Vietnam+the+End

Vietnamization- Nixon's policy for winding down the war.
 * Troops withdraw.
 * Training and equipment given to South Vietnamese.
 * By 1972, only 24,200 troops remained.

Bombing raids increased.
 * Hurt the supply lines of North Vietnam.
 * Bombing expanded to other countries, Laos and Cambodia.

Nixon wanted the enemy to believe that he would do anything to win.

U.S. ground forces invaded Cambodia in Spring 1970.

May 4, 1970, Kent State University, 4 killed.

Nixon looses support from the public.

The Pentagon Papers.
 * The real thing and what the public was being told was different.
 * New York Times wanted to put them in the paper.
 * Court trial and Nixon lost.
 * Public hates the government.

Peace talks- 1972.
 * Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho.
 * "Peace is at hand" in October - Election Year.
 * January 27, 1973 agreement reached on ending the war and restoring peace in Vietnam.
 * Agrees to send prisoners of war home.

1975
 * North Vietnam attacks.
 * Saigon falls.
 * Vietnam is reunited under communism.

Legacy

In Southeast Asia
 * 1.5 million Vietnamese deaths
 * countless Vietnamese civilians wounded.
 * Agrarian society shambles
 * Southeast Asia left highly unstable.

America
 * Lost war.
 * 58,000 killed.
 * 365,000 wounded.
 * $150 billion.

Changes in America
 * Government gets rid of draft.
 * War Powers Act- Curb the power of the President.
 * Alters American foreign policy.
 * Cynicism in Americans.

Disillusionment
 * Veterans extended a cold hand.
 * Some veterans suffered form stress.
 * Many citizens embittered toward government.
 * Entire generation affected.