[laughter] >> frances fitzgerald was a reporter in vietnam and wrote the 1972 book "fire in the lake, the vietnamese and the americans in vietnam." on this national vietnam war veterans day we bring you a 1999 book notes interview with frances fitzgerald and peter kann. they are co-editors of a book about reporting from vietnam. brian: frances fitzgerald, when you look into the book--or, actually, the two-volume set "reporting vietnam" and "find your peace: the long fear," written back in 1966, does it still work? >> it seems a long time ago, i tell you, but i--i must leave that for others to judge whether it works or not. i spent a good deal of time in vietnam, and that was one of the first things that i wrote when i got there. brian: what does it say? >> well, it's about a trip through the delta. in fact, it's rather like one of peter's pieces in--later on and--we used to go on these travels to try and figure out what was going--going on. and so this is a piece about people i've met along the way, you know, from arvn generals to american advisers to waihow dignitaries, the local rel

host: time to move on to frances fitzgerald. you mentioned that her background was very different from these two, she came from wealth by her wealth was extraordinary. what was her early life like? ms. becker: she was eroded by -- surrounded by servants. a chauffeur drover to her private school in england and she moved to new york city where she has horses and stables and long island. she is a great gatsby kind of character. it is not new wealth. part of a mayflower kind of family. we work hard but we also have this amazing life. the parents were elites. her parents divorced early and her mother remarried into great wealth, the marshall fields department store and money, and , her dad was at the cia. she was gilded. host: how does a young woman from a background like this find herself as a war correspondent in vietnam? ms. becker: exactly. she arrives because she was so extremely smart, very precocious. i read all of her stuff. i could not believe a 10-year-old was writing what she wrote in her diaries. she wanted to be a writer

host: time to move on to frances fitzgerald. you mentioned that her background was very different from these two, she came from wealth by her wealth was extraordinary. what was her early life like? ms. becker: she was surrounded by servants. a chauffeur drove her to her private school in england and -- in new england and she moved to new york city where she has horses and stables and long island. she is a great gatsby kind of character. it is not new wealth. part of a mayflower kind of family. we work hard but we also have this amazing life. the parents were elites. her parents divorced early and her mother remarried into great wealth, the marshall fields department store, and money, and her dad was at the cia. she was gilded. host: how does a young woman from a background like this find herself as a war correspondent in vietnam? ms. becker: exactly. she arrives because she was so extremely smart, very precocious. i read all of her stuff. i could not believe a 10-year-old was writing what she wrote in her diaries. she wanted to

host: time to move on to frances fitzgerald. you referenced that her background was very different from these two, she came from wealth, but her wealth was extraordinary. what was her early life like? ms. becker: she was surrounded by servants. a chauffeur drove her to her private school in england and she moved to new york city where she has horses and stables and -- stables in long island. she is a great gatsby kind of character. it is not new wealth. part of a very patrician, mayflower kind of family. we work hard but we also have this amazing life. the parents were elites. her parents divorced early and her mother remarried into great wealth, the marshall fields department store, and money, and her dad was number at the cia. three she was gilded. host: how does a young woman from a background like this find herself as a war correspondent in vietnam? ms. becker: exactly. she arrives because she was so extremely smart, very precocious. i read all of her stuff. i could not believe a 10-year-old was writing what she wrote in her

frances fitzgerald. you mentioned that her background was very different from these two women, she came from wealth. but her wealth was extraordinary. what was her early life like? ms. becker: she was surrounded by servants. a chauffeur drover to her private school when she was living in england, and she moved to new york city where she has horses in stables in long island. she is a great gatsby kind of character. it is not new wealth. it is part of a patrician, mayflower kind of family. we work hard, but we also have this amazing life. the parents were elites. her parents divorced early and her mother remarried into great wealth, the marshall fields department store, and money, and her dad was number three at the cia. i mean, she was gilded. gilded. host: how does a young woman from a background like this find herself as a war correspondent in vietnam? ms. becker: exactly. she arrives because she was so extremely smart, very precocious. i read all of her stuff. i could not believe that a 10-year-old was

brian: frances fitzgerald, when you look into the book--or, actually, the two-volume set "reporting vietnam" and "find your peace: the long fear," written back in 1966, does it still work? >> it seems a long time ago, i tell you, but i--i must leave that for others to judge whether it works or not.

