America's Broken Promise in Vietnam Holds a Lesson Today

Crowds flooded Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday, the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, for vibrant celebrations. You could almost forget that the war cost millions of Vietnamese lives as well as 58,000 American lives amid the "carnival-like excitement" as girls "screamed hysterically at the sight of shy young soldiers as if they were K-pop idols," per NPR. More:

• Military parade: This was "the most anticipated event," NPR reports, noting soldiers "marched in perfect formations" for more than an hour as helicopters and fighter jets soared overhead. Thousands of people camped overnight on city streets to get the best vantage point, per the AP. Susan Burns, the US consul general in Ho Chi Minh City, attended.
• National pride: The atmosphere "reflected a respect for the army and a growing sense of modern national pride," per NPR. The fall of Saigon, capital of the US-allied South Vietnam, to North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops on April 30, 1975, about two years after Washington pulled its last troops from the country, meant the end of a divided Vietnam and a 30-year fight for independence.

• Emphasis on unity: "All the Vietnamese are the descendants of Vietnam" with "freedom to pursue happiness and love in this country," said To Lam, the Vietnam Communist Party's general secretary, per the AP. "In a spirit of closing the past, respecting differences, aiming for the future, the whole party, the people and the army vow to make Vietnam become a country of peace, unity, prosperity, and development."
• US legacy: At Time, Virginia Commonwealth University history professor Emilie Raymond recalls the public perception of the US causing more harm than good in the war "translated into indifferent, if not hostile, treatment of military veterans and Vietnamese refugees," while the ultimate US defeat "made Americans suspicious of the US foreign policy regime, more wary of inserting US authority into complicated overseas conflicts, and increasingly sensitive to the human costs of war."

• Broken promise: The loss of life is still felt by Marine Corps Maj. Gerry Berry, who served as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. "What did we gain by all that?" he asks CNN. He adds there's a lesson to be learned in the broken American promise to provide aid to South Vietnam after its withdrawal. "You promise something, you should follow through," he says.
• US-Vietnam relations: This year marks 30 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Since 2023, Vietnam has viewed the US as a comprehensive strategic partner, "the highest diplomatic status it gives to any country and the same level of relations as China and Russia," per the AP.
• Strains: But the Trump administration is now testing the relationship, which "is anchored in American efforts to address war legacies," per the AP. US efforts to address Agent Orange contamination and unexploded ordnances in Vietnam are at risk with cuts to USAID, while 46% reciprocal tariffs handed down by Trump "could undermine Vietnam's export-led growth," per Reuters.

(More Vietnam War stories.)