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An ugly, dreary, unending guerrilla war

Broadcast Date: Jan. 10, 1965

A world away, forces from North and South Vietnam clash in running battles for the hearts and minds of their countrymen. Thousands of U.S. military personnel act as "special advisors" to South Vietnam's army, but it's less clear every day what that role really means. On-site footage captures some of the horror unleashed in the conflict, while back in the studio commentators I.F. Stone and Bernard Fall agree that the window of opportunity to resolve rather than expand the conflict is closing fast.

An ugly, dreary, unending guerrilla war

• At least one million Vietnamese civilians died in the war with the United States. A total of 58,193 U.S. military personnel died in the conflict, which the U.S. formally recognizes as a conflict rather than as a war. In August 1964, the U.S. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, which gave President Lyndon B. Johnson the authority to pursue an aggressive action in Vietnam without a declaration of war from Congress.

• Just two months after this segment aired, Johnson authorized Operation Rolling Thunder, a massive bombing campaign over North Vietnam that lasted from March 2, 1965 to Nov. 1, 1968. A few weeks after it began, 25,000 people marched on Washington to protest the Vietnam War. Organized by the Students for a Democratic Society, it was one of the first major demonstrations against the war.

• The last U.S. personnel left Vietnam on April 30, 1975, after South Vietnamese officials surrendered to the North Vietnamese army. The withdrawal took place 10 years after this episode of Seven Days aired.

• The documentary portion of this segment has been edited for copyright reasons. The interview with I.F. Stone and Bernard Fall remain as they were broadcast. Bernard Fall, who had studied Vietnam since the early 1950s, including several visits with both the French and U.S. military, died in Vietnam two years after this interview. On patrol with a platoon of marines in 1967, he stepped on a landmine and was killed instantly.

• To learn more about refugees who left Vietnam after the war, please visit the CBC Digital Archives topic Boat People: A Refugee Crisis. To find out about Canadian involvement in the Vietnam War, please visit the CBC Digital Archives topic Canada's Secret War: Vietnam.

An ugly, dreary, unending guerrilla war

Medium: Television

Program: This Hour has Seven Days

Broadcast Date: Jan. 10, 1965

Guest(s): Bernard Fall, I.F. Stone

Host: Laurier LaPierre
Interviewer: Douglas Leiterman

Duration: 10:04

Documentary footage courtesy of Granada Media

Last updated:
April 1, 2008