Oliver North: PBS and Ken Burns get Vietnam – and Richard Nixon – wrong, again

[TomSea]

Oliver North: PBS and Ken Burns get Vietnam – and Richard Nixon – wrong, again
Conflict explored through eyes of those who lived it

Washington, D.C. – When Richard Nixon was in the White House, I was in Vietnam and he was my commander-in-chief. When I was on Ronald Reagan’s National Security Council staff, I had the opportunity to brief former President Nixon on numerous occasions and came to admire his analysis of current events, insights on world affairs and compassion for our troops. His preparation for any meeting or discussion was exhaustive. His thirst for information was unquenchable and his tolerance for fools was non-existent.

Mr. Nixon’s prosecution of the war in Southeast Asia is poorly told by Ken Burns in his PBS documentary "The Vietnam War.”  That is but one of many reasons Mr. Burns’ latest work is such a disappointment and a tragic lost opportunity.

It’s sad, but I’ve come to accept that the real story of the heroic American GIs in Vietnam may never be told. Like too many others, Ken Burns portrays the young Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines of the Vietnam War as pot-smoking, drug-addicted, hippie marauders.

Read more at: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2017/10/27/oliver-north-pbs-and-ken-burns-get-vietnam-and-richard-nixon-wrong-again.html

 

I don't know where in progress the movie is, but I think there is some movie in the works that is going to have actors portraying Oliver North and others. Maybe it's on Iran/Contra.

[dfwgator]

I wonder what Professor Turgeson would have said about it....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj5k6toS7i8

[catfish1957]

I don't know where in progress the movie is, but I think there is some movie in the works that is going to have actors portraying Oliver North and others. Maybe it's on Iran/Contra.

Under the guise of a supposed master documentary maker, Ken Burns has left slanted everything from Vietnam, baseball, to TWBS.

It's almost funny.

[corbe]

   Thanks for posting this @TomSea

[Smokin Joe]

Under the guise of a supposed master documentary maker, Ken Burns has left slanted everything from Vietnam, baseball, to TWBS.

It's almost funny.

I was reading down the comments. The ignorance of many is impressive in its scope, the revisionism of the Left obvious in the misconceptions of the young. Our troops won a military victory in Vietnam, the Communists and the American Media 'won' the propaganda war back home. The Democrats gave South VIetnam to the Communists, and the blood shed by Pol Pot is on their hands as well.

[truth_seeker]

If anybody takes the time to look at statistics, they will conclude:

--Involvement and deaths increased under Kenney and Johnson

--Deaths and involvement reduced under Nixon and Ford - "Peace with Honor"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_with_Honor

Burns wants to paint a different picture, from reality. Reality is that as late as 1972 Nixon clobbered anti-war McGovern.

And Nixon tried to keep his commitment to wind down our involvement, and it worked.

https://www.militaryfactory.com/vietnam/casualties.asp

[Cyber Liberty]

Back in the 80's, PBS did "Vietnam:  A Television History."  It sucked just as badly.  I'm posting a link, but it's OK if nobody goes to see the YouTube.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqKi-SyRA7I&list=PLL1pIdhTxk_7FKIjmv5NaktbYmp5xTDoi

[Smokin Joe]

If anybody takes the time to look at statistics, they will conclude:

--Involvement and deaths increased under Kenney and Johnson

--Deaths and involvement reduced under Nixon and Ford - "Peace with Honor"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_with_Honor

Burns wants to paint a different picture, from reality. Reality is that as late as 1972 Nixon clobbered anti-war McGovern.

And Nixon tried to keep his commitment to wind down our involvement, and it worked.

https://www.militaryfactory.com/vietnam/casualties.asp

The last year of the draft lottery, my birthday came up in the fifties: Might as well enlist if you aren't going to flunk the physical.

Fortunately for those my age, that was just a couple of years before I was old enough. I still have my draft card somewhere, classified as 1H (presumably 1A, but awaiting physical). By the time I graduated High School, were were well on the way into Vietnamization and the draft had been stopped.
I had a lot of older friends, and no small number had been drafted or enlisted and gone to SE Asia.

I still remember Walter Cronkite saying the war could not be won, even as the USMC was mopping up in Hue and finishing off the last major units of the VC. From there, our troops faced mainly NVA regulars and scattered VC units, but the Viet Cong never recovered from their failed attempt to occupy all the provincial capitals in '68, and victory in the war was well within reach militarily. That wasn't what the folks back home were being told, and the media (Jane Fonda and all) were busy promoting hippies, Communists, and The New Left, to the detriment of us all.
 I still piss people off with a vintage campaign button that says "President Nixon, now more than ever."

[Fishrrman]

catfish wrote:
"Under the guise of a supposed master documentary maker, Ken Burns has left slanted everything from Vietnam, baseball, to TWBS."

I watched the original "Civil War" series, but won't watch any more of them.

For the same reason I won't watch ANY of Oliver Stone's films.

I prefer to remember the history of when I lived "undistorted" by the presentations of either Mr. Burns or Mr. Stone...

[Free Vulcan]

Under the guise of a supposed master documentary maker, Ken Burns has left slanted everything from Vietnam, baseball, to TWBS.

It's almost funny.

It's a classic leftist trick. Promote some leftist to the status of legendary iconic expert, then let them pump out their bilge on the public. Few will question it, they'll even try and contradict the people who actually lived thru it.

[GtHawk]

It's a classic leftist trick. Promote some leftist to the status of legendary iconic expert, then let them pump out their bilge on the public. Few will question it, they'll even try and contradict the people who actually lived thru it.

Well on the right, according to himself, there's BOR who changes and distorts facts historical and Biblical while presenting himself as an expert.