Collaboration between Washington and Hanoi on humanitarian issues expanded significantly during the second half of the 1980s. International, regional, and domestic transformations facilitated enhanced cooperation. The thawing of the Cold War on a larger scale, including the Regan-Gorbachev summits, set the stage for closer relations. In Hanoi, the ascension of a new, younger generation of leaders more willing to transform Vietnamese economic and foreign policy invited closer ties. In Washington, the growing assertiveness of members of Congress, especially veterans, and the importance of nongovernmental advocacy, especially that of the Families of Vietnamese Political Prisoners Association, all combined to lead to a dramatic thaw in US-Vietnamese relations.

Throughout the 1980s, US policymakers insisted that Hanoi address humanitarian questions (to American satisfaction) before the two sides could proceed with formal relations. While demanding that the SRV work with the United States to facilitate family reunification, US policymakers also led an international effort to isolate the SRV on a global stage.As the decade came to a close, the contradiction between these two approaches became increasingly unsustainable; cooperation on humanitarian issues was normalizing US-Vietnamese relations, despite American assertions to the contrary.

The humanitarian issues and nonexecutive advocacy that constituted the basis of ongoing US-Vietnamese dialogue in the absence of formal relations remained of pivotal importance before, during, and after Washington and Hanoi resumed formal economic and diplomatic relations in the mid-1990s. Although American policymakers attempted to conclude the humanitarian programs they had earmarked as preconditions to more formal ties, varying definitions of full accounting, the repatriation of migrants to Vietnam through the CPA, and efforts to bring the HO into line with worldwide standards precipitated profound disagreements. Ultimately, US officials moved forward with formal relations with Hanoi and (re)created special programs for South Vietnamese migrants. The 1996 Resettlement Opportunity for Vietnamese Refugees gave screened-out migrants who were repatriated to Vietnam under the CPA one more chance to apply for resettlement in the US.The 1996 McCain Amendment created loopholes to permit the original, exceptional terms of the HO to remain intact. US-Vietnamese collaboration on humanitarian issues, and normalization itself, persisted after the resumption of formal economic and diplomatic relations. The ties between American and South Vietnamese people outlasted both the collapse of South Vietnam and the resumption of relations between Washington and Hanoi.