A STATEMENT from ICUJP: NO EMMY FOR KEN BURNS "VIETNAM" DISINFORMATION

Last fall, PBS and Ken Burns presented an 18-hour documentary series, "The Vietnam War." At the time, Veterans for Peace and other anti-war groups stated their objections to many elements of the series, finding that it contained too many half-truths, distortions and omissions to qualify as an honest history of the war and of the turmoil it caused on the American home front.

This spring, Burns and PBS began a campaign to win an Emmy award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. As longtime opponents of the Vietnam War, and other American military disasters, ICUJP joins Veterans for Peace in publicly expressing our sincere belief that Ken Burns' "Vietnam" series is unworthy of the Television Academy's highest honor.

We acknowledge that Burns and co-director Lynn Novick are extremely skillful filmmakers, but we respectfully ask the Academy to consider whether "The Vietnam War" meets the documentary standards of accuracy and truthfulness. If we don't face the full truth of the Vietnam War, we will continue to allow our government to lead us into moral and military catastrophes, as it already has in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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  • John Fitzgerald
    commented 2018-06-23 10:52:01 -0700
    As a Vietnam combat veteran, I agree with your criticism of the Burns/Novick film. It fails to point out that the war was not necessary. We could have ended it in 1945, 1955, and 1965. Instead, we escalated. The pain and suffering we caused in South East Asia is not shown accurately in this film. No Emmy for this piece of propaganda. John J. Fitzgerald
  • Bob Plass
    commented 2018-06-02 18:54:03 -0700
    As a Vietnam Veteran, I think the Burns/Novick fell short of the mark. They showed some of the corruption, but they only scratched the surface! Let’s not forget that Sgt. Major William O. Wooldridge, the top NCO in Vietnam, and the DOJ reached an agreement whereby Wooldridge pleaded guilty to accepting stock equity from a corporation engaged in providing merchandise to the non-commissioned officers’ clubs in Vietnam. He was at the top of the pyramid. This needs more investigation as does the sheer amount of material that was “liberated” from Military Supply depots throughout Vietnam.
    One of the reasons the war went on so long is that there was easy money to be made and quick promotions to be had.

Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace

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