Reconciliation is not an act of benevolence, but a strategic choice!
Dinh Hoang Thang (PhD, CRT Fellow)
April 30, 1975 marked the end of a cruel and bloody war that had lasted for decades on Vietnamese soil. In territorial terms, it was a day of reunification for a divided people. But in terms of collective consciousness, it was not necessarily a day when political and moral divisions selflessly evaporated. More than half a century has since passed since the end of that war, yet invisible lines distinguishing North from South, and “nationalists” from “communists,” and between opposing memories of victory on the one side and of anger over defeat on the other, still persist across many strata and different subcultures within the national family of Vietnamese.
The question that must now be asked candidly is not which side was right or wrong, but rather: Why could the war end so decisively on one day, while reconciliation continues to elude the Vietnamese at home and abroad?
Lessons from the American Civil War: Victory Without Annihilation
After its devastating Civil War from 1861 to 1865, the United States found itself deeply divided, no less than Vietnam. More than half a million people had been killed, the Southern economy was devastated, and hard feelings spread widely throughout society as the Southerners bitterly resented the victors while the Northern victors looked down on the White southerners. Yet what stands out is the way Americans handled the postwar era without indulging in unremitting antipathy and disdain for the other.
The South was defeated, but it was not completely stripped of its honor or identity. Some of its leaders such as Robert E. Lee continued to be recognized as part of the nation’s history, rather than erased from collective memory. This conveyed an important message: defeat does not mean exclusion from the national community. Southerners were permitted – once they abolished slavery – to reconstitute their local governments as part of a united America. All prisoners were freed and there were no ‘re-education” camps for the losers.
Upon Lee’s surrender, Union General Grant allowed Confederate officers to keep their sidearms, horses, and baggage as they returned to their homes. Confederate officers and men were allowed to return to their homes, promising not to take up arms against the United States. Rebel soldiers who owned their own horses or mules were allowed to keep them for spring planting. Grant ordered 25,000 meals to be issued to the hungry Confederate troops
The victorious federal government, instead of insisting on punishment of its enemies, prioritized their economic and infrastructural reconstruction. The Republican Party victors understood that a nation cannot be strong if half of it remains trapped in the traumatic mindset of defeat. Reconciliation, therefore, was not only an act of charity, but a strategic choice.
This strategic but so honorable wisdom, came from one leader – President Abraham Lincoln. In his second inaugural address after re-election as the President of the Federal Union and before the war ended, Lincoln so vey wisely asked his people to act as follows: “ With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
Vietnam: When Victory Is Tied to Absolute Truth
Unlike the American Civil War, the Vietnam War was not merely a civil war dividing one people against one another, but it was also part of international Hot and Cold Wars between secular faiths. This reality made any victory in the struggle for systemic domination not only a military triumph, but also the affirmation of a trans-national ideological dogma.
When a victor obtains authority to define “legitimacy” for an entire people, the space for alternative perspectives within that community inevitably narrows. History, in such a case, is easily thrust forward in a single direction, and memories that do not align with the dominant narrative are pushed to the margins. The result is that portions of the post-victory governed population cannot find themselves accepted within the officially sanctioned national story.
Military victory in such an intra-communal conflict may have been achieved swiftly, but thereafter the process of social healing might or might not be pursued with equal passion and priority. This creates a paradox: the war of ideas and ideals could end on the battlefield, but continue in opposed memories and in conflicting perceptions, even as, in the Vietnam War, “the winning side itself acknowledged that ‘a million people were happy, a million were sad…’”
External Factors and the Limits of the “Shadow Effect”
It is understandable, given historical and geopolitical contexts, that some point to the influence of China or the Soviet Union on the war in Vietnam. However, attributing all internal divisions or developmental stagnation solely to external factors risks oversimplifying the dynamics of that struggle of Vietnamese one with another. Vietnamese reality does not always fall under the shadow of outside preferences.
In recent decades, both the Soviet Union and China have made significant modifications to their economic systems and modes of governance, even if they have not entirely abandoned their earlier political choices. Vietnam, in its development process, has been shaped both by external influences and by its own internal constraints. The choices confronting Vietnam now lie not only in “who will exert influence on national policies,” but also in deciding upon internal options for structural adjustments and reconciliation.
A society cannot fully mobilize its internal strength if unresolved, divisive psychological fixations remain post conflict. When part of collective memory is silenced, social consensus struggles to pull forth from the depths of the national spirit the convictions and energies necessary for sustainable progress.
A Hard Truth: Peace Does Not Automatically Create Reconciliation
No nation can move forward rapidly if within it there remain communities that feel excluded from the official narrative of history. Peace, if it merely means the absence of gunfire, is only a necessary condition, but not a sufficient one for sustainable development—especially for a nation that truly seeks to rise high in wealth and well-being in comparison with others.
Reconciliation requires more than an end to the shooting and the killing: it demands recognition of diverse memories, the willingness to accept that history can be viewed from multiple perspectives, and that a conscious effort among people of good faith and good moral character can build a shared identity that transcends old divisions.
Reconciliation Is Not about Forgetting, But Coexisting and Collaborating
Reconciliation does not mean erasing the past or forcing everyone to think alike. On the contrary, it requires the maturity to accept that the people of a nation can live with multiple memories while still coexisting within a common framework and agreeing to build shared futures for mutual benefit.
What matters—and it is by no means easy—is not to make all memories identical, but to create a space where those different memories are acknowledged to be true but without closing minds to the truth of other memories. Only then can a viable national identity emerge and build a prosperous and honorable future above the distractions of “factions” or conflicts of “us versus them,” and instead bring forth a foundation for diversity in unity and unity embracing diversity.
Conclusion: Ending a War Is One Thing; Ending Division Is Another
The United States became strong not because it avoided division, but because it found a way to overcome it after the Civil War. So too did Europe after World War II when rival French and German nationalisms jointly brought forth the European Union. Vietnam has come a long way since April 30, 1975, but the more difficult journey—the journey toward genuine reconciliation within and among all its people—likely still continues.
One day, when April 30 is seen not only as a marker of victory, but also as a symbol of understanding and healing, only then will peace and Vietnamese truly be complete.