"I think we obtained peace with honor - then we threw it away."
“The last US combat troops left in March 1973.” kabar
Saigon fell April 30th, 2005.
I think we won the war. The Democratic Congress abandoned South Vietnam. It took two years for the North Vietnamese, backed by the Soviet Union, to prepare, mobilize, and conquer.
In terms of US military involvement, Nixon did not expand the war in Vietnam. Instead, through the policy of “Vietnamization,” Nixon announced in June 1969 in a press conference on Midway Island following a meeting with President Thieu that the US would conduct a phased troop withdrawal that would occur in 14 stages from July 1969 through November 1972. The last US combat troops left Vietnam on March 29,1973 as President Nixon declares “the day we have all worked and prayed for has finally come.” The last American soldier to die in combat in Vietnam, Lt. Col. William B. Nolde, was killed on January 27, 1973.
On January 23, 1973 - President Nixon announced that an agreement has been reached which will “end the war and bring peace with honor.” On January 27, 1973 the Paris Peace Accords are signed by the U.S., North Vietnam, South Vietnam and the Viet Cong. Under the terms, the U.S. agrees to immediately halt all military activities and withdraw all remaining military personnel within 60 days. The North Vietnamese agree to an immediate cease-fire and the release of all American POWs within 60 days. An estimated 150,000 North Vietnamese soldiers presently in South Vietnam are allowed to remain. Vietnam is still divided. South Vietnam is considered to be one country with two governments, one led by President Thieu, the other led by Viet Cong, pending future reconciliation.
December 13, 1974 - North Vietnam violates the Paris peace treaty and tests President Ford’s resolve by attacking Phuoc Long Province in South Vietnam. President Ford responds with diplomatic protests but no military force in compliance with the Congressional ban on all U.S. military activity in Southeast Asia
On January 8, 1975 the - NVA general staff plan for the invasion of South Vietnam by 20 divisions is approved by North Vietnam’s Politburo. By now, the Soviet-supplied North Vietnamese Army is the fifth largest in the world. It anticipates a two year struggle for victory. But in reality, South Vietnam’s forces will collapse in only 55 days.
January 14, 1975 - Testifying before Congress, Secretary of Defense James Schlesinger states that the U.S. is not living up to its earlier promise to South Vietnam’s President Thieu of “severe retaliatory action” in the event North Vietnam violated the Paris peace treaty.
April 21, 1975 - A bitter, tearful President Thieu resigns during a 90 minute rambling TV speech to the people of South Vietnam. Thieu reads from the letter sent by Nixon in 1972 pledging “severe retaliatory action” if South Vietnam was threatened. Thieu condemns the Paris Peace Accords, Henry Kissinger and the U.S. “The United States has not respected its promises. It is inhumane. It is untrustworthy. It is irresponsible.” He is then ushered into exile in Taiwan, aided by the CIA.
April 30, 1975 - At 8:35 a.m., the last Americans, ten Marines from the embassy, depart Saigon, concluding the United States presence in Vietnam. North Vietnamese troops pour into Saigon and encounter little resistance. By 11 a.m., the red and blue Viet Cong flag flies from the presidential palace. President Minh broadcasts a message of unconditional surrender. The war is over.
The South Vietnamese had fought on for almost two years after the US ceased military involvement in Vietnam. Nixon had fulfilled his promise made in 1968 that he would end the war in Vietnam. He won in a landslide in November 1972 precisely because he kept his promise. By the end of 1972, there were less than 15,000 US military personnel left in Vietnam, i.e., Army advisors and administrators remaining to assist South Vietnam’s military forces. At the end of 1968, just before Nixon took office in January 1969, U.S. troop levels reached 495,000.