1970-1971: Nixon, Discord, and the US Withdrawal from Vietnam

 

Conference Agenda

April 9-10, 2021

Friday, April 9

 

8:30 AM: WELCOMING REMARKS

 

         Ron Milam, Ph.D., Executive Director, Institute for Peace & Conflict, Texas Tech University

 

         Michael San Francisco, Ph.D., Interim Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Texas Tech University

 

Zoom Webinar Registration: https://texastech.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_JweCiMdIQ6WHNR929-y_hw

 

9:00 AM: Plenary Session

 

Introduction: Ron Milam, Ph.D., Executive Director, Institute for Peace & Conflict and Associate Professor of History, Texas Tech University

 

"Victory, Defeat, or Stalemate? Doubt and Uncertainty in America's Withdrawal from Vietnam"

 

        Greg Daddis, Ph.D., San Diego State University

10:00 AM: Break

 

10:30 AM: Sessions 2

 

Session 2A: Beyond the Quagmire: New Interpretations of the Vietnam War

Introduction: Justin Hart, Ph.D., Senior Fellow, Academic Programs, Institute for Peace & Conflict and Associate Professor of History, Texas Tech University

 

A Discussion Featuring:

         Geoffrey Jensen, Ph.D., College of Security and Intelligence

         Ron Milam, Ph.D., Texas Tech University

         Doug Bradley, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin at Madison

         Martin Clemis, Ph.D., U.S. Army Command and General Staff College

         Bill Allison, Ph.D., Georgia Southern University

         Matthew Stith, University of Texas at Tyler

 

Zoom Webinar Registration:

https://texastech.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_FRHhrjPPR0WQIoI6CPKOTg

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Session 2B: The Impact of Peace Movements and Religion in Vietnam

 

Commentator/Moderator: Stephen Maxner, Ph.D., Texas Tech University

 

         The Peoples Peace Treaty

Doug Hostetter, Pax Christi International NGO Advocacy Team at the UN in New York

 

         Vietnamese Nationalism: The Case of Peace Movements During 1970-1971 in South Vietnam

Ha Trieu Huy, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

 

         Our Ladys Immaculate Heart Will Prevail: Marian Devotionalism, Anticommunism, and the Vietnam Conflict

Tuan Hoang, Pepperdine University

 

Zoom Webinar Registration:

https://texastech.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6B7qLx_5QtG8tnqOnaSYXw 

 

 

 

12:15 PM: Lunchtime Presentation

 

Introduction: Stephen Maxner, Ph.D., Director, Vietnam Center & Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University

 

Lam Son 719

 

        James H. Willbanks, PhD, Lieutenant Colonel (USA, Ret), Professor Emeritus of Military History, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College

 

Zoom Webinar Registration:

 

1:30 PM: Sessions 3

 

Session 3A: Cultures of War

 

Commentator/Moderator: Justin Hart, Ph.D., Texas Tech University

 

         Los Yanquis quieren fuego 1: Exploring the Cultural Rhetoric of 1970s Music Lyrics

Erin McCoy, Ph.D., University of South Carolina

 

         No Means No: Sexual Assault of American Women in Vietnam

Rebecca McGee, Texas Tech University

 

Zoom Webinar Registration:

https://texastech.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_hbFMyifUSqKYDPSvqsm9Fw

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Session 3B: Vietnamization: Economic, Military, Socio-political, and Diplomatic Consequences

 

Commentator/Moderator: Anhlan Nguyen, DBA, Development and Marketing Director of the Institute for Civic Education in Vietnam

 

         Deficit Financing in Wartime South Vietnam: The Major Reform of 1970-1971

Pham Do Chi, Ph.D. Independent Scholar

 

         Vietnamization: The Precondition to Peace Without Honor

Truong Duy Nong, Ph.D., Independent Scholar, Institute for Civic Education in Vietnam

 

         A Diplomatic Observation of U.S.-Vietnam Relations during the Vietnam War

Alex-Thai D. Vo, Ph.D., Research Fellow, US-Vietnam Research Center, University of Oregon

 

Zoom Webinar Registration:

https://texastech.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_EfssBuanQNuBkVKSM6Ua2Q

 

3:00 PM: Break

 

3:30 PM: Sessions 4

 

Session 4A: The War on the Ground in South Vietnam

 

Commentator/Moderator: Stephen Maxner, Ph.D., Texas Tech University

 

         PSYOPS in Vietnam: Another Story of Lost Opportunity

Kyle Rable, Bowling Green University

 

         Halting Hanoi: Godleys Clandestine Coalition and the Defense of Military Region II, 1970

Jeff Schultz, Luzerne County Community College

 

