President Harry S. Truman and Vietnam

Event Details

Piotr Ostaszewski is a visiting Miller Center scholar who has researched at Oxford University and the University of Warsaw, focusing on American foreign policy and Southeast Asia. Mr. Ostaszewski focuses on how Truman?s policy of containment helped shape the Vietnam policy, which he breaks into three periods, and Ho Chi Minh?s communism. Ostaszewski argues that Vietnam is the best example of the containment policy and that Truman?s thinking of Vietnam slowly evolved after events in China, Korea and France set the stage for more U.S. involvement. During the question and answer session, Mr. Ostaszewski answered questions about communist aggression and Ho Chi Minh?s hopes for independence.