2024-2025 Cold War Archives Research (CWAR) Institute
In 2024-2025, I served as a fellow in the Cold War Archives Research (CWAR) Institute, hosted by the Woodrow Wilson Center. This program brought together a dozen doctoral students to learn innovative research methods in Cold War studies. The institute has two goals: to stimulate original scholarship and to foster a collaborative scholarship through innovative archival practices. During the fellowship year, the CWAR program hosted bi-weekly academic talks from senior Cold War scholars. The capstone of the program was a two-week-long trip to Budapest, Hungary. While in Hungary, the CWAR Fellows conducted research at the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives and presented their work at the 15th Annual International Student Conference of the Cold War History Research Center at Corvinus University. For the conference, I presented my work on the 1963 Vesak Day Killings in Hue. During this tumultuous episode, eight people were killed in Buddhist demonstrations in front of a local radio station when the Republic of Vietnam Civil Guard exploded a concussion grenade in an effort to disperse the protests. This bloody affair marked the beginning of the 1963 Buddhist Crisis and led to the November Coup that overthrew President Ngô Đình Diệm.