# Ken Burns new "The Vietnam War" documentary on PBS **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 18, 2017, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-burns-new-the-vietnam-war-documentary-on-pbs/796616 "2017-09-18T05:33:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-burns-new-the-vietnam-war-documentary-on-pbs/796616/1 "2017-09-18T05:33:32Z")
[Anyone watching this?](http://kenburns.com/films/vietnam/) I thought the first episode was a little disjointed, jumping around in timeframes, but still a good setup for what is to come, I suspect. Better set your DVR, because it’s not once per week-- it’s every night this week, which is a lot of watching to do in real time. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-burns-new-the-vietnam-war-documentary-on-pbs/796616/2 "2017-09-18T05:40:50Z")
Wow…I didn’t get to see it all tonite…but I know I will love it…I set the dvr…so I can watch the rest tomarrow afternoon…I am just crazy for Ken Burns work!! ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-burns-new-the-vietnam-war-documentary-on-pbs/796616/3 "2017-09-18T12:05:10Z")
I can’t watch it right now. Maybe someday. That was a very painful time. My late husband was there as a Medevac helicopter pilot and came home disabled. The disability he acquired there is what eventually killed him-- years later, but too young. Even the ads for the show made me queasy. But I’m very glad it’s showing and that people are watching it, especially people who were little kids (or not born yet) when it was going on. Those were grim days. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-burns-new-the-vietnam-war-documentary-on-pbs/796616/4 "2017-09-18T12:35:36Z")
I’ve heard at least 5 interviews of him and Novick - Fresh Air, the WTF Podcast and a few others. I value his documentaries but am not sure when I will actually be ready for 18 hours of immersion into this situation. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-burns-new-the-vietnam-war-documentary-on-pbs/796616/5 "2017-09-18T12:52:26Z")
I watched it. Maybe a little bit disjointed (emphasis on little) when they chose to insert the American veteran recollections of combat experiences at times while the documentary is providing historic background info about the French and the Japanese occupations. But otherwise, every bit as good as what we’ve come to expect. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-burns-new-the-vietnam-war-documentary-on-pbs/796616/6 "2017-09-18T13:29:43Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > I can’t watch it right now. Maybe someday. That was a very painful time. My late husband was there as a Medevac helicopter pilot and came home disabled. The disability he acquired there is what eventually killed him-- years later, but too young. Even the ads for the show made me queasy. My sympathies. My uncle was also a helicopter medevac pilot in Vietnam. He was, luckily, unscathed physically. He seemed also to be OK mentally, although one never knows for sure. He did have some harrowing stories to tell, though!! He passed away a few years ago of natural causes, and I suspect he was quite a bit older than your late husband. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-burns-new-the-vietnam-war-documentary-on-pbs/796616/7 "2017-09-18T14:33:25Z")
I did not understand the problems of the region was 30yrs in the making…And that 5 potus’ were involved…Wow! ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-burns-new-the-vietnam-war-documentary-on-pbs/796616/8 "2017-09-18T15:43:36Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > My sympathies. My uncle was also a helicopter medevac pilot in Vietnam. He was, luckily, unscathed physically. He seemed also to be OK mentally, although one never knows for sure. He did have some harrowing stories to tell, though!! He passed away a few years ago of natural causes, and I suspect he was quite a bit older than your late husband. Condolences on your uncle. My husband would have turned 78 this year. He said that the experience didn’t mess him up mentally because his mission was always clear: to rescue and save the wounded, and that included not just our soldiers, but the VC soldiers, and civilians as well. Killing people was not part of his mission-- saving them was his focus. The stress levels were comparable to combat troops, and he certainly got shot AT, but there wasn’t the internal conflict about why the USA was there in the first place. He knew why HE was there. When he got back he did get spit on a few times and called “baby killer.” They were grim times. The military was in disfavor, and that situation was not corrected until the first Gulf War when the Viet Nam vets started coming out of the woodwork and being recognized. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-burns-new-the-vietnam-war-documentary-on-pbs/796616/9 "2017-09-18T16:16:26Z")
I’ll get to it. I have to take Burns’ documentaries in pieces because they can be somewhat slow and dry. In this case it may be worth it, this war has been covered extensively at the headline level, centered around the well publicized events happening here in the US, this will be worth it if it goes into depth on the early years of our involvement in SE Asia and the politics of both the South and North in Vietnam. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-burns-new-the-vietnam-war-documentary-on-pbs/796616/10 "2017-09-18T16:24:30Z")
