People’s Diplomacy of Vietnam: Soft Power in the Resistance War, 1965-1972
This is the first full-length book on the concept of “People’s Diplomacy,” promoted by the president of North Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, at the peak of the Vietnam War from 1965-1972. It holds great appeal for historians, international relations scholars, diplomats, and the general reader interested in Vietnam. A form of informal diplomacy, people’s diplomacy was carried out by ordinary Vietnamese including writers, cartoonists, workers, women, students, filmmakers, medical doctors, academics, and sportspersons. They created an awareness of the American bombardment of innocent Vietnamese civilians, and made profound connections with the anti-war movements abroad. People’s diplomacy made it difficult for the United States to prolong the war because the North Vietnamese, together with the peace movements abroad, exerted popular pressure on the American presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon to end the conflict. It was much more effective than the formal North Vietnamese diplomacy in gaining the support of Westerners who were averse to communism. It damaged the reputation of the United States by casting North Vietnam as a victim of American imperialism.
Harish C. Mehta holds an MA and a PhD from McMaster University, Canada, specializing in the history of American foreign relations and Southeast Asia. He is the author of three books on Cambodian politics and media: Strongman: The Extraordinary Life of Hun Sen of Cambodia, Warrior Prince: Norodom Ranariddh, and Cambodia Silenced. His articles on Vietnamese diplomacy have appeared in the journals Diplomatic History, Peace and Change, The Historian, and History Compass. He is the editor-in-chief of The Calcutta Journal of Global Affairs. He has also previously worked as a senior correspondent for the Business Times of Singapore, covering Indochina and Thailand.
“Harish Mehta has done great service to international relations in pointing out the pioneering use of soft power, and the use of a diasporic overseas community long before either aspect in foreign relations or Track Two diplomacy was otherwise noted. These were undertaken by the Vietnamese in their decades-long struggle under the legendary leadership of Ho Chi Minh against first French, and then American, imperialism. In this regard, Mehta’s book is in itself a pioneering exercise that commands respect. […] The book provides a valuable analysis of Ho’s early efforts to enlist the diaspora against colonial rule, the response of the Lyndon Johnson government to criticism, the roles played by France, Sweden and Cuba to assist Vietnam, the consistent support from the Soviet Union and China despite the Sino-Soviet split, and details of the success and limitations of the IWCT. Mehta gives space to assessing the role of women in giving the Vietnamese at war a human face.”
Krishnan Srinivasan
The Sunday Statesman, 17 November 2019
Harish Mehta
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