Memorial Day: Presidents and the Vietnam War, 50 Years After the Fall of Saigon

50 years ago, the Vietnam War ended.. The South Vietnamese capital of Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese Army…. North Vietnam achieved its objective of reunifying Vietnam under communist rule.... There were 58,220 U.S. military fatalities …. America effectively lost the Vietnam War.... "It was a sad day to sit in the Oval Office and see on television the American troops being literally kicked off of an American embassy before it surrendered. I hope no American president goes through that experience again." That was Gerald Ford on C-SPAN in 1998… On April 29th 1975, as President, Gerald Ford told America about the fall of Saigon: "This action closes a chapter in the American experience." Since then, new chapters have opened in the American experience with Vietnam .... For this year's Memorial Day, this week's episode of C-SPAN's podcast "The Weekly" observes America's relationship with Vietnam changing in the 50 years since the fall of Saigon ... and we do so by checking in with a President every ten years after 1975. How has American policy toward Vietnam changed over 50 years? And how has American presidential language about Vietnam and the War changed? This Memorial Day, find out in C-SPAN's podcast "The Weekly." Find C-SPAN's "The Weekly" wherever you get podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices