The unthinkable occurred: two communist countries went to war with each other.

We thought that whatever we wanted to do was right and good, simply because we were Americans, and we would succeed at it because we were Americans.

At least I'm at peace with myself. I have done my best to write a book about what really happened there and why it happened and it's done, it's published. I won't write another book on Vietnam.

Americans, particularly after World War II, tended to romanticize war because in World War II our cause was the cause of humanity, and our soldiers brought home glory and victory, and thank God that they did. But it led us to romanticize it to some extent.

World War II had been such a tremendous success story for this country that the political and military leadership began to assume that they would prevail simply because of who they were. We were like the British at the turn of the 19th century.

These men were wrongfully rejected, the veterans. The fighting man should never have been blamed for Vietnam.

Just because you put higher-octane gasoline in your car doesn't mean you can break the speed limit. The speed limit's still 65.