Randa Abdel-Fattah

Have you ever had a question about something in the news or wondered why something is the way it is?

Anything from big geopolitical things like how Russia's Vladimir Putin came to power to everyday quirky things like how did we end up with so much Tupperware in our cupboards?

We already have an episode about both of those, by the way, if you really are wondering.

Part 1.

In the Absence.

I know that many of our friends around the world have the impression that the United States is being rash and irresponsible and reckless in Vietnam.

I say on the contrary that what we are trying to do here is to stop aggression in Southeast Asia because only by stopping aggression now will we avoid big war later.

The U.S.

was involved in Vietnam from the 1950s well into the 70s.

The conflict passed through the hands of five U.S.

presidents.

What began as U.S.

fears of communism spreading to South Vietnam and the rest of Asia soon became what many called a quagmire, a long, drawn-out conflict that had no clear objectives.

At the height of the war, over half a million American troops were stationed in Vietnam.

In the end, the U.S.

would suffer more than 58,000 deaths.

Vietnam had over 3 million.

The U.S.

withdrew combat troops from Vietnam in 1973, and the North Vietnamese captured Saigon in April of 1975.

That year, 125,000 South Vietnamese refugees fled to America to begin new lives.