United States and Vietnam

InJune 1990, I was preparing for a trip to Hanoi to give a paper at a conference on Vietnam's moves toward a market economy. It was to be one of the first occasions bringing together Vietnamese and American academics. This breakthrough in academic relations seemed to augur well for improved relations between the two countries, but I knew that earlier hopes had repeatedly been dashed. Year after year, normalization of relations has appeared imminent, but each time hope ultimately receded like a mirage. Political methods, which as a political scientist I had believed were the main means to effect change, seemed to have failed. I felt the need to take a more personal, spiritual approach. About this time I found a book on fasting by Dick Gregory in a health food store. Sometime in the early 1970s, he began a fast with the resolve not to end it until the Vietnam War ended. I realized that he had stopped his Vietnam fast long ago, but the war is not entirely over. Inspired, partly by his example, I began to fast, an ancient ritual of purification, for the first time in my life. I took only water with lemon, maple syrup, and cayenne pepper. I did not know whether I would find it unbearable and stop in a few days or continue to fast until relations with Vietnam were normalized

Political science · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies

• “What kind of war?”

  Harry W Haines•Critical Studies in Mass…•1986

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