Nixon and both North and South Vietnam leaders met in Paris to sign the agreements that ended the war. Even though, the meeting was between all three leaders, the main agreements were made between the US and North Vietnam. This was done because the South had a crumbling government and therefore much of the South was left under the Northern troops control by Nixon, so that he could withdraw American troops as soon as possible. This process was termed "Vietnamization", where the responsibility of the war would be given to Vietnam, so that the US troops could be withdrawn.
The agreements made in the formal document were as follows:1. A cease-fire throughout Vietnam.
2. US agreed to withdraw all US troops and advisers and dismantle all bases within 60 days.
3. North Vietnam agreed to release all the US and other prisoners of war. 4. Both sides agreed that the demilitarized zone (DMZ) at the 17th parallel would still be the dividing line between the North and South. This would remain until peaceful arrangements were made.
5. The North Vietnamese also agreed that they would not initiate military movement over the DMZ and there would be no force made to reunite the two parts of Vietnam.
6. The South Vietnamese agreed to President Nguyen Van Thieu remaining in office, pending the elections.
I liked how you conveyed the importance of all the agreements and terms that came along with this treaty. You shared good information about what both sides wanted out of this accord, showing what Nixon and North Vietnam agreed upon would be best for the lives and safety of their people.
ReplyDeleteAwesome concise article about the Paris Peace Accords. Interestingly, there was quite a bit of controversy surrounding the accords. Before Nixon was president, he asked an Asian-American politician Anna Chennault to be his channel to the South Vietnamese ambassador. She reportedly said "I have just heard from my boss who says his boss [Nixon] is going to win." She also said, "And you tell your boss to hold on a while longer." In other words, a Vietnamese conclusion was stalled under Johnson in order to boost the fame of Nixon. It begetter the wire tapping of Nixon's offices, which would reveal the Watergate scandal several years later. (source: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/31/opinion/sunday/nixons-vietnam-treachery.html)
ReplyDeleteGood post on the Paris Peace Accords. I found it interesting that Nixon helped convince South Vietnam not to accept the treaty. I also found it helpful that you organized the main points of the peace treaty clearly. Do you think that the US was right in pulling out of the Vietnam War?
ReplyDeleteFor more information on South Vietnam under Diem:
http://alphahistory.com/vietnamwar/south-vietnam/