![]() But many were unhappy that the withdrawal was not complete. He also ordered American commanders to give the South Vietnamese most of the responsibility for fighting.Īmericans were happy that fewer troops would be involved. He said he acted to speed the peace talks. Then, in October nineteen sixty-nine, he ordered the withdrawal of sixty thousand troops. For his first eight months in office, President Nixon made no major policy changes. Lyndon Johnson had stopped the raids a few years earlier.Įfforts to end American involvement in Vietnam did not begin immediately. The Nixon administration also started bombing North Vietnam again. Yet - secretly - it sent other troops into Cambodia. The administration also withdrew some troops from Vietnam. But the Nixon administration started secret peace talks in Paris at the same time. The American efforts were both diplomatic and military. It took several years before the involvement of the United States would finally end. Together, they tried many ways to settle the conflict in Vietnam. He later served as Nixon's secretary of state. Kissinger was an expert on foreign relations. Presidents have advisers, and Nixon's most important adviser was Henry Kissinger. Johnson decided not to run for re-election after he lost public and political support for his war policies. If he fails, his presidency could end the way Lyndon Johnson's presidency ended. Already, by nineteen sixty-nine, more Americans had died in Vietnam than had died during the Korean War.įor Richard Nixon, the war is a terrible test. Yet that was the reason the United States had entered the conflict - to prevent the communists from capturing the south.Įxpanding the war would not be an easy decision either. Withdrawing troops would leave South Vietnam alone to resist communist North Vietnam. Expand the ground war, they say, or even use nuclear weapons. Others believe the United States should take whatever measures are necessary to win. Some Americans want him to withdraw troops from Vietnam immediately. During the election campaign, Nixon had promised to do something to end the war. His biggest foreign policy problem is the continuing war in Vietnam. Richard Nixon, a Republican, is in the first year of his first term in office. ![]() Today, we continue the story of the thirty-seventh president of the United States, Richard Nixon. STEVE EMBER: Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION - American history in VOA Special English.
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