The Vietnam Center and Archive received a collection of artifacts and photographs from world-renowned anthropologist Gerald Hickey.  Items donated include textiles, smoking pipes, swords and wood carvings from Montagnard tribes Dr. Hickey worked with in Vietnam from 1950s-1970s.  Please click here for the official press release.

Photo caption: Y Bham Enoul, Rhade leader and founder of FULRO (United Front for the Liberation of Oppressed Races). FULRO was an organization in Vietnam and Cambodia that was established to fight for Montagnard autonomy within those nations.  This photo is just one of many donated by Dr. Hickey.

Our congratulations to Jake Bitonel, who has been with the Virtual Vietnam Archive as a student scanner for over three years, on his graduation from Texas Tech University.  In May 2010, Jake received a B.S. with a Major in Exercise Sports Science and a Minor in Military Studies, as well as being commissioned  as a 2nd Lieutenant into the U.S. Army.  As part of his ROTC awards, in April he attended the prestigious, three-day General George C. Marshall Army ROTC Awards Seminar in Lexington, Virginia, which is awarded to the top first-class cadet in each ROTC program in the country based on scholarship, leadership, physical fitness and community involvement.  At the TTU ROTC Awards Ceremony in May he was awarded the United Daughters of the Confederacy Saber for outstanding leadership and contribution as a cadet.  In October, Second Lieutenant Bitonel will attend Helicopter Flight School at Fort Rucker, Alabama.  We thank Jake for his contributions to the Virtual Vietnam Archive, both in helping to make documents available for researchers, and for sharing his extensive knowledge to identify all things military. 

A Colloquium on United States National Security Policy and Military Strategy: Understanding the Environment for Contemporary Warfare

Sponsored by the Vietnam Center and Archive and Department of Political Science at Texas Tech University and The Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College

September 15-16, 2010

The Overton Hotel and Convention Center, Lubbock, TX

The goal of this academic colloquium is to discuss what is one of the most serious and difficult problems facing those responsible for US National Security Policy and Military Strategy, that is, how best to understand contemporary warfare and how best to combat global terrorism. The current struggle is not traditional in that the enemy is not a nation-state that has mobilized its military forces and civilian population against the US, demanding assessments of the appropriate levels and uses of force and the deployment and maneuver of military force. Rather, the war against terrorist networks can be viewed as a form of insurgency where policy makers and the military face well organized but loosely connected groups bent on inflicting property, human, and economic damage at any opportunity. The complexity of fighting such enemies requires policy makers and military strategists to address several essential questions so that US policy and strategy not only match but work together in a way that will allow for the ultimate defeat of those who use terror as their principal means of goal achievement.

Call for Papers:

We seek paper and panel proposals that will address such questions and will focus on such important issues as whether US national security policy is based on an accurate conceptualization of terrorism as a threat, whether policies and strategies need to be reassessed with respect to how we are addressing these threats, and what role will coalitions and alliances play in helping political and military leaders develop and implement effective policies and strategies. We welcome and look forward to a range of proposals that examine these issues using qualitative, quantitative, and historical methodologies and analysis.

•Paper proposals: Half page proposal with short (two page) CV

•Panel proposals: Full page proposal with short (two page) CVs for speakers

Send submissions to steve.maxner@ttu.edu

For more information, please call 806-742-3742

DEADLINE for submissions: June 30, 2010

To register for this conference and/or reserve a hotel room, please visit http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/events/counterterrorism/

Today is the Army’s 235th birthday!  The Vietnam Center and Archive staff want to wish the Army and all its people a very happy day.  We have put together a small exhibit commemorating this occasion.  Please click here to view the display.

The Seventh Triennial Vietnam Symposium will take place on March 10-12, 2011, and will be held at the brand new Overton Hotel and Convention Center in Lubbock, Texas.

Vietnam Center symposia are open to presentations that examine any and all aspects of the United States involvement in Southeast Asia. This includes activities before, during, and after the war in Vietnam. Papers can examine any aspect of the experience to include early interaction and diplomacy, events and activities during the war to include military operations, humanitarian relief efforts, civic action and pacification, thematic issues to include social, political, cultural, and economic, the international dimensions of the war for all sides involved, activities in the US and elsewhere in support of or in opposition to the war, postwar issues, etc.

We encourage anyone interested in presenting a research paper to submit a one page proposal and a short CV for consideration. We also welcome panel proposals that include all speakers and a moderator. As always, graduate students are highly encouraged to submit proposals. Please format proposals to resemble an abstract to include the author’s name, title/affiliation, and contact information, along with proposed title, thesis/purpose, and main points. Please limit paper proposal length to a single page. For panel proposals, please limit each paper proposal within the panel to a single page. Submit all proposals electronically to VietnamCenterConference@ttu.edu. If you make an email submission but do not receive notification of receipt within seven days, please call 806-742-3742 and ask for Steve Maxner, Ph.D., Director, Vietnam Center and Archive.

