This month NPT is hosting a special in-studio event featuring Rory Kennedy’s Academy Award-nominated documentary, Last Days in Vietnam, and airing special programming in observance of the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon.
In studio
Join us Wednesday evening, April 22, at NPT for a 50-minute preview screening of Last Days in Vietnam, followed by a discussion with Hugh Doyle, chief engineer on the U.S.S. Kirk – the Navy vessel involved in dramatic helicopter rescues – and Binh Pho, a college student in South Vietnam during the war. Both will be present in the studio, along with local Vietnam veterans and members of Middle Tennessee’s Vietnamese American community.
Dinner from Nashville’s Miss Saigon restaurant will be served at 6 p.m.; the screening begins at 7 p.m.
This screening event is free, but registration is required. To RSVP or find more information, click here. The studio event will simultaneously be streamed online with audiences participating across the nation.
On air
NPT will also broadcast a number of programs about the Vietnam War this month:
Tuesday, April 21, at 8 p.m. Filmmaker Barak Goodman’s (Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies) My Lai explores the 1968 My Lai Massacre of 300 unarmed civilians by a company of American soldiers. Shown as part of the American Experience series.
Monday, April 27, at 8 p.m. The Draft examines how who serves in the military continues to define our country. This program is being presented as part of PBS Stories of Service.
Monday, April 27, at 9 p.m. During the Vietnam era, journalists and the American public asked tough questions about the conflict. Dick Cavett, one of the leading media personalities of the time, informed the debate through interviews on his hugely popular talk show. Dick Cavett’s Vietnam combines interview segments from his show with network news footage and material from the National Archives to provide context to this controversial chapter in U.S. history.
Tuesday, April 28, at 7 p.m. On May 4, 1970, four college students were killed on the campus of Ohio’s Kent State University during a protest about the U.S. invasion of Cambodia. Kent State ‒ The Day the ’60s Died examines the events leading up to and after that fateful day.
Tuesday, April 28, at 8 p.m. The full documentary Last Days in Vietnam, about the fall of Saigon and the American military pullout, airs on the American Experience. This presentation is part of PBS Stories of Service.