End of Vietnam War - US Withdrawal Flashcards
When did Paris Peace Talks begin?
May 1968
What did the Paris Talks begin discussing?
Whether or not the USA would commit itself to stopping bombing N. Vietnam.
- Johnson feared North wasn’t committed to negotiations and if USA stopped bombing the North would use it to prepare an offensive against the South
What was the South’s position in negotiations by October 1968?
S. Vietnamese were fiercely in opposition to the whole concepts of negotiations if the NLF / Vietcong were represented.
Overall why were the initial peace talks undermined and ended?
- South hatred for Vietcong representation
- NV on defense after Tet
- US would not agree to blanket end of bombing NV
- NV uncooperative
What happened Feb 1970?
Henry Kissinger met secretly with Le Duc Tho, a communist politician who served as a special advisor to N. Vietnam during the negotiations
Where did the meetings between Kissinger and Tho take place and what did Tho suggest?
Paris
- Tho insisted any peace settlement must encompass both a military and political solution and that an armistice must trigger a replacement of the current Saigon regime and the introduction of a coalition government with Vietcong representatives
What was the USA’s repsonse to Tho’s suggestion?
Kissinger and Nixon saw this as unrealistic – the USA could not abandon Thieu by agreeing
- Could be seen as a collapse of SV and US betrayal
When did the Peace Talks continue and what had happened one month prior?
May to November 1971
- Ping Pong team to China
China’s influence in the continuation of the Paris Peace Talks
- USA wanted to use the Sino-Soviet split and their growing relations to their advantage
- China was not willing to use NV to support the US due to NV being within their sphere of influence
- China did tell NV that they must negotiate in Paris with the Americans
USSR influence in the continuation of the Paris Peace Talks
- Kissinger also tried to get support from USSR - However the USSR saw an opportunity for a North Vietnamese victory and a united, socialist Vietnam.
- The USSR were not going to encourage the N. Vietnamese to compromise in such circumstances.
What did Kissinger offer in May 1971?
Kissinger offered US withdrawal within 7 months of a cease-fire in return for the North accepting Thieu’s regime, the return of US POWs.
When was an agreement formed from the Paris Peace Talks?
October 1972
What were the terms of the Paris Peace Talks Agreement?
- A ceasefire would begin in January 1973
- Each side’s forces would keep the areas they controlled at the time of the ceasefire
- Within 60 days the USA would withdraw its forces and POWs would be exchanged
- A commission would be set up to consider the introduction of free elections in a post-war South Vietnam and the ability of the South Vietnamese to decide their own political future
- Free elections would consider the possibility of the eventual reunification of Vietnam as a single state.
What was Thieu’s reaction to the Paris Peace Talks Agreement?
- Furious as the South were not involved in discussions
- Suggested 69 changes to the terms – this was rejected by the North.
When did Nixon get reelected and what did this influence in terms of Vietnam?
1972
- Intensify pressure on NV
