Triumph and Tragedy: A Revisionist History of the Vietnam War

The Jack Carr Channel

Jack Carr

Society & Culture

4.9 • 2.8K Ratings

🗓️ 18 June 2025

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week on DANGER CLOSE, Jack Carr is joined by military historian and national security expert Dr. Mark Moyar. Dr. Moyar is the Director of the Center for Military History and Strategy at Hillsdale College, where he holds the William P. Harris Chair of Military History. A summa cum laude graduate of Harvard with a Ph.D. from Cambridge, he served in the Trump administration as Director of Civilian–Military Cooperation at USAID and has advised across government and military institutions. He is the author of eight books, including his most recent and widely discussed work, TRIUMPH REGAINED: THE VIETNAM WAR, 1965–1968. In this episode, Dr. Moyar and Jack explore the Vietnam War through the lens of revisionist history, challenging the conventional wisdom that has shaped public perception for decades. From the early influence of French colonialism and the flawed assumptions that guided U.S. foreign policy, to the critical decisions of Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, Moyar offers a clear-eyed reassessment of America’s involvement. They examine the Domino Theory, the role of media figures like David Halberstam and Neil Sheehan, and the controversial legacy of the Phoenix Program—often mischaracterized in pop culture and politics alike. The conversation also delves into the 1963 Buddhist protests, the assassination of President Diem, and the missed strategic opportunities that could have changed the trajectory of the war. Dr. Moyar draws compelling parallels between the U.S. exit from Vietnam and more recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, connecting lessons from history to modern military and diplomatic challenges. He also speaks to the cultural forces—films like JFK and distorted media narratives—that continue to shape the American understanding of Vietnam to this day. This is a powerful discussion about the weight of history, the cost of misinformation, and the importance of revisiting the past with intellectual honesty. FOLLOW MARK X: @MarkMoyar Website: https://markmoyar.com/ FOLLOW JACK Instagram: @JackCarrUSA X: @JackCarrUSA Facebook: @JackCarr YouTube: @JackCarrUSA SPONSORS CRY HAVOC – A Tom Reece Thriller https://www.officialjackcarr.com/books/cry-havoc/ Bravo Company Manufacturing - BCM Stock MOD3: https://bravocompanyusa.com/bcm-stock-mod-3-black/ and on Instagram @BravoCompanyUSA THE SIGs of Jack Carr: Visit https://www.sigsauer.com/ and on Instagram @sigsauerinc Jack Carr Gear: Explore the gear here https://jackcarr.co/gear

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of the Danger Close podcast is brought to you by Cry Havoc.
0:04.0	From New York Times number one best-selling author, Jack Carr.
0:08.0	Cry Havoc, a Tom Rees thriller, order now.
0:12.0	The North Vietnamese can keep sending people into South Vietnam as long as they want to via the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
0:19.0	And so you have in the mid-60s, the Joint Chiefs of Staff are repeatedly saying,
0:23.6	we need to go into Laos to cut the Ho Chi-Man Trail, or maybe even going to North Vietnam itself.
0:28.6	And the Johnson administration consistently rebuffs this, and they're concerned about China getting involved.
0:34.6	But in hindsight, if we've gone into the Ho Chi-Man Trail, that really would have been a crushing blow to them and would have end this cycle where they can constantly just keep sending more troops into Vietnam no matter how many of them get killed. Yeah, Mark, how are you?
1:01.0	Yeah, how are you?
1:01.9	I'm so excited to talk to you and really appreciate you taking the time to do this with how busy you are,
1:07.7	especially knowing that there is a third in the series here that you are probably working on right now.
1:14.3	Is that right?
1:14.7	Yes, I am.
1:15.5	That is correct.
1:16.3	Yeah.
1:16.6	Well, it's great to be with you here.
1:18.1	Well, these books, so I'm writing my next, it's a thriller, so fiction.
1:23.9	And, but it takes place in 1968.
1:25.7	So I'm doing a ton of research, or I have done a ton of research.
1:29.1	It turned into the most, uh, most thoroughly research book that I've done to date. And so my
1:35.2	collection of books on Vietnam and the 60s in general, the Cold War has expanded exponentially
1:42.4	over the last year, year and a half to include your books and they were just fantastic.
	...

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