Three decades after the fall of Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam is enjoying an economic resurgence and is eager to embrace America, not only as a trading partner but also as a hedge against its historical rival, China. More than 60 percent of all Vietnamese were born after 1975, the year the last U.S. soldier left Vietnam, and today the nation is a vibrant, colorful place that provides a robust contrast to the old black-and-white images of tragedy still imprinted on Americans’ minds. As one former U.S. ambassador observes: “The Vietnamese could teach us a lot about how to focus on the present and the future.”
