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Vietnam Why Vietnam

Public Domain Stock Footage Vietnam Why Vietnam

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keywords: vietnam war, french indochina, president lyndon b. johnson, vietcong

Synopsis: Scenes from 1938 to 1965, first deployment to Vietnam of regular U.S. combat troops, to answer the question Why Vietnam?...(read more)

  • Date: 1950s-1960s
  • Duration: 00:28:54
  • Sound: Yes
  • Color: Monochrome
  • Type: Public Domain
  • Language: English
  • Location: Vietnam

Vietnam Why Vietnam

Vietnam. Why Vietnam?

R1:00:00:27;10

President Lyndon Johnson as he speaks at News Conference July 28, 1965: My fellow Americans, Not long ago I received a letter from a woman in the Midwest. She wrote:Dear Mr. President: In my humble way I am writing to you about the crisis in Vietnam. I have a son who is now in Viet-Nam. My husband served in World War II. Our country was at war, but now, this time, it is just something that I don't understand. Why?

R1:00:01:24;20

CU images of Hitler and Mussolini standing while riding in open car in Munich in 1938, streets of Munich lined with cheering people. CU of British Prime Minster Neville Chamberlain stepping from British Airways plane at Munich. Excellent image of German Honor Guard with white gloves and rifles at present arms. Hitler and Chamberlain walking up steps. Image of crowd of German people with arms raised in Hitler salute Nazi salute. Image of Hitler and Mussolini standing on balcony. CU image of British Prime Minster Neville Chamberlain speaking to the British on September 30, 1938 after meeting with Hitler We regard the agreement signed last night and the Anglo-German Naval Agreement as symbolic of the desire of our two peoples never to go to war with one another again. Peace in our time.

R1:00:02:10;12

Destroyed buildings and destruction of cities in WWII. CU image of Italian dictator Mussolini. Scenes of fighting after Italy invaded Ethiopia. Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia, made his protest before the League of Nations. CU of the Reich Nazi Germany symbol, the Imperial Eagle with the Swastika. Shows the Anschluss referring to the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938.

R1:00:02:47;01

Invasion of South Korea by Communist North Korea in 1950. Images of flashes from artillery guns firing at night. Battle scenes of the U.S. troops fighting in Korean War. Tanks firing guns in Korea. U.S. tanks in dug-in positions in Korea. Image of U.S. tank crossing bridge at 38th parallel in Korea. Sign reads You Are Now Crossing 38th Parallel.

R1:00:04:26;23

CU image of President Johnson as he speaks at News Conference July 28, 1965: Why must young Americans, born into a land exultant with hope and with golden promise, toil and suffer and sometimes die in such a remote and distant place? The answer, like the war itself, is not an easy one, but it echoes clearly from the painful lessons of half a century. Three times in my lifetime, in two World Wars and in Korea, Americans have gone to far lands to fight for freedom. We have learned at a terrible and a brutal cost that retreat does not bring safety and weakness does not bring peace and it is this lesson that has brought us to Viet-Nam.

R1:00:04:28;19

War of French Indochina.The War of French Indochina enters it's final phase at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954. The Viet Minh, a coalition of Communist and Vietnamese Nationalists under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh, defeated the French forces. Image of aircraft dropping supplies to French Troops in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. CU mages of French artillery guns firing. Scenes of battlefield at Dien Bien Phu. Scenes of people in Hanoi scratching for food. Scenes of the French Forces leaving French Indochina. Image of a Viet Minh flag flying over Hanoi. CU images of Communist Viet Minh forces marching into Hanoi. Signing of Geneva Agreements granting Indochina independence from France and dividing Vietnam at the 17th parallel with the Communist Viet Minh controlling north Vietnam. Image of Vyacheslav Molotov shaking hand of Zhou Enlai after signing Geneva Agreements.

R1:00:05:59;23

Vietnamese refugees fleeing to South Vietnam from Communist North Vietnam. Image of map of Indochina and the dividing of Vietnam at the 17th parallel. People building new homes in South Vietnam. Images of South Vietnamese people dropping ballots in ballot box during free election. Images of South Vietnamese workers harvesting rice from rice field.

R1: 00:07:30;16

Assassination and bombings in Saigon by Vietcong. Image of bullet riddled automobile windshield and dead body of man in automobile in Saigon. Images of assassination and acts of terror carried out by the Vietcong, a guerrilla force supported by Communist North Vietnam. Images of Vietcong guerrillas. Images of Vietcong guerrillas attacking and burning huts in South Vietnam village. Bodies of dead South Vietnamese villagers killed by Vietcong guerrillas. Framed photograph of Ho Chi-Minh.

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R2:00:00:12;12

Vietnamese farmers spraying rice field with pesticide. The rich rice fields of South Vietnam. Image of manual device used to grind or pound rice into rice meal. Mining raw materials. Image of Vietnamese tapping rubber trees and harvest of rubber latex sap from Para rubber tree. Latex processing plant in South Vietnam.

R2:00:01:29;06

President Dwight D. Eisenhower at Gettysburg College. In his Convocation Address on April 4, 1959 he stated: We have learned, too, that the costs of defending freedom--of defending America--must be paid in many forms and in many places. They are assessed in all parts of the world- in Berlin, in Viet-Nam, in the Middle East--here at home. Unassisted, Viet-Nam cannot at this time produce and support the military formations essential to it. Military as well as economic help is currently needed in Viet-Nam.

