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In the North, while Ho Chi Minh maintained the popular face of the government but behind the scenes there was turmoil in the government too. Minh worried that if the North took too active a role in the war then the Americans would do so, too. But there were younger, more aggressive voices in the government as well. At the Ninth Party Plenum starting on November 22, 1963, two factions clearly emerged in the ruling body of North Vietnam. The Americans hardly knew anything about this split.

Both sides agreed upon the "liberation" of South Vietnam, which basically meant reunification in their view. But how much involvement and how active a role in the war was debated. To add to this, the North's two communist patrons, the Soviet Union and China, disagreed as well and gave conflicting advice. The Soviet Union wanted to de-escalate tensions with the United States and preferred a more gradual approach in the South. China, however, was committed to a doctrine of worldwide revolution and favored more involvement in the war.

Ho Chi Minh agreed with the Soviets, but he found himself politically outmaneuvered by a group lead by Le Duan. From then on, while "Uncle Ho" would be a figurehead and Le Duan would actually run the government's involvement in the war in the South.

Le Duan pressed for victory in 1964 and had a two phased strategy. The first would be to destroy ARVN with a series of decisive battles. Secondly, a series of attacks upon the cities would foment rebellion against the Southern government in Le Duan's view. Party members who opposed the plan were either denounced, demoted, dismissed or sent to reeducation camps.

The film goes back to the reel-to-reel tape and Lyndon Johnson's voice is heard again. In this conversation, he is asking Robert McNamara to name a new military man to head up the US efforts in South Vietnam. Johnson's view was that the US needed a new plan as it seemed to be pursuing the same plans it had since 1954.

Johnson increased the number of troops in South Vietnam from 16,000 to 23,000. He replaced Henry Cabot Lodge as Ambassador to South Vietnam with General Maxwell Taylor. He then selected General William Westmoreland to head up the US military effort.

The new plan was to force North Vietnam to abandon its support for the guerillas in the South by increasing the military pressure on them. He authorized US pilots to bomb North Vietnamese troops in the neighboring country of Laos. He also gave the go ahead for South Vietnamese shelling and raids on North Vietnamese islands and coastal bases. All of this was to be conducted in secret, hidden from the American public.

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