The Paris Peace Accords
The increasing level of public criticism of the war was one of the reasons for the growing pressure to find a peaceful solution. The financial cost was also a factor, as were world politics 鈥 the Nixon Doctrine (1969) showed the President was less interested in An American policy to try and stop communism from spreading, to restrict it from spreading to other countries. and would only use US troops if the USA was directly threatened. Nixon was also increasingly trying to work better with the USSR and Chinese 鈥 anti-communist battles were less of a pressing concern than they had been when the Vietnam War started.
| Date | January 1973 |
| Location | Paris |
| USA negotiator | Henry Kissinger, US National Security Advisor |
| Vietnam negotiator | Le Duc Tho, Member of the Vietnamese Communist Party Politburo |
| Aim | To negotiate an end to the war in Vietnam |
| Date |
|---|
| January 1973 |
| Location |
|---|
| Paris |
| USA negotiator |
|---|
| Henry Kissinger, US National Security Advisor |
| Vietnam negotiator |
|---|
| Le Duc Tho, Member of the Vietnamese Communist Party Politburo |
| Aim |
|---|
| To negotiate an end to the war in Vietnam |
Negotiations
Negotiations were not straightforward. In October 1972, Henry Kissinger had worked out a peace agreement with the North Vietnamese. However, fearing the Americans were going to abandon his country, Nguyen Van Thieu, the President of South Vietnam refused to sign the agreement and the South Vietnamese pulled out of the talks.
Kissinger and Nixon acted as good cop and bad cop throughout the negotiations. Kissinger offered peace terms to the North Vietnamese, while Nixon threatened to launch massive airstrikes if they refused. Nixon then mounted bombing raids on North Vietnam until, in Paris, the North Vietnamese were forced to sign. This is a bit like punching someone while telling them that you want to be friends!
Nixon then ordered the South Vietnamese President to sign the peace accord, whether he agreed with it or not.
Outcomes
A ceasefire was agreed, and American forces would leave Vietnam. The city of Saigon fell to the communists on 30 April 1975. The final hours of the American presence in Vietnam were a mad scramble to evacuate US personal and South Vietnamese civilians to US navy ships in the South China Sea. The signal to head for the helicopters was White Christmas by Bing Crosby playing over the speakers of the US Embassy.
Once American forces were out of Vietnam, the way was open for a communist takeover of the South. In April 1975, the forces of North Vietnam entered the southern city of Saigon and the country was unified under communist leadership.
Consequence of the US 'defeat' in Vietnam
- The policy of containment had failed militarily: despite the USA鈥檚 superior military strength it could not stop the spread of communism.
- The policy of containment had failed politically: not only had the USA failed to stop Vietnam falling to communism, but their actions in the neighbouring countries of Laos and Cambodia had helped to bring communist governments to power there too.
- The policy of containment had failed in the Information, often biased or misleading, designed to persuade people to adopt a particular point of view. war: having presented the war in Vietnam as a moral crusade against communism, the atrocities committed by the US military in Vietnam in terms of the number of civilian deaths and the use of chemical weapons, had tarnished America鈥檚 image at home and abroad.
- The war had cost 58,000 American and 1-4 million Vietnamese lives, affected 700,000 American veterans; cost America over one hundred billion dollars, and damaged reputation and morale at home.
- After Vietnam, the policy of containment was replaced by a period of Easing of tension - period of time in the 1970s when relations between the USA and Soviet Union improved and there was a reduction in tension., a thawing in the tensions of the Cold War and gradually relations between the USA and the USSR/China improved.