Skip to main content

Telling Our Children About Vietnam

April 2023
1min read

For nineteen years I have, as much as possible, avoided movies, books, discussions, anything at all to do with Vietnam. I went and it wasn’t pleasant. When the May/June issue arrived, I picked it up and put it down for two weeks before deciding to read your article “What Should We Tell Our Children about Vietnam?” Maybe nineteen years is long enough.

The article has explained many things to me, and for that I thank Bill McCloud and American Heritage. It also brought back many memories. For that, well, maybe it’s time. Since you have started to help me understand, I ask your help for one more thing.

I can understand why our government must sometimes keep the truth from the public. I also understand our government’s making mistakes and using bad judgment. I cannot understand why it took ten years and thousands of lives to rectify these errors. Help me understand this.

We hope you enjoy our work.

Please support this 72-year tradition of trusted historical writing and the volunteers that sustain it with a donation to American Heritage.

Donate

Stories published from "July/August 1988"

Authored by: Fredric Smoler

VINTAGE 1929
Gallows Humor from the First October Catastrophe

Authored by: The Editors

Two Hundred and Twenty-five Years Ago

Authored by: The Editors

One Hundred and Fifty Years Ago

Authored by: The Editors

One Hundred and Twenty-five Years Ago

Authored by: The Editors

One Hundred Years Ago

Authored by: The Editors

Seventy-five Years Ago

Authored by: The Editors

Twenty-five Years Ago

Authored by: The Editors

Fitz Hugh Lane’s seemingly traditional harbor scenes are now considered pioneering works of a unique artistic movement

Authored by: Edward Hoagland

He lived alone for two years in a small cabin on Walden Pond, but he was neither misanthropic nor solitary. Perhaps more than any other American writer, he can teach us how to live with ourselves.

Authored by: Fredric Smoler

A lifelong student of military history and affairs says that nuclear weapons have made the idea of war absurd. And it is precisely when everyone agrees that war is absurd that one gets started.

Featured Articles

The world’s most prominent actress risked her career by standing up to one of Hollywood’s mega-studios, proving that behind the beauty was also a very savvy businesswoman. 

Rarely has the full story been told about how a famed botanist, a pioneering female journalist, and First Lady Helen Taft battled reluctant bureaucrats to bring Japanese cherry trees to Washington. 

Often thought to have been a weak president, Carter was strong-willed in doing what he thought was right, regardless of expediency or the political fallout.

Why have thousands of U.S. banks failed over the years? The answers are in our history and politics.

In his Second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln embodied leading in a time of polarization, political disagreement, and differing understandings of reality.