Vietnam - The Road To Peace Flashcards
What happened in May 1968?
The first significant attempt at peace talks
This was an informal meeting between US and North Vietnamese envoys in Paris
What happened in October 1968?
Lyndon Johnson agreed to suspend all bombing sorties over North Vietnamese territory, paving the way for normal peace negotiations
What happened in January 1969?
Negotiators from Washington flew to Paris for peace meetings with representatives of North and South Vietnam and the NLR - National Liberation Front (Viet Cong).
The Paris Peace talks would last for more than 4 years.
They were plagued due to disputes over the North recognising the legitimacy of the South Vietnamese Government.
What happened in the autumn of 1969?
> The North Vietnamese demanded the withdrawal of US troops and the end of the South Vietnamese government.
The US insisted that Hanoi recognise the sovereignty of South Vietnam.
The two sets of demands meant that compromise or agreement seemed impossible.
By the autumn of 1969, the Paris talks had become a waste of time.
The US needed to get out of Vietnam with its credibility intact, something Nixon called ‘peace with honour’.
What happened in August 1969?
The Paris peace talks were too public so Nixon instructed Henry Kissinger to begin separate peace talks with the North Vietnamese without involving or informing either South Vietnam or America’s military allies in Vietnam
In August 1969, Kissinger began meetings with Le Duc Tho.
For three years these secret negotiations also failed to produced any significant result.
Tho knew that the USA had lost support at home and this might force them to withdraw.
What happened in October 1972?
The USA had better relations with the USSR and China following Nixon’s visits there.
Le Doc Tho suggested to Kissinger that north Vietnam was willing to consider recognising the government of South Vietnam, so long as it included free elections and political reform. The pair drafted a treaty, completed in October 1972.
But the South Vietnamese president (Nguyen Van Thieu) was outraged by the draft treaty, believing it placed his country at the mercy of the Viet Cong.
The North Vietnamese threatened to withdraw; only another massive US aerial bombardment of North Vietnam, ordered by Nixon, kept them at the negotiating table.
Thieu eventually agreed to the the treaty under pressure from Washington, which pledged to back him if Hanoi broke the terms of the agreement.
What happened in mid January 1973?
Nixon ordered a suspension of US bombing of North Vietnam, as final negotiations commenced.
The Paris Peace Accords were formally signed1/ days later (January 27th 1973) by representatives of the US, North and South Vietnam and the NLF.
Kissinger and Le Doc Tho were bother hailed as heros. Nixon called it ‘peace with honour’.
What were going to be the major areas of conflict during discussions?
> exchange of prisoners
South Vietnam wants to keep US troops and North Vietnam wants them to leave
free elections
bombing campaigns stopped
