It just fell together as i went along. I think one thing that struck me very dramatically was my decision to leave vietnam and to see how seductive war is. And i knew i didnt want to be someone who went from one war to the next and be kind of a war groupie, because i couldnt make a life. I wrote once that i wanted roots that went down to the source of water. And at the time, when i was in vietnam, i wasnt sure what that would have meant, and i was too young to be thinking about that, but when i went back to vietnam in 1989, it was the first time and i traveled with a small group from hanoi all the way through the country, and i was in saigon and did the memory walk of the places i had lived. And i realized, there was a moment when it just hit me. I thought of my daughter who was then 8. And i wanted to go home. And i miss the life that i had created. And i think that was when i really realized that i had, i had done that, that i had somehow chosen or life had chosen me. I didnt want to just go from war to war. , and i had to make another life, which i did. But its, you know, the tradeofs a trade offs are always there, and you do the best you can at the time. Barbara, can i Say Something . Please. I think of all of us here, im the only one who actually stayed being a Foreign Correspondent and a war correspondent for 25 years. And i think that it definitely was a tradeoff, particularly for my generation. Right. I think it would have been impossible for me to have covered all the wars and conflicts and gotten on planes and run off all over the world, and to have been married and raised a family. So it was a choice that i made, and i have had an incredible life. But it was a choice that i made. Hi. Im judith. My question is directed to most of you. Many of you had been both reporters before and after the vietnam war. My question is, how did it change the environment for women, both your life before and then coming back afterward . And my question is a little twofold. Also between you and other women journalists after the war, was there a different level of respect or ease because you had had the experience or no . No. No, no, no, no. Vietnam was, i remember first coming back from the war, and i was looking for a job in television, which was my experience. It was like, oh, yeah, you were in vietnam, but you dont know film and tape. It was like, oh, that was there, but this is now and you dont you know, there was a time when vietnam just was it wasnt almost heard. I remember when i went home, i was in the drugstore where i had been for years and years. They said, laura, i havent seen you for a while. I said, i was in vietnam for the last two years, and i was living in paris the past few years. Paris . Oh, tell us about paris. For a time, vietnam was erased in consciousness. For me, i agree. Vietnam was the war that everyone wanted to forget. When i came back, i went back to san francisco. I remember all my friends saying, oh, how was it . Did you have an interesting time . Yes, i did. Well, heres whats been going on while you were away. Professionally, for me, it was very positive because i left vietnam in like august of 1973. Then there was the war that broke out. I was one of by then, working for the ap, and wes gallagher, who sent me to vietnam, then sent me to israel and sent the other reporter to cairo. Professionally, it was a positive because we had proven that women could actually do the job. I think, one thing, shes talking about her job, and laura also, but it also is emboldening personally. You think, youve been in vietnam and youve covered that. Then things i didnt really know my profession and my craft, i went from being writing about parties to writing about wars. I needed to learn the craft. I needed to be a police reporter. I needed to cover courts. I needed to do politics. That gave me the guts to do that, even if i didnt understand it and i thought itd be hard. Hi. My name is meg. Im a student reporting here for the summer, so its awesome to see all of you. Im wondering, was there ever a moment when you were reporting or when youre stationed out in vietnam, when you just really, really wanted to go back home to the u. S. . While we were there working, i really didnt. I felt that it was such an amazing story. But it was very lonely. And i knew denby was out there, but i didnt know her. We were not friends. There were so few women. When i was out on patrol, i was with the guys. There was camaraderie. I felt really, you know, important, engaged, alive. After a couple days, go back to my little room in saigon, all alone, no one to really talk with. It was hard. Really had to say, okay, let me get out of saigon and back on patr patrol, back where the story was. We have i see a young man im sorry on the left. Well probably tie it off with you. Sir . Im sorry. Manners are terrible. Trying to learn patience right now. No, no. Its very hard to see. Its all right. Im so sorry. Aloha. I recently just moved here from maui. Graduated in 2012 from the best school west of the rockies. Anyway, my question is two parted. This is your job, and i understand that, and its an amazing job to have. But there are so many tragedies, so many things that maybe i shouldnt bring up, but its a question i want to know. How did you stay focused . How did you just like drain everything out and just remember that this is your job and your job is very important, because without your job, we wouldnt know any of the things youve put down in history. Also, i dont know about you guys, but its kind of hard. I just moved out here sorry you know. Jump in whenever you want here. Youre obviously very aware that covering a war, you see a lot of sadness, a lot of death, a lot of fear, a lot of injuries amongst troops. Journalists, you know, ill just say it, and jump back in where you want to, reporters are very famous for, oh, it doesnt get to me. We do the job and push it out of our minds and we go ahead and do what you know, its our job. Thats why were there. People handle things differently. It would depend on your question is really good. It would depend on the temperament of the individual. You wont know it until you get into something really hard, how youll handle it. I remember watching gone with the wind, and watch scarlet walk through a hospital with dead people, and people seeking her help. That was fiction. For me, i found out when i saw something