military might, and its military might has always depended on the draft. But the draft has stirred up controversy since America’s founding, throughout its history, and continues to do so today. What does it mean to serve one’s country in a time of war? What do you owe your fellow Americans?"
- The Day the '60s Died
Premiered April 27, 2015
"On April 30, 1970, President Richard Nixon shocked the nation when he announced that U.S. troops were invading Cambodia. At college campuses across the country, masses of students took to the streets in protest. Five days later, four Kent State students would be shot dead by National Guardsmen.
"The mayhem that followed has been called the most divisive moment in American history since the Civil War."
- The Draft - view full episode
The Draft | Full Episode
Aired: 04/27/2015 54:50 Rating: TV-PG
"Race, class, culture — the draft in the 1960s and 1970s was a lightning rod that lit up every schism in American society. But ending the draft has produced unintended consequences, creating a citizenry completely disconnected from the soldiers who bear the entire burden of endless wars. The Draft tells the story of how a single, controversial issue continues to define a nation."