Conference Call for Papers and Panels

"1973: The Paris Peace Accords and the Allied Withdrawal from South Vietnam"

March 2-4, 2023, Lubbock, Texas

The Vietnam Center & Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive and Institute for Peace & Conflict at Texas Tech University are pleased to announce a Vietnam War conference focused on the year 1973. This conference will approach a wide range of historical events and topics by hosting presenters who examine diplomatic, military, international, regional, social, cultural, and domestic aspects of the Vietnam War. We also seek presentations that reflect the recent and emerging scholarship on the policies, strategies, and decisions of the military, political, and diplomatic leaders of all nations involved as they sought to bring a successful conclusion to the war.

Militarily, the warfighting efforts of North Vietnam waned temporarily following the Easter Offensive and Christmas bombing of 1972, taking a much-needed respite so they could recover, resupply, and redeploy additional forces in preparation for the next phase of the war. As the U.S. and other allies withdrew forces, the armed forces of the Republic of Vietnam shouldered operational command and responsibility for defending South Vietnam. While agreeing to withdraw from Vietnam, the U.S. increased the air war over Cambodia in an ill-fated attempt to support General Lon Nol and to keep Phnom Penh from falling to the communist Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot. Operation Homecoming resulted in the return of U.S. prisoners-of-war while the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps demined Hai Phong Harbor and coastal North Vietnam. Diplomatically, Henry Kissinger traveled to Hanoi to discuss establishing diplomatic relations between the U.S. and North Vietnam while the International Commission of Control and Supervision (ICCS) was established to supervise the implementation of the peace accords. Domestically, the U.S. Congress made plans to slash U.S. military and economic assistance to South Vietnam in half while the American people and Nixon administration became preoccupied with the Watergate scandal.

This conference seeks to explore all such topics, both as discreet areas of interest as well as interconnected aspects of the larger events. We want to continue examining the issues related to what brought the various parties to 1973 and what happened in its aftermath. We encourage presentations that examine other topics such as the social and religious aspects of the war, the effect of journalism and reporting, and the efforts to end the conflict through international diplomacy. We desire an international perspective and seek presentations that reflect the perspectives of all participants, including the U.S., RVN, DRV, NLF, Cambodia, Laos, China, the Soviet Union, and all other nations involved.

This conference will be hosted in Lubbock, Texas. Conference organizers welcome individual proposals as well as pre-organized panel proposals that include a moderator and three individual presentations. Conference sessions will follow the standard 90-minute format to include 60 minutes for presentations (20 minutes/presentation) followed by 30 minutes for questions/discussion. Presentations by veterans are especially encouraged, as are presentations by graduate students. Graduate student travel grants might also be made available for select students. All presentations will be video recorded and made publicly available after the conference via the Vietnam Center & Archive website. Select papers may also be published.

Proposal submission deadline is January 15, 2023.

Please submit a 250-word abstract and separate two-page CV/resume to VietnamConference.TTU@gmail.com. If submitting a panel proposal, please include separate abstracts for each proposed presentation and short CVs/resumes for each speaker.

Thank you for your interest in participating in this conference.