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Webinar: The U.S. – Vietnam Relationship and War Legacies: 25 Years into Normalization
15 July, 2020
2020 marks the 25th Anniversary of the normalization of relations between the United States and Vietnam. Vietnam is a American key partner in the Indo-Pacific region, and the United States and Vietnam have made great strides in building a forward-looking and mutually beneficial partnership despite the shared history of war, its baneful legacies, and a nineteen-year interruption to diplomatic relations.
- July 15, 2020
- 10:00 – 11:00 a.m.
- Zoom Webinar
The Stimson Center invites you to join us for a discussion exploring the bilateral relationship between the United States and Vietnam, the progress made on war legacy issues in the last 25 years, and the role that the legacies of war will play in the future relationship.
Speakers:
Opening Remarks
Senator Patrick Leahy, United States Senate, representing Vermont
Patrick Leahy was elected to the United States Senate in 1974 and remains the only Democrat elected to this office from Vermont. At 34, he was the youngest U.S. Senator ever to be elected from the Green Mountain State. Leahy is the Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He is the senior-most member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and of the Senate Agriculture Committee. Leahy is the Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on State Department, Foreign Operations and Related Programs. He ranks first in seniority in the Senate. Read his full biography.
Ambassador Ha Kim Ngoc, Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Ambassador Ha Kim Ngoc has served in the diplomatic service since 1988 in different positions and has much experience in bilateral and multilateral diplomacy. He was appointed by President Tran Dai Quang as the sixth Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam to the United States of America in March 2018. He arrived in Washington, D.C. on July 15, 2018 and presented his Credentials to President Donald J. Trump on September 17, 2018. Read his full biography.
Panelists
Mike Cerre, Special Correspondent for PBS News Hour and Globe TV Reporter
An Emmy award winning foreign correspondent and documentary producer, formerly with ABC News Nightline, Mike Cerre has reported on Vietnam’s UXO and Agent Orange legacies for the PBS NewsHour. After graduating from the University of Notre Dame, he served as a Marine officer in Vietnam 1970-71 and has returned to the country several times. His GLOBE Tv company does strategic communications work for non-non-profits and multinational corporations. Read his full biography.
Tim Rieser, Senior Foreign Policy Aid for Senator Leahy, Democratic Clerk of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee
Tim Rieser graduated from the Putney School, in Putney, VT in 1970, and received his BA in history from Dartmouth College in 1976. He received his JD from the Antioch School of Law in 1979. From 1980-83, Tim worked as a public defender in Barre, VT, and in 1984 spent a year as a teaching assistant under Professor Roger Fisher at the Harvard Law School Negotiation Project. In 1985, Tim began working for U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on judiciary issues, and then shifted to foreign policy in 1987. In 1989, when Senator Leahy became Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Tim joined the Subcommittee as a professional staff member. In 1995, Tim became the Democratic Clerk for what by then was the Subcommittee on the Department of State and Foreign Operations, and has held that position ever since, handling appropriations for the operations of the Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development, and U.S. foreign assistance programs. Since 1995, Tim has also served as Senator Leahy’s senior foreign policy aide.
This event is supported by the War Legacies Working Group.
