Video: 'Platoon' trailer
(Friday, December 19, 1986, 12:00 p.m. EST) — Platoon, an American war film about a young recruit in Vietnam who faces a moral crisis when confronted with the horrors of war and the duality of man, opened today in U.S. theaters, including the Loews New York Twin and Astor Plaza in New York City.
Directed by Oliver Stone, the film starred Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe and Charlie Sheen.
Video: 'Thomas Paine "The American Crisis" Literary animation'
(Thursday, December 19, 1776; during the American Revolutionary War and the American Revolution) — Thomas Paine published his first American Crisis essay today in The Pennsylvania Journal, writing: “These are the times that try men’s souls.” Continue reading ‘These are the times that try men’s souls,’ writes Thomas Paine 240 years ago #OnThisDay #OTD (Dec 19 1776)
Video: 'Vietnam a Television History Episode 1' (First Indochina War begins at 34:08)
(Thursday, December 19, 1946, 8:03 p.m. ICT; during the Cold War) — The First Indochina War, primarily between between French forces and their Viet Minh opponents, broke out tonight in French Indochina when Viet Minh soldiers under Ho Chi Minh plunged Hanoi into darkness and began attacking French military positions and French homes in the Battle of Hanoi. Continue reading First Indochina War breaks out 70 years ago this hour #OnThisDay #OTD (Dec 19 1946)
