John Vang

With multiple fellowships and a year at the London School of Economics under his belt, the future of John Vang, CC'01, is bright. He graduates this spring with a degree in history. But it is his family and past that intrigues him.

The son of Laotian refugees, Vang is one of the Hmong, an ethnic minority that allied with the United States during the Indochina wars in the 1960s and 1970s. Residing in the mountains of northern Laos, where the North Vietnamese built their supply line during the Vietnam War, the Hmong suffered a disproportionate share of casualties during the conflict. Forced to flee Laos following the Communist takeover in the mid-1970s, Vang's parents eventually settled in Milwaukee, where Vang was born. Today, there are approximately 250,000 Hmong living in the United States.

Vang said historians have not adequately explored the actions and motivations of the United States' secret war in Laos during the Vietnam conflict and in particular, the activities of the Hmong, which is the topic of Vang's thesis. His research is supported by the Edwin Robbins Award for Historical Research, which is administered by the history department.

"Much of the history of the war in Laos has been written by journalists and former soldiers," said Vang. "While many of the perspectives are perhaps sympathetically slanted to favor the Hmong and the U.S., these accounts don't effectively explore why the Hmong allied with the Americans."

"There were many reasons why the Hmong fought with the U.S.," Vang continued. "Primarily, they formed a mercenary army that the U.S. and the CIA recruited. In addition, the Hmong adhere to clan loyaltiesæone of the many mechanisms that Hmong General Vang Pao employed to recruit soldiers."

After graduation, Vang will head to Canada for a nine-month graduate course in history at the University of Toronto. He plans to return to New York City to do public interest legal advocacy work before pursuing a graduate degree.