
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A Vietnamese government soldier helps cover a wide rice paddy in which two U.S. Army H-21 troops carrying helicopters were shot down by Communist Viet Cong guerillas ground fire during the bloody battle at Tan Hiep, South Vietnam, Jan. 2, 1963. During the fight there were more than 100 Vietnamese casualties. Three American military advisors were killed and eight wounded.
April 30 will mark 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War.
The consequences and lessons of the war that lasted 19 years are the focus of this year’s LCpl. Benjamin W. Schmidt Symposium on April 3. Dr. Robert Brigham, the author of “Reckless: Henry Kissinger and the Tragedy of Vietnam,” will lead the discussion on the war that divided a nation.
“Professor Brigham’s lecture at the Schmidt Symposium will take us on a journey through many of the war’s consequences—including its effect on U.S. Marines in the Tet Offensive, everyday Americans’ attempts to reconcile wartime spending with widespread poverty, and postwar efforts to understand what it all meant,” said Dr. Kara Vuic, LCpl. Benjamin W. Schmidt Professor of War, Conflict and Society in 20th-century America.
The Vietnam War spanned four presidencies, each with different approaches. President Lyndon Johnson initially hoped to conduct a limited war, but this was not possible as the war disrupted the daily lives of Americans. The government then instituted a draft, sending troops to Southeast Asia.
As the war worsened for America, the Communist Party set forth attacks, known as Tet Offensive, to force Washington to the bargaining table.
Under Nixon’s presidency, he continued the process of “Vietnamization” and increased air war for an American retreat.
After a series of deadly bombings targeting North Vietnam’s largest cities, Hanoi and Haiphong, the Thieu-Ky regime in Saigon signed The Paris Peace Agreement with America. The war did not end until 1975 when the Communists captured the presidential palace in Saigon.
Five decades later, more living American citizens served in the Vietnam War than any war since 1995. According to the Census Bureau, the U.S. military personnel who served in Vietnam is 1.29 times greater than the amount of U.S. military personnel in any other conflict.
The 2025 LCpl. Benjamin W. Schmidt Symposium will be on April 3 in the Dee J. Kelly Alumni Center.