Vietnam Symposium Opens

A s a reporter covering the Vietnam war, Neil Sheehan came to understand the sometimes blind and corruptible forces that power the war machine: Idealism, politics and man’s will to determine his own destiny.

Sheehan’s Vietnam war expertise and experiences will be shared with the public on Monday during California Lutheran University’s Pulitzer Symposium.

Sheehan’s book “A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam” garnered a 1988 Pulitzer Prize.

The 16-year project is a biography of the lieutenant colonel that Sheehan saw as personifying America’s irrational optimism about the war.

The 10th annual symposium will feature two separate presentations by Sheehan.

A 10 a.m. discussion “The Impact of Vietnam on the American Experience” will feature a panel of experts, including Cal Lutheran professors Michael Arndt and Michael Doyle--both Vietnam veterans.

“This will be an approach to the Vietnam experience from a number of different perspectives,” said Arndt.

Other panelists include Vietnam scholar Dat Phan, USC professor Jack Langguth and UC Santa Barbara professor Walter Capps.

Sheehan--who played a major role in the publication of Pentagon Papers--will lecture at 8 p.m. on “The American War Machine from the Vietnam War to the Persian Gulf.”

The 10 a.m. presentation will be held in the campus’ Samuelson Chapel, the 8 p.m. lecture in the Preus-Brandt Forum. Admission to both sessions is free. The campus is at 60 W. Olsen Road, Thousand Oaks.

For information, call 493-3151.