Ending the war in Vietnam
In 1968, with mounting criticism of the Vietnam War at home and abroad, President Johnson announced that he would stop the bombing of North Vietnam and that he would not run for re-election the following year. He was succeeded in January 1969 by Richard Nixon as President of the USA.
Vietnamisation
Nixon was a staunch anti-A classless society where all property is owned publicly., but he was concerned about the growing risk of nuclear war and wanted to ease the tensions of the Cold War. He set out improving relations with China and the USSR.
These efforts to 鈥榤anage鈥 the Cold War and to improve relations with the communist powers (Nixon also visited the USSR in 1972), along with the growing number of American casualties in Vietnam, may have shaped Nixon鈥檚 attitude to the war in Vietnam.
He introduced a policy of Vietnamisation, also known as the Nixon Doctrine, in a speech on 25th July 1969. This meant building up the capacity of the armed forces of America鈥檚 allies in Vietnam until they could take responsibility for their own defence.
In effect it meant the USA was beginning the process of withdrawing troops from Vietnam, while strengthening the South Vietnamese army with the aim of getting it to take over the war against communism.
At the same time, Nixon escalated the bombing campaign in North Vietnam, for two reasons:
- to disrupt the A military route used by the North Vietnamese to supply the Vietcong during the Vietnam War. It ran beyond Vietnamese borders, down through Cambodia and Laos. and hit Vietcong bases in the neighbouring countries of Laos and Cambodia
- to force the North Vietnamese to negotiate after initial peace talks (from early 1969 on) broke down
The US in Vietnam: Kerry's speech to Congress