'The Vietnam War: A Film by Ken Burns & Lynn Novick' Episode Review: "Riding the Tiger (1961-1963)'

Episode Two: Riding the Tiger (1961-1963)

Written by: Geoffrey C. Ward

Directed by: Ken Burns & Lynn Novick

President Kennedy inspires idealistic young Americans to serve their country and wrestles with how deeply to get involved in South Vietnam. As the increasingly autocratic Diem regime faces a growing communist insurgency and widespread Buddhist protests, a grave political crisis unfolds. - from The Vietnam War's Episode List

On September 18, 2017, PBS stations across the U.S. aired "Riding the Tiger (1961-1963), Episode Two of The Vietnam War, a 10-part documentary series directed by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick (The War, Prohibition). Produced by Burns, Novick, and Sarah Botstein, this 18-hour exploration of one of the most divisive events in modern American history was 10 years in the making. It features interviews of participants from all sides, including civilians and veterans from North and South Vietnam. (Hence the series’ tagline: “There is no single truth in war.”)

(C) 2017 Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and Florentine Films

"Riding the Tiger (1961-1963)" begins on Inauguration Day 1961 as America's new President, John F. Kennedy, delivers his famous "Ask not what your country can do for you" speech:


     We dare not forget today that we are the heirs of that first revolution. Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans--born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage--and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.

In his inspiring address, Kennedy emphasized two of the principles that became the pillars of his Administration's Vietnam policy: a staunch commitment to fight communist aggression all over the world, and a promise - or warning - to our friends and adversaries that America would honor its commitments no matter what. 

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.    

This much we pledge--and more.

To those old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share, we pledge the loyalty of faithful friends. United there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures. Divided there is little we can do--for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.     

To those new states whom we welcome to the ranks of the free, we pledge our word that one form of colonial control shall not have passed away merely to be replaced by a far more iron tyranny. We shall not always expect to find them supporting our view. But we shall always hope to find them strongly supporting their own freedom--and to remember that, in the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.

The 43-year-old President - the youngest man ever elected in U.S. history - was determined to honor this pledge. To help him do so, he recruited a national security team made up of "the best and the brightest" minds in the fields of foreign affairs (Dean Rusk), military strategy (Gen. Maxwell Taylor), and business (Robert S. McNsmara). Like JFK, these men were veterans of World War II who thought the main lesson of that war was "that ambitious dictatorships had to be stopped in their tracks before they constituted a serious danger to the peace of the world."

But as lofty as Kennedy's ideals were, his Administration got off to a rocky start. The Bay of Pigs invasion - which he had approved despite having personal misgivings about its success - resulted in an embarrassing defeat at the hands of Cuba's dictator, Fidel Castro. At the Vienna summit in May of 1961, the new President felt he was bullied by Soviet premier Nikita S. Khruschev. Eager to stop the further spread of communism abroad, Kennedy decided to make a stand in South Vietnam by increasing economic and military support to the autocratic and corrupt government led by President Ngo Dinh Diem. He also increased the number of military advisors in-country to nearly 15,000. 

As "Riding the Tiger (1961-1963)" points out, JFK did not want to send large numbers of conventional ground forces to South Vietnam. He believed that to fight communist guerrillas, it was better to send a new type of American soldier, one that was specially trained in counterinsurgency tactics and psychological operations to not only fight the cadres of the National Liberation Front (or "Viet Cong," as the South Vietnamese and Americans called them), but to win the "hearts and minds" of the people in the countryside.

But as Ken Burns, Lynn Novick, and series writer Geoffrey C. Ward demonstrate, no amount of American idealism or military power could ensure an easy victory in Vietnam. Not only were the "best and brightest" woefully ignorant about Vietnamese geography, history, and culture, but they failed to see the conflict on human terms. Instead, as Tom Vallely, a Marine who served in Vietnam in the later stages of the conflict, points out, the divided nation was merely a chess piece on a Cold War chessboard.

American illusions of victory were also to be shattered by their lack of knowledge about the leaders in North Vietnam's capital, Hanoi. They were aware that their main adversary was the grandfatherly but determined Ho Chi Minh, who told his people that the war could last 10, 20 or even 30 years. But Washington did not know that Ho shared power with the younger and more aggressive Le Duan, who was fiercely committed on achieving final victory over the Americans and what the North Vietnamese referred to as "the puppet regime in Saigon" sooner rather than later.

The episode also highlights the innocent idealism of many young Americans who firmly believed in the Cold War outlook in the early Sixties. Reporters such as 25-year-old Army veteran Neil Sheehan thought that America's crusade to save South Vietnam from becoming "a falling domino" was a worthy enterprise and sought to cover the war honestly but in a supportive manner. And young men like Pete Hunting  from Oklahoma City joined the Peace Corps and volunteered to help build schools, irrigation systems, and even windmills to improve the lives of South Vietnam's rural population.

But if idealism and a genuine desire to help Vietnam composed the positive side of American involvement during the Kennedy years, cynicism and deception were the negative aspects that would mar the war effort. As "Riding the Tiger (1961-1963) illustrates, not only was the South Vietnamese government rife with corruption and incompetence, but the American decision makers in both Washington and Saigon were lying to the American public about what U.S. advisors were doing and the stability of the South Vietnamese leadership.

As in "Déjà Vu (1858-1961)," Burns and his Florentine Films team do a fantastic job of taking a complex issue and making it understandable to television viewers. Narrator Peter Coyote, who has done similar voice work for other Burns projects such as The West and Prohibition, delivers his narration with an authoritative but pleasant style.

In addition, the production values of "Riding the Tiger (1961-1963)" - as those of the other episodes of The Vietnam War, are excellent. Burns, Novick, and co-producer Sarah Botstein's team spent 10 years making this 10-part documentary, and it shows. Everything, from Buddy Squires' cinematography, Geoffrey Ward's script, and the original music by David Cieri, Trent Reznor, and Atticus Ross shows that the Florentine Films team lavished attention to every detail.

I think that "Riding the Tiger (1961-1963)" tries hard to tell the story of the early days of America's involvement in Vietnam as accurately and fairly as possible. The episode shows the war not just from the U.S./South Vietnamese perspective, but also from the point of view of the North Vietnamese. It doesn't whitewash American mistakes or duplicity, nor does it show the communists as victims of American "imperialism." The North Vietnamese and their NLF (Viet Cong) allies are shown here as cold-blooded and ruthless. There is plenty of blame to go around when it comes to the war in Vietnam, and no one is spared from criticism here.