An American Amnesia: How the U.S. Congress Forced the Surrenders of South Vietnam and Cambodia

January 27th, 1973: the United States, South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the Viet Cong sign the Paris Peace Accords, guaranteeing the right of self-determination to the South Vietnamese people.

April 30th, 1975: President Duong Van Minh of South Vietnam announces the nation's unconditional surrender to the North, ending the decade-long conflict and enabling the merger of both countries into the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

What happened in two short years to cause such a dramatic reversal?In An American Amnesia, respected political commentator Bruce Herschensohn re-examines the incredible actions taken by the 94th Congress and by many American citizens which forced South Vietnam's surrender, an event that brought about immense tragedy for Southeast Asians and haunts our political landscape to this day. Drawing on notes, speeches, and writings from his own experiences in Southeast Asia, as well as in the United States Information Agency and in the White House, Herschensohn fills in important facts in that period of history and warns against the danger of succumbing to a similar voluntary amnesia in the future.

Arguing that Americans have amnesia about what happened during the war, Herschensohn (public policy, Pepperdine U.), who served under President Nixon and on the Reagan Transition Team, claims that the actions taken by the 94th Congress and American citizens who opposed the Vietnam War influenced South Vietnam's surrender in 1975. He draws on notes, speeches, and writings from his experiences in Southeast Asia in the 1960s and 70s to describe parts of the war that have been forgotten. He does not provide a full history of the war, but focuses on the two years between the Paris Peace Accords and the surrender and what happened in North and South Vietnam, also discussing presidents who supported defending South Vietnam; the plight of Southeast Asian refugees; the negative effects of demonstrators and protestors, including celebrities like Jane Fonda; journalists who he claims stayed in their hotels rather than covering the action; and how the surrender may have indirectly influenced 9/11. No bibliography is present, but some source information is provided within the text. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)