Vietnam 101 | 60-Minute Archive Insights

By 60 Minutes 4 hours Ago 2 Min Read

Vietnam 101 | 60 Minutes Archive: A Unique Perspective on a Historic Conflict

In this insightful episode from 1987, "60 Minutes" journalist Ed Bradley delves into the compelling Vietnam War course offered at UC Santa Barbara. This course stands out not just for its academic approach but for its unique feature: students gain firsthand knowledge from veterans who recount their personal experiences and memories of the war. This direct interaction provides an enriching and often emotional context, transforming abstract lessons into profound personal narratives.

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Vietnam 101 | 60 Minutes Archive: A Unique Perspective on a Historic Conflict

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"60 Minutes," known for its hard-hitting investigative journalism and in-depth interviews, has been a staple of American television since its inception in 1968. With over 50 seasons and consistently ranking in Nielsen’s Top 10, the show continues to keep audiences engaged and informed on critical issues.

Watch "Vietnam 101" to gain a deeper understanding of the Vietnam War from those who lived it and explore the lasting impact of this tumultuous period in American history.

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Video “Vietnam 101 | 60 Minutes Archive” was uploaded on 04/30/2025 to Youtube Channel 60 Minutes

Tags: documentary History travel VIETNAM

60 Minutes 12 May 2025

29 Comments

@nickbaumann2421 says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

12:20 What an incredibly powerful letter, deeply painful but also somewhat hopeful

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@stratcat9432 says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

I would love to witness a class of todays college youth in this setting. I guarantee the emotion and empathy level would be nil. And the majority would be looking at their stupid phones.

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@richardsierra9884 says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

Welcome home hombres ❤❤❤❤❤

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@DavidEVogel says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

I joined the USAF to avoid being drafted by the Army. The idea of running around in the jungle getting shoot at didn't appeal to me.

Several of my buddies joined the Marines. Their rational was that if they were going to Vietnam, they intended that they would be one of the best.

My high school has its own Vietnam war plaque. Kids that were my buddies in school newer returned from the war.

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@julian-z2z4n says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

Hi 👍✌️

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@Rainorshine004 says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

For the woman named Nancy, who wrote the note to her loved one I have been seeing purple everywhere today. I wonder if anyone related to Nancy or her family would see this. 🟣

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@jrhamp says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

History has validated the US government under several administrations were not truthful about the "success" of defending South Vietnam. In short, the American public were victims of lies. Phrases like "light at the end of the tunnel: and others were voiced in reference to Afghanistan and Iraq. The American public continues to be told untruthful statements about not only our past, but now our future. 58,241 KIA..for what? Iraq: 4500 KIA for what; Afghanistan: 2500 for what?

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@alphabetacanton says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

No mention of the three million civilians murdered in Vietnam or the one million civilians murdered in Cambodia (which directly led to the killing fields of Pol Pot.) These hypocrites are as bad as the filthy communists.

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@abc123xyz-q2p says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

Imagine graduating from high school, being sent to a foreign country, miles from home! Seeing your buddies get killed, and having to shot others. No cell phones, or FaceTime, with folks back home, in those days.

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@marshallfalconberry5187 says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

this is a crash course on what atrocities a goverment can cause.War is the biggest waist of all.

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@akster8434 says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

I'm proud of all these young people who want to learn and understand, and I admire the veterans who courageously share their experiences.

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@kipster-ll6po says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

What do you mean you don't know why this war was fought? I'm pretty sure LBJ and all of the others explained that at the time. If it doesn't make sense to you, maybe you should try smoking less weed. If you think the logic was faulty, okay. But surely it isn't true that you don't know what the stated reasons were.

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@Pazuzu-over-America says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

Ahhh! The French colony war. Highly advisable America keep out of this French quagmire. Lt. Col Peter Dewey O.S.S. Nov-1945. First American to die in Vietnam under mysterious circumstances. Let us remember the millions of Southeast Asians who died because of French and American imperialism 1945-79. Don't forget Cambodia and the killing fields. 2 million dead because of Henry Kissenger. I'm sure private Bonespurs could explain it better with his knowledge of history.

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@MrJimboson says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

Thank you, 60 mins, for uploading this, Nam 68-69, USMC.

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@donald8354 says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

Sad about the Kent State students that got killed by National Guard. !

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@jryecart8017 says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

Decades back, in late 1972, South Vietnam and the United States were winning the Vietnam War decisively by every conceivable measure. That was the view of our enemy, the North Vietnamese government officials. Victory was apparent when President Nixon ordered the U.S. Air Force to bomb industrial and military targets in Hanoi, North Viet Nam's capital city, and in Haiphong, its major port city, and we would stop the bombing if the North Vietnamese would attend the Paris Peace Talks that they had left earlier. The North Vietnamese did go back to the Paris Peace talks, and we did stop the bombing as promised.

On January the 23rd, 1973, President Nixon gave a speech to the nation on primetime television announcing that the Paris Peace Accords had been initialed by the United States, South Vietnam, North Vietnam, the Viet Cong, and the Accords would be signed on the 27th. What the United States and South Vietnam received in those accords was victory. At the White House, it was called "VV Day," "Victory in Vietnam Day."

The U.S. backed up that victory with a simple pledge within the Paris Peace Accords saying: should the South require any military hardware to defend itself against any North Vietnam aggression we would provide replacement aid to the South on a piece-by-piece, one-to-one replacement, meaning a bullet for a bullet; a helicopter for a helicopter, for all things lost — replacement. The advance of communist tyranny had been halted by those accords.

