WASHINGTON--April 30 marks 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War. On this date in 1975, communist North Vietnam took over Saigon, then-capital of South Vietnam, and renamed it Ho Chi Minh City. Month-long preparations for the 50th anniversary of the end of the war culminated on Wednesday.
Vietnam and the U.S. normalized relations in 1995. In 2023, former U.S. President Joe Biden visited Hanoi and deepened ties.
Experts at GW are available to weigh in on the commemoration, as well as the historical significance of this date. To speak with an expert, please contact gwmedia
gwu [dot] edu (gwmedia[at]gwu[dot]edu).
Steve Brady is Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies and Advising at the Columbian College of Arts & Sciences. Brady is a free-range historian of international relations and the military and society, with special research interests in religion and foreign relations, German-American relations, early United States foreign relations, and paradiplomacy. His next book, "Less than Victory: American Catholics and the Vietnam War,” is forthcoming in October 2025 from Cambridge University Press in the Series “Military, War, and Society in Modern American History.”
Thom Shanker is the Director of the Project for Media & National Security at GW’s School of Media & Public Affairs. Shanker was named director of the Project for Media and National Security in June 2021, after a nearly quarter-century career with The New York Times, including 13 years as Pentagon correspondent covering the Department of Defense, overseas combat operations and national security policy.
James Lebovic, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, teaches courses on international politics theory, national security policymaking, international conflict, and methodology. His research focuses on military spending, deterrence, arms control, weapons acquisition, the arms trade, foreign aid, and international conflict.
James G. Hershberg, Professor of History and International Affairs, works closely with the National Security Archive, a declassified documents repository and research institute based at the University. He is the author of ‘Marigold: The Lost Chance for Peace in Vietnam (Cold War International History Project).’