Online Supplement to the April 2015 Issue of The Foreign Service Journal

On the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon to the North Vietnamese Army and the evacuation of many thousands of Americans and South Vietnamese from the country, The Foreign Service Journal takes a look back at the Foreign Service role in Vietnam, an element of the story of the Vietnam War that is largely unknown to most Americans. Yet service in Vietnam shaped a generation of Foreign Service officers.

The April issue is one of our largest ever, and even with an expanded focus, there is much more to the story. AFSA reached out to members for photos and memories from their time in Vietnam, which we have assembled as part of this online supplement. Here you will also find fascinating, sometimes prescient, articles on Vietnam published in past issues of the FSJ.

Links:

• Photo album, contributed by AFSA members
• Member Reflections on Vietnam:
  • Parker Borg - Hamlet Security: A Lesson from the Corps Commander
  • Judy Chidester - The 1965 Embassy Bombing
  • Rob Dickerman - A Democratic Home
  • Rob Dickerman - Making Trouble
  • Jim Landberg - Phu My
  • Bill Lenderking - The Five O'Clock Follies
  • Jim Meenan - Vietnam (1965-67)
  • Jim Nach - Excerpts from History of the U.S. Consulate in Saigon
  • Jay Raman - The Evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh
  • James Rosenthal - Provincial Reporters
• Selected Vietnam content from the FSJ archives:
  • February 1970, Feature – "Where Do We Go from Here?" by Barry Zorthian
  • April 1971, Feature – "When the Americans Came" by Nguyen Tan Bi
  • June 1975, Editorial – "Losing-Winning"
  • August 1975, Book Essay – "The Final Tragedy of Vietnam" by David Linebaugh
  • January 1976, Dissent Awards
  • April 1976, Feature – "The Indo-Chinese Refugee Program" by Alan Carter
  • April 2000, Focus on Vietnam – "Advise and Dissent: The Diplomat as Protester" by David T. Jones
  • April 2000, Focus on Vietnam – "The Heart and Mind of USAID's Vietnam Mission" by Marc Leepson
  • April 2000, Focus on Vietnam – "From Diplomat to Dissident: A State Department Odyssey" by John Marks
  • April 2000, Focus on Vietnam – "Leaving Saigon: An FSO's Last Day in Vietnam" by Richard S. Thompson