[citation needed] During the Second World War, the U.S. covertly assisted the Viet Minh in fighting Japanese forces in French Indochina, though a formal alliance was not established.

Vietnam is now considered to be a potential ally of the United States, especially in the geopolitical context of the territorial disputes in the South China Sea and in the containment of Chinese expansionism.

[16] The first American to visit Vietnam was Captain Jeremiah Briggs of The Fame, a commercial ship, set sail from Salem, Massachusetts and arrived at Huế on May 23, 1803.

[17]: 6–14 In 1829, U.S. president Andrew Jackson sent a diplomatic delegation led by Edmund Roberts on the USS Peacock to the Nguyễn dynasty to establish bilateral relations and expand trade between the two countries.

Later, Ho Chi Minh asked to set up an alliance with the United States, which was approved by U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt with support from U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower.

[20] Ho wrote several letters to U.S. president Harry S. Truman and Secretary of State James Byrnes seeking diplomatic recognition for Vietnam.

[22] However, at the time, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson used both incidents as justification to take any necessary retaliatory measures; the U.S. Congress promptly passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which authorized the deployment of American forces in Vietnam.

In their view, the U.S. had merely replaced the French's role as another major-power colonialist obstacle to independence, Vietnamese reunification under Northern rule, and the rise of communism and postcolonial states in Indochina.

The Accords called for a ceasefire, withdrawal of all U.S. forces, continuance in place of North Vietnamese troops in the South, and the eventual reunification of Vietnam "through peaceful means".

[29][30] The Viet Nam Red Cross Society estimates that up to 1 million people are disabled or have health problems due to the effects of Agent Orange, but the U.S. government has dismissed these figures as unreliable and unrealistically high.

This was initially to obtain US$3.3 billion in reconstruction aid, which U.S. president Richard Nixon had secretly promised after the Paris Peace Accords were signed, in the form of a letter offering a specific figure.

[32] In June 1975, Vietnamese Premier Phạm Văn Đồng, speaking to the National Assembly, invited the U.S. to normalize relations with Vietnam and to honor its commitment to provide reconstruction funds.

However, the U.S. government neglected Đồng's call for normalized relations, because it was predicated on reparations, and the American political climate in the wake of the war precluded the pursuit of such an outcome.

Their original hope, however, had been to gain both diplomatic recognition from the United States and a friendship treaty with the Soviet Union, as a double guarantee against future Chinese interference.

Vietnamese leaders contrasted their restraint on the MIA issue with its alleged political exploitation by the United States as a condition for normal relations.

As additional signs of goodwill, Hanoi permitted the joint U.S.-Vietnamese excavation of a B-52 crash site in 1985, and returned the remains of a number of American service members between 1985 and 1987.

Although ambivalent in tone, the message was more positive than the 1982 Fifth National Party Congress report, which had attributed the stalemated relationship to American "hostile policy."

The improved wording was attributable to the influence of newly appointed Party General Secretary Nguyễn Văn Linh, who was expected to attach high priority to expanding Vietnam's links with the West.

Despite signs of improvement, in mid-1987, the Vietnamese government, having determined that cooperation had gained few concessions from the U.S., reverted to its pre-1978 position linking the aid and MIA issues.

Although the agreement fell short of Hanoi's requests for economic aid or war reparations, it marked the first time that the U.S. had offered anything in return for Vietnamese assistance in accounting for the MIAs, and was an important step toward rapprochement.

What’s important is that we move forward now.”[34] In arguing their case to Clinton, the Senators “offered geopolitical and economic reasons, but also emphasized the matter of national honor, since the Vietnamese had diligently done all that we had asked them to in the matter of M.I.A [soldiers].”[34] The efforts of Kerry and McCain in the U.S. Congress and in the public sphere created the political capital and consensus necessary for the Clinton administration to lift the embargo.

[47] In July 2015, the United States hosted Vietnamese Communist Party general secretary Nguyễn Phú Trọng in the first-ever visit of a Vietnamese Communist Party General Secretary to the United States[48] following a concerted effort by the Obama administration to pursue warmer relations with Vietnam.

Following this, the Vietnamese government recognized the relationship between the United States and Vietnam as a "Comprehensive Strategic Partnership," emphasizing the increasing importance of bilateral links between the countries.

In spring 2007, Vietnam's government launched a crackdown on political dissidents, mostly anti-communist, and in November of that year, Vietnamese authorities arrested a group of pro-democracy activists, including two Americans.

[62] This was historically "Three 'No's"; however, the fourth, denouncing the use of force, was added in the December 2019 "National Defense White Paper", which also stated that Vietnam is willing to allow ships from other countries to dock at its ports.

Vietnam hosted visits by five U.S. Navy vessels in 2007, including a port call to Da Nang by the amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu carrying a multinational contingent of medical and engineering personnel.

In June 2007, Vietnamese observers took part for the first time in the multinational naval exercise Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT), organized by the U.S. Navy.

[citation needed] When asked about the killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011, Nguyen Phuong Nga, a spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry of Vietnam, agreed with American counterterrorism measures, saying, "Terrorists must bear responsibility for their acts and should be severely punished.

[69] In June 2013, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng said in a speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore that he would welcome the U.S. playing a larger role in tempering regional tensions, as China and some of its Southeast Asian neighbors remain deadlocked over competing territorial claims in the South China Sea, saying, "No regional country would oppose the strategic engagement of extra-regional powers if such engagement aims to enhance cooperation for peace, stability and development.

[81] The cooperation in matters of their naval capabilities suggests that the shared security concerns over the South China Sea has strengthened the U.S.-Vietnam military relationship.