Overcoming War Legacies: The Road to Reconciliation and Future Cooperation Between the United States and Vietnam

May 18, 2019 | Featured, Legacies: Agent Orange, Legacies: Unexploded Ordnance

This post originally appeared at the aspeninstitute.org

MARCH 26, 2019 • THE AGENT ORANGE IN VIETNAM PROGRAM

On March 26th the governments of the United States of America and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, in partnership with the United States Institute of Peace, hosted a landmark event examining the transformation from enemies to partners by the two countries since the end of the war in 1975.

U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy- Remarks

Ambassador Ha Kim Ngoc- Keynote Speech

Charles Bailey- Panel 2 Healing from the Destruction of War

USIP Event Summary and Speaker Videos

50 Years Ago

July 1 6,100 American soldiers depart Vietnam, a record for one day.

During the peace talks, the NLF representative Nguyen Thi Binh (Nguyễn Thị Bình) proposes the return of all American and allied prisoners held in North and South Vietnam by the end of 1971 if all US troops were withdrawn within that same period. Previously, Le Duc Tho (Lê Đức Thọ) had suggested to New York Times correspondent Anthony Lewis, the release of POWs in exchange for US withdrawal.

July 9-11 Kissinger in a secret mission to Beijing meets with Zhou Enlai who urges complete withdrawl of US troops, refuses to pressure Vietnamese, but implies that the Vietnamese will be more generous in future talks.

July 13 Zhou Enlai, during a visit to Hanoi, claims that he avoided discussing Indochina with Kissinger, claims that the 1972 US elections will lead to a settlement, and then Nixon would visit China. Le Duan (Lê Duẩn) and Le Duc Tho (Lê Đức Thọ) are skeptical.

July 15 President Nixon announces he will visit the Peoples Republic of China in 1972. The Vietnamese resistance perceives this (and Nixon’s subsequent visit to the Soviet Union) as part of Nixon’s strategy of ‘triangulation’, an attempt to isolate them from their allies.

July 17 The ‘Plumbers’ unit is established in the White House by Nixon aides John Ehrlichman and Charles Colson to investigate Daniel Ellsberg and to ‘plug’ various news leaks. Colson also compiles an ‘enemies list’ featuring the names of 200 prominent Americans considered to be anti-Nixon.