         The Fate of Agent Blue, the Arsenic Based Herbicide, Used in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War

Ken Olson, Ph.D., University of Illinois

 

Zoom Webinar Registration:

https://texastech.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_kLQJOsAgQ-iJReSUqYTCOA

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Session 4B: Vietnam War Authors Panel

 

Commentator/Moderator: Justin Simundson, Ph.D., US Air Force Academy

 

         Lyndon Johnson, Vietnam, and the Presidency: The Speech of March 31, 1968

David Zarefsky, Owen L. Coon Professor Emeritus, Communication Studies, Northwestern University

 

         War in the Villages, U.S. Marine Corps Combined Action Platoons in the Vietnam War

Ted N. Easterling, PhD., Independent Scholar, Vietnam Veteran

 

         Storms over the Mekong: Major Battles of the Vietnam War

William Head, Ph.D., Warner Robins Air Logistics Center

 

Zoom Webinar Registration:

 

5:00 PM: Break

 

5:30 PM: Keynote Speaker

 

Introduction: Ron Milam, Ph.D., Executive Director, Institute for Peace & Conflict, Texas Tech University

 

Differing Realities for Negotiating Peace in Vietnam: 1970 and 1971 in Washington, Saigon, and Hanoi

 

        Larry Berman, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, University of California, Davis

         

Zoom Webinar Registration:

https://texastech.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yDpA6_7pRRS4ws4nyCDyCg

 

Saturday, April 10

 

8:30 AM: Sessions 5

 

Session 5A: The Son Tay Raid: The Greatest Thing that Happened in the Vietnam War

 

Commentator/Moderator: Cliff Westbrook, Captain, USAF (inactive)

 

A Discussion Featuring:

         John Gargus, Colonel, USAF (retired)

         Terry Buckler, Sergeant, USA (inactive)

         Patrick St.Clair, Command Sgt Major, USA (retired) 

         Lee Ellis, Colonel, USAF (retired)

 

Zoom Webinar Registration:

https://texastech.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Nyx8iVuuQA-ZJIPBSBYffQ

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Session 5B: Direct and Indirect Protest Against the War

 

Commentator/Moderator: Stephen Maxner, Ph.D., Texas Tech University

 

         MAYDAY 1971: A White House at War, a Revolt in the Streets, and the Untold History of America's Biggest Mass Arrest

Lawrence Roberts, Journalist and Author

 

         Masters of War: Daniel Ellsbergs Decision to Leak the Pentagon Papers

Danielle McLennan, University of Western Ontario, Canada

 

Zoom Webinar Registration:

 

10:00 AM: Break

 

10:30 AM: Sessions 6

 

Session 6A: The War in Cambodia

 

Commentator/Moderator: Stephen Maxner, Ph.D., Texas Tech University

 

         Tightening the Purse Strings: Congress, Cambodia, and the Vietnam War

David Prentice, Ph.D. Oklahoma State University

 

         American presence in Cambodia from the Cambodian Incursion to Chenla II: The Question of Sources, Archive, and Local Viewpoints

Stephanie Benzaquen-Gautier Ph.D., University of Nottingham (UK)

 

Zoom Webinar Registration:

https://texastech.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mUc44ocUQK--7YhT4k9Xsg

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Session 6B: The Soldier and the Diplomat: Human Engagement in the Vietnam War in 1970-71

 

Commentator/Moderator: Uyen Nguyen, Ph.D. Candidate, Texas Tech University

 

         1970: A Conscientious Objectors Personal History in a Pivotal Year

Philip Szmedra, Ph.D., Gannon University

 

         A Society Much Buffeted by Change: Planning the All-Volunteer Force in 1970

William Taylor, Ph.D. Angelo State University

 

         Americans were wrong in all of their calculations. Meeting of First Secretaries Le Duan and Władysław Gomułka on May 5, 1970

Jarema Slowiak, Ph.D., Jagiellonian University

 

Zoom Webinar Registration:

 

12:15 PM: Lunchtime Presentation

 

Introduction: Laura Calkins, Ph.D., Academic Programs, Institute for Peace & Conflict and Associate Professor of History, Texas Tech University

 

The Cambodian Incursion

 

         Inette Miller, Author of Girls Dont! A Womans War in Vietnam; War Correspondent, Time Magazine

 

Zoom Webinar Registration:

 

Immediately following Lunch Presentation (Same Webinar)

 

Conference Closing Remarks

 

         Ron Milam, Ph.D., Executive Director, Institute for Peace & Conflict,

Texas Tech University

         Stephen Maxner, Ph.D., Director, Vietnam Center & Sam Johnson

Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University

End of Conference