Fifty years ago on Wednesday, North Vietnamese forces took Saigon\u2019s presidential palace, marking the end of the Vietnam War\u2014a two-decade-long conflict that shaped the second half of the 20th century. The American War, as it\u2019s called in Vietnam, led to the deaths of millions of Vietnamese people and more than 50,000 U.S. troops. Arguably the first forever war, it is widely remembered as one of Washington\u2019s greatest foreign-policy disasters.<\/p>\n
Today, the war continues to haunt global affairs. To mark the anniversary, which the Trump administration has explicitly directed U.S. diplomats in Vietnam not to commemorate, we\u2019re sharing essays on the legacies of the war and how it continues to shape foreign policy.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
Fifty years ago on Wednesday, North Vietnamese forces took Saigon\u2019s presidential palace, marking the end of the Vietnam War\u2014a two-decade-long conflict that shaped the second half of the 20th century. The American War, as it\u2019s called in Vietnam, led to the deaths of millions of Vietnamese people and more than 50,000 U.S. troops. Arguably the first forever war, it is widely remembered as one of Washington\u2019s greatest foreign-policy disasters.<\/p>\n
Today, the war continues to haunt global affairs. To mark the anniversary, which the Trump administration has explicitly directed U.S. diplomats in Vietnam not to commemorate, we\u2019re sharing essays on the legacies of the war and how it continues to shape foreign policy.<\/p>\n
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Leaflets stream from the cockpit of a plane, flown by psychological warfare pilots of the 9th Air Commando Squadron at Da Nang Air Base in Vietnam on July 11, 1967.Bettmann Archive\/Getty Images<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The United States tried to use Vietnamese beliefs to terrify enemy soldiers, Chris Humphrey writes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Then-U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson shakes the hands of soldiers as he visits troops in Vietnam in 1966.Interim Archives\/Getty Images<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n As a new book shows, it\u2019s not always about strategy, FP\u2019s Julian E. Zelizer writes.<\/p>\n From left: Robert Downey Jr.\u2014who plays several roles\u2014Duy Nguyen as Man, Hoa Xuande as the Captain, Fred Nguyen Khan as Bon, and Sandra Oh as Sofia Mori in The Sympathizer<\/em>. HBO<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The series lampoons the military, academia, and Hollywood portrayals of the era, Jordan Hoffman writes.<\/p>\n South Korean soldiers advance during an assault on an enemy position near Nha Trang, Vietnam, in 1972. David Hume Kennerly\/Getty Images<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Seoul and Hanoi can no longer ignore a fraught part of their history, Dien Luong writes.<\/p>\n Donald Sutherland and Jane Fonda perform for American airmen during a F.T.A. Vietnam protest tour near Manila, Philippines, in 1971. AP<\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n The chameleonic actor was also an activist ahead of his time, Lindsay Goss writes.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\nThe Ghostly Legacies of America\u2019s War in Vietnam<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
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\n ![\"Lyndon](\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/1-war-on-the-ballot-lyndon-johnson-vietnam-GettyImages-135986658.jpg\")
\n <\/span>Why U.S. Presidents Really Go to War<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
\n ![\"From](\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/sympathizer-vietnam-hbo-1.jpg\")
\n <\/span>HBO\u2019s \u2018The Sympathizer\u2019 Leans Into the Tragic Absurdity of the Vietnam War<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
\n ![\"A](\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/vietnam-south-korea-GettyImages-72454632.jpg\")
\n <\/span>It\u2019s Time for South Korea to Acknowledge Its Atrocities in Vietnam<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n
\n ![\"Donald](\"https:\/\/foreignpolicy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/Donald-Sutherland-FTA-Vietnam-activism-Jane-Fonda-AP7101010531.jpg\")
\n <\/span>Donald Sutherland and the Soldiers Who Resisted Vietnam<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n