by Brittney Melton

May 4, 2025

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Good morning. This week, the Trump administration announced it will require placebo-controlled studies for new vaccines, former Vice President Kamala Harris criticized Trump’s sweeping tariffs, and the trial began for suspects accused of robbing Kim Kardashian at gunpoint in Paris.

Memory, grief, healing and hope

by Suzanne Nuyen, Up First newsletter editor

This past week, Vietnamese people around the world observed the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. On April 30, 1975, communist North Vietnam took over Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, and renamed it Ho Chi Minh City. In Vietnam, the anniversary was marked by "carnival-like excitement" over the country's reunification and a growing sense of national pride. In the U.S., the day brought for many painful memories of the trauma and violence experienced by those fleeing South Vietnam after the fall of Saigon.

Vietnamese refugees evacuated by helicopter arrive on board the USS Midway ahead of the fall of Saigon on April 29, 1975.

Pictures from History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Though I was born in the U.S. long after the war ended, my life is marked by its legacy. My father fled Vietnam, risking death to escape by boat. A Catholic church in Chicago helped him settle down in the United States. My Midwest upbringing and my Catholic faith are facets of my identity that feel just as important as my Vietnamese heritage.

My father has not shared much about his refugee experience, and there is much I still have to learn about my own history. As I reflected on how I wanted to cover the anniversary, I wanted to answer the questions that I've carried with me even before I started working at NPR: How do we reconcile the disparate attitudes toward the end of the war? What does unity mean for Vietnam and the Vietnamese diaspora?

I suggested we speak with Erin Phuong Steinhauer, founder and president of the Vietnam Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to "fostering the understanding of Vietnam’s past and present through the richness of its art and culture." Steinhauer fled Vietnam when she was 9 years old.

As a kid, Steinhauer was told she should be grateful for escaping to a country where she would have freedom. School taught her that "the communists were the people who caused all these problems," and that the U.S. saved her. It wasn't until later in her life that she learned about the unresolved impacts of the war, from the Agent Orange defoliants that still pollute Vietnam’s soil to the traumas suffered by American and South Vietnamese troops.

Steinhauer says she believes the path to healing requires action from both the U.S. and Vietnamese governments. The U.S. has provided zero compensation for the millions of Vietnamese people impacted by Agent Orange. And, in Vietnam, she says the suffering of the Southern Vietnamese has gone largely unacknowledged in the country's postwar history. Many who fled have still never returned to their homeland. Many Vietnamese people born in the U.S. don't speak the language.

"Losing your identity and part of yourself prevents you from healing," Steinhauer said. "I wish 50 years from now that our young generations can be free of this burden of war."

After Steinhauer's interview aired, several Vietnamese American friends and loved ones shared with me their own reflections on how their lives have been stained by war. Their sentiments were shared by friends who are not Vietnamese, but nevertheless know the trauma that comes with war, whether it was through the Ukraine-Russia war, the Israel-Gaza war, or others. Steinhauer's story is both unique and universal — as conflicts rage on across the world, generations of people will have to search for their own ways to reclaim their identity and find healing once the fighting ends.

Listen to Steinhauer's conversation with Morning Edition host Leila Fadel here. The full transcript is available here.

Check out more great reads from the NPR network you may have missed:

Shalela Dowdy says it now feels like she has a seat at the table for the first time after a successful lawsuit led to the creation of a new congressional district, allowing Black Alabama voters to have a bigger voice in Congress. In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Allen V. Milligan that Alabama’s congressional map discriminated against them.
“Breakfast on the Bridges” in Portland, Ore., brings a community of commuters together monthly to celebrate a 20-year tradition of coffee and doughnuts. The event started with one bridge and has spread to four, with many cyclists attempting to reach all locations in a morning.
The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation still has a website; however, it no longer lists any leaders or staff, as efforts to shrink the government appear to have left the entity existing primarily on paper.
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., who filed a resolution of inquiry into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the messaging app Signal, spoke with Morning Edition about the current limits on congressional oversight. Smith argues that House Republicans have blocked any inquiry resolutions into Hegseth’s app use because his actions are “indefensible.”

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Podcast Club

A woman with short dark hair smiling as she holds a black cat. Her image is in grayscale with pink and purple clouds around her.

Image: Chicago Sun-Times. Photo illustration: Mendy Kong/WBEZ

Thanks for tuning in last week to NPR’s Planet Money episode, “How much for that egg,” where the team dives into a NPR colleague’s dilemma of selling his extra eggs. He needed a fair way to distribute them during the shortage. After listening, Houston McGaugh said, “Eggs are such a clean source of protein that I would gladly pay a dollar each for farm-fresh eggs.”

Today, we’re listening to WBEZ Chicago’s Making: Stories Without End. The episode “Meet Irna Phillips: The Queen of Daytime” discusses Phillips, a Chicago woman, who doesn’t get enough credit for her creation: the soap opera. She birthed the daytime serial for radio in the 1930s and ushered it onto television in the 1950s. Phillips established staples in the genre, like the cliff-hanger, and showcased real-life problems audiences might see in their own lives. The episode not only covers Phillips’ time in the industry, it also explores the history of soaps.

Did you know about this pioneer in daytime TV? Listen to this episode and let us know your thoughts here. Your response could be featured in next week’s newsletter.

In today’s episode of The Sunday Story from Up First, NPR’s Diaa Hadid investigates what happened to the missing children of Syria who were taken from women detained by the Assad regime.

Two plus five

The words "Sunday Puzzle" over a white background. The name "Will Shortz" is under the Sunday Puzzle title, etched into red dice.

NPR

It's time for the Sunday Puzzle! For today's on-air challenge, Will Shortz, NPR's puzzle master, will provide two five-letter words. For each pair, put the same two letters in front of each to make two common seven-letter words. For example, aster tally could make the words “toaster” and “totally.” Test your skills here. Check this page later to hear the answers, or catch them live on Weekend Edition at 8:41 a.m.

This week's online challenge comes from listener Andrew Tuite, of Chicago, Ill. There are four countries whose names have one-syllable anagrams that rhyme with "Spain." What are they? Submit your answer here and you could win a chance to play next Sunday's on-air puzzle.

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