Prior to attending Ohio University, I earned my Master of Arts degree at San Diego State University (SDSU), where I was mentored by Dr. Pierre Asselin, a leading historian of the Vietnam War and the Cold War. It was through Pierre’s dynamic graduate seminars that I developed a fascination with the history of the Vietnam War. His encouragement was instrumental in shaping my academic path. We really bonded at our program’s “Beer with History” social events. My studies at SDSU also included work with Dr. Gregory Daddis, a renowned military historian of the Vietnam War, who served on my thesis committee. My time at SDSU was rewarding both professionally and personally. During my graduate seminars, I got to know one of my classmates, Katie, who later became my best friend and wife.

While many doctoral students benefit from the mentorship of a single advisor, I have been fortunate to work with two distinguished scholars in the fields of Vietnamese and Cold War history. Both Dr. Holcombe and Dr. Asselin have enriched my scholarship, offering invaluable perspectives that have shaped my understanding of Vietnam’s role in the broader context of the Cold War.

Research

My dissertation surveys the history of Huế City and the broader Thừa Thiên Province from 1945 to 1975. My research examines the complex diversity of Vietnamese politics and society by surveying the history of Huế City during this contentious period. I approach the conflict from a “Vietnam-centric approach” by placing the Vietnamese at the center of their own history. In the article, “The Vietnam War as a Vietnamese War,” the historian Edward Miller and Political Scientist Tuong Vu point out that the field of Vietnam War history has been revolutionized by two groups of scholars. The first group of scholars has conducted work in the Vietnamese archives and highlighted the agency of Vietnamese archives. The second group of scholars has conducted research internationally, illustrating how the broader Cold War heavily influenced the Vietnam War. This contrasts with older scholarship, which focused almost exclusively on American actors, relegating Vietnam to a mere setting for an American trauma. In my research, I try to blend these two historiographical trends, highlighting the importance of Vietnamese actors at the city level while not losing sight of the broader Cold War and how this local Vietnamese conflict was grafted onto the global competition between the Capitalist and Communist blocs. 

Through my research, I have found that Vietnamese politics was a contentious arena where competing political parties and religious movements vied for influence and power. These groups included the notorious Communist Party, officially known as the Indochina Communist Party (ICP, 1930-1951) and then the Vietnamese Worker’s Party (VWP, 1951-1976), the Sun Yatsen-inspired Vietnamese Nationalist Party, the Greater Vietnamese Nationalist Party, and the Personalist Revolutionary Labor Party which ruled over the Republic of Vietnam during the First Republic period (1955-1963). Vietnam also had prominent Buddhist and Catholic movements that blurred the lines between politics and religion. These various groups competed for control and influence, and the Global Cold War enflamed these internal political rivalries.

Language Learning

I have a passion for learning languages and have taken extensive coursework in Vietnamese, Chinese, and French. I began studying Vietnamese at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH, Trường Đại học Khoa học Xã hội và Nhân văn) in Hanoi and later completed Advanced Vietnamese II at the Southeast Asian Studies Summer Institute (SEASSI). I continue to take online Vietnamese lessons with my teacher from USSH. For Chinese, I studied at San Diego State University, the Chinese Language Workshop at Indiana University, and at Ohio University, completing Advanced Chinese II and a special studies course. I also studied online at the Chinese Language Institute (CLI, 桂林汉语研修学院), which is located at Guangxi Normal University in Guilin, China. I also completed Intermediate French I at Ohio University and additional classes online with a tutor from the website Italki. These language skills facilitate my archival research in Vietnam, France, and in the future, China.

Living in Hà Nội (2018-2019)

In June 2018, I moved to Hanoi thanks to the generous support and aid of my Master’s advisor, mentor, and friend, Pierre Asselin, a leading historian of the Vietnam War. He had been telling me that the only way to “get” Vietnamese history and the history of the Vietnam War was to spend extensive time living in the country and to learn the language. He wanted me to become an area specialist. In this spirit, I moved to Hanoi and lived with an incredible scholar and his lovely family. While in Hanoi, I took one-on-one language courses with a teacher from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH, Trường Đại học Khoa học Xã hội và Nhân văn). This was the most formative period of my academic career.

2022 & 2023 Trips to Việt Nam

Over two summers in 2022 and 2023, I spent six months conducting archival research in Sài Gòn, Đà Lạt, Hà Nội, and Huế, while visiting National Archives Centers II, III, and IV. This research provided access to critical documents from the French colonial period and the Republic of Vietnam. During these trips, I also familiarized myself with the regions of the Central Highlands, Central Vietnam, and Southern Vietnam, enhancing my understanding of these areas, in addition to my prior familiarity with Hà Nội and Northern Vietnam.