April 30, 1975, 50 years ago: The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN, representing "the Democratic Republic of Vietnam," a.k.a. North Vietnam) and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (NLF, or "Viet Cong") capture the capital of the Republic of Vietnam, a.k.a. South Vietnam, Saigon. The Vietnam War is finally over: Vietnam is united, and it is Communist.
The capture of the city was preceded by Operation Frequent Wind, the evacuation of almost all American civilian and military personnel in Saigon, more than 2 years after combat operations there had ended; along with tens of thousands of South Vietnamese civilians who had been associated with the Republic of Vietnam regime.
The sight of civilians climbing a staircase in a desperate attempt to reach the last helicopter, on the roof of the American Embassy, became a symbol of America's 1st true military defeat. The War of 1812 may have been a stalemate, but tends to get treated like a victory. There was no way to spin the Vietnam War as a win for America, or even a draw.
In 1976, the National Assembly of the united Socialist Republic of Vietnam, in the national capital of Hanoi, which had been the capital of North Vietnam, renamed Saigon for the founder of North Vietnam: Hồ Chí Minh City.
Today, with the country still a corrupt one-party state, but embracing free-market reforms since 1986, and thus Communist in name only, Hồ Chí Minh City is home to 9.4 million people, more than New York or London. And the former U.S. Embassy is home to the country's Oil Ministry.
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