Special events and exhibits for delegation members were organized by resident US NGOs. The Fund for Reconciliation and Development coordinated a briefing about experience to date with exchange programs featuring American educational institutions, the Ministry of Education and Training, the National Center for Social Sciences and Humanities and Vietnamese alumni of American schools.
Not everything went smoothly. The largest gaffe was produced by the poor translation of the President’s speech at Vietnam National University. Having won unprecedented agreement for the live broadcast of an address by a visiting Head of State to a national audience, the US used its own interpreter, as is often the case. Regrettably, his southern tones and pre-1975 vocabulary were so out of date as to verge on being incomprehensible. It did not help that he was given changes in the pre-submitted text at the last minute.
Vietnamese were glad that the US agreed to conduct joint research on the impact of Agent Orange, and will offer information on where Agent Orange may have been stored, but quite disappointed that nothing was done to provide even token humanitarian assistance to the suspected victims of spraying and their children with birth defects.
Reconciliation between the US and Vietnam is inherently a complicated and emotional process. It was relatively easy for the US to reconcile with former enemies in Germany and Japan when we defeated, tried and replaced their wartime leadership. In the case of Vietnam (and Laos, and, in a more convoluted way, Cambodia), the people we needed to reconcile with had not only defeated US intervention, but their political heirs were still in control.
Thus when the first President Bush tried a partial step toward normalization at the end of his term, he was forced to back away by opposition from war-scarred officials like Henry Kissinger and from the POW-MIA lobby. As President, Bill Clinton incorporated the awareness of a student anti-war protester of the wrongness of the war, but also carried the liability of symbolizing to more conservative sectors of American opinion all that had gone wrong with young people in the 1960s and 1970s.
Clinton was able to overturn the conventional wisdom that it took a conservative like Richard Nixon to establish relations with a long term Communist antagonist such as China. He accomplished this thanks to the unimpeachable bipartisan leadership of veterans in the Congress, most prominently SenatorsJohn Kerry and John McCain. Thanks to them, veterans who were still locked into fighting the war such as Senator Bob Smith were effectively isolated.
While some pro-normalization Senators and Representatives had become part of the anti-war movement after returning from service in Vietnam, others remained committed to the legitimacy of American involvement and are still uncomfortable with those who opposed it. Perhaps in order not to upset that more hawkish group, Clinton makes few if any references to his own anti-war activism.
Based on the President’s nationally broadcast speech in Vietnam one would think that the only forces in American society supporting normalization were military veterans, Vietnamese Americans and business, and that, “almost 20 years ago now, a group of American servicemen took the first step to reestablish contacts between the United States and Vietnam.” Tens of millions of Americans whose concern for Vietnam led them to work against the war and support normalization, as well as non-governmental organizations which were providing humanitarian assistance and opening doors prior to trips by veterans (and on a larger scale) were completely left out of his most significant address.
The White House Office of Public Liaison manifested a similar approach. Pre-trip briefings were organized in Washington for veterans, business, Vietnamese Americans and human rights organizations. Meetings were not set up for the natural allies of the President, non-governmental organizations and universities with programs in Vietnam.
Relatively speaking, these are minor criticisms of the President’s trip. He brought both nations several steps beyond the war. Along with ending the embargo, normalizing relations and a bilateral trade agreement, the trip ensures this aspect of the Clinton legacy.
“The histories of our two nations are deeply intertwined in ways that are both a source of pain for generations that came before, and a source of promise for generations yet to come…
…In 1945, at the moment of your country’s birth, the words of Thomas Jefferson were chosen to be echoed in your own Declaration of Independence…
…the staggering sacrifice of the Vietnamese people on both sides of that conflict—more than three million brave soldiers and civilians. This shared suffering has given our countries a relationship unlike any other…
…It touches the hearts of Americans to know that every Sunday in Vietnam one of your most-watched television shows features families seeking viewers’ help in finding loved ones they lost in the war…
…Let us acknowledge our importance to one another. Let us continue to help each other heal the wounds of war, not by foregtting the bravery shown and the tragedy suffered by all sides, but by embracing the spirit of reconciliation and the courage to build better tomorrows for our children. May our children learn from us that good people, through respectful dialogue, can discover and rediscover their common humanity, and that a painful, painful past can be redeemed in a peaceful and prosperous future.”
—President Clinton at Vietnam National University,
November 17, 2000