McCain stated, “It doesn’t matter to me anymore, Mr. President, who was for the war and who was against the war. I’m tired of looking back in anger. What’s important is that we move forward now.” In arguing their case to Clinton, the Senators “offered geopolitical and economic reasons, but also emphasized the matter of national honor, since the Vietnamese had diligently done all that we had asked them to in the matter of M.I.A [soldiers].” The efforts of Kerry and McCain in the U.S. Congress and in the public sphere created the political capital and consensus necessary for the Clinton administration to lift the embargo. Although officials in the Clinton administration were ultimately in consensus to lift the embargo, the administration perceived they did not possess sufficient political credibility. Clinton had avoided military service in the Vietnam War as a young man, infamously describing the conflict in a letter in 1969 as “a war I opposed and despised with a depth of feeling I had reserved solely for racism in America before Vietnam.” Consequently, Kerry and McCain sought to use their widespread credibility on the matter to create an environment in which Clinton could lift the embargo. In 1993, Kerry and McCain accompanied Clinton to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, despite substantial opposition from veterans’ groups. Moreover, the two men accompanied Clinton in 1993 “as his escorts” to “deliver the commencement address at Northeastern University.” Later, in 1994, Kerry and McCain co-sponsored a bipartisan Senate resolution urging the Clinton administration to lift the embargo. Despite significant opposition from Republican leadership and veterans’ groups, “McCain’s sponsorship persuaded twenty Republicans to vote for the measure, which passed by a vote of sixty-two to thirty-eight.” While developing the bill, Kerry was in frequent communication with officials within the Clinton administration. Following the vote, Kerry emphasized the promotion of national healing, stating, “it was time to put the war behind us.” Likewise, McCain described the resolution as “as a seminal event in U.S.-Vietnamese relations,” adding that “the vote will give the President the… political cover he needs to lift the embargo.” The U.S. embargo on Vietnam was eventually lifted in February 1994. Formal normalization occurred in 1995, when both countries opened liaison offices that were later upgraded to formal embassies later in the year, with the U.S. later opening the Consulate General of the United States, Ho Chi Minh City, and Vietnam opening a