Nixon and the Vietnam War

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that President Richard Nixon's strategy for the Vietnam War was "peace with honor". The author relates that Nixon's 1969 policy of the "Vietnamization" of the war meant the handing over of the responsibility of fighting to the South Vietnamese in order to protect their own country. The paper points out that this "Vietnamization" policy was a success domestically in the U.S. but was certainly a failure for South Vietnam. The author concludes that, although Nixon's strategies were thoughtful and not without solid footing, the time was too late to mend things in Vietnam; however, he did manage to reduce greatly the number of American casualties and the U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

From the Paper:

"Nixon also attempted more diplomatic ways to achieve peace with honor. One was that of meeting with the Great Powers: China and the Soviet Union. In 1971, Nixon met with China's Mao and Russia's Brezhnev and held talks. Behind the facade of Nixon's diplomacy was the underbelly of attempting to disillusion the Vietnamese by meeting peacefully with their supporter nations. This policy was somewhat successful in that Vietnam questioned the true stance of their communist allies, but it ended up coming to no avail."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Gettlemen, Marvin E., Franklin, Bruce H., Franklin, Jane and Young, Marilyn, ed. Founding of the Doc-Lap Dong Minh Hoi (June 1941): Vietnam and America: New York: Grove Press, 1995.

More papers on Nixon and the Vietnam War:

• Book Review # 46102 : "The U.S. Economy and the Vietnam War"
• Cause and Effect Essay # 112589 : "Student Unrest and the Vietnam War"
• Essay # 70948 : "The Vietnam War"

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