The deadline for submitting proposals is October 15, 2010.

For updated information about the symposium, please visit http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/events/2011_Symposium/

Thank you and we look forward to you joining us for this event.

Today is the 35th anniversary of Saigon’s fall to the North Vietnamese army.  On April 30th, 1975, the last Americans involved in the Vietnam War left Saigon in a dramatic helicopter airlift; images from this evacuation are still recognizable around the world today.  To commemorate this anniversary, the Vietnam Archive has created an online exhibit detailing the events leading up to the final tumultuous days of South Vietnam. 

South Vietnamese refugee comforted by red cross volunteers at a refugee camp set up at Elgin Air Force Base Florida, May 1975. Bryan Grigsby Collection

“April 30th, 1975: The Fall of Saigon” Online Exhibit

The Vietnam Center and Archive now has its own channel on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/vietnamttu

The videos currently on our channel are unique, historical films from our collections and include:

-Film of U.S. soldiers spraying Agent Orange without protective equipment

-Scenes from the inauguration of South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu

-Military Sentry Dog training

-Scenes from markets and villages in Southeast Asia during the war

-Film of an air show and military equipment

We hope that displaying our videos on YouTube will expose a larger audience to our vast collection of moving images concerning the Vietnam War. More videos will be added in the future so please check back periodically.

The agenda for our upcoming conference is now available here: http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/events/2010_conference/2010agenda.pdf

A registration form is being developed and will be available on our website soon. Please check our conference page periodically for updates: http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/events/2010_Conference/

Also, a block of hotel rooms has been reserved at a reduced rate of $99/night.  Please reserve your room by February 17th.  Reservation information available on our website: http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/events/2010_Conference/

Detailed conference information:

Lessons Learned, Lessons Lost: Counterinsurgency from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan

Sponsored by:
The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University
The Vietnam Center and Archive, Texas Tech University
& The Center for a New American Security

March 4th-5th, 2010
SAIS Kenney Auditorium
1740 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036

“You have to learn from history,” President Obama recently observed. “On the other hand, each historical moment is different. You never step into the same river twice. And so Afghanistan is not Vietnam.” [New York Times, September 13, 2009]

Perhaps not. But Vietnam is certainly a reference point for many Americans as the war in Afghanistan approaches its ninth year. Comparing Vietnam and Afghanistan is a popular and sometimes lucrative undertaking for scores of historians, journalists and politicians. Google “Vietnam-Afghanistan” and you get about 36 million returns. Analogies abound; analysts debate. What are the lessons of Vietnam? What can we learn about counterinsurgency from our experience in Vietnam? Does Vietnam offer important insights to guide counterinsurgency operations in Iraq and Afghanistan? Have we already applied our Vietnam experience in these conflicts? Or are Iraq and Afghanistan so unique as to defy comparison with past insurgencies?

This conference asks what we should have learned about counterinsurgency from Vietnam and whether, or how, these lessons are being exploited in today’s conflicts. Military experts and civilian analysts will debate these questions and more over two days at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies on March 4 and 5. You are most cordially invited to join the discussion.

The Vietnam Center and Archive is holding its annual Tet celebration today, Friday, February 12th from 3:00-5:00 at the Hall of Nations in the International Cultural Center at Texas Tech.  Please note that this is a new location for this event.  It is NOT being held in the Southwest Collection Building.  For a map to the International Cultural Center, please visit this link:

http://www.ttu.edu/campusMap/buildings/icc.php

Event information:

Friday, February 12, 2010
3:00-5:00pm
The Hall of Nations at the International Cultural Center
With a Presentation by the Vietnamese Student Association

Admission is free and open to the public.

The Vietnam Center cordially invites you to join us as we celebrate Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, on Friday, February 12, 2010. Please come sample Vietnamese cuisine and learn more about the rich heritage and culture that makes Vietnam so remarkable.

February 14, 2010 ushers in the Lunar Year of the Tiger. In Vietnam, one of 12 animals of the zodiac represents each year. The tiger is the third sign of the zodiac and symbolizes passion and integrity. Tigers are considered “king of the jungle” and are therefore protective of family and friends. It is said that people born in the year of the tiger are sensitive and respected, but can also be indecisive.

The Vietnamese people regard Tet as their most important holiday. Food preparation for Tet is very time consuming and often requires days of cooking and, prior to the celebrations, people clean, paint, and decorate their homes. People avoid cleaning during Tet so that good luck will not be “swept away.”

We hope you will be able to join us on February 12, 2010 as we celebrate this special event!

For more information, please call 742-3742.

The Vietnam Archive has created a new online exhibit called “Let’s Celebrate Tet”.  This exhibit is an exploration of the Tet holiday and its customs, history and traditions supplemented with photos and documents from our collection.  If you would like to learn about this unique holiday please visit our exhibits page or click on the exhibit title above.