Why Vietnam still matters

Think about the things that shape our world, our perceptions and our culture.  For a large part of the population, the experience of America’s mistakes in Vietnam has long shaped our engagement in the world.  The country's disrespect, at the time, for the service of those that served in Vietnam, in many ways positively shapes the way we respond to Veterans' needs today.As leaders today try and juggle the crisis of the world, and play a kind of geopolitical chess, they are always chastened by the scandal that was Iran/Contra,And as any magazine or look at popular culture today will tell you, we are obsessed with outward appearances, usually at the expense of depth and real understanding.All of these issues and ideas come into play in the life and struggles of Robert Timberg.  Disfigured in a land mine explosion thirteen days before he was to leave Vietnam, his story, his struggles and his recovery in many ways parallels the story of the past half century.It’s what makes him so effective as a journalist and why his story, that he now tells us in his memoir Blue-Eyed Boy, is also a history lesson for us all.My conversation with Robert Timberg: Get full access to Talk Cocktail Podcast at jeffschechtman.substack.com/subscribe