Snapshot · Empire: World History
Burns argues America's imperial project began with the subjugation of 300 Native American nations across the continental United States, not with later overseas adventures.
Where this was said
At 25:34 · chapter starts 25:10
Anita's question is precise: was Vietnam when America's imperial project became visible to itself? [1] — Ken Burns "A Marine and a North Vietnamese soldier describe the experience of war in almost exactly the same words. The opening of Burns's Vietnam ser…" 26:11 Burns agrees it was important, but corrects the premise. America's imperial project began not in Southeast Asia but with the subjugation of 300 Native American nations across the continental United States. Vietnam made that project undeniable. His own approach to the 10-episode, 18-hour documentary was to treat the universality of war seriously: pairing Marines with North Vietnamese soldiers describing the same moments in almost identical language. The series opens not with an American voice but with North Vietnamese soldier Bao Dinh's statement — 'the only people who want to know who won and who lost are the people who don't fight' — a line Burns cites as perhaps the truest thing ever said about war.
Was Vietnam the moment America's imperial project became visible to itself? Ken Burns says no. The project began with the subjugation of 300 Native American nations across the continental United States. Vietnam just made it impossible to ignore.
Ken Burns's Vietnam War documentary series ran for 10 episodes totalling 18 hours, opening with a North Vietnamese soldier's perspective.
A Marine and a North Vietnamese soldier describe the experience of war in almost exactly the same words. The opening of Burns's Vietnam series comes from Bao Dinh, a North Vietnamese soldier: 'The only people who want to know who won and who lost are the people who don't fight.'
LBJ alone passed the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act — things his predecessor, for all his charisma, likely lacked the political muscle to achieve. Then he inherited a foreign policy apparatus from Kennedy and the buck stopped with him on Vietnam. That's the tragedy.
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Superficial adoption of electricity gave factories only 6% efficiency gains; fully redesigning factories around it delivered a 3x productivity improvement that powered 20th-century US growth.
Harold Ramis recounted that during Caddyshack filming, storms kept the cast cooped up in a Florida hotel for days, during which they partied and did drugs all day and night.
In the 1820s, China accounted for 25% of global economic output, making it the world's largest economic machine — a historical precedent for its current AI superpower ambitions.
66 Americans held hostage at the US Embassy in Iran were released after 444 days, within hours of Reagan's inauguration.
In the first round of the secret arms deal, 508 TOW missiles were transferred from Israel to Iran in exchange for hostage releases.
America secretly transferred 2,000 missiles and missile parts to Iran across 8 separate shipments over just over a year.
Despite all the missile sales, only 3 of the 7 American hostages held by Lebanese terrorists were ultimately released.
The CIA supply plane that blew open the scandal was flying at only 2,500 feet in broad daylight when it was shot down on October 5, 1986.
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