United States–Vietnam relations
Formal relations between the United States and Vietnam were initiated in the nineteenth century under former American president Andrew Jackson, but relations soured after the United States refused to protect the Kingdom of Vietnam from a French invasion.
Meeting of US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and Vietnamese minister of foreign affairs Phạm Bình Minh in 2019
Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson visiting a textile mill in Saigon, 1961
U.S. Army soldiers burning a Viet Cong base camp during the Vietnam War, 1968
The wreckage of a People's Army of Vietnam T-54 tank, destroyed by Army of the Republic of Vietnam soldiers, 1972
Herbicidal warfare is the use of substances primarily designed to destroy the plant-based ecosystem of an area. Although herbicidal warfare use chemical substances, its main purpose is to disrupt agricultural food production and/or to destroy plants which provide cover or concealment to the enemy, not to asphyxiate or poison humans and/or destroy human-made structures. Herbicidal warfare has been forbidden by the Environmental Modification Convention since 1978, which bans "any technique for changing the composition or structure of the Earth's biota".
Kan Lay, 55 years old, and her son, Ke Van Bec, 14 years old, physically and mentally disabled, pose in front of the billboard denouncing the Operation Ranch Hand.