Growing opposition in US: First ‘televised’ war - images brought disillusionment , By 1967 US deaths 160 a week, Civil Rights Movement , Students - Kent State Uni, 1970, Peace Movement - war morally wrong, Atrocities revealed e.g My Lai, Credibility gap grows, Military stalemate : US unable to break VC morale, Tet Offensive- 1968 = resilience of VC, Failure to destroy Ho Chi Minh Trail, VC guerrilla tactics - effective , Failure to win ‘hearts and minds’, Poor morale / inexperience of US troops, Mounting US deaths - 57,000, Financial Strain / Impact: Stalling of Johnson’s ‘Great Society, War cost c $50 billion per year, Total military cost c.110 billion, Economic aid to Saigon c $30 billion, Veteran benefit costs (Still $22 billion per year), Inflationary pressures, Vietnamisation : Introduced by Nixon - 1969, Failed to make ARVN self-sufficient , Reacting to poll in 1969 (56% against the war), ARVN unreliable/ reluctant , ARVN to take responsibility for the war, US troops to withdraw, Peace Making: Paris Peace Accords, 1973, Led by Henry Kissinger, Brought ceasefire and withdrawal , South ‘forced’ to sign by US, US troops out within 60 days, Vietnam remained divided, Aftermath: April 1975 - Fall of Saigon, Containment had failed, Communist governments in Laos and Cambodia, New direction for FP - detente, US image severely ‘tarnished’, Vietnam unified under communist leadership ,

Why / how did the USA leave Vietnam?

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