Because of the advanced hype for this doc, I actually went back this weekend and started watching his WWII documentary, _The War_. So it will be a bit before I get to Vietnam. I hope it will be available streaming on some platform in the next few months if it isn’t already. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-burns-new-the-vietnam-war-documentary-on-pbs/796616/11 "2017-09-18T16:40:51Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I’ll get to it. I have to take Burns’ documentaries in pieces because they can be somewhat slow and dry. In this case it may be worth it, this war has been covered extensively at the headline level, centered around the well publicized events happening here in the US, this will be worth it if it goes into depth on the early years of our involvement in SE Asia and the politics of both the South and North in Vietnam. You might also like that there is considerably more of the Vietnam side in this one than is typical of American made documentaries on the war, and by that I mean history from both the north and south of Vietnam. I didn’t pay full attention to the first episode (was doing something else with it on in the background) but I did learn a few new things about the backstory and lead up to the war. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-burns-new-the-vietnam-war-documentary-on-pbs/796616/12 "2017-09-18T18:16:40Z")
I was very disappointed to see that major funding came from one of the Koch brothers. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-burns-new-the-vietnam-war-documentary-on-pbs/796616/13 "2017-09-18T18:42:17Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > I did not understand the problems of the region was 30yrs in the making…And that 5 potus’ were involved…Wow! Longer than that. The first episode starts with the French attack and occupation of Da Nang in **1858**. It then jumps to Hồ Chí Minh’s petition in **1919** to President Woodrow Wilson at the Versailles peace talks for recognition of the civil rights of the Vietnamese people in French Indochina (which was ignored). This was news to me. I didn’t realize that the conflict actually went back to more than a century before the first American deaths in Vietnam in 1959. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-burns-new-the-vietnam-war-documentary-on-pbs/796616/14 "2017-09-18T18:48:45Z")
For those of you who are watching the show, I’m appreciating the _“I didn’t know THAT!”_ stuff that you’re sharing. Please tell us more. I don’t claim to know much about Viet Nam. I’ve read that Kennedy was looking for a way out when he was killed. Maybe that will be addressed in the series someplace. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-burns-new-the-vietnam-war-documentary-on-pbs/796616/15 "2017-09-18T19:04:23Z")
I see that the first episode is available to stream online. Will all of them be available online at [pbs.org](http://pbs.org)? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-burns-new-the-vietnam-war-documentary-on-pbs/796616/16 "2017-09-18T19:27:56Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > For those of you who are watching the show, I’m appreciating the _“I didn’t know THAT!”_ stuff that you’re sharing. Please tell us more. I don’t claim to know much about Viet Nam. > > I’ve read that Kennedy was looking for a way out when he was killed. Maybe that will be addressed in the series someplace. Truman contributed more than $300 million to the French in their fight against the Viet Minh insurgents, and painted US insignia over on planes and used civilian crews to drop supplies into Dienbienphu to support the French during the siege. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-burns-new-the-vietnam-war-documentary-on-pbs/796616/17 "2017-09-18T19:29:19Z")
One other “I didn’t know that” - “Viet Cong” means “Traitors to the Vietnamese people”. It was used by the South Vietnamese as a derogatory term. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-burns-new-the-vietnam-war-documentary-on-pbs/796616/18 "2017-09-18T19:31:00Z")
I thought I heard that the reason we supported the French was because the US was afraid of France joining the Soviet sphere of influence after WWII if we didn’t support them. Did I hear that right? ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-burns-new-the-vietnam-war-documentary-on-pbs/796616/19 "2017-09-18T19:47:41Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > I thought I heard that the reason we supported the French was because the US was afraid of France joining the Soviet sphere of influence after WWII if we didn’t support them. Did I hear that right? That’s what DeGaulle threatened, but I can’t imagine DeGaulle’s ego ever allowing that to happen. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2017, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-burns-new-the-vietnam-war-documentary-on-pbs/796616/20 "2017-09-18T19:50:48Z")
I didn’t know that we were rather chummy with Ho Chi Min in the early days, but I can’t say I am surprised. That seems to be a recurring problem with the US. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ken-burns-new-the-vietnam-war-documentary-on-pbs/796616.md?page=2)