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1972: The War Between North and South Vietnam

31 March - 02 April 2022
Doubletree Hotel - Orange, California

The views and opinions expressed in these papers, presentations, and videos are strictly those of the presenters and authors and do not represent The Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University, or the State of Texas.

Thursday, March 31st

Video

5:30 PM : Welcome Reception

Panel Discussion: “Going (Back) to Vietnam: Experiences of Veterans, Refugees, and Students from the U.S.”

Ron Milam, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Texas Tech University
Andrew Wells-Dang, Ph.D., Senior Expert, Vietnam, United States Institute of Peace
Diu-Huong Nguyen, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, University of California, Irvine

    Friday, April 1st

    8:00 AM : WELCOMING REMARKS

    Kyle Longley, Ph.D., Director, The War and Society Program, Chapman University

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

    Administrative Remarks
    Steve Maxner, Ph.D., Director, Vietnam Center & Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive, Texas Tech University
      Video

      8:30 AM Session 1: Long-Haired Warriors, Grunts, and the Long Reach of the Vietnam War

      Moderator: Amber Batura, Ph.D., Air Command and Staff College

      • “Long-Haired Warriors” in Vietnam: A Comparative Approach
        Kathryn Statler, Ph.D., University of San Diego

      • “Conscription and Gender in the Post-Vietnam War Era” Kara Dixon Vuic, Ph.D., Texas Christian University
        Kara Dixon Vuic, Ph.D., Texas Christian University

      • “The country is behind you—50%”: American Media, GIs, and the Antiwar Movement”
        Addie Jensen, Ph.D. Candidate, University of California, Santa Barbara

      Video

      10:30 AM 2A: Easter Offensive I

      Moderator: Mr. Stephen Sherman, Independent Researcher, Vietnam Veteran

      • Break in the Chain: Intelligence Ignored
        W.R. (Bob) Baker, Independent Researcher, Vietnam Veteran

      • The Secret Weapon that could have saved South Vietnam
        Mr. Stephen Sherman, Independent Researcher, Vietnam Veteran

      • How my Father and his Friends could have Won the War
        Lindsay Butler, Documentary Film Producer

      Video

      10:30 AM 2B: Vietnamization I

      Moderator: Andrew Wells-Dang, Ph.D., Senior Expert, Vietnam, United States Institute of Peace

      • Vietnamization: The 1972 Easter Offensive as a Benchmark
        David Anderson, Ph.D., Professor of History Emeritus, California State University, Monterey Bay, and Senior Lecturer of National Security Affairs, Naval Postgraduate School

      • Hamlet-Engaging, not Nation-Building: Shared Struggle of the U.S. Army’s Mobile Advisory Teams, Territorial Soldiers, and the People in the Middle in Viet Nam 1972
        Ms. Uyen (Carie) Nguyen, Ph.D. Candidate, Texas Tech University

      Video

      12:00 PM : Women and the Emotional Costs of the Vietnam War

      Kara Dixon Vuic, Ph.D.
      LCpl. Benjamin W. Schmidt Professor of War, Conflict, and Society
      in Twentieth-Century America, Texas Christian University
        Video

        1:30 PM 3A: Vietnamization II

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

        • Vietnamization of the Brown Water Navy
          Mr. David Hipple, Ph.D. Student, Texas Tech University

        • It’s an Image Problem: How Vietnamization Affected the PSYOP Mission
          Mr. Kyle, Rable, Ph.D. Student, Texas Tech University

        Video

        1:30 PM 3C: Negotiating for Peace I

        Moderator: Richard Filipink, Ph.D., Western Illinois University

        • No Easy Way Out: the Hawai’i Congressional Delegation Turns to Peace, 1971-1973
          Marc Gilbert, Ph.D., Hawai’i Pacific University

        • Hanoi-Washington Fight-Talk Negotiation and Diplomatic Actions of South Vietnam in 1972
          Mr. Trieu Huy Ha, Ph.D. Student, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, HCMC

        Video

        3:30 PM 4A: “Teaching the Vietnam War: Pedagogy and Engaging the New Generation of Students”

        Moderator: John F. Burns, Director, Midway Institute for Teachers

        Discussants:
        Kathryn Statler, University of San Diego
        Diu-Huong Nguyen, University of California, Irvine
        Ken Osgood, Colorado School of the Mine
        Bill Allison, Georgia Southern University
          Video

          3:30 PM 4B: SAR and MIAs

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

          • The Golden Age of USAF Search and Rescue: Setting a Lofty Stage in Southeast Asia
            John Blumentritt, Ph.D., Civilian Vice Dean, Squadron Officer School, Air University

          • Last Known Alive- Case #1402: Analysis of USA Capt John T. McDonnell
            Mr. John McDonnell, Independent Researcher

          Video

          3:30 PM 4C: Negotiating for Peace II

          Moderator: Richard Filipink, Ph.D., Western Illinois University

          • The Doomed 1972 Paris Peace Talks
            Nghia Vo, MD, Independent Scholar

          • Paris Negotiations at the Periphery of South Vietnamese Politics (1972)
            Jerry Silverman, Ph.D., Independent Scholar

          Video

          6:30 PM : Special Vietnam Veteran Recognition Program

          Hosted by the Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive, Texas
          Tech University
            Video

            7:30 PM : Keynote

            Ambassador John Negroponte

            Vietnam, perspectives from Saigon, Paris, and Washington, 1963-1973

              Saturday, April 2nd

              Video

              8:30 AM 5A: Panel Discussion: Paris and the War Powers Act

              Moderator: Mr. Stephen Sherman, Independent Researcher, Vietnam Veteran

              Panel Participants:
              Ambassador John Negroponte, Vice Chairman, McLarty Associates
              Luke A. Nichter, Ph.D., Professor of History, James H. Cavanaugh Endowed
              Chair in Presidential Studies, Chapman University
              Stephen B. Young, Global
                Video

