1. Vietnam War: Conclusion & Legacy

2. Vietnamization & “Peace With Honor”
Peace talks in stall, can’t agree on terms
Nixon’s policy: “Vietnamization” – gradually withdraw US forces & hand over more responsibility to ARVN
1970: Nixon wants to break stalemate by attacking bases in Cambodia

3. Kent State Protests Nationwide protests b/c of expansion to Cambodia
Kent State Univ (OH): demonstrators threw rocks, bottles at members of Nat’l Guard.
Nat’l Guard fired into crowd, killed 4 youths

4. 1971: Pressure Mounts to Pull Out Troops
My Lai Massacre
1968- after Tet, US forces shot unarmed Vietnamese civilians
Inadequate military investigation
Lt. Calley – his unit – convicted in 1971

5. Pentagon Papers
Published by New York Times –
Nixon tried to block full publication
Study revealed that US leaders involved US in Vietnam without fully informing US people & that they occasionally lied to Congress

6. US Troops Leave Vietnam
W/ peace talks in progress, Nixon wins reelection in 1972
Jan 1973: Paris Peace Accords
Cease-fire; remove US troops; POWs exchanged; N. Vietnamese troops stay in S. Vietnam
No one in Vietnam honored agreement… ARVN no match for N. Vietnamese Army
Saigon falls April Vietnam united/ end of war

7. Impact & Legacy of Vietnam
US troops: 58k died, 300k wounded
Vietnamese: 2 million +
Communism spread to Laos, Cambodia (+ genocide)  BUT, mostly independent of USSR/China
1971: 26th Amendment (voting age 21  18)
Returning vets return to mixed reactions, indifference

8. 1973 War Powers Act: limited Pres’ war powers --- must inform Congress w/in 48 hrs of committing US forces to foreign conflict
Ended draft
“Vietnam syndrome” aversion to overseas military involvements