5/8: LOST TRAGEDY LOST: The Long Reckoning: A Story of War, Peace, and Redemption in Vietnam Hardcover –by George Black (Author)
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.6 • 2.7K Ratings
🗓️ 4 July 2023
⏱️ 10 minutes
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Summary
@Batchelorshow
1925
5/8: LOST TRAGEDY LOST: The Long Reckoning: A Story of War, Peace, and Redemption in Vietnam Hardcover –by George Black (Author)
https://www.amazon.com/Long-Reckoning-Story-Redemption-Vietnam/dp/0593534107
The American war in Vietnam has left many long-lasting scars that have not yet been sufficiently examined. The worst of them were inflicted in a tiny area bounded by the demilitarized zone between North and South Vietnam and the Ho Chi Minh Trail in neighboring Laos. That small region saw the most intense aerial bombing campaign in history, the massive use of toxic chemicals, and the heaviest casualties on both sides.
In The Long Reckoning, George Black recounts the inspirational story of the small cast of characters—veterans, scientists, and Quaker-inspired pacifists, and their Vietnamese partners—who used their moral authority, scientific and political ingenuity, and sheer persistence to attempt to heal the horrors that were left in the wake of the military engagement in Southeast Asia. Their intersecting story is one of reconciliation and personal redemption, embedded in a vivid portrait of Vietnam today, with all its startling collisions between past and present, in which one-time mortal enemies, in the endless shape-shifting of geopolitics, have been transformed into close allies and partners.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is CBS I On The World with John Bachelor. |
| 0:10.0 | Here's John Bachelor. |
| 0:12.0 | His book The Long Reckoning tells a story of war, peace and redemption. |
| 0:17.0 | The war is done for America, but not for those who serve there, |
| 0:22.0 | nor for the Vietnamese people who live with the remains of the American bombing campaign. |
| 0:28.0 | The American herbicide campaign and the damage done to generations in Vietnam. |
| 0:35.0 | At the same time, America enters into a period of political turmoil, |
| 0:41.0 | following the exit from Vietnam. |
| 0:44.0 | During the time of Richard Nixon's Second Administration, particularly, |
| 0:50.0 | there were events, the Vietnam veterans against the war, |
| 0:53.0 | there were throwing medals on the steps of the capital, |
| 0:56.0 | there were protests, there were some radical statements being made as well. |
| 1:00.0 | Chuck Searsy, one of our protagonists, participates in that way. |
| 1:04.0 | He's a very skilled communicator at the University of Georgia and in Washington. |
| 1:10.0 | Manus Campbell, on the other hand, withdraws. |
| 1:13.0 | Is a wanderer, is restless. |
| 1:16.0 | At the same time, there's an overarching story that explains a deal of America's confusion and hesitation |
| 1:24.0 | about the war during this period, which George Guides me to say is 1973. |
| 1:31.0 | That's the Nixon Administration through the Carter Administration, |
| 1:36.0 | through the Reagan Administration into the first term of Bill Clinton. |
| 1:41.0 | That is the story of missing in action, left behind, the MIA flag. |
| 1:48.0 | George, I very carefully followed your reporting. |
... |
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