The similarities and differences in value systems between Americans and Vietnamese are investigated in this study. A national sample of 1,427 Americans was given Rockeach's (1969) value survey. The scale was then translated into Vietnamese and given to a randomly selected group of 349 Vietnamese living in South Vietnam shortly before the fall of Saigon. Three comparisons of value systems were made: (1) overall differences between Americans and Vietnamese; (2) differences between males and females in the two countries; and (3) differences between individuals with comparable amounts of education in the two countries. Among the results reported are: (1) Vietnamese are more concerned about their security and less concerned about their individual freedom than are Americans; (2) the value systems of males in the two countries tend to be more similar than the value systems of women; (3) college educated Vietnamese respondents are more like their American counterparts than are less educated Vietnamese; and (4) in many respects, the values of college educated Vietnamese are more similar to Americans' values than to those of other Vietnamese. Two conclusions are made: What primarily differentiates the respondents in the two countries is not their goals in life, but the means by which these are reached. (2) These value differences seem to be due to the Confucian influence in Vietnam and may be less modifiable by experiential factors than terminal values. (Author/AM)