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Good evening. I have asked
for this radio and television time tonight
for the purpose of announcing that we, today,
have concluded an agreement to end the war
and bring peace with honor in Vietnam and in Southeast Asia.
In the settlement that has now been agreed to,
all the conditions that I laid down then have been met.
A ceasefire, internationally supervised,
will begin at seven P.M. this Saturday, January 27,
Washington time.
ARNOLD: The peace agreement had two parts.
It called for a ceasefire in place,
and both sides were supposed to stop shooting,
and then a political process to occur
leading to elections that would supposedly
create a new government in South Vietnam
that would then make whatever arrangement
that it could make with North Vietnam.
Neither side respected the ceasefire.
Neither side ever made a single move
to implement the political provision.
When the Paris Peace Accords were signed
with a ceasefire in place,
it leaves all of those North Vietnamese troops
who were not destroyed in the Easter Offensive
still in South Vietnam.
And to me, that was essentially a death warrant,
eventually, for South Vietnam.
Within 60 days from this Saturday,
all Americans held prisoners of war throughout Indochina
will be released.
There will be the fullest possible accounting
for all of those who are missing in action.
During the same 60-day period,
all American forces will be withdrawn from South Vietnam.
JAMES: By March '73 all U.S. troops are gone,
with the exception of about 60 military
and the defense attache office.
The South Vietnamese are on their own.
As Thieu says, a third Indochina war starts.
So the South Vietnamese do very well in 1973,
in a lot of heavy, heavy fighting.
1973 was the third highest year for South Vietnamese
killed in action.
MAI: My family was pretty hopeful.
The South Vietnamese Army was strong.
The Americans had equipped it.
And they thought that the South Vietnamese Army
could hold out for a while if the Americans
continued to give us economic and military aid
and keep supporting the troops with bombing.
JAMES: When we stop bombing in '73,
stop bombing the Ho Chi Minh Trail,
North Vietnam runs all that materiel and equipment
and replacements down the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
CUONG: Before the agreement, if one soldier,
they want to infiltrate from the North Vietnam to the South,
it took him six to nine month.
After the Paris Agreement, it take them only three days.
Now they can go battalion, regiment --
they take military over all the way to the border and
they come to the Vietnam because at that time no more B-52,
no more airplane, no more reconnaissance,
no more aerial photo.
MAI: After the Americans pulled out completely,
the economy began to crumble because jobs disappeared.
The whole country was supporting
half a million American soldiers.
When they left, a lot of the jobs went with them.
There was war in the Middle East and an oil embargo.
Inflation was very high.
The government was very corrupt and inefficient.
The students were out in the street protesting.
General Thieu, who had become head of the country
by that time, was extremely unpopular.
ARNOLD: The system was incurably corrupt.
The whole government structure in South Vietnam
was a military structure.
Promotions were for sale.
The military used its power to extort money
in every way they possibly could
and pass it on up the line.
In mid-'74, they began to run into problems.
Nixon is embroiled in Watergate.
The time has come for me to speak out
about the charges made
and to provide a perspective on the issue
for the American people.
JAMES: Dealing with a very confrontive Congress.
U.S. military aid is reduced,
and essentially the South Vietnamese began then
to feel the squeeze.
By mid-'74, they're rationing artillery rounds,
and they're rationing grenades.
As time goes along, in '74,
of course Nixon, who made 31 promises
that the United States would be there for South Vietnam,
in early August finds himself out of office and disgraced.
Therefore, I shall resign the presidency
effective at noon tomorrow.
JAMES: Nixon essentially said, we will be there
like we were in '72,
and Thieu believes that till the last minute,
despite evidence to the contrary.
ARNOLD: In '74, Congress voted to cut aid.
The military proposed a billion or a billion plus
in military aid for South Vietnam.
Congress cut that back to 700 million.
So a significant reduction, but there was never a cutoff.
People attribute this to the left wing, the peaceniks,
and that movement had no influence,
and what had really changed in politics
was that once American soldiers weren't there,
the American public didn't really care
what happened in Vietnam.
MAI: My parents always had this fear that, in the end,
the Communists would win.
The Americans only gave them hope as long as they were there.
But now, with the Americans gone, the whole country
sank into this despair.
They began to feel afraid.