Vietnam War With Walter Cronkite

I used portions of the DVD in a course I taught on the "History of Television". Many of the segments are the closest thing that you can come to recreating for students today what was meant by the often used phrase "living room war" or "television war"...of how television affected Americans' perception of the war and the power that the visual image had in emotionally affecting viewers. Many of my college students were profoundly affected themselves in viewing images from those CBS news reports--such as the report on "enemy body counts", where a helicopter airlifts a netload of Vietnamese corpses or a segment where we learn of young Americans who eventually died in the process of claiming and relinquishing nameless hills. The students experienced first-hand a sense of what it was like in the 1960s/1970s to turn on your television and have to deal with war and death, and the cognitive dissonance the nearly 40-year-old images created in their minds.

These are the evening news stories I grew up with. It's a great experience to see them again years later, with the perspective we have today. If you like this series you might also enjoy John Laurence's book about his years as a television reporter in Vietnam: "The Cat From Hue."

This is a great look into the past at scenes of the Vietnam War we rarely see. A good visual experience of the past and of what our fathers and mothers endured. A great set that I recommend to all, and definately as a teaching tool in our schools and universities.

1LT Daniel Allen Hill

This DVD set is one of the better visual retrospectives available on the Vietnam War, as it provides a strong human interest angle and not just coverage of the military and political issues. This series has excellent footage going back to the origins of the War in the 1950s and continuing up to the frantic last days during the evacuation in 1975. The combat footage is real time, as many well-known correspondents and producers today began their careers in this war. Say what you will about Dan Rather, but he and his cohorts had a lot of guts to bring in some of those stories, unarmed and sometimes under direct fire from the enemy. The honest portrayal of the suffering of villagers, a corrupt South Vietnamese government, and the evolution of many GIs from hawk to disillusioned short-timer are all covered here. The reports are often so stark in their honesty that after Vietnam, the US military vowed to never again allow the media such open access to their combat areas. We talk of "embedded reporters" now, but it is a joke compared to Vietnam. There are numerous candid interviews here that depict the best and worst of the American military, courageous soldiers as well as those who disobeyed orders. As a former Army infantryman who came in at the end of this era, I see nothing here that is in conflict with what I experienced. Many of these reports will be useful for history teachers (as I am) and their students, most of whom now have little appreciation for what the Vietnam War was like. Over 12 hours of programs that feature numerous correspondent reports, plus interviews with 3 typical heroes of this period, make this an outstanding value as a DVD collection on the Vietnam War.

Im surprised not more has been said or written about this fantastic piece on the vietnam war. The footage and stories from the reporters in Nam were simply mesmerizing.

Basically there are several stories by reporters including a teenage looking dan rather. Walter cronkite is the host from a studio although he is on location sometimes...the stories are rarely seen footage...I've been watchign vietnam documentaries for years and until I saw this dvd I had never seen some of the footage shown...actual firefights and interviews with soldiers in the bush...its captivating....

I liked the story about the sequence with the vc sniper, also the rebellion by charlie company after the good lieut. leaves and is replaced by a more gung ho one...the company refuses to follow orders and go down a road because they know its set up for an ambush....great drama.

The story about the taking of a hill is another one....great footage and details about going up a hill and getting ambushed by snipers and then hit by their own artillery...

this DVD set is really well done and footage that you've rarely seen before....not in PBS, letters home from vietnam, or anything else....many hours of nam...you'll feel like you're actually in the bush for once...