Φωτογραφίες

Since Gerald Ford presided over the end of the Vietnam War, there is a section in the museum devoted to this event. I will let the signs in the museum tell the story:

The 1973 Paris Peace Accords written to end the conflict in Vietnam in 1973 were violated by both South and North Vietnam. By early 1975, North Vietnam launched an offensive on the South to unify Vietnam. As North Vietnamese army pressed forward, President Ford urged Congress to authorize aid to assist the beleaguered South Vietnamese, but Congress offered only minimal support. Ford knew that the United States could not continue the unpopular war, yet he refused to abandon the thousands of refugees who were sure to suffer or perish at the hands of North Vietnam.

This staircase symbolizes the end of America's involvement in Vietnam War. During the final days of the evacuation of Saigon in April 1975, hundreds of people ascended it to the roof of the American Embassy to board helicopters. President Ford later stated, "To some, this staircase will always be seen as an emblem of military defeat. For me, however, it symbolizes man's undying desire to be free."

Operation Frequent Wind began on April 29, 1975, when President Ford issued the order to evacuate Saigon. Over that day and the next, the evacuation of Americans and South Vietnamese moved from Tan Son Nhut Air Base to grounds of the American Embassy to its rooftop, as North Vietnamese forces overwhelmed the South's capitol city. Once the last evacuees climbed this ladder and clambered aboard the last helicopter, the flights supporting Frequent Wind had carried 978 Americans and 1,120 Vietnamese from the Embassy roof to American ships waiting offshore.

Exif Data:
Make: Canon
Model: Canon PowerShot SX70 HS
Software: Adobe Photoshop 23.3 (Macintosh)
Exposure Time: 1/60
F-Stop: f/3.4
ISO Speed Ratings: 500
Focal Length: 3800/1000 mm
Date Taken: 2022-05-01 14:05
Metering Mode: Center Weighted Average
File Size: 1776 kb
GPS: 42.96853504529005, -85.67725917777221