1969-1975

Richard Nixon elected president in 1969. introduced a three-part plan to gradually deescalate the war Timetable for gradual withdrawal of troops South Vietnam take over U.S. role as American troops withdrew Americans fight only when threatened or attacked

In April 1970, Nixon authorized a U.S. South Vietnamese joint bombing strike of Cambodia which had been a sanctuary from which the North Vietnamese directed their war against South Vietnam. Americans viewed the bombing strike as expanding the war not ending it. Demonstrations got violent Kent State; Jackson State Congress repealed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Nixon stopped the operation in Cambodia.

In 1972, Nixon visited China. The visit put an end to the containment policy. Nixon also visited the Soviet Union in this year, to work on diplomatic relations with the communist country.

In January 1973, a peace agreement signed in Paris. Americans troops withdrew but the agreement allowed North Vietnamese to remain in South Vietnam and consolidate their gains. Fighting did not stop; the international control commission did not enforce the cease fire. War powers act, requires the president to have congress permission before entering American troops into hostilities.

In April 1975, North Vietnamese tanks rolled into the South Vietnamese presidential palace in Saigon. U.S. evacuated remaining Americans and many South Vietnamese.