The Sixties — Season 1, Episode 4: The War in Vietnam (1961 – 1968)

Episode synopsis

From just several hundred advisors at the start of the decade, to more than 550,000 American troops by the end of it, the escalation of the war in Vietnam – and the fighting and the dying – brought social and political polarization back home. It was also televised – and, the more Americans saw of the war, the more unpopular the conflict became. Tim O’Brien, Frederik Logeval, Karl Marlantes, Neil Sheehan, Andrew Bacevich, George Herring, Tom Hayden, and Philip Caputo discuss the Gulf of Tonkin, and LBJ, for this most complex of American stories.

About The Sixties

The space race, the cold war, "free love," civil rights and more: The decade of the 1960s shaped our history -- and changed the world. In collaboration with Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Mark Herzog, CNN explores perhaps the most transformative decade of the modern era in a 10-part documentary series and brings new insights into how those events shaped today.

More episodes from Season 1

• E1Television Comes of Age (1960 - 1969)
• E2The World on the Brink (1960 – 1963)
• E3The Assassination of Kennedy (1963 - 1969)
• E5A Long March to Freedom (1960 – 1968)
• E6The British Invasion (1964 - 1967)
• E7The Space Race (1960 – 1969)
• E81968 (1968)
• E9The Times, They Are A-Changin’ (1960 – 1969)
• E10Sex, Drugs, and Rock N’ Roll (1960 – 1969)