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Admin moved page How did the United States end the Vietnam War? to How did the United States end the Vietnam War
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[[File:Nixon_30-0316a.jpg|thumbnail|left|250px|President Richard Nixon]]
President Richard M. Nixon assumed responsibility for the Vietnam War as he swore the oath of office on January 20, 1969. He knew that ending this war honorably was essential to his success in the presidency. He expected that the American people would give him a year to end U.S. involvement in the war, and he expected to succeed during that time—believing that his experience in foreign relations, his toughness, and his willingness to bring to bear military and political pressure on North Vietnam would yield a settlement in the public negotiations just opening in Paris.
====Kissinger and North Vietnam came to an agreement, but South Vietnam rejected it====
[[File:Saigon-hubert-van-es.jpg|thumbnail|left|300px|CIA member evacuates people to an air America helicopter]]
On October 11–12 Kissinger and Le Duc Tho reached agreement on a peace settlement, both sides working to reach that end before the U.S. presidential election on November 7. President Thieu rejected the settlement, refusing to accept a peace that left North Vietnamese forces in South Vietnam, and legitimized the Hanoi-controlled Communist shadow government, the Provisional Revolutionary Government.
His rejection forced Kissinger to resume negotiations with Le Duc Tho. Kissinger was unable to find any common ground acceptable to both Vietnamese parties in two renewed rounds of negotiations. Finally, in order to break the deadlock, on December 14 Nixon ordered massive B–52 attacks on the North Vietnamese heartland—the “Christmas Bombing.” Meanwhile he continued to exert intense pressure on Thieu, threatening to cut off U.S. economic, military, and political support of South Vietnam if Thieu refused to accept the agreement.
====Negotiations finally led to a deal====
