Joe Biden has not served in the military, and therefore did not attend protests or fight in Vietnam. However, he made a significant contribution to relations between the United States and Vietnam when he visited Hanoi in May 2016. Biden, who was then Vice President under President Barack Obama, met with leaders from both countries to encourage further positive steps in their relationship. The visit marked the first time a U.S. vice president had visited the country since the end of the Vietnam War thirty-one years beforehand. This highly symbolic trip was accepted as a sign of improving relations between the two countries and a major breakthrough was achieved when President Obama and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc agreed to the lifting of a decades-long U.S. arms embargo.
