3. Assessment of Nixon's Vietnam Policy (II)
- Created by: Alasdair
- Created on: 20-06-17 17:41
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- 3. Assessment of Nixon's Vietnam Policy (II)
- 1975 - the victory of North Vietnam and the fall of Saigon
- Hanoi remained determined to reunify Vietnam andd Thieu remained determined to maintain a South Vietnamese state
- As result, fighting continued in SV
- By spring 1973, American troops were withdrawn and only 159 Marines remained to guard the embassy
- 10,000 US civilians remaining, many were military men who'd been hastily discharged in order to enable them to stay
- Nixon had promised continued aid to South Vietnam
- Nixon bombed Communist sanctuaries in Cambodia until 15 August 1973 when Congress cut off his money
- Hanoi had problems
- Soviets and Chinese were less forthcoming with aid
- US had left and both powers wanted to maintain improved relations with US
- However, Hanoi's paled to insignificance alongside those of Thieu
- Although ARVN's million soldiers outnumbered 100,000 PAVN and PLAF forces in SV, Communists soon sent tens of thousands of reinforcements down Ho Chi Minh trail
- ARVN, trained in US-style warfare, ran short of petrol, ammunition and spare parts when US lost interest in Vt
- SV economy was badly hit by loss of US money, poor rice harvest of 1972 and global rise in prices in 1974
- Economic hardship contributed to large-scale protests against government corruption
- Soviets and Chinese were less forthcoming with aid
- Communists began probing
- Dec 1974
- Attacked lightly defended Phuoc Long province
- Then moved south when America did nothing
- SV's collapse in face of Communist advance shocked Americans but no help was forthcoming
- Nixon resigned because of Watergate in 1974
- Had he still be President, would Nixon have saved Saigon?
- Or had he like Kissinger, just wanted decent interval to think he could have saved SV because Congress was opposed to any more American actions there
- Congress rejected President Ford's request for aid for SV
- When Ford sent Army Chief of Staff, Fredrick Weyand to visit SV in April 1975
- Weyand reported even with increased US aaid,, Saigon regime's chances of survival were 'minimal at best' - might have added they always had been
- Thieu's resignation
- 21st April 1975
- Fled country
- Blamed Americans for collapse of SV
- Communists just outside Saigon, US helicopters airlifted 5000 people (900 Americans, 4100 SV) out of Saigon via US embassy roof
- Communists take Saigon
- 25th April 1975
- Vietnam now united nation with communist government
- Hanoi remained determined to reunify Vietnam andd Thieu remained determined to maintain a South Vietnamese state
- Laos and Cambodia
- Communists triumphed in Laos
- When Americans left Vietnam
- Laos supposedly neutral from 1962
- NV and US continued to support factions they favoured in Laotian civil war
- Americans dropped 2 million tons of bombs on Laos
- Caused large-scale devastation and supported anti-Communist forces
- NV aided Pathet Lao and transported men and materials on other parts of Ho Chi Minh Trail that wound through Laos
- Americans dropped 2 million tons of bombs on Laos
- NV and US continued to support factions they favoured in Laotian civil war
- Johnson's and Nixon's involvement in Laos dominated and motivated by events in Vietnam
- 17,000 US financed Thai troops left Laos after Americans exited Vt in January 1973
- After signing Paris Peace Accords, Kissinger visited Souvanna Phouma and told him there would be no more American aid and that he should make best deal possible with Pathet Lao
- Royal Laotian government speedily negotiated collation with Pathet Lao in Feb 1973
- Vietnam fell to Communists in spring 1975, Pathet Lao (assisted by Vt) moved to take control of Laos
- By August 1975, they had succeeded
- Caught in crossfire of struggle between South Vietnamese Communists and US, Laos suffered destabilisation, devastation and deaths
- Had it not been for Vietnam and CW, Laos might not have gone Communist in 1975
- New Communist regime in the 'Lao People's Democratic Republic'
- Killed as many as 100,000 of Hmong, who, with CIA aid and encouragement, had fought against them
- Over 20,000 civilian supporters of Old Royal Laotian government were sent to 're-education camps'
- However, their sufferings were nothing compared to those of the Cambodians
- Communists triumphed in Laos
- Overall assessment of Nixon's Vietnam policy
- Good
- Got US troops out
- Presided over necessary retreat inn US power
- Showed US still strong
- Thieu remained in power
- Bad
- Took so long to get Hanoi to agree Thieu could remain
- Death, destruction
- Americans divided
- No lasting peace for Indochina
- Vietnam, Laos and Camboda all Communist in 1975
- Good
- 1975 - the victory of North Vietnam and the fall of Saigon
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