terrible in vietnam, i did that. I closed it out. It was automatic. I didnt think about it. It was like a veil, to just keep going and not get deeply not bring it all in, like you were saying. How do you do it . So mine was a strange thing that happened automad icaltically. I think it comes back. Weve all read about young troops with posttraumatic stress. They tell us its a matter of resilience which is, you know, you acknowledge the stress, acknowledge what has happened to you, but how do you develop the techniques of resilience, to keep moving . Ill share a story. It was not in a war zone, but i walked into the room of a young marine who had been wounded. Were chatting about, where i had been in afghanistan and where he was wounded in afghanistan. This young marine had done a really hard time. I thought i was making a light hearted remark, something like, i would never be able to be in the area that you were in. It was so hard. It was so dangerous, et cetera. This young man looks at me and says, look, were all afraid. Anybody out there who tells you theyre not afraid, theyre lying. But its that ability, perhaps, to put one foot, you know, the soldiers who do this, the marines, the most awesome thing that you see, i think, in a war zone, is, of course, theyre afraid, but they still put one combat boot in front of the other. Thank you so much. I also have i think its important, too, one of the things that is very significant is that if theres meaning, if theres a reason to tell the story, ill do anything. I think that there is among the best journalists i know, a sense of mission and calling. People are doing the work because theyre passionate about it, that carries you, too. I think, yeah, i mean, i think the challenge is always, how do you keep the heart alive . How do you keep the heart open and not get numb . That takes, you know, a lot of work. I think one of the gifts of the reporting and one of the gifts of sort of entering into anything thats hard is that it takes you deeper into yourself. If you can find ways to work through it, it will break you open and break you open into a richer and deeper connection to life. And one of the really great things about great reporting, and i think of gloria emerson, particularly, is being able to capture that emotion that youre watching. And translate it into words, into stories that humanize war. And i mean, none of us are zombies. We all have emotions. The real talent is to be able to put those emotions in a place that you can report on whats actually happening, and then at a time when youre writing or broadcasting, that you can convey the sense of that incident to a broader public. I also have another question, as well. I dont know if you guys are religious or anything, but how did you guys come out of this war . Were you guys did you guys have more strength in your religious resolving, whatever your views are, it doesnt matter, but did you guys come in like, how did you guys come out of this war . Did you guys have more resolve in your religious views, or were you was your faith in humanity broken down into nothingness . Im sorry. Yes, thats my question. All right. Ill tell you what, what were going to do, because we have little time left, and i want everybody to get a question in, were going to have one of you answer, and well move it along so we get laura, ill have you answer. Im working as a hospital chaplain now. I went to seminary from 2006 to 2009. I think vietnam took me deeper into my own life. The question you get, of course, we all have to reconcile with, is where was god in vietnam . Where was god in the holocaust . How can there be something so awful . I was interviewing a woman who has been a nurse in vietnam. This was a question i had struggled with. She said to me, as any soldier will say to you if you talk to them, well, i never loved like i loved in vietnam. I loved my wife and kids, but i love my buddies. The nurses will say there was something about the love i had for my patients. It was so intense and so different. Linda vand linda said, i know in that love, thats where god was. That was the moment that i thought, yes, god is in the love, not the bonds of the bullets. Hi, im kay kofman, a former worker. The question i have, and youve talked a little about it, is reintegrating once you got back at the time. The gis were not welcomed the way they are now. We were not talking about posttraumatic stress disorder. How was it for you to come back and, to the extent you had to reintegrate into society, what were the challenges for you at that point . Lets have one person take that on so we keep moving. The only thing id like to say is my views on the war changed when i was there. I was prowar, because i was anticommunist. Toward tend, i saw the tragedy and the waste of war. But coming back to america and seeing the antivietnam demonstrators broke my heart. While politically, i agreed with them, to hear them ho, ho, ho, theyre going to win. You know, it was very, very difficult to walk straight into that very hostile environment. Just as a, i think, her point is excellent. It really wasnt until the dedication of the Vietnam Memorial that we were able to separate the warriors from the war. I think one of the, perhaps, ultimate obscenity about vietnam is the soldiers who went were blamed for our losing it, and the result of the war is not the outcome. The outcome of the war is not the result of the people who fought that. By the time the memorial was dedicated, we could see that as a nation, finally. Lets get through three more quick questions. Im sorry to rush you. Thats okay. My name is annie. My question is, what are your thoughts about vietnam and the war before and after you came to vietnam, becoming reporters . In a sound bite, i can say i went with all the answers and i left with the questions. I saw the war in black and white before i went there, and when i came back, after knowing vietnamese and seeing more sides of the pictures, there are many shades of gray. Great answer. I think i might have to use that in other circumstances. My name is dan. Im in the theater. I have a huge military family background. My question for edith. Based on your pow experience, and im curious, given recent comments, my question to you would be, what advice would you give or say to somebody who says that pows are not war heros, because theyve been captured, given everything that