The End of the Vietnam War

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      October 1972, Nixon’s National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger came up with a secret peace agreement with North Vietnam’s Le Duc Thieu. After reading over the agreement, President Thieu demanded some changes to the document. The North Vietnamese published important details of the agreement, and then stalled the negotiation. Nixon was very angry so he ordered the bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong in late December 1972. On January 15, 1973 after putting pressure on South Vietnam to accept the peace deal, Nixon announced the end of the fight against North Vietnam. Standing alone, South Vietnam began to fall. Congress passed the Foreign Assistance Act on December 1973. This act cut of all of the military aid. After thirty years of conflict, Ho Chi Minh’s vision of a united, communist Vietnam had been realized. United States suffered 58,119 killed, 153,303 wounded, and 1,948 missing in action. Vietnam estimated at 230,000 killed and 1,169,763 wounded.