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The John Batchelor Show

6/8: The Long Reckoning: A Story of War, Peace, and Redemption in Vietnam Hardcover – Deckle Edge, March 28, 2023 by George Black (Authork

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

Society & Culture, Arts, News, Books

4.52.8K Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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@Batchelorshow
1957


6/8: The Long Reckoning: A Story of War, Peace, and Redemption in Vietnam Hardcover – Deckle Edge, March 28, 2023 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

Childhood should be fun. Don't let bed wetting spoil that.

0:07.0

Dry nights give maximum protection, so kids can go to bed where we free.

0:12.0

Have a dry night sleep. And wake up awesome.

0:19.0

Awesome days start with dry nights. Search dry nights for a free sample.

0:34.0

With his 1994 Chuck Ciercy comes back to Vietnam.

0:38.0

He's an accomplished political actor. He's extremely thoughtful and careful.

0:43.0

He's very well spoken. He meets the American community in and around Vietnam at this point,

0:50.0

including Adelaide Borton, who has had experiences of the damage of Agent Orange or something like it for many years.

0:58.0

However, what Chuck Ciercy also sees is what George Black, the author of the book, has just identified.

1:04.0

The damage done by unexploded ordnance, an enormous amount of bombs have been dropped over Vietnam,

1:11.0

chiefly in one place, I-cor. And along the coast, although there are other places where cluster bombs were used,

1:18.0

and in Laos, and always to remember Laos was also a target zone of the bombing and the herbicides.

1:25.0

Chuck Ciercy sees something he can do, but it's a mixed picture right now, until Bill Clinton and his administration open a door,

1:33.0

with diplomatic relations is going to happen in 95.

1:37.0

Was it a near-thing, George, for the Clinton administration to open that door?

1:41.0

Oh, yeah, very much so. There was still a furious opposition to normalization in Congress.

1:47.0

And really at that point, and I think this makes an important point about bipartisanship.

1:55.0

The move to normalize relations depended to a very large extent to veterans in the Senate who had credibility of both parties.

2:06.0

And the two key figures in this were, well, three key figures. One was John Kerry, who of course was the most famous of the anti-war political leaders.

2:18.0

The second one was John McCain, who had immense authority as a former prisoner of war, who had been tortured in the famous Hanoi Hilton prison.

2:28.0

And the third was Pete Peterson, who was another pilot, who had been imprisoned in Hanoi, who was sentenced the first ambassador.

2:38.0

That gave Bill Clinton a huge amount of necessary political cover, which allowed the process to proceed.

...

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