brian: frances fitzgerald, how long were you there? frankie: for about a year in 1966, and then i went home and i wrote my book and i went back again in 1971 for about six months. and i was out there again in '73 for about three months; in '74, i went to hanoi; and i've been back three or four years ago. brian: pictured on the screen is a view from the book an--what do you both think of this two-volume set? there are 1,500 pages, 64 pages of photographs, some 80 writers, some 113 pieces. brian: frances: i think they've done a magnificent job. i really do. i think it's very difficult. it's one of the most difficult things, i think, that the library of am--america's undertaken, cau--because of the sheer volume of reportage. and, of course, there's things left out that one hates to leave out. i would have hated to do the job of editing this. but i think that they've managed to give both a sort of chronological picture of the war and also to it--really, judge things, more or less, by literary merit and value. trying to do both at once is,

later, a 1999 interview with frances fitzgerald who reported from vietnam and co-edited a book about journalism during the vietnam war. that's tonight, starting at nine eastern on c-span.

frances fitzgerald, people knew where she came from, so there was that kind of vision too, the attraction, and the first days she comes back to the united states reluctantly knowing she had to leave the war, because it had gotten to be too much and the first thing she does is go to the most famous party of the 20th century, truman capote of is blackballed in the first person she sees is the defense secretary. her life is gatsbyesque. host: is it still a worthwhile read? ms. becker: yes, there is so much archival work that has been done that it is dated and frankie herself said she would not write the same but but it is classic, and you would read it and say in 1972 this was an extraordinary book. i asked that same question to the expert at harvard now who is considered a pulitzer prize-winning historian of vietnam, he said absolutely it is on that short shelf. a classic. host: we have 50 minutes. this is a story of four female reporters because it is your story as well. we have a photograph of you in cambodia, 1974 that we will put on the screen. how did you get to cambodia? ms. becker: [

a 1990 nine interview with frances fitzgerald who reported from vietnam and who co-edited a book on journalism during the vietnam war. that's tonight starting at 9:00 p.m. eastern. tuesday morning, a discussion with foreign policy efforts on how the u.s., south korea and japan can engage diplomacy with north korea. it is on c-span, online at c-span.org or listen on the free c-span radio app. >> sunday, a live conversation with harriet washington. her most recent book is carte blanche. when companies use profits to measure their success in the medical arena, the problem is that we cannot expect the companies to care about us. we can't expect them to sublimate and to make less money because they care about our health. they have already shown that they don't. our government come of the people that we pay and the people that we should expect to care about our health and to defend us, the government should be reining in these companies, forcing them to develop things that will fit the public need, and it is not. join the conversation sunday at noon eastern c-span2 -- eastern on c-span 2. >> during

fitzgerald. >> go to c-span.org/coronavirus for the federal response to the coronavirus pandemic. if you missed our live coverage, it is easy to find the latest briefings. use the interactive gallery of maps to follow cases in the u.s. and worldwide. go to c-span.org/coronavirus. >> today, watched live coverage of the trial for former and atlas police officer derek chauvin, charged in the death of george floyd. watch the trial live on c-span2, or listen on the c-span radio app. c-span is your unfiltered view of government, created by america's cable television companies in 1979. today, we are brought to you by these television companies that bring c-span to viewers as a public service. "washington journal" continues. host: cases rising again in the united states. vaccines safe and effective for babies, and studies show according to covid-19 updates. no daily cases of covid-19 are rising slightly in the united states. public health officials are slightly concerned. daily totals not seen since mid february according to data from johns hopkins. dr. wilensky said she was deeply concer

fitzgerald believes the best vehicle for bringing zelda's painting to the public is to have a joint press run with the of his new novel and zelda's first paintings being sold on exhibition in new york city. scott's novel is not well received by the critics, it only sells 2000 copies, and zelda's paintings are rejected as being the work of an amateur playgirl sort of painter. the tension in the marriage is the result of zelda's quitting painting professionally, but continuing to dedicate many hours to artwork at home. for example, in the museum, and these are from a collection at yale university, we have the earliest known paper doll zelda ever produced. these were multimedia paper dolls and were done as gifts for children, or just for their daughter, scotty, to play with. however, the new it girl of america by 1926 and 1927 was no longer the flapper, it was the actress. and when they get to hollywood, scott tells zelda, more or less, you need to be more like women like lois moran, a 17-year-old girl when they met and already had a career, in which she dedicated her artistic mind to making