Mr. Sheehan's new book was a topic of heated controversy; he describes his experiences ably and often movingly here, in this discussion with two journalists of a pre-Vietnam generation. NS: "In World War II, if... George Patton gave you a briefing on what was going on in the Battle of Normandy, it bore a pretty good relationship to what was happening. Suddenly, in Vietnam, you were in a situation where ... you were seeing one thing when you went out in the field, and the command [in Saigon] was telling you another--and you were trying to reflect the truth.... We thought as reporters our duty was to report the truth about this war so that the President would change policy and win the war." ... RC: "You've had the experience and I've had the experience ... of hearing people blame the press for losing the war in Vietnam. It's an argument that I totally reject...." WFB: "I think that the press became anti-Vietnam partisans, and to suggest that the press didn't influence domestic attitudes is to undermine the power and the prestige of the press. You wouldn't want to do that, would you?"