Conference Call for Papers and Panels

"1974: Shattered Peace, Continued Conflict, and Preparing for the Final Battle for Vietnam"

April 11-13, 2024, New TTU-DFW Site in Irving, Texas

(Submission deadline: February 15, 2024)

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 1974. While the theme for the conference focuses on events that took place in 1974, we welcome papers and panels that explore all aspects of Vietnam War history from the French Indochina War to postwar legacies that continue to the present. 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, neither side adhered to the terms of the Paris Peace Accords of 1973. North Vietnam continued to rebuild and deploy forces to South Vietnam, preparing them for the final North Vietnamese offensives to forcibly reunify Vietnam under a single communist government. Toward that end, North Vietnam launched a series of operations on land and in the South China Sea that continued to erode South Vietnam’s fighting capabilities. South Vietnam continued to staunchly defend their territory and launched several offensives against the People’s Army to include the Battle of Tri Phap and the Battle of Svay Rieng, inflicting significant casualties on the People’s Army, but not enough to stop the continued buildup of their forces within the South. In the U.S., President Richard Nixon came under increasing pressure due to the Watergate scandal, eventually resigning in August 1974. Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress continued to debate the level of aid the U.S. should provide to South Vietnam, eventually cutting aid to $700 million in 1974.

This conference seeks to explore all such topics, both as discreet areas of interest as well as interconnected aspects of the larger events. We encourage presentations that examine military, political, diplomatic social, economic, cultural, and religious aspects of the war, the effect of journalism and reporting, and the efforts to end the conflict through international diplomacy and peace initiatives. We desire international perspectives and seek presentations that reflect all participants, including the U.S., RVN, DRV, NLF, Cambodia, Laos, China, the Soviet Union, and all other nations involved. Presentations by veterans and wartime participants are especially encouraged, particularly RVN military veterans, U.S. military veterans, U.S. navy crew members on U.S. ships in the South China Sea, U.S. and RVN civilians active in Vietnam to include embassy personnel, government officials, defense technical advisers, Air America pilots and crews, and anyone else present in Vietnam during 1974. Presentation proposals from graduate students and independent researchers and scholars are also welcome and encouraged.

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. 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 February 15, 2024.

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.

SPECIAL NOTE

This conference will be hosted in the new TTU-DFW Site in Irving, Texas

This new Texas Tech facility is located minutes from the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. All conference activities will take place at this location to include a welcome reception on Thursday evening April 11 and all conference sessions and meals on Friday and Saturday, April 12 and 13. At this time, there is no specific conference hotel designated for this event.

The address for the TTU-DFW Site is:
4201 State Highway 161, Irving TX 75038

While we are not able to arrange a block of guest rooms at a specific hotel, VNCA/IPAC faculty and staff will be staying at the following location:

Embassy Suites Dallas DFW Airport South
4650 W Airport Freeway, Irving, TX 75062

For conference updates and additional information, please visit us online:
https://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/events/2024_Conference/

Thank you for your interest in participating in this conference.