Richard Nixon Operation Linebacker Speech Analysis

During Richard Nixon’s speech in May of 1968, he spoke of pursuing a "victorious peace" in Vietnam. He coined the term "honorable peace" for the first time. Richard Nixon was determined that Vietnam would not ruin his presidency, as had been the case with Lyndon Johnson. The Nixon plan was to "de-Americanize" the war, an approach that became known as Vietnamization. It involved building up the South Vietnamese armed forces so that they could assume greater combat responsibility while simultaneously withdrawing U.S. combat troops; this would allow the South Vietnamese people the right to determine their own future, without outsider’s interference. This would allow U.S. military to shift its role from fighting to advising the South Vietnamese,

It was a conventional military assault, designed to inflict a crippling blow against the army of the Republic of Vietnam; which lasted for six months. Nixon was determined not to repeat LBJ's mistakes. What followed, starting in May, was the most successful use of airpower during the Vietnam War and one of the largest aerial bombardments in world history—Operation Linebacker. Targeting roads, bridges, rail lines, troops, bases, and supply depots, the attack was the first large-scale use of precision-guided laser bombs in modern aerial warfare. In the short term, the offensive was clearly a military defeat for the North Vietnamese and would cost General Vo Nguyen Giap his job as chief strategist. A week before the 1972 presidential election, Kissinger stated that "peace is at hand," but was far from this and Nixon persuaded what was called jugular diplomacy. After 72’ election, Nixon moved swiftly against North Vietnam. In January 1973, the Nixon administration negotiated a peace agreement with North Vietnamese leaders. Under the terms of the settlement, the U.S. agreed to withdraw its remaining troops within 60 days in exchange for an immediate cease-fire, the return of American prisoners of war, and North Vietnam’s promise to recognize the legitimacy of South Vietnam’s government and submit future disputes to an international commission. In my opinion honorable peace was ever met as Nixon had intended and Nixon ended up using massive bombing and force to get his message across to the North