Ending the Vietnam War

Newly elected President Richard M. Nixon declared in 1969 that he would
continue the American involvement in the Vietnam War in order to end the
conflict and secure "peace with honor" for the United States and for its
ally, South Vietnam. Unfortunately, Communist North Vietnam's leaders,
believing that time was on their side, steadfastly refused to negotiate
seriously. Indeed, in March 1972 they attempted to bypass negotiations
altogether with a full-scale invasion of the South. Called the Easter
Offensive by the United States, the invasion at first appeared to
succeed. By late summer, however, Nixon's massive application of
American air power blunted the offensive. At this point, the North
Vietnamese began to negotiate in earnest. In early October, American and
North Vietnamese representatives met in Paris. By October 11, they had
hammered out a peace agreement. Its key elements were: all parties would
initiate a cease-fire in place 24 hours after signing the agreement;
U.S. forces and all foreign troops would withdraw from South Vietnam no
later than 60 days after signing the agreement; American prisoners would
be released simultaneously with the withdrawal of American and foreign
forces; and a National Council of National Reconciliation and Concord
would be created to organize and oversee free and democratic elections
to determine the political future of the South.

The agreement represented a victory for the North Vietnamese but also it
seemed to provide an honorable way out for the Americans. Nixon quickly
approved the terms. On October 22, however, South Vietnamese President
Nguyen Van Thieu stopped the process in its tracks. Especially
infuriating to him was the cease-fire in place. It left thousands of
North Vietnamese soldiers in South Vietnam (estimates ranged from
140,000 to 300,000) well positioned to continue the war when the
Americans departed. To gain Thieu's support, the Americans reopened
negotiations with the North Vietnamese based on his objections. This so
offended the North Vietnamese that they too insisted on renegotiating
several settled issues. By mid December the talks had collapsed.

Diplomacy had failed and a greatly frustrated Nixon concluded that only
force could persuade Hanoi that negotiating with the United States was
preferable to continuing the war. The President ordered his military
commanders to mine Haiphong Harbor and to initiate a sustained air
campaign in the Hanoi-Haiphong region. Beginning on December 18 and
continuing for 11 days, American bombing attacked all significant
military targets in the region. Even though the targets were military,
the aim was psychological—to shock the North Vietnamese back to the
negotiations in a frame of mind to end the war. On December 26, the
North Vietnamese signaled their willingness to be agreeable and to meet
in early January. After 3 more days of bombing, Nixon ended the air
campaign. Nixon also believed that the bombing would remind the South
Vietnamese that American air power was the most powerful weapon against
the North Vietnamese, and that its continued availability was contingent
upon South Vietnamese support of the agreement.

Nixon's plan worked and in early January 1973, the Americans and North
Vietnamese ironed out the last details of the settlement. All parties to
the conflict, including South Vietnam, signed the final agreement in
Paris on January 27. As it turned out, only America honored the
cease-fire. Furthermore, the National Council of National Reconciliation
and Concord was stillborn. The North wanted to destroy South Vietnam
while the South wanted to defeat the Northern forces. The inevitable
solution, therefore, was to fight until one side won. Military facts on
the ground, not words on paper, would determine South Vietnam's future.
Additionally, within 24 hours of the cease-fire coming into effect, the
return of the almost 600 American prisoners began, as did the
redeployment home of the remaining American and South Korean troops in
South Vietnam. The January accords, titled the "Agreement on Ending the
War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam," neither ended the war (except for
the United States) nor restored the peace. A little over 2 years later,
30 North Vietnamese divisions conquered the South and restored peace in
Vietnam. The American commitment to defend South Vietnam, described as
unequivocal by Nixon and Kissinger, had been vitiated by the Watergate
scandal and Nixon's subsequent resignation. By that time, the Paris
Accords seemed memorable only as the vehicle on which the United States
rode out of Southeast Asia.

--
"In consciousness dwells the wondrous,
with it man attains the realm beyond the material,
and the Peyote tells us,
where to find it."