The Unending War

Senior officials of the Nixon era are still fighting over the POWs

THE VIETNAM WAR WAS AMERICA'S LONGEST ON THE battlefield and probably as damaging to the national psyche as the Civil War. In some important ways it is not over yet. Just a few days of Senate hearings were enough to revive the country's faded memories of bloodshed, the accusations of official duplicity and the anger of the 1970s. Names and faces out of the past returned to Capitol Hill to wrangle and dispute, 20 years later, the fate of American servicemen who did not come home from Indochina.

When the U.S. pulled out its forces in 1973, Hanoi handed back 591...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!