The Peace Accords

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Nixon and Kissinger continued to believe that intensive firepower could bring the North Vietnamese to their knees. In March 1972, responding to a North Vietnamese offensive, the United States resumed sustained bombing of the North, mined Haiphong and other harbors for the first time, and announced a naval blockade. With peace talks stalled, in December Nixon ordered the most devastating bombing yet. Though costly to both sides, it brought renewed negotiations. On January 27, 1973, representatives of the United States, North Vietnam, South Vietnam, and the Vietcong (now called the Provisional Revolutionary Government) signed a formal peace accord in Paris. The agreement required removal of all U.S. troops and military advisers from South Vietnam but allowed North Vietnamese forces to remain. Both sides agreed to return prisoners of war. Nixon called the agreement “peace with honor,” but in fact it allowed only a face-saving withdrawal. Unlike the ending of World War II, “There’s nothing to celebrate,” said an American Legion commander.

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Fighting resumed immediately among the Vietnamese. Nixon’s efforts to support the South Vietnamese government, and indeed his ability to govern at all, were increasingly eroded by what came to be known as the Watergate scandal, which forced him to resign in 1974 (as discussed in chapter 30). In 1975, North Vietnam launched a new offensive, seizing Saigon on April 30. The Americans remaining in the U.S. Embassy and their Marine guard hastily evacuated, along with 150,000 of their South Vietnamese allies. Confusion, humiliation, and tragedy marked the rushed departure. The United States lacked sufficient transportation capacity and time to evacuate all those who had supported the South Vietnamese government and were desperate to leave. A U.S. diplomat who escaped Saigon commented, “The rest of our lives we will be haunted by how we betrayed those people.” Eventually more than 600,000 Vietnamese fled to the United States, but others lost their lives trying to escape, and many who could not get out suffered from political repression or poverty.

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U.S. Involvement in Vietnam

1954 French colonial presence ends with Vietnamese victory at Dien Bien Phu.
Geneva accords establish temporary division of North and South Vietnam at seventeenth parallel and provide for free elections.
United States joins with European, East Asian, and other nations to form Southeast Asia Treaty Organization.
Eisenhower administration begins to send weapons and military advisers to South Vietnam to bolster Diem government.
1961–1963 Under Kennedy administration, military aid to South Vietnam doubles, and number of military advisers reaches 9,000.
1963 Military coup ousts South Vietnamese premier Ngo Dinh Diem.
1964 President Johnson uses Gulf of Tonkin incident to escalate war.
1965 Johnson administration initiates Operation Rolling Thunder, strategic bombing of North Vietnam.
1965–1967 Number of U.S. troops in Vietnam increases, reaching 543,000 in 1968, but U.S. and ARVN forces make only limited progress against the guerrilla forces.
1968 Tet Offensive causes widespread destruction and heavy casualties.
Johnson announces reduction in bombing of North Vietnam, plans for peace talks, and his decision not to run for reelection.
1969 Nixon administration initiates secret bombing of Cambodia, increases bombing of North Vietnam while reducing U.S. troops in the South, and pursues peace talks.
1970 Nixon orders joint U.S.-ARVN invasion of Cambodia.
1970–1971 U.S. troops in Vietnam decrease from 334,600 to 140,000.
1972 With peace talks stalled in December, Nixon administration orders the war’s most devastating bombing of North Vietnam.
1973 On January 27, United States, North Vietnam, and South Vietnam sign formal accord in Paris marking end of U.S. involvement.
1975 North Vietnam launches new offensive in South Vietnam, defeating ARVN. Vietcong troops occupy Saigon, renaming it Ho Chi Minh City.
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VISUAL ACTIVITYEvacuating South Vietnam As Communist troops approached Saigon in the spring of 1975, desperate South Vietnamese attempted to flee along with the departing Americans. Here they attempt to scale the wall of the U.S. Embassy to reach evacuation helicopters. Thousands were left behind, while South Vietnamese president Nguyen Van Thieu fled with fifteen tons of baggage on a U.S. plane.READING THE IMAGE: What in the photo suggests the desperation of the South Vietnamese? How might this kind of photo have been viewed in the United States by war supporters and opponents?CONNECTIONS: What besides the hasty departure from Saigon left a bitter taste in the mouths of Americans about the Vietnam War?
AP Images/Neal Ulevich.

During the four years it took Nixon to end the war, he had expanded the conflict into Cambodia and Laos and launched massive bombing campaigns. Although increasing numbers of legislators criticized the war, Congress never denied the funds to fight it. Only after the peace accords did the legislative branch try to reassert its constitutional authority in the making of war. The War Powers Act of 1973 required the president to secure congressional approval for any substantial, long-term deployment of troops abroad. The new law, however, did little to dispel the distrust of government that resulted from Americans’ realization that their leaders had not told the truth about Vietnam.

The war produced widespread criticism of the draft from both the left and right. As the United States withdrew from Vietnam, Nixon and Congress agreed to abandon conscription, which had been part of the Cold War since its beginning. Replacing the principle of obligation with the offer of opportunity, military leaders predicted that an all-volunteer army would make a more disciplined and professional fighting force. At the same time, ending service as a common sacrifice distanced most Americans from the horrors of warfare and from the military, whose ranks would be disproportionately filled by poorer Americans and people of color.