History

The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War is a ten-part, 18-hour documentary film series directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. In an immersive 360-degree narrative, Burns and Novick tell the epic story of the Vietnam War as it has never before been told on film. The Vietnam War features testimony from nearly 100 witnesses.

The Weight of Memory (Explicit Language Version)

1h 51m

While the Watergate scandal rivets Americans’ attention and forces President Nixon to resign, the Vietnamese continue to savage one another in a brutal civil war. When hundreds of thousands of North Vietnamese troops pour into the south, Saigon descends rapidly into chaos and collapses. For the next 40 years, Americans and Vietnamese from all sides search for healing and reconciliation.

Episodes

  • Riding the Tiger (Explicit Language Version): asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Riding the Tiger (Explicit Language Version)

    S1 E22 - 1h 26m

    President Kennedy inspires idealistic young Americans to serve their country and wrestles with how deeply to get involved in South Vietnam. As the increasingly autocratic Diem regime faces a growing communist insurgency and widespread Buddhist protests, a grave political crisis unfolds.

  • Riding the Tiger (Vietnamese Subtitles): asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Riding the Tiger (Vietnamese Subtitles)

    S1 E12 - 1h 25m

    President Kennedy inspires idealistic young Americans to serve their country and wrestles with how deeply to get involved in South Vietnam. As the increasingly autocratic Diem regime faces a growing communist insurgency and widespread Buddhist protests, a grave political crisis unfolds.

  • Riding the Tiger (1961-1963): asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Riding the Tiger (1961-1963)

    S1 E2 - 1h 26m

    President Kennedy inspires idealistic young Americans to serve their country and wrestles with how deeply to get involved in South Vietnam. As the increasingly autocratic Diem regime faces a growing communist insurgency and widespread Buddhist protests, a grave political crisis unfolds.

  • Déjà Vu (Explicit Language Version): asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Déjà Vu (Explicit Language Version)

    S1 E21 - 1h 25m

    After a long and brutal war, Vietnamese revolutionaries led by Ho Chi Minh end nearly a century of French colonial occupation. With the Cold War intensifying, Vietnam is divided in two at Geneva. Communists in the north aim to reunify the country, while America supports Ngo Dinh Diem’s untested regime in the south.

  • Déjà Vu (Vietnamese Subtitles): asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Déjà Vu (Vietnamese Subtitles)

    S1 E11 - 1h 24m

    After a long and brutal war, Vietnamese revolutionaries led by Ho Chi Minh end nearly a century of French colonial occupation. With the Cold War intensifying, Vietnam is divided in two at Geneva. Communists in the north aim to reunify the country, while America supports Ngo Dinh Diem’s untested regime in the south.

  • Déjà Vu (1858-1961): asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Déjà Vu (1858-1961)

    S1 E1 - 1h 25m

    After a long and brutal war, Vietnamese revolutionaries led by Ho Chi Minh end nearly a century of French colonial occupation. With the Cold War intensifying, Vietnam is divided in two at Geneva. Communists in the north aim to reunify the country, while America supports Ngo Dinh Diem's untested regime in the south.

Extras + Features

  • Fellow Warriors: Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Fellow Warriors: Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam

    S1 - 20m 46s

    John Musgrave is a Marine veteran who served at Con Thien in Vietnam where he was wounded. After returning home, Musgrave struggled with survivor’s guilt and depression. Today, he counsels active-duty soldiers and other veterans who are having trouble adjusting to life after their service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

  • The Reviews Are In: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Reviews Are In

    S1 - 30s

    America's top critics are unanimous in their praise for The Vietnam War. Find out what they're saying about Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s ten-part, 18-hour documentary series. #VietnamWarPBS

  • Some Peace: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Some Peace

    S1 E10 - 2m 33s

    Seeking reconciliation and peace, veterans from Vietnam and the United States meet in Vietnam years after the war.

  • The Diaspora: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Diaspora

    S1 E10 - 50s

    A Vietnamese-American comments on being displaced from his country, and his desire to go back there to live out the last years of his life.

  • Moratorium Protests, 1969: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Moratorium Protests, 1969

    S1 E7 - 1m 44s

    On November 15, 1969, half a million demonstrators turned out in Washington, D.C., to protest the war.

  • Rolling Thunder: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Rolling Thunder

    S1 E4 - 1m 10s

    President Johnson and Defense Secretary McNamara discuss the bombing campaign and strategy by phone.

  • The Nightlight: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    The Nightlight

    S1 E2 - 1m 37s

    A Marine remembers being afraid when assigned a listening post at night near the DMZ and how that fear stays with him today.

  • JFK on the Diem Coup: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    JFK on the Diem Coup

    S1 E2 - 1m

    Days after President Diem and his brother were killed in Saigon, President Kennedy dictated his own rueful account of the coup and his concerns for Vietnam's future.

Schedule

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