Olof Palme, Sweden, and the Vietnam War

Download or read book Olof Palme, Sweden, and the Vietnam War written by Lubna Zakia Qureshi and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2023-06-16 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1972, Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme’s fierce condemnation of the Christmas Bombings of the North Vietnamese cities of Hanoi and Haiphong led to a breakdown in diplomatic relations at the highest level between Sweden and the United States. The author argues that Sweden’s official position of neutrality allowed its Prime Minister greater independence of action on the international stage. Palme opposed the American military intervention in Southeast Asia for its violation of Vietnamese self-determination. Superpower aggression against one small country threatened all others, including Palme’s own. At the same time, the diplomatic freeze did not substantially damage Swedish-American relations. In spite of the tension with the Nixon White House, Stockholm and its embassy in Washington maintained excellent relations with Congress, with many ordinary Americans, and even with Nixon’s own State Department.