3. Assessment of Nixon's Vietnam Policy (II)

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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    - By spring 1973, American troops were withdrawn and only 159 Marines remained to guard the embassy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
  - 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
- 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
  - 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
- 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

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3. Assessment of Nixon's Vietnam Policy (II)

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