Vietnamization

Vietnamization President Nixon’s policy of Vietnamization (shifting control to the South Vietnamese) was “doomed to failure” by a culmination of circumstances. The primary reasons for the policy’s inevitable failure can be divided into three areas: 1) the politics and perceptions of Vietnam in the United States, 2) the attitude and conduct of the American servicemen stationed in Vietnam, and 3) the capabilities of the South Vietnamese forces. With the Vietnam conflict still showing no tangible results, the American public was increasingly against the continuation of the war. More and more prominent politicians were calling for the removal of American troops. Nixon realized that no end was near and he was unwilling to accept a compromise “that would amount to a disguised American defeat.” (1) So, he began two initiatives, one of withdrawing American troops and one of negotiating with the North Vietnamese. (2) The Vietnamization was not designed to produce a victory, but to replace the American lives with South Vietnamese. The Nixon administration was looking for “peace with honor.” They were looking for a way out of the war without defaulting the entire nation to the communist North. For Nixon, “The important thing was vietnamese, south, peace, american, vietnam, troops, north, war, vietnamization, out, one, nixon, failure, army, way, until, result, operation, military, made, increasingly, honor, without, withdrawing, willing, while, very, united, treaty, trail, toward, time, things, states, soldiers