00:00 Saigon was a city that had been corrupted and divided by the French and American involvement in the Vietnam War, and what was happening in 1975 was the beginning of the withdrawal and the fall of Saigon.

04:42 The Paris peace accords signed in January 1973 were not truly a peace agreement, as the fighting continued and the Americans slowly withdrew their troops, leaving behind thousands of advisors and CIA personnel, leading to speculation that Nixon and Kissinger knew South Vietnam would fall.

08:54 The Paris peace accords signed in January 1973 were not truly a peace agreement, as both sides knew the fighting would continue, and Nixon and Kissinger had always planned to re-escalate the war once the North Vietnamese transgressed, but Nixon's fall due to Watergate led to Congress introducing measures to limit presidential power in foreign policy, including prohibiting military intervention in Vietnam without explicit approval and limiting presidential power to intervene anywhere without notifying Congress.

13:02 In early 1975, the North Vietnamese launched a big offensive and took a northern provincial capital, leading the leadership in Hanoi to start pushing further south, while President Tew in Saigon made a catastrophic mistake by withdrawing troops from the north and luring the communists into a trap, not realizing the difficulty of going backwards militarily.

17:13 By late March 1975, the South Vietnamese army is in a complete shambolic and nightmarish retreat, losing crucial cities like Pleiku and Hue, resulting in the loss of almost a quarter of South Vietnam's territory and over a million terrified refugees, prompting the CIA station chief to wire Washington for US involvement, which poses a massive problem for President Ford and Congress.

21:19 Despite the desperate situation in South Vietnam, President Ford attempts to secure $700 million in aid and authorization for B-52 strikes, but Congress refuses, leaving South Vietnam on the brink of collapse, as evidenced by the chaos and violence in Danang.

25:27 The chaos and violence in Da Nang during the fall of Saigon is not limited to the airport, as South Vietnamese troops on an American evacuation ship run amok, killing, stealing, and raping, while President Ford is playing golf and later acknowledges the tragedy of Vietnam's fall.

29:45 As South Vietnam collapses, Cambodia is also in chaos, with the Khmer Rouge advancing on Phnom Penh and the Americans managing to evacuate only 82 Americans and 152 Cambodians, while the ambassador receives a heartbreaking letter from a former prime minister who is later shot by the Khmer Rouge.

34:02 As the Khmer Rouge advances on Phnom Penh, the US ambassador predicts that everyone involved in the infrastructure of the country, including Buddhist monks and civil servants, will be killed, but the press corps dismisses these concerns as Cold War alarmism; meanwhile, in South Vietnam, the Southern defenses are collapsing and the North is surprised by the speed at which the offensive is progressing.

38:19 The US ambassador in Saigon is determined to evacuate the millions of people who are at risk of being killed by the Viet Cong, but the task seems impossible given the sheer number of people involved and the approaching communist armies.

42:39 As the North Vietnamese army approaches Saigon and the situation becomes increasingly dire, Ambassador Martin refuses to take any action, causing frustration and panic among the Americans and Vietnamese who are waiting for evacuation.