[speaker001:] yeah they they asked us um you know whether we felt the uh the war was was justified in dollars and lives and I mean I I really can't uh see how it was I think the more interesting part of the question to me was the effect that it had on uh on the US
[speaker002:] yeah I think that's what's called a moot question
[speaker001:] you yeah real good point but I was thinking you know I was while I was waiting for a connection I was just thinking about it I said you know the I don't know if without the Vietnam War if we would have had you know all the hippie era the protestors demonstrations um you know and the the effect that it had on Rock and Roll and you know all of the uh the baby boomers I mean I I think it you know has a profound effect on all of us
[speaker002:] yeah the the I think that had we had the war or had we not had the war we'd a had a lot similar uh effect upon the population in terms of the the freedom era as it were
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] I think what we saw was a phenomenon of a large number of young people at one time that were of the age of decision without the maturity to handle it
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] me among them
[speaker001:] yeah yeah likewise likewise
[speaker002:] and uh you know Richard Nixon is my hero because he kept me out of that place and my number was six I was going yeah and
[speaker001:] wow oh well see my my uh the the I had uh I had forgot I hadn't even thought about that in a long long time I had two numbers the lowest one I had was like a a sixty eight I think and then another one uh I had like a one thirty seven I think you know
[speaker002:] yeah yeah forget that you're not going
[speaker001:] yeah but uh you know none the less uh I was busy going to college when that was happening you know
[speaker002:] well I quit college when uh they when they moved out
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] went into construction
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] took me seventeen years to finish my degree
[speaker001:] yeah well um I don't know it's uh
[speaker002:] is it was it worth while from who's point of view
[speaker001:] well I think that I think what it showed though was that uh you you know America was was is is not invincible and all powerful and uh you you know it it also shows that even with the the kind of money that was thrown into it and the the uh uh armaments uh with the way it was waged which was not an all out war and I guess that's the other thing too it was never a declared war so you you know it never did really have the backing of the people
[speaker002:] well I think one of the the major points that a lot of people including myself missed until recently is the fact that we could have annihilated the north had we wanted to
[speaker001:] oh and I agree with that but it was uh it was such a uh a a limited uh you know one hand tied behind your back uh
[speaker002:] well even even at even at the not on the you know the gross tactical but on the on the very minute tactical arena
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] you know they were sending out you know eight or nine guys to engage a company
[speaker001:] right
[speaker002:] you know and they'd get wiped out you wonder why you know and
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] at every turn the tacticians were denied access to information which is a biggie and uh components you know whatever it took to do the job by the politicians
[speaker001:] why why was that
[speaker002:] why because somebody was getting rich I found that everywhere you look if you find the money you'll find out why
[speaker001:] yeah yeah good point
[speaker002:] and Dow Chemical had a real good thing going you know Dow Chemical had a photographer at every demonstration
[speaker001:] oh really
[speaker002:] yes and if your picture was in that demonstration you didn't get hired by Dow Chemical
[speaker001:] really how interesting
[speaker002:] yeah and uh DuPont was was uh doing a lot of that too
[speaker001:] yeah DuPont is um they're they're not high on my list of favorites they uh they fought uh the banning of ozone uh or rather um not ozone but uh freon just tooth and nail
[speaker002:] yeah well it's a big part of their market
[speaker001:] oh right right but I mean you know they they took uh you know all the data that had been uh produced uh from back uh in the late uh eighties middle mid to late eighties about uh
[speaker002:] you know in the
[speaker001:] uh how freon was uh shown to to damage the ozone and uh they just you know were adamant that uh you know and and
[speaker002:] they have no moral conscience
[speaker001:] yeah really
[speaker002:] and that goes into and it and it's all tied together too I kind of believe that the Vietnam event I'm not gonna call it a war or a police action it was an event that the main push for that was outside the United States our involvement for one thing we were on the wrong side you know we were on the side of the fascist dictator and you know Ho Chi Minh if you've read any of his writings he was a democrat
[speaker001:] hum
[speaker002:] you know he wanted democracy
[speaker001:] really
[speaker002:] but he was forced to sleep with