The Leahy Public Policy Forum at the University of Vermont is an exchange of ideas and perspectives on major US public policy issues of the 20th and 21st century, especially those in which Senator Patrick Leahy was closely involved during his impactful 48-year career in the US Senate.
The forum seeks to engage the university community and the people of Vermont with thought leaders in the national and global arenas, subject area experts, and first-hand accounts of relevant history. The forum is sponsored and hosted by UVM’s Patrick Leahy Honors College.
University of Vermont
Patrick Leahy Honors College
presents the
2024 Leahy Public Policy Forum
The U.S. War in Vietnam: Looking Back After 50 Years
October 1-2, 2024
Tuesday - October 1, 2024
Keynote Lecture
Carpenter Auditorium (Given Building, Room E-131)
7:00pm - 8:30pm
Hosted by David Jenemann, Dean of the Patrick Leahy Honors College
UVM Interim President Patricia Prelock - Introductory Remarks
Senator Patrick Leahy - Remarks and Keynote Speaker Introduction
Remarks by David Maraniss, author of "They Marched into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967," and Associate Editor of The Washington Post
Audience Q&A
Wednesday - October 2, 2024
Panel Discussions
Memorial Lounge (Waterman Building 338)
8:30am - 8:45am
Opening Remarks and Panel Discussions
Hosted by David Jenemann, Dean of the Patrick Leahy Honors College
Senator Patrick Leahy - Opening Remarks
His Excellency Nguyen Quoc Dzung, Ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam - Remarks
8:45am - 9:45am
Panel One - The Vermont Experience
Moderator Erica Heilman – Producer, Rumble Strip, Vermont Public
- Ernest “Rusty” Sachs – Captain, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.), helicopter pilot (Norwich, Vt.)
- William J. Donahue – Captain, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.), infantry platoon leader (Hartland, Vt.)
- John Tracy – Sergeant U.S. Army (Ret.), helicopter door gunner and crew (Burlington, Vt.)
9:45am - 10:00am
Break
10:00am - 10:45am
Panel Two - The Anti-War Movement on U.S. Campuses
Moderator Jane Lindholm – Host and Executive Producer, Vermont Public
David Maraniss and Gregory Craig – Harvard student leader against the war; Former Director of Policy Planning, Department of State; Former White House Counsel (Ripton, Vt.)
10:45am - 11:00am
Break
11:00am - 12:30pm
Panel Three - The Things We Left Behind: Dealing with the Legacies of the War
Moderator Tim Rieser – Foreign Policy Aide to Senator Leahy; Former Democratic Clerk, Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations (Norwich, VT)
- Susan Hammond – Founder, War Legacies Project (Chester, VT)
- Chuck Casey – Major, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.); Former U.S. Defense Attache, Hanoi
- Sera Koulabdara – CEO, Legacies of War; Chair, U.S. Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Munitions Coalition (Chair, USCBL-CMC)
- Andrew Wells-Dang – Senior Expert, Southeast Asia, U.S. Institute of Peace