                8:30 AM 5B: International Relations

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

                • A Frustrating Year with a Tragic Finale: Polish-Vietnamese Relations in 1972 and the Sinking of MS Józef Conrad
                  Jarema Slowiak, Ph.D., Jagiellonian University

                • Australia and the Withdrawal from Vietnam
                  Mr. Philip Webster, Ph.D. Student, Texas Tech University

                Video

                8:30 AM 5C: "The Grunts War and Beyond: The Vietnam War and American Veterans"

                Moderator: Angelica Allen, War, Diplomacy, and Society Program, Chapman University

                Discussant: Charissa Threat, War, Diplomacy, and Society Program, Chapman University
                • "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bottle: Lee Umlauf, Alcohol, and the Vietnam War"
                  Bo Kent, War, Diplomacy, and Society Program, Chapman University

                • “Black Liberation & Fighting Fire with Fire: The Radicalization of Black Vietnam Veterans”
                  Randy Felder, War, Diplomacy, and Society Program, Chapman University

                • Responsibility and Reconciliation: Agent Orange in the Vietnam War
                  Megan Lee, War, Diplomacy, and Society Program, Chapman University

                Video

                10:30 AM 6A: Environmental Impact of War

                Moderator: William Thomas Allison, Ph.D., Georgia Southern University

                • The 1972 Senate Weather Modification Hearings: Understanding the Implications of Environmental Harm during the Vietnam War
                  Pamela McElwee, Ph.D., The State University of New Jersey

                • Wartime Propaganda and Orwellian Memory-Holing in Nam Bo
                  Alan Potkin, Ph.D., Vietnam Veteran, Digital Conservation Facility, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University

                Video

                10:30 AM 6B: Humanitarian Programs During The Vietnam War

                Moderator: Mariam Beevi Lam, Ph.D., University of California, Riverside

                • A Drop in the Bucket: The failed effort to save Vietnam’s ‘black babies’
                  Sabrina Thomas, Ph.D., Wabash College

                • Soap, Squalor, and the Archives of Medical Humanitarianism
                  Ms. Ann Tran, Ph.D. Student, University of Southern California

                Video

                10:30 AM 6C: Nixon at War

                Moderator: Sean Cunningham, Ph.D., Texas Tech University

                • Winning an Election is Terribly Important: Playing Politics with Vietnam in 1972
                  Richard Filipink, Ph.D., Western Illinois University

                • The Shadow of Peace: The American Ceasefire & Nixon’s Failure to Enforce the Paris Peace Accords
                  CAPT Josh Taylor, USN; Independent Researcher

                Video

                12:00 PM : Lunch Presentation: Scars of War: The Politics of Paternity and Responsibility for the Amerasians of Vietnam

                Sabrina Thomas, Ph.D.
                Associate Professor and David A. Moore Chair in American History
                Wabash College
                  Video

                  1:30 PM 7A: “The Vietnam War in Film and Literature: A Feminist Perspective”

                  Moderator: Lan Cao, J.D., Betty Hutton Williams Professor of International Economic Law, Chapman University Fowler School of Law. Author of Monkey Bridge, The Lotus and the Storm, and Family in Six Tones

                  Discussants:
                  Lan Duong, Ph.D., Lan Duong, Associate Professor, Cinema and Media Studies, USC, Treacherous Subjects: Gender, Culture, and Trans-Vietnamese Feminism (2012)
                    Video

                    1:30 PM 7B: Postwar Narratives and Historical Interpretations

                    Moderator: David DiLeo, Ph.D., Professor, Emeritus, of History and Humanities, Saddleback College

                    • 1972: Vietnam War Orthodoxies Revisited
                      Christoph Giebel, Ph.D., University of Washington

                    • Unofficial Norms and Official Military Practices in the Personal Narratives of American Soldiers of the Vietnam War
                      Mr. Olli, Siitonen, Ph.D. Student, University of Helsinki

                    • The Future Lied to Us
                      Nghia Vo, MD, Independent Scholar

                    Video

                    1:30 PM 7C: All Over the Map

                    Moderator: Mr. Greg Sanders, Independent Researcher, Vietnam Veteran

                    • The Vietnam Antiwar Movement 1972 and America 2022
                      Roger Canfield, Ph.D., Independent Scholar, Vietnam Veteran

                    • Revisiting Operations LINEBACKER II and POCKET MONEY
                      Mr. James McLeroy, Independent Researcher, Vietnam Veteran

                    • New Ways to Research Archival Material
                      Mr. Stephen Sherman, Independent Researcher, Vietnam Veteran

                    Video

                    3:30 PM 8A: The Vietnam War in Popular Culture

                    Moderator: Ron Milam, Ph.D., Texas Tech University

                    • Rockin’ 1972: Music and the Wind Down of the Viet Nam War
                      Erin McCoy, Ph.D., University of South Carolina

                    • “Fires of Summer”: Setting the Musical Scene in 1972 South Vietnam
                      Jason R. Nguyen, Ph.D., Independent Scholar

                    • Look! Rice Paddies! American Comics and the Vietnam War in 1972
                      James Sandy, Ph.D., University of Texas, Arlington

                    Video

                    3:30 PM 8C: From Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan

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

                    • The American Wars in Viet Nam, Iraq, and Afghanistan: A Personal Perspective
                      Mr. Ted Engelmann, Independent Researcher, Vietnam Veteran

                    • The Summers of Flames: Comparative Analysis of U.S. Policy and Strategy in the 1972 Easter Offensive and Fall of Afghanistan 2021
                      Mr. Trevor Yates, Ph.D. Student, Texas Tech University

                    Video

                    5:15 PM : Closing Remarks