Ted Osius, former US Ambassador to Vietnam, visited I-House on March 1st to discuss his book Nothing is Impossible: America’s Reconciliation with Vietnam, in a conversation with I-House Board Chair Ambassador Frank G. Wisner.

President Sebastian Fries welcomed the audience of trustees, alumni and trustees, and Trustee Susan Stupin, who moderated the conversation, acknowledged “two distinguished ambassadors who have contributed so much to American foreign policy over so many years.”

Ambassador Osius was a protégé of Ambassador Wisner’s from their diplomatic careers, and the two discussed US relations with Vietnam spanning from 1964, when Wisner was posted to the US Embassy in Saigon, to 2017, when Osius completed his stint as ambassador.

Wisner provided an overview of American’s involvement with Vietnam since World War II, recalling the Cold War period, the US ground war, the fragile peace agreement between the US and North and South Vietnam, the evacuation of Saigon, and the eventual normalization of relations.

Osius recalled his early posting in Saigon in the late 1990s, his subsequent term as Ambassador from 2014 to 2017, and the positive changes that have transpired in the country, and in relations between the US and Vietnam in terms of economic ties, security goals, and other areas of mutual concern.

He recounted his initiatives to engage with the people of Vietnam, cycling throughout the country and getting to know locals. As a result of these efforts, he is the first former ambassador to receive the Friendship Order from the ruling Vietnamese Communist Party.

After the conversation and a Q&A with I-House residents in the Home Room, Osius signed copies of his book during a reception in the Cuneo Hall of History.

Osius, currently President & CEO of the US-ASEAN Business Council, was no stranger to I-House before his visit. In 2007, he and husband Clayton Bond hosted a reception for the World Council of Alumni at their residence in New Delhi, and his sister Alison lived at the House in 1983-84 while at Columbia Journalism School.