Vietnam War: Multimedia

Captain Nguyen Cong Danh, a Viet Cong soldier, describes the battle of Ap Bac and the difficulties of fighting with an enemy that used helicopters. Nguyen Cong Danh talks about the preparations made going into the battle and speaks at length of the strategy that was used at Ap Bac. He also references the casualties suffered for both his side and the enemy's side.

To many, the phrase "the war in Vietnam" relates only to the conflict between Communists and non-Communists in the 1960s and 1970s. However, there have been five wars involving Vietnam since the Second World War. The first was 1945 to 1946, and pitted the British and Japanese as unlikely allies against the VietMinh. The second war was between the French and those seeking independence from their rule. The third war was the conflict of the 1960s and 1970s. Then there were wars between the Vietnamese and the Chinese, and the Vietnamese and the Cambodians. This film describes all five of the conflicts.

The Vietnam War was the first "television war." Night after night, the evening news broadcast the conflict into living rooms across America. As the country watched coverage of the fighting, Dick Cavett's late night talk show featured thoughtful conversations and debate about the war from all sides of the political spectrum, and revealed the public's growing unrest with Vietnam and the rise of strife at home. In conjunction with the 40th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon (April 30, 1975) and the end of the war, DICK CAVETT'S VIETNAM reexamines the conflict and its impact on America through the prism of interviews conducted by the iconic host of THE DICK CAVETT SHOW from 1968-75, when the show aired on ABC. Those interviews, combined with archival footage, network news broadcasts, and newly filmed interviews with Cavett and other experts, provide fresh insight and perspective on this controversial chapter of American history.