The 1973 Peace Talks
Easter (Spring) Offensive March 30 - October 22, 1972
Easter (Spring) Offensive March 30 - October 22, 1972
Easter (Spring) Offensive March 30 - October 22, 1972
Major conventional invasion on three fronts: • Across DMZ
• Central Highlands
• West of Saigon
ARVN performed reasonably well with US air support DRV gained valuable space inside RVN for future offensives • Also gained bargaining chip in negotiations
Nixon initiated Operation Linebacker (May 9 - October 23, 1972) • Bombing of North Vietnamese logistics targets
Nixon began planning for Linebacker II • Sustained bombing of North Vietnamese strategic targets
Paris Peace Accords January 23, 1973
Henry Kissinger (left) and Le Duc Tho initial agreement
Paris Peace Accords January 23, 1973
Major Provisions: US troops would leave Vietnam by 1973 North Vietnamese troops would remain in South South Vietnamese government would remain
Congress and the War Use of Budget to Restrict Operations in SEA
Case-Church Amendment (1973) • After Paris Peace Accords (Jan 1973), Nixon hinted at US intervention if North Vietnam attacked South • Introduced by Senators Clifford Case (R‐NJ) & Frank Church (D‐ID) • Prohibited U.S. military activity in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia after August 15, 1973 without Congressional approval. • Passed by Senate 64-26, House 278-124 (June 1973)
Significance: Essentially ended US military activity in Southeast Asia
Nixon Resigns August 9, 1974
https://www.youtube.com/wa tch?v=XEA0atGUVpY President Gerald Ford
US Drawdown
( 58:19 )
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlhNl NcrDJY
Final Offensive DRV planned final offensive for 1976
Probing Attacks
Final Offensive DRV planned final offensive for 1976
Encouraged, DVR ordered additional probes in 1975
The Final Days - 1975
Final Offensive DRV planned final offensive for 1976
Encouraged, DVR ordered additional probes in 1975 DRV politburo again astonished by speed of success • Ordered push to Pleiku and on to coast
RVN President Thieu ordered strategic retreat • Gave up northern provinces to protect Saigon and south
ARVN retreat turned into a rout
The Final Days - 1975 HuĂŠ Fell March 25 Da Nang Fell March 30 Pleiku Abandoned March 16 II Corps Fell April 2
Last Flight From Danang March 29, 1975
http://www.youtube .com/watch?v=pzcW Z7j1iTg
( 4:59 )
US Evacuation of Saigon Contingency plans always existed for evacuation of US citizens • Also included “At risk” Vietnamese citizens • • “At Risk” = US employees and agents
Early plans had identified: • 8,000 US and third country citizens for evacuation • Number of potential South Vietnamese evacuees never determined • • Estimate: 17,000 US employee + 6 family members = > ~120,000 evacuees • • Later estimates went as high as 200,000!
Late March 1975: Evacuations by commercial aircraft began • Last fixed-wing transport (C-130) left Tan San Nhut airport 29 April
Operation Frequent Wind April 29-30, 1975
Final helicopter evacuation of US citizens and others Pickup points at Tan San Nhut airport and US Embassy US Marine helicopters operated from off-shore ships • USAF helicopters from Thailand shuttled to ships • Air America (CIA-run airline) also committed 24 helicopters
Operation Frequent Wind April 29-30, 1975
Helicopter operations from Saigon progressed smoothly
Operation Frequent Wind April 29-30, 1975
April 30, 1975 - 7:53 AM
Last US Marine helicopter lifted off the roof of the US Embassy
Evacuation of Saigon
Iconic image: “Evacuation from the U.S. Embassy roof”
U.S. Embassy - Saigon
1972
Evacuation of Saigon
Pittman Apartment building used by CIA staff (top of elevator shaft - not a heliport) Story
Operation Frequent Wind April 29-30, 1975 Meanwhile, as South Vietnam forces crumbled … …scores of VNAF officers commandeered aircraft and headed to Thailand or the US fleet offshore. Created desk space problem on aircraft carrier USS Midway
Scenes
Ditching
Operation Frequent Wind
VNAF Major Ly Buang, wife, five children arrive on USS Midway
Operation Frequent Wind
Major Ly Buang’s O-1 aircraft
USS Midway after stop in Thailand to retrieve fixed wing aircraft
Fall of Saigon April 30, 1975
http://www.you tube.com/watch ?v=IdR2Iktffaw
( 6:06 )
What went wrong in Vietnam? Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it. -- George Santyana (1863-1952), 1905
“America can regain the sense of pride that existed before Vietnam. But it cannot be achieved by refighting a war that is finished as far as America is concerned.� - President Gerald Ford
April 23, 1975