The Vietnam War & Its Legacy

50 years after the fall of Saigon

Vietnam celebrated the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon and the country’s reunification on Wednesday. On April 30, 1975 Communist North Vietnamese troops stormed into South Vietnam’s presidential palace, amid chaotic scenes of evacuations from the U.S. embassy. The U.S. had withdrawn its forces in 1973 under the Paris Peace Accords and its ally South Vietnam crumbled in two years. Comparisons were made to Saigon in August 2021 when Kabul fell to the Taliban as U.S. forces pulled out of Afghanistan.

Vietnam’s official designation for April 30 is ‘The Liberation of the South and National Reunification Day’ but many of those who had to flee South Vietnam and resettle in the U.S. call it the ‘National Day of Resentment’. Millions of people fled Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia over two decades, many on rickety boats.

This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the U.S. (July 11, 1995). In 2016 the U.S. lifted an arms embargo on Vietnam. Economic ties have flourished as Vietnam became a global manufacturing hub. But it's also one of the world's most trade-dependent economies. Exports to the U.S. accounted for 30 percent of its GDP in 2024, making it vulnerable to the Trump administration’s tariff plans.

Questions

1) This country sent 325,000 troops to fight alongside the U.S. in Vietnam, which was more than the combined strength of all other U.S. allies. More than 5,000 soldiers were killed. U.S. aid and investment in return helped transform this country’s economy but its soldiers have faced allegations of carrying out massacres and sexual assaults in Vietnam. Which country?

2) On April 30, 1970 U.S. President Richard Nixon addressed the nation to announce that the American military had started ground operations in which country?

3) In 1993 two U.S. senators, both war veterans visited a prison in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi. In January 1994, their bill amendment that urged President Bill Clinton to lift the trade embargo against Vietnam was passed by the Senate. Clinton lifted the embargo on February 3, 1994. Who were the two senators, one Democrat and the other Republican who were later presidential candidates?

4) In 1963 religion and politics combined to cause a crisis in South Vietnam that saw mass protests, a self-immolation and a government crackdown. President Ngo Dinh Diem was assassinated in a CIA-backed coup in November 1963, an overthrow that ended the crisis only to deepen U.S. involvement in the war. What was the crisis that led to the coup known as?

5) Captain George — (later Rear Admiral) commanded the U.S. navy fleet during the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964. Clashes with North Vietnamese torpedo boats led to the escalation of the war, with President Lyndon Johnson ordering air strikes against North Vietnam. The commander’s estranged son became a cult rock singer. The son died in 1971 in Paris aged 27. Fill in the surname.

6) While the conflict is widely referred to as the Vietnam war, under what name is it known in Vietnam?

7) Freelance journalist Seymour Hersh managed to speak to X at Fort Benning in the U.S. state of Georgia and obtained details of a classified charge sheet. Life and Look magazines refused to publish Hersh’s expose. A little-known news agency, the Dispatch News Service, ran the story on November 12, 1969 and several newspapers picked it up. Who is X and what did Seymour Hersh expose?

8) Which iconic image was captured by Dutch photojournalist Hugh Van Es in Saigon on April 29, 1975?

9)) Toxic chemical mixtures, notably Agent Orange were extensively sprayed by the U.S. over Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. These defoliants removed leaves from trees, turning guerrillas’ jungle hideouts into barren wasteland. But it was Britain in the 1950s which first used defoliants in a conflict. Where in Southeast Asia?

10) Who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973 along with Vietnamese negotiator Le Duc Tho? (Le Duc Tho declined the prize)

11) Air attacks by the U.S. from 1964 to 1973 made this country the most bombed country in the world, per capita. Which country?

12) This language is spoken by a minority ethnic group of the same name who live in Laos, Thailand, China, Vietnam and Myanmar. But it does not have official status in any country. Many were forced to emigrate to the U.S. after the community backed the failed American military effort in Southeast Asia in the 1960s and 1970s and efforts are being made in the U.S. to preserve the language. Name the language/community.

13) At a press conference on April 7, 1954, then U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower said “Finally, you have broader considerations that might follow what you would call the "falling ——-" principle. You have a row of ——— set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly”. Fill in the missing word that influenced U.S. policy in Southeast Asia.

14) Which group seized power on April 17, 1975 toppling the pro-U.S. Lon Nol government (President Lon Nol himself fled the country on April 1)?

15) Which country was invaded by Vietnam in December 1978? Vietnamese troops stayed on until 1989.

16) Which country attacked Vietnam on February 17, 1979? The invading army struggled to make breakthroughs and pulled out in a month. Both Vietnam and the other country did not officially disclose casualties, though both claimed to have got the better of the exchanges.

17) The Left Front coalition led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was elected to power for the first time in India’s West Bengal state in 1977. Harrington Street, which housed the U.S. consulate in the regional capital Calcutta was renamed after whom? (to spite the U.S.)