There clearly are lessons that we have learned from the Vietnam War that we have applied well to other situations, but there are also lessons that we think we have learned that are far less clear, and could lead to similar outcomes if we are not careful.
The Vietnam War certainly cast a pall over America, but much more so over all of Southeast Asia. Back then the enemy was seen as Communism. Now the enemy has transformed into various political movements along the far end of the authoritarian spectrum―whose understandable but deceptive attractiveness during moments of despair has even begun finding many adherents among us.
To head off that unfortunate development, join us in asking: Which foreign policies could we adopt that would make the freest end of the spectrum of democratic civilizations more robust, more stable and more desirable? And where does the development and use of military power fit into those foreign policies to achieve our civilizational goals?
Humanities West presents a variety of expert opinions on these important issues while reviewing what went wrong, and what went right, during the Vietnam War that ended so abruptly on April 30, 1975.
Join us for two nights, on April 30 and May 2, to hear six experts review what we have learned, and what we have not, about the Vietnam War.
A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.
In association with Humanities West.

Thomas Berner
Attorney; Author; Senior Legal Advisor, Afghanistan Reconstruction Group, which monitored USAID projects and provided private sector advice in Afghanistan after 9/11

Le Ly Hayslip
Founder, East Meets West Foundation and Global Village Foundation; Heaven & Earth, an Oliver Stone film, is based on her life; Author, When Heaven and Earth Changed Places: A Vietnamese Woman’s Journey from War to Peace, and Child of War, Woman of Peace

Jeffrey Shaw
Professor of Strategy and Policy, U.S. Naval War College; Adjunct Professor of Humanities, Salve Regina University; Author, The Ethiopian-Adal War, 1529-1543: The Conquest of Abyssinia and Illusions of Freedom: Thomas Merton and Jacques Ellul on Technology and the Human Condition; Co-editor, War and Religion: An Encyclopedia of Faith and Conflict

George Hammond
Author, Conversations With Socrates—Moderator