Vietnam War Is Over, But What Do We Tell Our Children About It?

``Our participation in Vietnam was right, albeit poorly conducted . . . ''

- President George Bush

``The military did not lose a single battle of consequence and did not lose the war. The war was lost by congressional actions . . . ''

- Gen. William C. Westmoreland

WITH all the momentous world events unfolding, renewed discussion about Vietnam, a most wrenching period in our national history, may not seem pertinent. However, what makes meaningful the comments above, and those of other Americans whose lives were greatly affected by the Asian-American struggle, is that they are responses to an Oklahoma teacher who asked:

``What should we tell our children about Vietnam?''

Furthermore, Bill McCloud, who teaches at Pryor Junior High in Oklahoma, sought his answers in the most appealing way: He sat down in the evenings and with felt-tipped black pen wrote in bold script to more than 200 persons who he thought could provide guidance on what he should teach about the Vietnam conflict.

``I read through a dozen books on the war and wrote down every name in the bibliographies or indexes,'' McCloud said. ``I then went to Who's Who in America and other sources to find out which of the people on my master list were still alive and had current addresses listed.''

The honesty and humility of McCloud's request, in these times of slick and sensational solicitations, struck a responsive chord.

``I am a Vietnam veteran and junior-high-school teacher,'' he wrote. ``If you could find the time, please send me your response to the question: `What are the most important things for today's junior-high-school students to understand about the Vietnam War?' Even a brief reply would be most helpful.''

The replies included those of bitter critics of the war such as Allen Ginsberg and Tom Hayden. Responses came from people who directed, fought and reported the war; from former prisoners, nurses, refugees, and parents of servicemen who had died in the war.

Seeming to respond in kind to McCloud's sincerity, most replies contained a high degree of candor, shorn of political equivocation. Robert McNamara, secretary of defense during part of the war, answered in 25 words:

``The United States must be careful not to interpret events occurring in a different land in terms of its own history, politics, culture and morals.''

In all, McCloud received about 160 replies during the summer of 1987. In the fall he discussed them with students in his American-history class. ``We shared an incredible year,'' he said. ``They seemed to know that the war was a skeleton in America's family closet, and they were old enough to be let in on the secret.'' The created interest led to a decision by the University of Oklahoma Press to publish the collected opinions as a ``remarkable historical record . . . a broad spectrum both politically and emotionally.''

McCloud's decency shone again. Out came his felt-tipped black pen, and he wrote to each respondent, asking for permission to publish their comments, and he enclosed a copy to remind them of what they had written. ``You may call me collect at home,'' he invited, and included the telephone number.

For a reporter like myself, who had lived abroad for years, such thoughtfulness, such consideration is a wonderful reminder of ``the American way.''

There were only about nine refusals, McCloud said. One turndown came from a White House attorney who explained that President Reagan could not participate in a commercial publication venture. (But it did not prevent George Bush, then vice president, from keeping his response on the record.)

The university press published a book of 128 responses entitled ``What Should We Tell Our Children About Vietnam?'' in October 1989.

The letters range from personal experience to lofty reflection such as that of Dean Rusk, secretary of state during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. ``We can take real satisfaction that it has been over 40 years since a nuclear weapon was fired in anger,'' Rusk wrote in part.

There were some expressions of bitterness. ``The American people were consistently lied to by the press . . . '' wrote G. Gordon Liddy, whom McCloud gently identified as ``author, lecturer, businessman,'' choosing to omit the fact that Liddy was involved in President Nixon's Watergate scandal.

Henry Kissinger had his say: ``A democracy cannot conduct a serious foreign policy if the contending factions do not exercise some restraint in their debate.''

Adm. Thomas H. Moorer, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the later years of the Vietnam War, advised McCloud to tell his students ``that when they grow up, they must never permit politicians to enter a war they do not intend to win.''

Neta Sanders, whose son was killed in Vietnam, said that ``whether the war was right or wrong . . . the men who fought, were wounded and died were very much in the right and should be showered with nothing less than the glory and honor they deserve. We as a nation must stop grieving . . . ''

In his summary of responses, McCloud said a prevailing opinion, expressed in many ways, was that ``citizens of all ages need to stay informed about world affairs and what our government is doing. The American people must share in any blame associated with our involvement in the Vietnam War.''

Jack Foisie reported for The Los Angeles Times in Vietnam throughout eight years of the war, starting in 1964, and later was one of the paper's correspondents in the Middle East and Africa. He retired in 1984.