Lessons in People Power

As lessons at the Zinn Education Project demonstrate, the U.S. war against Vietnam began in 1945 at the end of World War II, with the U.S. refusal to recognize Vietnam’s independence. Every U.S. president — from Truman through Nixon — waged war on Vietnam. And as the Pentagon Papers demonstrate, each of these presidents lied about it. The human suffering and the ecological devastation are impossible to calculate.

A 1968 flyer for a student strike against the Vietnam War. Source: NMAAHC

April 30 marks the 50th anniversary of the end of that war — the capture by Vietnamese forces of Saigon in 1975. Thirty years of war. Every death was the responsibility of the United States.

During that 30-year period, the United States was the richest, most powerful empire in world history. And yet it was defeated by the resistance of the Vietnamese, and anti-war movements here and around the world. It is a lesson all our students should learn: People can successfully resist the wealthy and powerful.

Commemorate this important anniversary by going into the Zinn Education Project archives and looking at some of the curriculum we make available to help students think critically about the origins and consequences of the war on Vietnam.

Learn more from the Democracy Now! segment below.

Viet Thanh Nguyen on 50 Years After Vietnam War

I think the lessons or the mistakes that American presidents have made started with Woodrow Wilson in 1919, refusing to listen to the appeal of a very young Ho Chi Minh in Paris, who had come to ask for American recognition of the Vietnamese quest for independence. And from that mistake, we’ve had a series of mistakes over the past century, mostly revolving around the fact that the United States did not recognize Vietnamese self-determination. The United States meddled in Vietnamese affairs, sided with the French in terms of their colonization, took over the French efforts after the French were defeated by Ho Chi Minh in 1954.

If the United States had not interfered, I think the outcome in the long term would have been pretty much exactly the same, with Vietnam turning into a capitalist economy, which it pretty much is now, and the United States relying on Vietnam as an ally against China. The difference would have been that if the United States had not intervened, at least 3 million Vietnamese people wouldn’t have died, and hundreds of thousands of Lao, Hmong and Cambodians, as you pointed out.

Additional Resources

The 50th Anniversary of the Viet Nam Victory from the Freedom Archives, with newly digitized audio clips, pamphlets, magazines, and a short film featuring the perspectives and experiences of Vietnamese freedom fighters, examples of international solidarity, and materials documenting the days and weeks following the 1975 victory.

Check out other Freedom Archives digital resources about the Vietnamese victory, including an interactive timeline focused on the history of anti-colonial struggle.