1968 Democratic National Convention 
covered by ABC News, August 28, 1968.
" For God's Sake, if you adopt the Minority Plank, you are going to jeopardize the lives of our servicemen in Vietnam"
"If you adopt the Majority Plank, which is identical to that adopted by the Republican Party, it will be sheer suicide for the Democratic Party."
To bomb or not to bomb? To allow the Vietnamese to adopt a government of their own choosing or force one upon them? Ho Chi Minh's greatest hero was George Washington, who also stood up for self-rule against an Empire. In 1968, it seemed only a very few people over 30, and most under 30 (who would be fighting the war) saw the irony of US Vietnam policy. The "Great Silent Majority" were the generation of World War II veterans who felt it was time for the next generation to shoulder their responsibility to defend freedom in Vietnam before the Communists made it to Los Angeles. The Vietnam Veterans were doomed from the start -- first fighting an unwinnable war, killing civilians who may or may not have been N. Vietnamese sympathizers, and then not being treated with respect when they returned home, since the country was starting to question the wisdom of the path we were on. Most people felt torn between what they wanted to believe and what their eyes were telling them.
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