- Joined
- Feb 29, 2004
- Messages
- 1,720
- Points
- 248
1964 Rusk warns North Vietnamese
In a major speech before the American Law Institute in Washington, D.C., Secretary of State Dean Rusk explicitly accuses North Vietnam of initiating and directing the aggression in South Vietnam. U.S. withdrawal, said Rusk, "would mean not only grievous losses to the free world in Southeast and Southern Asia but a drastic loss of confidence in the will and capacity of the free world." He concluded: "There is a simple prescription for peace--leave your neighbors alone." In the fall, there was incontrovertible evidence that North Vietnamese regular troops were moviing down the Ho Chi Minh Trail to join the Viet Cong in their war against the Saigon government and its forces.
Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, Thailand mobilized its border provinces against incursions by the communist Pathet Lao forces from Laos and agreed to the use of bases by the U.S. Air Force for reconnaissance, search and rescue, and even attacks against the Pathet Lao. By the end of the year, some 75 U.S. aircraft would be based in Thailand to assist in operations against the Pathet Lao. Eventually, Thailand permitted the United States to use its air bases for operations against the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese in South Vietnam, and ultimately to launch bombing raids against North Vietnam. In addition, Thailand sent combat troops to South Vietnam, numbering 11,000 at the height of the Thai commitment.
1969 Negotiators differ on diplomatic exchange
Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, at the 18th plenary session of the Paris peace talks, says he finds common ground for discussion in the proposals of President Richard Nixon and the National Liberation Front. In reply, Nguyen Thanh Le, spokesman for the North Vietnamese, said the programs were "as different as day and night."
At the 16th plenary session of the Paris talks on May 8, the National Liberation Front had presented a 10-point program for an "overall solution" to the war. This proposal included an unconditional withdrawal of United States and Allied troops from Vietnam; the establishment of a coalition government and the holding of free elections; the demand that the South Vietnamese settle their own affairs "without foreign interference"; and the eventual reunification of North and South Vietnam.
In a speech to the American public on 14 May, President Nixon responded to the communist plan with a proposal of his own. He proposed a phased, mutual withdrawal of major portions of U.S. Allied and North Vietnamese forces from South Vietnam over a 12-month period. The remaining non-South Vietnamese forces would withdraw to enclaves and abide by a cease-fire until withdrawals were completed. Nixon also insisted that North Vietnamese forces withdraw from Cambodia and Laos at the same time and offered internationally supervised elections for South Vietnam. Nixon's offer of a "simultaneous start on withdrawal" represented a revision of the last formal proposal offered by the Johnson administration in October 1966. In the earlier proposal, known as the "Manila formula," the United States stated that the withdrawal of U.S. forces would be completed within six months after the North Vietnamese left South Vietnam.
In the end, Nguyen Thanh Le's observation was on target. The communists' proposal and Nixon's counteroffer were very different and there was, in fact, almost no common ground. Neither side relented and nothing meaningful came from this diplomatic exchange.
In a major speech before the American Law Institute in Washington, D.C., Secretary of State Dean Rusk explicitly accuses North Vietnam of initiating and directing the aggression in South Vietnam. U.S. withdrawal, said Rusk, "would mean not only grievous losses to the free world in Southeast and Southern Asia but a drastic loss of confidence in the will and capacity of the free world." He concluded: "There is a simple prescription for peace--leave your neighbors alone." In the fall, there was incontrovertible evidence that North Vietnamese regular troops were moviing down the Ho Chi Minh Trail to join the Viet Cong in their war against the Saigon government and its forces.
Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, Thailand mobilized its border provinces against incursions by the communist Pathet Lao forces from Laos and agreed to the use of bases by the U.S. Air Force for reconnaissance, search and rescue, and even attacks against the Pathet Lao. By the end of the year, some 75 U.S. aircraft would be based in Thailand to assist in operations against the Pathet Lao. Eventually, Thailand permitted the United States to use its air bases for operations against the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese in South Vietnam, and ultimately to launch bombing raids against North Vietnam. In addition, Thailand sent combat troops to South Vietnam, numbering 11,000 at the height of the Thai commitment.
1969 Negotiators differ on diplomatic exchange
Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, at the 18th plenary session of the Paris peace talks, says he finds common ground for discussion in the proposals of President Richard Nixon and the National Liberation Front. In reply, Nguyen Thanh Le, spokesman for the North Vietnamese, said the programs were "as different as day and night."
At the 16th plenary session of the Paris talks on May 8, the National Liberation Front had presented a 10-point program for an "overall solution" to the war. This proposal included an unconditional withdrawal of United States and Allied troops from Vietnam; the establishment of a coalition government and the holding of free elections; the demand that the South Vietnamese settle their own affairs "without foreign interference"; and the eventual reunification of North and South Vietnam.
In a speech to the American public on 14 May, President Nixon responded to the communist plan with a proposal of his own. He proposed a phased, mutual withdrawal of major portions of U.S. Allied and North Vietnamese forces from South Vietnam over a 12-month period. The remaining non-South Vietnamese forces would withdraw to enclaves and abide by a cease-fire until withdrawals were completed. Nixon also insisted that North Vietnamese forces withdraw from Cambodia and Laos at the same time and offered internationally supervised elections for South Vietnam. Nixon's offer of a "simultaneous start on withdrawal" represented a revision of the last formal proposal offered by the Johnson administration in October 1966. In the earlier proposal, known as the "Manila formula," the United States stated that the withdrawal of U.S. forces would be completed within six months after the North Vietnamese left South Vietnam.
In the end, Nguyen Thanh Le's observation was on target. The communists' proposal and Nixon's counteroffer were very different and there was, in fact, almost no common ground. Neither side relented and nothing meaningful came from this diplomatic exchange.
