APM Special Report: 'Vietnam and the Presidency'
In 2006, some of the nation's foremost historians, journalists, veterans and presidential advisers were convened at the JFK Presidential Library in Boston to discuss the lessons and legacy of the Vietnam War. The meeting was significant during a time where U.S. officials were debating what to do in Iraq.
For the historians, there is a plethora of resources documenting the Vietnam War — including an archive of then-President Lyndon B. Johnson's secret tapes, now open to the public, in which he talks to advisers about the war.
"I knew from the start that I was bound to be crucified either way I moved," Johnson later told historian Doris Kearns Goodwin in 1970. He said he knew he would lose everything at home if he got involved in Vietnam, but if he didn't join the fight he would be seen as an appeaser.
In a 1965 conversation between Johnson and Martin Luther King, who had been publicly criticizing the handling of the war, Johnson attempted to explain why he felt compelled to keep the war going.
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"If I pulled out, I think that our commitments would be no good anywhere," he said. "Now, I don't want to pull down the flag and come home running with my tail between my legs, particularly if it's going to create more problems than I got out there, and it would according to all of our best judges."
You can hear insights from advisers to president Johnson as well as John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, and journalists who covered the Vietnam War in the APM special report, "Vietnam and the Presidency."
It was produced by Stephen Smith and Kate Ellis of American RadioWorks in 2006.
To listen to the report, click the audio player above.