End of the War Peace talks start in April of 1968 and go until January The United States and South Vietnam want two things:  All North Vietnamese forces to leave South Vietnam  The current South Vietnamese leader, Nguyen Van Thieu, to stay in power. The North Vietnamese and the Vietcong want:  All American forces to leave South Vietnam  A coalition government that included the Vietcong By the end of 1969 over 36,000 Americans had died in Vietnam and now American citizens were demanding the U.S. leave. Recently elected President, Richard Nixon’s main goal was to keep a pro-U.S. government in South Vietnam. However, there was pressure for Nixon to end the war quickly.

End of the War In November 1969, Nixon announces the withdrawal of 60,000 U.S. troops starts the Vietnamization phase of the war. Vietnamization is the goal to increase South Vietnamese forces (ARVN) so that they could take over for the U.S. forces. Nixon thought that this would quiet protestors and give him time to negotiate a favorable settlement. Nixon sent National Security Adviser, Henry Kissinger to negotiate secretly with North Vietnam’s foreign minister. To put pressure on the North Vietnamese to negotiate, as American forces were withdrawing, Nixon ordered secret bombings of enemy supply routes in Cambodia, Laos, and North Vietnam in –The bombings failed to cut the supply lines or force the North to bargain. –The war was actually expanded and continued for 4 years.

End of the War By 1971 Vietnamization was failing and the South Vietnamese Army was losing to the Vietcong. Paris Peace talks began in October 1972 with 4 demands: –The North Vietnamese dropped the demand to have Thieu replaced. –The U.S. agreed to allow North Vietnamese forces to stay in South Vietnam. –The U.S. agreed to allow the Vietcong to negotiate in the final settlement. –The cease-fire called for the withdrawal of the remaining U.S. forces and the return of all U.S. POW’s Thieu refused to sign the agreement because he did not want North forces to stay in South Vietnam.

End of the War The Paris Peace Accords of 1973 ended direct U.S. military involvement and temporarily stopped fighting between north and south. On March 29, 1973-the last American troops leave Vietnam. Within months fighting will start in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. In August of 1974 Nixon resigns after the Watergate Scandal and Gerald Ford becomes President. In March 1974 North Vietnam launches a major offensive against South. Thieu asks the U.S. for help and Congress agrees to send money but no troops. In April of 1975 South Vietnam surrenders to North Vietnam.

Lessons Learned The Army and Military learn to not trust politicians because the Secretary of Defense tries to increase their powers. While citizens start to distrust politicians. After WWII the U.S. had high faith and trust in the government this will decrease dramatically during Vietnam and not increase until Regan. The main goal of U.S. forces should be to fight but not to nation build. We need 2 separate armies if we are going to do this. We should cooperate with another country like Canada to establish Nation building efforts since most nations mistrust the U.S. The country has mixed feelings towards returning veterans- some will face hostility and hard times adjusting to society. There will be high rates of suicide, PTSD, drug and alcohol abuse.

Costs of the War for Southest Asia More than 8 million tons of bombs were dropped (equivalent to 640 Hiroshima’s) 2 million Vietnamese were killed The country of Vietnam is destroyed