2013 Vietnam Center and Archive Conference: Vietnam, 1963

Conference Agenda

Sponsored by:
The Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University
The US National Archives

September 26th-28th, 2013

Thursday, September 26, 2013

• 6:30 PM: Keynote Address by Dr. George Herring, Professor Emeritus, University of Kentucky
  • Many Roads to War: The Failure of the Geneva Peace and the Making of Vietnam, 1963

• Location:
  • Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
  • Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center
  • 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20004-3027
• Reception follows

Friday, September 27, 2013

• Location:
  • McGowan Theater, National Archives
  • Constitution Avenue between 7th and 9th Streets, NW, Washington, DC 20004

• 8:00 AM: Welcoming Remarks
• 8:30 AM: Panel 1: Regime Changes: New Perspectives on Ngo Dinh Diem and the First Republic of Vietnam
  • Panel Chair: David Anderson, California State University, Monterey Bay
    • Jessica Chapman, Williams College
      • Seeds of Dissent: Opposition to Ngo Dinh Diem from the "Sect Crisis" to the Buddhist Crisis
    • Nu-Anh Tran, University of California, Berkeley
      • "Let History Render Judgment on My Life": The Suicide of Nhất Linh and the Making of a Martyr in the Republic of Vietnam
    • Edward Miller, Dartmouth College
      • "Two Fingers away from Victory": The Ngo Brothers and the Unraveling of America’s Alliance with the Diem Government in 1963
• 10:00 AM: Coffee Break
• 10:30 AM: Panel 2: Saigon, 1963: First-person Perspectives on the Fall of South Vietnam's First Republic
  • Panel Chair: Keynote Address by Dr. George Herring, Professor Emeritus, University of Kentucky
    • Ambassador Bui Diem, former RVN Ambassador to the U.S.
    • Rufus Phillips, founding chief of the Office of Rural Affairs, USOM-Saigon
    • Mr. Nguyen Thai, former Director, Vietnam Press
• 12:00 PM: Lunch
• 1:30 PM: Panel 3: Revolutionary Locales: War and Social Transformation in the South Vietnamese Countryside During the Early 1960s
  • Panel Chair: Jeffrey Race, Independent Scholar
    • David Biggs, University of California, Riverside
      • Changes Longer in the Making: Comparing Local Perspectives on 1963
    • David Hunt, University of Massachusetts, Boston
      • 1963: Intimations of an Agricultural Revolution
    • Oscar Salemink, University of Copenhagen
      • A Nation in Tatters: The CIA, the U.S. Army, and the Ethnic Unraveling of the RVN in the Early 1960s
• 3:00 PM: Coffee Break
• 3:30 PM: Panel 4: Military Matters: U.S. Military Advisors and the ARVN in 1963
  • Panel Chair: Ron Milam, Texas Tech University
    • Andrew Birtle, U.S. Army Center of Military History
      • The National Campaign Plan of 1963: Explosion or Dud?
    • Merle Pribbenow, Independent Scholar
      • 1963: Laying the Military Foundation for the Communist Decision to Strive for a "Decisive Victory"
    • Andy Wiest, University of Southern Mississippi
      • ARVN at the Crossroads: The Failure of the U.S./South Vietnamese Military Alliance in 1963
• 5:00 PM: End of First Day

Saturday, September 28, 2013

• Location:
  • McGowan Theater, National Archives
  • Constitution Avenue between 7th and 9th Streets, NW, Washington, DC 20004

• 8:00 AM: Panel 5: The International Context of the Communist Strategy in 1963
  • Panel Chair: Lien-Hang T. Nguyen, University of Kentucky
    • Pierre Journoud, Institute for Strategic Research, French Military Academy (IRSEM)
      • Between North and South Vietnam: the Renewal of a French Independent Diplomacy in 1963
    • Sophie Quinn-Judge, Temple University
      • Hanoi’s Long 1963: The End of the Dream of Peace?
    • James Hershberg, The George Washington University
      • "Dickering with Communists" and Pushing the Spaghetti: New Evidence on the ICC and the "Maneli Affair,"1963
    • Martin Grossheim, University of Passau
      • "We must rigorously fight against rightist tendencies in the party!": The Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1963
• 10:00 AM: Coffee Break
• 10:30 AM: Panel 6: American Responses to the Crisis of 1963 in South Vietnam
  • Panel Chair: Richard Immerman, Temple University
    • Robert David Johnson, Brooklyn College, City University of New York
      • Congress, Vietnam, and the 1963 Foreign Aid Bill
    • Marilyn Young, New York University
      • "Why are we in Vietnam? (Are we in Vietnam?)"
    • John Prados, National Security Archive, The George Washington University
      • The CIA, John F. Kennedy, and the Diem Coup
• 12:00 PM: Lunch
• 1:30 PM: Panel 7: Getting in, Getting out: Kennedy and Withdrawal from Vietnam
  • Panel Chair: Richard Reeves, Independent Scholar
    • Fredrik Logevall, Cornell University
      • "The Legacy: Kennedy and the War"
    • Timothy Naftali, New America Foundation
      • "He must face the issue and make a decision:" Understanding JFK’s Decision-making Style and his Vietnam War
    • Howard Jones, University of Alabama
      • JFK’s Plan For a Partial Withdrawal From Vietnam
    • Marc Selverstone, University of Virginia
      • "If It Doesn’t Work Out, We’ll Get A New Date": Kennedy and a Conditional Withdrawal from Vietnam
• 3:00 PM: Coffee Break
• 3:30 PM: Panel 8: Costs and Consequences: 1963 and the History of the Vietnam War
  • Panel Chair: Larry Berman, Georgia State University
    • Pierre Asselin, Hawai’i Pacific University
      • Hanoi’s "Resolution 9" and the Onset of the Vietnam War
    • Philip Catton, Stephen F. Austin State University
      • A Predictable Collapse? The Debate over the Consequences of Ngo Dinh Diem’s Downfall
    • Mark Lawrence, University of Texas, Austin
      • The Crisis of Liberal Policymaking: The Rise of LBJ and the Course of the Vietnam War
• 5:00 PM: Closing Remarks
• End of Conference

updated 7/2/2013