[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 193 (Tuesday, December 13, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7130-S7131]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO THAO GRIFFITHS

  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I have spent more than 30 years working 
to build closer relations with Vietnam, a country where 58,220 
Americans and an estimated 3 million Vietnamese died in a war that 
never should have been fought. In 1975, as the newest member of the 
Armed Services Committee, I voted to end funding for the war, a vote 
that caused the largest newspaper in Vermont to predict that I would 
never be reelected. The citizens of Vermont reelected me seven times, 
and that vote is among the ones I am proudest of.
  The war was a disaster for both countries, and for 20 years after the 
war ended, the U.S. maintained a trade embargo against Vietnam which 
only formally ended in 1994, shortly before diplomatic relations were 
restored in 1995. That historic step toward reconciliation was due in 
large part to the advocacy of two American veterans, Senators John 
Kerry and John McCain, and the involvement of key Vietnamese diplomats 
such as Prime Minister Phan Van Khai, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Co 
Thach, and Nguyen Manh Cam.
  Since the late 1980s, the Congress has approved funding for a number 
of humanitarian programs in Vietnam to address the harmful legacies of 
the war. We have provided many hundreds of millions of dollars to 
locate and destroy landmines and other unexploded ordnance, to assist 
people with severe physical and cognitive disabilities resulting from 
UXO accidents and exposure to Agent Orange, to clean up former U.S. air 
bases contaminated with dioxin, and to help Vietnam locate and identify 
some of its hundreds of thousands of missing soldiers and civilians. 
Each of these initiatives has been carried out in close cooperation 
with the Government of Vietnam, including its Ministry of Defense. Next 
year, we will embark on a unique project to create new exhibits at 
Vietnam's War Remnants Museum, to tell the story of this postwar 
cooperation.
  These efforts have succeeded due to the vision and support of many 
people, including Bobby Muller who founded Vietnam Veterans of America 
Foundation--VVAF--and led the first group of American veterans back to 
Vietnam in 1981, President George H. W. Bush, and Sr. Lt. General 
Nguyen Chi Vinh. And they have opened the door to U.S.-Vietnam 
cooperation in many other areas, including higher education, public 
health, climate change, and regional security.
  I mention this for context and to highlight the key role played by 
one person who has remained out of the limelight. Thao Griffiths, a 
Vietnamese woman originally from the small rural community of Ha Giang 
in the isolated, ethnic minority region of Vietnam bordering China, 
deserves special recognition.
  Thao, a gifted student, was sent to school in Hanoi, graduated from 
the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, became a Fulbright Scholar and 
received her master's degree at American University in Washington, was 
awarded an

[[Page S7131]]

Eisenhower Fellowship, and for 9 years served as the first Vietnamese 
citizen and the first woman to direct VVAF's programs in Vietnam. I was 
introduced to Thao by Bobby Muller 17 years ago, and since then, she 
has become a trusted source of invaluable advice for me and my staff. 
Even more than that, she is a friend to me and to my wife Marcelle, who 
once had the exhilarating experience of riding around the city of Hanoi 
on the back of Thao's motor scooter. Anyone familiar with Hanoi traffic 
knows what that means.
  It would not be an exaggeration to say that none of the war legacy 
initiatives that have played such a central role in building a 
comprehensive partnership between the U.S. and Vietnam would have 
progressed as they have without Thao's constant encouragement and 
thoughtful advice. Fluent in English and a networker extraordinaire 
with unlimited positive energy, on a first name basis with many of 
Vietnam's top civilian and military leaders, academics and artists, and 
U.S. and foreign diplomats, Thao has helped build bridges between key 
players in both governments in ways that I doubt anyone else could 
have. For the past decade and a half, Thao has, more than anyone else, 
helped to smooth the way for the leaders of both governments to keep 
striving to deepen and expand our relations by overcoming distrust, 
bureaucratic obstacles, and cultural differences. Her efforts have had 
a profound and lasting impact on our relations, our mutual 
understanding, and on the lives of the Vietnamese and American people.
  This work has been among the things I am proudest of having had a 
role in during my 48 years in the Senate. On behalf of myself and my 
wife Marcelle, I want to express my deepest appreciation to Thao 
Griffiths for her invaluable help in making it possible.

                          ____________________