youve seen . Thats a loaded question. Well, you know. But i believe that anyone who puts his or her life on the line, ready to sacrifice for their country, in any shape or form, is basically a hero in the broader sense of the term. And for those who were inpris imprisoned and captures, suffered terrible hardships and indignities, its magnified. Because they actually had to face an even greater test than their fellow soldiers who survived and went home to their families when their tours were up. The word hero, i personally believe, has come to be sort of a catch all word. Everyone is a hero in our culture. Everyone is a hero. As i say, i think that soldiers, say it was marines ready to sacrifice for their country, they all should fall in that category. I think it can also be heroic to heal, to come to terms to the war, for someone who tries to find beauty and meaning in life again, who has to learn to walk again, tie a shoe. For the family who stands beside him, for the children who learn that dad or mom is upset because of i think there are many things that are courageous that we sometimes overlook in our need to create heros. Healing is ultimately very heroic. Thank you very much. Sir, youre going to have the last question of the evening. No pressure. Sure. My name is hunter forte. My question is for all of you. How might you see yourselves in journalist or reporters in particular, female journalist and reporters, in this modern or current age of journalism . I wouldnt want to be a war reporter today. I think its so dangerous and so just random. One thing about vietnam is our enemy there, the north vietnamese, they wanted to get through the war and live. They werent going to kill themselves or kill civilians. They tried it once before i came, blew up a boat in saigon that served this delicious pepper crab, and a lot of vietnamese would go there. They win the war and win them oo their side. So they stopped. But the danger in the current war is the people that are an enemy, they dont care. They will kill civilians, they will torture people. We did not have, when people were cabture tucaptured, like was not tortured. Vietnam was plenty frightening, but in a different way. I think theres no gender bias anymore. I may be wrong, but when i see women reporters covering from the middle east, its now, if im correct, more than 60 are female. Nobody bats an eye that shes standing there with a flat jacket. I think the opportunities are amazing for women. However, journalism itself as a profession has changed, and thats a different panel discussion. In the military, i learned the lesson of vietnam, keep reporters as far as you can from the field. Which is impossible. We did something that cant be replicated today, which is a tragedy. Most of the news organizations dont have foreign bureaus. I think thats a huge change. As someone who works for an organization that still does have a lot of foreign bureaus, one of the rare american organizations that still does, there are a lot of women out on the front lines. The United States is not involved in many countries where there are conflicts going on. There are more civil wars today than there are intercountry conflicts. I think the fact that we live in a 24 7 world, where the communications and the interconnections are so instantaneous, and the fact that you have not only governments, but you have rebel fighters, and then you have extremist groups on every range. The players have grown dramatically, and i think that for all of that, it is much more dangerous to be out in the field on the front lines today. But there are plenty of women and plenty of men who are doing it, and plenty of men, young men and plenty of young women who really would like to be doing it. And on that note, we want to thank everyone for coming. I think its been a terrific conversation amongst our panelists and with you in the audience. We really do thank you for coming out tonight. You know, the News Business has been changing, i think, more rapidly with more volatility and faster than most of us can really keep up with it. But what it really does come down to at the end of the day is the reporter out there, filing under the most difficult of circumstances, making sure that the story does get to the american people. And these are four women who stand head and shoulders in making that happen. [ applause ] so i think well turn up the house lights so nobody everyone can see their way out. Thank you again. On the next washington journal, margot sangerkatz joins us, looking at Health Care Insurance and costs. Then Sharon Epperson on the 80th anniversary of Social Security and what the future holds for the program. Later, a conversation on the u. S. Foster care system, with the director of policy reform and advocacy. Well also take your phone calls, Facebook Comments and tweets. Washington journal, live each morning at 7 00 eastern on cspan. With the senate in its august break, well feature brook tv programming week nights, starting at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. For the weekends, here are a few special programs. Saturday, august 22nd, live from jackson, mississippi, for the mississippi book festival, beginning at 11 30 a. M. With discussions on harper lee, civil rights and the civil war. September 5th, were live from our nations capital. Followed on sunday with our live in depth program, with former second lady and senior fellow at the American Enterprise institute, lynn cheney. Book tv, television for serious readers. Founded in 1865, the nation is americas oldest weekly magazine still in circulation today. To mark the magazines 150th anniversary, publisher Victor Navasky and katrina vanden heuvel had a discussion with timothy naftali. This is 1 hour and 20 minutes. Im sure i dont need to introduce the people beside me. We are honored that nyu is about to be the home of the editorial records and many other records of the nation during the period that Victor Navasky was editor, publisher, and from the current period, when katrina vanden heuvel is the leader of the nation. Its a great, great privilege, to have the records of a journal of opinion. Because the strength of our democracy, i believe, rests on the survival of opinions and the opportunity for the expression of those opinions. So to be in a position, to protect forever this material, is a great, great privilege. We now have the opportunity t