Page 142 - NS-2 Textbook

THE COLD WAR ERA 135

On the military side, the years of training of the offi-
cer corps and noncommissioned officers by American
advisers were beginning to yield results. Many elements
of the South Vietnamese forces had been transformed
into efficient fighting organizations. Navy, sea com-
mando, and air force elements "vere considered the best,
but there also were excellent army units. A fine system of
military bases and facilities, fuel dumps, communica-
tions equipment, and a huge supply system had been de-
veloped and gradually turned over to the South Viet-
namese. Almost all of the riverine and patrol craft were
turned over to the South Vietnamese navy. American
forces had been reduced by half by the middle of 1971,
and less than 150,000 were still in Vietnam by the end of
that year. The Seventh Fleet started to reduce the number
of ships on station. A U.S. Navy lieutenant works with his South Vietnamese counter-
While Vietnamization appeared to be going well, part during the Vietnamization program.
fighting flared up again in early 1972, despite the Paris
peace talks that had been going on fruitlessly for nearly
three years. In response to the North Vietnamese attacks, trial over the Watergate affair with the further disruption
President Nixon authorized renewed bombing of North of governmental functions that would cause. President
Vietnam, including Hanoi. The Communists ",,'ere Gerald Ford took over the reins of government, hoping
thrown back with heavy losses, but the fighting contin- to heal the wounds of the controversy. In this atmo-
ued. Finally, the president authorized the mining of sphere, any proposal to maintain the necessary level of
Haiphong Harbor. Within a week, the enemy was des- financial and military aid to South Vieh1am met with
perate for supplies because Communist-bloc ships were very linllted response from Congress and the American
unable to proceed into the harbor from the Gulf of people.
Tonkin for off-loading. Two dozen ships were trapped in America's preoccupation with domestic political af-
the harbor, unable to depart. The Communists stopped fairs encouraged the Vietcong and North Vietnamese to
all significant military action and came back to the peace violate all provisions of the cease-fire agreement. They
table. On 27 January 1973 all parties to the war signed an began bringing in massive reinforcements through the
accord ending the fighting and providing for the peace- northern provinces of South Vietnam. In March 1975,
ful withdrawal of the remaining American advisers by two years after American withdrawal, South Vietnam's
March 1973. ability to withstand Communist pressure collapsed. By
the end of April, the whole country had capitulated to
North Vietnam and the NLF. Two weeks earlier, the
THE FALL OF SOUTH VIETNAM
American-supported Cambodian government had fallen
The United States made promises to support the South to the Khmer Rouge, a fanatical Communist insurgent
Vietnamese government and military forces. Hm.vever" group in that country. Laos was taken over by the Com-
many of these promises were dependent largely on Pres- mlmist Pathet Lao in early December. Communism had
ident Nixon himself. But the president, though notably triumphed in Indochina, after nearly thirty years of con-
successful in foreign affairs, had become embroiled in stant warfare.
the Watergate scandal. As the Washington political scene
became more and more confused, congressional interest
VIETNAM WAR AFTERMATH
in virtually everything other than the domestic political
situation waned. Any connection with Vietnam had After the Vietnam War, massive cutbacks took place in
come to be regarded as a political liability by congress- the numbers of Navy ships and personnel. Total active
men after the revelations of the My Lai Massacre in 1969 fleet ships dropped from about 650 in 1972 to about 450
and the Pentagon Papers controversy in 1971. This feel- by 1978. During these same years, numbers of Navy per-
ing, plus the terrible cost of American involvement in the sonnel dropped from about 600,000 to some 525,000, and
war-some 150 billion dollars and over 56,000 deaths, as Marine Corps personnel from arOlmd 200,000 to 190,000.
well as the Widespread internal political turmoil-left lit- These downward trends continued until the early 1980s,
tle support in Congress for South Vietnam. when worldwide events such as the Falklands War, the
President Nixon finally chose to resign in August Iran-Iraq conflict, and the rise of international terrorism
1974, rather than face the possibility of an impeachment caused the trend to be reversed at least for a while.