Richard M. Nixon was Eisenhower's Vice President for two terms. In 1960 he run against John F. Kennedy for the Presidency and lost. He tried again in 1968 against Humphrey, winning this time, and in 1972 he was reelected for a second term, which he didn't finish, being instead forced to resign or face impeachment over the Watergate scandal. Upon his resignation, Vice President Ford took his place in the White House.

Nixon came to the Presidency on a platform centered around foreign policy. An overzealous journalist reported that Nixon had a "secret plan" to end the war in Vietnam, and the rumor spread. What Nixon had in mind was far from a magic formula. His plan consisted of engaging China and the USSR, within a larger context of issues, in a drive to force Hanoi to negotiate. This was known as the "linkage" approach. Nixon trusted this task to Kissinger, who had favored the notion of a negotiated settlement well before joining the Administration.

But Nixon's approach to Vietnam seemed even more incoherent a times than Johnson's. While he was proposing talks with Hanoi, he embarked in a large scale attack on Cambodia, started withdrawing U.S. forces, and tried to force Thieu's government to carry a larger share of the war effort, what was known as "Vietnamization."

Eventually, Nixon's bending of the rules to hide the bombing of Cambodia would lead to major domestic covert operations, which would become the core of the Watergate scandal.

Nixon's speech on Vietnamization
From the Vietnam Wars Page at Vassar College
http://vietnam.vassar.edu/~vietnam/doc14.html

Nixon addressed the credibility gap between the Administration and the American people with this public speech, in which he reaffirmed U.S. commitment to containment of Communism in Vietnam. Nixon's main intention, though, was launching the concept of "Vietnamization," by which South Vietnam was supposed to assume a larger share of the war effort.

Nixon's speech on Cambodia, April 30, 1970
From the Vietnam Wars Page at Vassar College
http://vietnam.vassar.edu/~vietnam/doc15.html

In the midst of a public relations campaign touting the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam and the shifting of the responsibility to the local governments, Nixon goes on TV to explain why the United States is extending the war to Cambodia.

January 5, 1973 letter from Nixon to President Thieu
From Tom Dier's Vietnam Page
http://greene.xtn.net/~wingman/docs/nixon1.htm

With the negotiations in Paris nearing an agreement, Nixon exerted very strong pressure on Thieu to accept the eventual settlement. In this letter, Nixon warns the South Vietnamese leader that "[t]he gravest consequence would then ensue if your government chose to reject the agreement[...]"

The War Powers Resolution
From Mississippi State University
http://www.msstate.edu/Archives/History/USA/20th_C./warpowers.973

Weary of abuses of the Presidential war powers, Congress backpedals from the Tonkin Gulf Resolution and reasserts the Constitutional limitations of the Presidency to use American forces in conflicts.

"Peace with Honor": Nixon announces the end of the war
From Vincent Ferraro's web site at Mount Holyoke College (Audio, wav format)
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/nixonwar.wav

From Tom Dier's Vietnam Page (transcript)
http://greene.xtn.net/~wingman/docs/nixon2.htm

Radio and TV address announcing the signature of the Peace Agreement in Paris.