May, 1961: President Kennedy authorises the first American Military advisers to aid South Vietnam against the forces of North Vietnam. When the United States of America went to War in Vietnam, it was a nation riding high. Confident and ambitious, the world's greatest superpower expected this would be an easy war. Inspired by their charismatic young president, many ordinary Americans, too, felt it was their duty to champion democracy around the world. But just a few years later they withdrew from Vietnam, humiliated and in disarray. How could America have lost? Bringing together the latest research on the ground and the testimony of veterans from both sides, the film investigates why America - the world's richest nation - couldn't protect South Vietnam from tiny, poverty-stricken North Vietnam.
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This film was first broadcast: 05 Oct 2004
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