Vietnam War Peace Negotiations

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how, after more than a quarter-century after the end of American military involvement in Vietnam, the Vietnam War remains a great unsettled question in American public life. It focuses in particular on the peace negotiations that eventually bought the war to an end when agreement was finally reached, in 1973, in the form of the Paris Peace Accords. It analyzes how the United States in effect accepted formal victory with the likelihood of deferred defeat, while North Vietnam accepted formal defeat with the likelihood of deferred victory.

Outline
Looking For a Way Out
The Options
Early Negotiation Efforts
From Johnson to Nixon
Endgame

From the Paper:

"Thus, in the case of Vietnam, when the United States signed the Paris Peace Accords in 1973, it did so in the face of two alternative options that resembled each other only in being undesirable. One option was continuing direct American military involvement for the foreseeable future; the other was withdrawal of American forces without negotiations. The first entailed an indefinite continuation of American combat casualties and consequent (and probably growing) domestic unrest and political dissension. The second implied the probable near-immediate collapse of South Vietnam (as well as possible abandonment of American prisoners of war), with its own set of international and domestic consequences."

More papers on Vietnam War Peace Negotiations:

• Research Paper # 24119 : "Peace Efforts In Vietnam"
• Essay # 85349 : "Disarmament Negotiations"
• Book Review # 46102 : "The U.S. Economy and the Vietnam War"

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