The U.S. Withdrawal from Vietnam, January 1973

[President Nixon took office in 1969 convinced that American involvement in Vietnam must end.  Lyndon Johnson's 1968 peace initiative  had led to fruitless negotiations between the United States, North Vietnam, South Vietnam, and the Viet Cong. When Nixon took charge, he began gradually to lower the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam while searching for an honorable exit through a backstairs deal with either the Soviets or the Chinese, the two main suppliers of arms to the Vietnamese communists. His decision to open contact with the People's Republic of China  was motivated in part by the hope that Beijing might be willing to pressure Hanoi.

Meanwhile, Nixon's national security advisor Henry Kissinger had begun to meet secretly in Paris with Le Duc Tho, a special emissary of the North Vietnamese Politburo. By October of 1972 it appeared that a peace agreement was close, but North Vietnamese recalcitrance following Nixon's reelection in November led the President to order a massive bombing campaign in late December. This "Christmas bombing" caused widespread damage to North Vietnamese cities and ports, and to Nixon's standing at home, thereby convincing both sides of the cost of further struggle. Kissinger and Le Duc Tho continued to negotiate and soon reached agreement.   In a nationwide address on January 23, four days before  the signing of the Paris Peace Accords, Nixon announced that "peace with honor" had been achieved.

The honor of a great power is not easy to define. For Bismarck, it was very different from prestige: a great power was obliged before God to act in accordance with its genuine rather than its apparent national interests. In modern America, "honor" is an overused term that seems almost indistinguishable from prestige. Nixon himself feared that America would be viewed as "a pitiful, helpless giant" if it did not fulfill its commitments. Others argued that a truly great power must be willing to swallow its pride and alter its course if its prior commitments were jeopardizing its genuine national interests. The question remains open, but Nixon's speech and the Paris Peace Accords may both be read in this context.]
 

NIXON'S ADDRESS TO THE NATION
JANUARY 23, 1973
 

Good evening. I have asked for this radio and television time tonight for the purpose of announcing that we today have concluded an agreement to end the war and bring peace with honor in Vietnam and Southeast Asia....

In my addresses to the nation from this room on January 25 and May 8, I set forth the goals that we considered essential for peace with honor. In the settlement that has now been agreed to, all the conditions that I laid down then have been met.  A cease-fire internationally supervised will begin at 7 P.M. this Saturday, January 27, Washington time. Within 60 days from this Saturday all Americans held prisoners of war throughout Indochina will be released.

There will be the fullest possible accounting for all of those who are missing in action. During the same 60 day period all American forces will be withdrawn from South Vietnam.

The people of South Vietnam have been guaranteed the right to determine their own future without outside interference....

The United States will continue to recognize the Government of the Republic of Vietnam as the sole legitimate government of South Vietnam. We shall continue to aid South Vietnam within the terms of the agreement, and we shall support efforts for the people of South Vietnam to settle their problems peacefully among themselves.

We must recognize that ending the war is only the first step toward building the peace.

All parties must now see to it that this is a peace that lasts and also a peace that heals, and a peace that not only ends the war in Southeast Asia but contributes to the prospects of peace in the whole world. This will mean that the terms of the agreement must be scrupulously adhered to. We shall do everything the agreement requires of us, and we shall expect the other parties to do everything it requires of them. We shall also expect other interested nations to help insure that the agreement is carried out and peace is maintained....

Now that we have achieved an honorable agreement, let us be proud that America did not settle for a peace that would have betrayed our allies, that would have abandoned our prisoners of war or that would have ended the war for us but would have continued the war for the 50 million people of Indochina.

Let us be proud of the two and a half million young Americans who served in Vietnam, who served with honor and distinction in one of the most selfless enterprises in the history of nations.

And let us be proud of those who sacrificed, who gave their lives, so that the people of South Vietnam might live in freedom, and so that the world might live in peace....

.