Chapter 17 Section 4: the War Winds Down

Chapter 17 Section 4: The War Winds Down

Nixon Moves to End the War
First steps
Five years before the last American left Vietnam, Nixon began working toward ending the war.
First, Nixon appointed Harvard professor Henry Kissinger to became a special assistant and gave him wide authority to end the conflict.
His policy called linkage was to improve relations with the Soviet Union and China who supplies North Vietnam so that he could persuade them to cut back on their aid.
In August 1969, Kissinger entered into secret negotiations with North Vietnamese negotiator Le Duc Tho.
For Four years they argued over a cease fire, return of American prisoners and the fate of South Vietnam.
Nixon at the same time began cutting back troops called Vietnamization, this was the gradual withdraw from Vietnam letting the South Vietnamese assume most of the military responsibilities.
June 8, 1969, Nixon announced the withdrawal of 25,000 soldiers.
To ensure a strong stance, Nixon continued airstrikes against North Vietnam and Vietcong sanctuaries in Cambodia.
Turmoil at Home Continues
Massacre at My Lai
`November 1969, the media reported that in the spring of 1968 an American platoon led by Lieutenant William Calley massacred 200 unarmed south Vietnamese civilians in the hamlet of My Lai.
Consisting of old men, women, and children, Calley went to prison for his role in the killings.
This action of one soldier increased the feeling that this was brutal and senseless.
Jan Barry, founder of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, saw the massacre as a symbol of the dilemma his generation faced: to kill under order or not kill under order and be sent to prison.
The Invasion of Cambodia Sparks Protest
In April 1970 Nixon announced the invasion of Cambodia in order to destroy Vietcong military bases.
Many critics saw the invasion as a widening of the war creating protest throughout the nation.
On May 4, 1970, at Kent State University, Ohio National Guard fired on demonstrators without an order to fire.
4 students were killed and 9 injured.
May 14, Police killed 2 African Americans students during a demonstration at Jackson State College in Mississippi
The Pentagon Papers
December 1970, congress repealed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which had given the president near complete power in directing the war in Vietnam.
Support of war further weakened when in 1971 Daniel Ellsberg leaked document to the New York Times known as the Pentagon Papers.
These documents revealed several officials who privately questioned the war while publicly defending it.
They contained details of decision that were made by the presidents and their advisers without the consent of congress.
Lastly, they showed how various administrations acted to deceive Congress, the press, and the public
The Pentagon confirmed what the American public believed, the government had not been honest with them.
The US Pulls out of Vietnam
Polls
Polls in 1971 indicated that 2/3 of Americans wanted to end the war asap!
April 1972, Nixon dropped the condition that the North Vietnamese must withdraw from South Vietnam before any peace treaty could be signed.
Before the 1972 Presidential election, Henry Kissinger announced that “peace is at hand”
In the 1972 election, Senator George McGovern (Democrat) lost against incumbent Nixon because he did not appeal to the middle class.
The Two Sides Reach Peace
Negotiations broke down when South Vietnam’s President Nguyen Van Thieu refused to agree to any plan that left North Vietnam troops in the South.
Kissinger tried to made concession from the Communist but this also failed.
To force North Vietnam to continue negotiations, Nixon ordered the most destructive air raids of the war known as the “Christmas bombings”
American B-52s dropped thousands of tons of bombs for 12 straight days pausing only on Christmas day.
After the Christmas bombings, negotiations continued Thieu gave into American pressure and allowed North Vietnamese troops to remain in the South.
January 27, 1973, an agreement was signed “ending the war and restoring the peace in Vietnam”
US promised to withdraw and both sides agree to an exchange of prisoners.
Issue of the future of South Vietnam was not decided.
South Vietnam Falls
Before pulling out US troops, The North Vietnamese army launched a massive invasion of the south.
Thieu asked the US for help since Nixon promised they would respond with a full force if the settlement was violated by the communist.
Nixon however resigned under pressure following the Watergate scandal and President Gerald Ford tried to get funds from Congress, but Congress refused.
April 30, North Vietnamese captured Saigon and united Vietnam under Communist rule.
Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.
The Legacy of Vietnam
The War’s Human Tolls
The war cost the US over $170 billion in direct costs and more in direct economic expenses.
58,000 Americans were killed and 300,000 were injured.
1 million North and South Vietnamese soldiers died and even more civilians.
Returning soldiers faced a variety of psychological problems and found it hard to escape the war
Many saw the war as a defeat and so many wanted to forget the war.
Soldiers sacrificed everything but did not return home as heroes.
Many returned home without parades or celebrations.
Many families were also affected by losing friends or family who were considered prisoners of war (POWs) or missing in action (MIA).
Families felt that they were lied to and did not know if their loved ones were alive or dead.
The nation began to come to terms in 1982 with the Vietnam Veteran Memorial in Washington, a large clack stone wall inscribed with the names of those killed or missing in action.
The War’s Impact on the Nation
1973 Congress passed the War Powers Act which established limits on executive power requiring the president to inform Congress of any commitment of troops abroad within 48 hours and to withdraw them in 60 to 90 days uncles Congress explicitly approve the troop commitment.
The war shook the nation’s confidence and led the US to embrace a new kind of isolationism where many were reluctant to intervene in overseas affairs.
Domestically, Vietnam War increased cynicism about the government.
Watergate and Pentagon Papers proved that officials were not telling the truth and made Americans wary of their leaders.