Scholars, activists, and the public still argue about the Vietnam War, including over American motivations to intervene, the viability of the South Vietnamese government, and if the U.S. lost the war or gave up its objectives due to domestic pressure.

The backstory: On April 30th 1975, North Vietnamese troops captured Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, effectively ending the Vietnam War. US troops had left about two years earlier.

Fifty years after the end of the Vietnam War, decades of progress in addressing its legacies are coming undone.