South Vietnam has been gobbled up by North Vietnam. This was a shabby performance by the United States. U.S. interest in Vietnam was born after World War II. President Kennedy greatly increased our military effort there and morally locked us in; President Johnson inherited most of the problems and stated that we would not broaden the war. U.S. bombing of North Vietnam was off and on, serving as a thermometer of public pressure on the domestic front. Westmoreland discusses anti-war propaganda, misleading media, anti-war groups that unwittingly encouraged the enemy to keep fighting, and the Case-Church Amendment. He also describes the conflict as as being a poor man?s war, and talks about the bloodshed shown on television. The U.S. must learn from its failures in Vietnam.

A transcript of the talk is in the book "Each a Mighty Voice" (Heyday Books, 2004).