General Discussion

I was 13 in 1966 and I was already a political junkie. Since November 22, 1963, the day JFK was shot, I had started to listen to Eric Servareid. Starting on that date he began his run of political commentary at the end of Cronkite’s broadcast.

This was back in the day when the Fairness Doctrine was in force on broadcast TV. If you gave one side of a political argument, you had to give the other side. Eric was known as Eric Severalsides because he did this night after night.

But here was his logic: if one side said that ABC was correct, then we would see 1,2,3 in the future. If the other side said XYZ, then we would see 24,25,26 in the future. For instance, if South Vietnam really wanted to be the bastion of freedom and democracy that some American planners said they were, you would have expected a more virulent defense of their country than the was exhibited by their army.

Using this logic he deduced by 1966 that the war was unwinnable.

That’s when I knew. 1966. I was 5 years away from the draft and I considered the war unwinnable (and morally wrong).