THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 30, 1995 TAG: 9505010197
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: Democracy and Citizenship
Creating new conversations
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
Today, the 20th anniversary of the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam, might have passed with sad, thoughtful retrospectives until a book by Robert McNamara rekindled the national debate over our involvement in the war. We asked for your reactions, in an InfoLine poll, to begin a community conversation on one of the defining issues of our time. Three of your stories are told on page A10. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
BETTMAN ARCHIVES
Evacuees, fleeing North Vietnamese forces thrusting their way into
Saigon, are helped aboard a helicopter atop a building in the
downtown area of the city. The evacuation site was one of many in
the area from which Americans and foreign nationals were taken to
U.S. Navy ships April 29, 1975.
Graphic
Photo
What's your view on Robert McNamara (left) and The Vietnam War?
``We were wrong:'' That stark admission about the Vietnam War
from Robert McNamara, one of its chief architects, has reopened a
deep well of emotion among Americans.
The war challenged our assumptions of citizenship like few other
periods in our history.
Today is the 20th anniversary of the U.S. pullout from Saigon.
In his new book, ``In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of
Vietnam,'' Robert McNamara concludes that the Vietnam War was a
tragic mistake: ``We were wrong, terribly wrong. We owe it to future
generations to explain why.''
His confession re-opens a painful chapter in American history, a
period which undermined the confidence of the American people in
their government and their leaders.
All of us see the issue through the prism of our own experience.
Among the competing viewpoints are these:
McNAMARA AS LOYAL SOLDIER
McNamara was simply following the direction of presidents Kennedy
and Johnson.
McNamara was being faithful to the popular view of the day that
America could solve most foreign problems.
McNAMARA AS GOOD CITIZEN
He did what he thought was right then and he's doing what he
thinks is right now.
McNamara couldn't have turned the Vietnam effort around by
speaking up during the heat of conflict. Now his words can be
considered in the cool light of history.
McNAMARA AS INDECISIVE COLD WARRIOR
We were right to take a stand against Communism.
America could have won the war if McNamara had let the generals
fight it.
McNAMARA AS WAR CRIMINAL
McNamara's silence in the '60s cost more than 50,000 lives. He is
asking too much of America to forgive him, especially if he knew it
was unwinnable.
The question of winning misses the point; McNamara led an immoral
war of aggression against a smaller country struggling to achieve
its independence.
BEFORE RESPONDING, CONSIDER:
Did McNamara have an obligation to speak up in 1968 when he
concluded the war was unwinnable?
How should McNamara have balanced his obligations to President
Johnson and his obligations to American citizens?
How should the war protesters be viewed in light of McNamara's
disclosure? How should the American casualties be viewed?
How would you talk to a parent who lost a child in Vietnam about
McNamara's disclosure that he knew the war was unwinnable?
Can any good come of this?
The Virginian-Pilot wants to turn around trends in the country in
which Americans see government as moving moving further away from
citizens and see the media as focusing on the sensational instead of
the things that matter. We want to create a conversation about how
to make public life better in Hampton Roads.
Send comments to:
Bill Sizemore, 150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, VA 23501. E-mail
members of the newspaper's global team at denj@infi.net(subject:
Vietnam), fax us at 446-2531 or post to the news group hr.general at
http://www.infi.net/pilot/
by CNB