Then it all came apart. And It happened this way: In August of the following year, 1974, President Nixon resigned his office as a result of what became known as "Watergate." Three months after his resignation came the November congressional elections and within them the Democrats won a landslide victory for the new Congress and many of the members used their new majority to de-fund the military aid the U.S. had promised, piece for piece, breaking the commitment that we made to the South Vietnamese in Paris to provide whatever military hardware the South Vietnamese needed in case of aggression from the North. Put simply and accurately, a majority of Democrats of the 94th Congress did not keep the word of the United States.

On April the 10th of 1975, President Gerald Ford appealed directly to those members of the congress in an evening Joint Session, televised to the nation. In that speech he literally begged the Congress to keep the word of the United States. But as President Ford delivered his speech, many of the members of the Congress walked out of the chamber. Many of them had an investment in America's failure in Vietnam. They had participated in demonstrations against the war for many years. They wouldn't give the aid.

On April the 30th South Vietnam surrendered and Re-education Camps were constructed, and the phenomenon of the Boat People began. If the South Vietnamese had received the arms that the United States promised them would the result have been different? It already had been different. The North Vietnamese leaders admitted that they were testing the new President, Gerald Ford, and they took one village after another, then cities, then provinces and our only response was to go back on our word. The U.S. did not re-supply the South Vietnamese as we had promised. It was then that the North Vietnamese knew they were on the road to South Vietnam's capital city, Saigon, that would soon be renamed Ho Chi Minh City.

Former Arkansas Senator William Fulbright, who had been the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee made a public statement about the surrender of South Vietnam. He said this, "I am no more distressed than I would be about Arkansas losing a football game to Texas." The U.S. knew that North Vietnam would violate the accords and so we planned for it. What we did not know was that our own Congress would violate the accords. And violate them, of all things, on behalf of the North Vietnamese.

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@briandroesch3259 says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

Well, no college course or book for adults tells about US consul reports from Viet Nam during 1889–1954, about US business enabled by force. US National Archives citations start with: United States Consulate (1957). Despatches from United States consuls in Saigon, 1889–1906. Washington: National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration, Reel 1, These prove the real reason behind the 1960s war.

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@markberryhill2715 says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

I'm sorry, but being the same age as these young people who were my age at this time in this interview, i can't believe how stupid they were about Vietnam. We watched it every night on TV in my house, where were these idiots at? I can't believe we have this many idiots in America.

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@maiducthong says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

As Vietnamese, I love the final paragraphs of this video and leave the past behind and look forward to a brighter future

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@jryecart8017 says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

@grand

thanks for the CRT NO FACTS "mindreading" ….. ya never disappoint

"Nixon HIMSELF realized" …. HAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAAHAHAHA

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@BubbleGum-f8f says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

Let it be known, that NO ONE wins in ANY WAR, there's on deaths and destructions on both sides. The ONLY ware that is a must is to stop someone like Hitler, but still nothing but deaths and destructions even long after the war has ended.

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@jamesgalasso says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

I served still alive. We didn't loose the war. All wars are economic wars. We were able to have Russia and China waste alot of money fighting us. It slowed down there spread of communism and seek world domination enough so they could not keep there spread of communism. Gave us the time to get regan elected and with pope John paul2nd defeat communism

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@craighannon4532 says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

John Vandusen was in my squad and was killed 9/20/1968. His wife just delivered his daughter that he had only a photo of. He never held her.

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@ronnieterry4916 says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

LBJ lied to everyone when he claimed that our ships were fired on in international waters. That never happened. To understand why we were there we were assisting our allies. North Vietnam was doing acts of terror and agression on south Vietnam. To win the war we would have had to have destroyed the northern cities of North Vietnam where the war was planned and the war materials and supplies were sent from to south Vietnam by way of the roads and trails into South Vietnam. The limited bombing that LBJ authorized our air force to conduct would never have won the war. Most of the targets weren't real military targets some of the targets were bridges and power plants. Our soldiers conducted what was search and destroy missions this too would never win the war. For the most part our soldiers were walking into ambushed. Handled properly the war would have been won and finished in six months. I already mentioned winning would have required the total destruction of north Vietnam where the war was planned and the war materials was sent from and most of the enemy soldiers were trained. The unanswered question is why did we get involved in the war if we didn't plan to win. I was in the war in the extreme northern part of south Vietnam even then I questioned why we were there if we weren't there to win. I saw the same thing happen in Afghanistan and Irak as happened in South Vietnam. If we ever choose to fight in another war we must have clear defined goals and missions before getting involved in future wars. If we don't have clearly defined goals and missions don't get involved.

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@johnchester7476 says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

I was in HS,during Vietnam,just one year too young for the draft, I'm still healing from all that trauma

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@Voicefreason says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

The focus should be on the rights and wrongs during the Vietnam War to avoid recurrence, similar situations have unfolded in Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Gaza by proxy. Stupidity is doing the same thing and expecting different results.

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@harleylawdude says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

In war, all that is right is wrong and all that is wrong is right.

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@mikemccutcheon8372 says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

Come on this is all bad America stuff about what the communist pulled in Vietnam and by the way there were Chinese and Russian soldiers in Vietnam did they get the same scrutiny? Hell no

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@scottdarden3091 says:

12 May 2025 at 09:53

It doesn't seem the students are being told why we had boots on the ground.

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