Chronology: The War 1972
January
President Nixon says that the United States will continue to wind up its
involvement in Vietnam in coming months, but that 25,000 to 35,000 American
troops will remain until the North Vietnamese release all the American prisoners
of war.
The Vietnamese Communists tell the United States at the Paris talks that it
cannot have its prisoners back until it agrees to withdraw its forces and
abandons the Saigon regime of President Nguyen Van Thieu.
President Nixon announces that 70,000 more troops will be withdrawn from South
Vietnam over the next three months.
President Nixon discloses to the American public a peace plan, which includes a
new presidential election in' South Vietnam, that he says had been offered in
secret channels three months ago but ignored by the North Vietnamese.
February
The North Vietnamese again assert that American prisoners of war will be
released only when the United States has withdrawn its support from the
administration of President Nguyen Van Thieu in Saigon and the war has been
brought to an end.
The United States bombs Communist bases along the Laotian-South Vietnamese
border in the heaviest American air raids since 1970 in an effort to block a
possible Communist offensive.
United States commander General Creighton Abrams asserts that troop morale is up
in South Vietnam and drug addiction is down.
March
Lon Nol, Cambodia's ailing Premier, takes supreme power as head of state and
nullifies the nearly completed republican constitution.
The United States suspends the Paris peace talks for a lack of willingness by
the Vietnamese Communists for serious discussions on concrete issues.
North Vietnamese and Vietcong troops drive past South Vietnam's northern
line of defenses below the demilitarized zone and push South Vietnamese forces,
in disarray, toward their rear bases.
April
The battle for the provincial capital of An Loc, 60 miles north of Saigon,
continues as powerful enemy reinforcements move in again on the town despite
heavy American air strikes.
United States Air Force and Navy fighter-bombers and eight engined B-52's bomb
in the vicinity of the North Vietnamese port city of Hai Phong, 60 miles east of
Hanoi, for the first time since bombing strikes were curtailed south of the 20th
Parallel at the end of March 1968.
The Soviet Union publishes a protest note accusing the United States of damaging
four Soviet merchant vessels during the raids on Hai Phong. American officials
reject the charges.
The North Vietnamese open a drive in the Central Highlands, overrunning the town
of Hoai An. Fighting also flares in Cambodia.
South Vietnamese troops prepare to make a do-or—die stand at the key city of
Kontum.
President Nixon says 20,000 more troops will be brought home by July 1 reducing
troop strength to 49,000 men. Nixon appears hopeful that the resumption of the
Paris talks will bring results.
The North Vietnamese overrun the town of Dong Ha in a drive toward Quang Tn.
May
Thousands flee Kontum and Pleiku as the North Vietnamese draw near.
The New York Times wins a Pulitzer Prize for the publication of the Pentagon
Papers—documents showing how the United States became involved in the Vietnam
War.
The South Vietnamese abandon Quang Tn, their northernmost province capital.
North Vietnamese troops continue their advance in northern Binh Dinh Province on
the central coast.
The United States and South Vietnam call off formal Paris peace talks
indefinitely.
President Nguyen Van Thieu orders a shake-up in the army command in the wake of
the loss of South Vietnam's northernmost province, Quang Tn, to the North
Vietnamese.
The South Vietnamese try to open highways to An Loc and Kontum, but they are
beaten back by the Communists.
President Nixon announces that he has ordered the mining of all North Vietnamese
ports and other measures to prevent the flow of arms and other supplies to the
enemy until American prisoners of war are returned and the enemy agrees to an
internationally supervised cease—fire.
The United States engages in a heavy bombing and mine-laying campaign from the
demilitarized zone to Hanoi in an effort to cut road and rail links with China
and block the ports.
The head of the Vietcong delegation rejects President Nixon's peace proposals
and call his decision to mine Hai Phong harbor and step up the air war "the
gravest step in escalation of the war to date".
President Thieu declares martial law throughout South Vietnam and dismisses the
military commander in the Central Highlands, Lieut. Gen Ngo Dzu.
South Vietnamese Marines make a surprise attack on Quang Tn City.
A South Vietnamese relief force suffers a major defeat trying to evacuate
wounded soldiers from the area around the besieged city of An Loc.
The United States turns over Cam Ranh Bay base, its largest in South Vietnam, to
the South Vietnamese.
The Pentagon dispatches a seventh aircraft carrier to join 60 United States
ships in the Gulf of Tonkin.
June
John Paul Vann, a senior military adviser in Vietnam, is killed in a helicopter
crash.
Gen. John D. Lavelle confirms that he was dismissed in
March as commander of Air Force units in Southeast Asia for ordering
unauthorized raids on military targets in North Vietnam.
South Vietnamese troops are flown into the An Loc area to bring the siege there
to an end.
One of the last two major American combat units in South Vietnam is being
deactivated to meet President Nixon's deadline for reducing United States troop
strength in South Vietnam to 49,000 by the end of Jun.
President Nixon says United States forces will be reduced to 39,000 by Sept. 1.
He adds that no more draftees will be sent to Vietnam unless they volunteer for
duty there.
July
The siege of An Loc ends as-the Vietcong retreat.
The White House and the North Vietnamese Government announce that Henry A.
Kissinger conferred secretly in Paris with Hanoi negotiators.
August
B-52 bombings are reported in the North.
Reports circulate that Henry Kissinger and the North Vietnamese are close to
an agreement in their secret talks.
October
President Nguyen Van Thieu assails peace-plan terms as unacceptable, but also
says that a cease-fire could come "very soon" if it was
Indochina-wide, guaranteed and involved the withdrawal from the South of all
North Vietnamese troops.
Henry Kissinger says that "peace is at hand" in Indochina but denies
Hanoi's contention that the United States has consented to sign a nine-point
plan by October 31.
United States military intelligence officials say that North Vietnam began a
"heavy movement" of war materials into South Vietnam about 10 days ago
in an apparent effort to build up its forces in preparation for a cease-fire.
November
Hanoi agrees to more peace talks.
In Paris, Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho of North Vietnam renew negotiations for
a cease—fire.
A United States B-52 bomber crashes after a raid on North Vietnam, the first of
the war to be lost to enemy fire.
It is expected that as many as 10,000 American civilians may remain in Vietnam
after peace agreements are signed, with many of them doing jobs formerly done by
the military.
December
President Nixon announces that Henry Kissinger will remain as his foreign policy
adviser in his second term.
Henry A. Kissinger says the negotiations between the United States and North
Vietnam have so far failed to reach what President Nixon regarded as "a
just and fair agreement" to end the Vietnam War.
The Nixon Administration announces a resumption of full-scale bombing and mining
of the Hanoi and Hai Phong areas until there is an accord and Times.
President Thieu signs a decree that will eliminate all political parties other
than his new Democratic party.
President Nixon orders a halt in bombing above the 20th Parallel. He says that
Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho will resume peace talks on Jan. 8 in Paris.
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