Humanities West Presents Lessons Unlearned: The 50th Anniversary of the End of the Vietnam War episode artwork

EPISODE · May 7, 2025 · 2H 28M

Humanities West Presents Lessons Unlearned: The 50th Anniversary of the End of the Vietnam War

from Commonwealth Club of California Podcast · host Commonwealth Club of California

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published May 7, 2025

Embed this episode

NOW PLAYING

Humanities West Presents Lessons Unlearned: The 50th Anniversary of the End of the Vietnam War

0:00 2:28:12

No transcript for this episode yet

We transcribe on demand. Request one and we'll notify you when it's ready — usually under 10 minutes.

No similar episodes found.

No similar podcasts found.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long is this episode of Commonwealth Club of California Podcast?

This episode is 2 hours and 28 minutes long.

When was this Commonwealth Club of California Podcast episode published?

This episode was published on May 7, 2025.

Can I download this Commonwealth Club of California Podcast episode?

Yes. Use the download control on the episode player to save the publisher-provided media file.
URL copied to clipboard!