Relations between the United States and Vietnam have historically been complex and have repeatedly switched back and forth between positive and negative, but the United States and Vietnam share warm diplomatic relations in the present. Formal relations between the two countries were first initiated in the 19th century under U.S. President Andrew Jackson, but relations soured after the U.S. refused to protect the Kingdom of Vietnam from French invasion. During World War II, the U.S. covertly assisted the Viet Minh in fighting Japanese forces in French Indochina, though a formal alliance was not established. After the dissolution of French Indochina in 1954, the U.S. supported the capitalist South Vietnam as opposed to communist North Vietnam and fought North Vietnam directly during the Vietnam War. After American withdrawal in 1973 and the subsequent fall of South Vietnam in 1975, the U.S. applied a trade embargo and severed ties with Vietnam, mostly out of concerns relating to Vietnamese boat people and the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue. Attempts at re-establishing relations went unfulfilled for decades, until U.S. President Bill Clinton began normalizing diplomatic relations in the 1990s. In 1994, the U.S. lifted its 30-year trade embargo on Vietnam. The following year, both countries established embassies and consulates. Relations between the two countries continued to improve into the 21st century. Vietnam is now considered to be a potential ally of the United States, especially in the geopolitical context of the territorial disputes in the South China Sea and in the containment of Chinese expansionism. Vietnam, one of the countries with the most favorable public opinion regarding the U.S., is the only communist country to have such a favorable view. Every U.S. president since diplomatic normalization in 1995 has visited Vietnam at least once, highlighting the importance of Vietnam in the U.S.'s growing pivot to Asia; these visits have been welcomed by the Vietnamese populace despite political differences. Vietnamese Americans, making up more than 2.1 million people, are mostly immigrants who moved to the U.S. after the Vietnam War; they comprise nearly half of all overseas Vietnamese, but are mostly loyal to the fallen South Vietnamese government instead of the ruling communist government. History 19th century In 1829, U.S. President Andrew Jackson sent a diplomatic delegation led by Edmund Roberts on the USS Peacock to the Nguyễn dynasty to establish bilateral relations and expand trade between the two countries. The ship arrived in Vũng Lấm,