Its been 50 years since President Lyndon Johnson authorized a bombing campaign in Vietnam that marked the escalation of US involvement in the country’s civil war. The Vietnam war would go on to claim tens of thousands of American lives and millions in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Christian Appy,a professor of history at the University of Massachussetts at Amherst, joins us to talk about how the wider effects of the war in Southeast Asia have been downplayed throughout history. He has authored several books including American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and our National Identity. We also hear an 1970 interview with 5 American soldiers who gave first-hand accounts of the infamous My Lai Massacre, which occurred 47 years ago on March 16th.
