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Vietnam attempted to normalize relations with the
United States first on Sept. 2, 1954, when President
Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the creation of the Democratic
Republic of Vietnam with words known to all Americans:
“All men are created equal. They are endowed
by their creator with certain inalienable rights;
among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness.” But the U.S. government at the
time did not get the hint and sided with the colonial
power, France.
The United States left Vietnam in 1975, when the
country was unified at the end of the Vietnam War
(known in Vietnam as the American War), not to return
for two decades.
This is a brief chronology of the path towards
normalization.
• 1986: Vietnam embarks on doi moi,
or economic renovation,
allowing private enterprise and a partially free
market system.
• 1987: A U.S.-Vietnamese humanitarian
assistance program is signed.
• 1991: Official negotiations to normalize
relations begin.
• 1994: The U.S. embargo is lifted.
• 1995: Both countries establish diplomatic
relations;
Vietnam veteran Pete Peterson becomes the first
U.S. Ambassador to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
• 2000: First visit by a U.S. defense
secretary,
William Cohen, to Vietnam.
• 2000: President Clinton visits Vietnam.
• 2001: Bilateral Trade Agreement
enters into effect.
• 2005: Vietnam hopes to join the
World Trade Organization;
the United States supports the application.
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