Conference Call for Papers and Panels
“1972: The War Between North and South Vietnam”

April 1-2, 2022, Orange, California

The Vietnam Center & Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive and Institute for Peace & Conflict at Texas Tech University, and the War and Society Program at Chapman University, are pleased to announce a Vietnam War conference focused on the year 1972. 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 war effort of North Vietnam peaked with the launch of the Easter Offensive, their largest attack into South Vietnam since the beginning of the war. As the U.S. continued withdrawing American forces, the armed forces of the Republic of Vietnam shouldered increased operational command and responsibility for defending South Vietnam, while receiving air and logistical support from the U.S. Diplomatically, as the fighting escalated throughout the year, U.S. and Vietnamese diplomats continued their discussions to establish a peace agreement in Paris. As North Vietnam persisted with their “talk-fight” strategy, the U.S. continued a strategy of “progressive squeeze and talk” and strategic bombing. Domestically, the escalation of military operations in 1972 resulted in continued domestic discord and antiwar protest within the U.S. A presidential election year with the Watergate scandal unfolding the Nixon administration sought to maintain popular support among the “silent majority” through a show of American strength in the face of North Vietnamese aggression. Internationally, the initial success of Nixon’s Cold War diplomacy near year’s end started to reduce international tensions and initiated the slow process of challenging widely held perceptions of monolithic international communism.

This conference seeks to explore all such topics, both as discreet areas of interest as well as interconnected aspects of the larger events. We also want to continue examining the issues related to what brought the various parties to 1972 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 on the war, and the efforts to end the conflict through international diplomacy. We want an international perspective covered and seek presentations that reflect the perspectives of all participants, including those of the US, RVN, DRV, NLF, and all other nations involved.

This two-day event will be hosted in Orange, California. 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 November 1, 2021.

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.