R2:00:02:12;01

By 1960 every area of South Vietnam had become a combat zone. Scenes of guerrilla warfare in South Vietnam. South Vietnam soldiers boarding a train to defend against Vietcong guerrilla attack. Image of explosion as railroad tracks are blown-up. South Vietnam soldiers firing from protection of armored rail cars.

R2:00:03:07;06

By 1961 South Vietnam calls for urgent help from the United States. The United States responds with economic aid and military advisors. Image of U.S. military adviser holding a rifle weapon and instructing the South Vietnamese in the Vietnamese language how to use the weapon U.S. Advisor speaking Vietnamese. Shows South Vietnamese fighting the Vietcong.

Captured Vietcong, some with arms tied. Shows U.S. doctors and medics aiding villagers in South Vietnam. Low aerial view of large number of helicopters on airfield. South Vietnam soldiers board Huey UH-1 helicopters. The Plasecki H-21 Troop Carrier helicopter also used in early stages of Vietnam war. High rate of South Vietnam combat losses.

R2:00:07:32;06

President Johnson in August 1964 as he announce air action taken by the United States military in response to the Gulf of Tonkin incident. Image of the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga off coast of Vietnam. U.S. Navy pilots on USS Ticonderoga walking past camera wearing flight gear and carrying helmets.

F-8 Crusader jets from the aircraft carrier USS Ticonderoga attacking targets in North Vietnam. Image of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. McNamara states the United States seeks no wider war. Images of captured shipment of Vietcong arms from China. CU image of mortar round with Chinese markings. Image of Ho Chi Minh at a table.

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R3:00:00:11;00

U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk as he outlines the many proposals to negotiate that have been ignored by North Vietnam and China.

President Lyndon Johnson as he speaks at News Conference July 28, 1965: Excerpt from speech: we do not seek the destruction of any government, nor do we covet a foot of any territory. But we insist and we will always insist that the people of South Viet-Nam shall have the right of choice, the right to shape their own destiny in free elections in the South or throughout all Viet-Nam under international supervision, and they shall not have any government imposed upon them by force and terror so long as we can prevent it. We do not want an expanding struggle with consequences that no one can perceive, nor will we bluster or bully or flaunt our power, but we will not surrender and we will not retreat.

R3:00:04:36;21

Destroyed planes and facilities at U.S. airfields and installations in South Vietnam including the barracks of U.S. servicemen. Bombing of American Embassy in Saigon. Images of American Embassy personnel in Saigon wounded by car bomb March 30, 1965.

R3:00:05:01;07

Huey UH-1 helicopter in flight. CU image of Huey UH-1 helicopter in flight. Image of a downed Huey UH-1 helicopter laying on it's side. U.S. soldiers scramble out of crashed helicopter under fire from Vietcong and run for cover. Image of wounded U.S. soldiers in hospital ward in South Vietnam. CU image of U.S. soldier with head wound.

R3:00:05:32;07

Flag draped caskets of U.S. Soldiers killed in Vietnam. Servicemen loading flag draped caskets of U.S. Soldiers killed in Vietnam onto aircraft for return to America.

First combat units of the Marine Corp arrive in Vietnam. Marines disembark from troop ship. Images of Marines climbing down cargo net into landing craft. View from landing craft as the Marines hit the beach in Vietnam March 8, 1965. Image of Army combat units arriving in Vietnam in a C-130 Hercules. Young South Vietnamese children washing hands, brushing hair, getting ready for a meal.

R3:00:08:00;11

President Lyndon Johnson. Excerpts from his speech at the News Conference July 28, 1965:

I do not find it easy to send the flower of our youth, our finest young men, into battle. I have seen them in a thousand streets, of a hundred towns, in every State in this Union--working and laughing and building, and filled with hope and life. As long as there are men who hate and destroy, we must have the courage to resist. We did not choose to be the guardians at the gate, but there is no one else. Nor would surrender in Viet-Nam bring peace, because we learned from Hitler at Munich that success only feeds the appetite of aggression. Moreover, we are in Viet-Nam to fulfill one of the most solemn pledges of the American Nation. Three Presidents- President Eisenhower, President Kennedy, and your present President- over 11 years have committed themselves and have promised to help defend this small and valiant nation. Strengthened by that promise, the people of South Viet-Nam have fought for many long years. Thousands of them have died. Thousands more have been crippled and scarred by war. We just cannot now dishonor our word, or abandon our commitment, or leave those who believed us and who trusted us to the terror and repression and murder that would follow.

R3:00:08:39;22

Bow shot of U.S. air craft carrier cutting through the water at high speed. Low aerial view of U.S. air craft carrier with planes on flight deck. Image of aircraft launch from deck of U.S. aircraft carrier.

R3:00:08:51;05

Two B-52 bombers dropping releasing bombs over North Vietnam; ground explosions. B-52 Stratofortress bombing North Vietnam.

R3:00:08:58;13

CU image of B-52 bomber as bombs are dropped.

R3:00:10:05;07

CU Image of President Johnson as he says This, then, my fellow Americans, is why we are in Viet-Nam.

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