Vietnam Vets Ask President Trump to Open Classified Files of the Vietnam War for Surviving Vets and Vietnamese Americans

Without Automatic Downgrading, our History will be buried forever.

HOUSTON, TX, UNITED STATES, April 30, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- April 30 is the 50th Anniversary of Black April (The Fall of Saigon) which warrants President Donald J. Trump to recognize the service of Vietnam Vets and the contributions of Vietnamese Americans.

Ronald Reagan said “Open this Gate” at the Berlin Wall--We ask President Trump to “Open the books and declassify files on the Vietnam War.”

Why?

For fifty plus years, the history of the war has been warped by academics, distorted by the media, mis-used by its critics and mis-understood by citizens. We Vietnam Veterans have been getting older and dying off. Before we go, we would like to make one final effort to have our story told properly.

President Trump is in the process of declassifying the “assassination” files. What ever these files show will shed light on the rumors and speculations that have been swirling for many years. We would like to suggest that before or on April 30, 2025, you sign an executive order which directs a more complete declassification of records from the Vietnam War, including aspects that deal with Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia as well as Vietnam and the Free World Military Assistance Forces who participated.

There is very little, if anything, that needs to remain classified from that war (or much else) from 50 years ago. It might be appropriate to also require downgrading instructions on all presently or newly classified materials. If a blanket declassification is deemed inappropriate, we would suggest that the classified archivists at NARA, Carlisle (Army), Montgomery (Air Force) and Washington Navy Yard (Navy) be given wide latitude to declassify documents under their control and they can decide if some rare documents warrant broader review. (It would be nice if some funding for this effort and for digitization of documents could accompany your order.)

Current guidelines , which are presumably are still in force, date back to 1987, maintain the original marked security level for the Navy, Air Force, and MACV/USARV (including MACV-SOG) and probably State and DOD. (Specific records that warrant release at each of these archives can be suggested.) If you choose to maintain classification for CIA, DIA, NSA and other intelligence units, that might be a compromise, but those agencies probably made as many mistakes as the rest of us. Since automatic downgrading has fallen out of favor, the content of files that are there to help us understand our history will never be seen. Classified storage facilities will become expensive garbage dumps. It is likely that many such archives can’t even find documents they are charged with preserving.

It is hoped you will give this suggestion serious consideration.

s/Stephen Sherman
Stephen Sherman
Director
Vietnam Veterans for Factual History
Email: sherman1@flash.net

*Department of the Army, Proposed Guidelines for the Declassification of MACV/USARV Records, Dated 13 July, 1987

Stephen Sherman
Vietnam Veterans for Factual History
+1 713-683-9076
sherman1@flash.net