Word: nams
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...cutting back however slightly the number of Americans fighting in Viet Nam, Nixon sought to mollify the domestic impatience with the war; that dissatisfaction had helped him win election last November. There were countervailing risks. Although some of the troops will be pulled back no farther than Okinawa, Nixon would surely evoke deafening protest in the U.S. in the highly unlikely event that serious military reversals made it necessary to send some of the troops back. The greater danger, however, is that the enemy will simply ignore Nixon's initiative?on the assumption that continued popular op position...
Nixon therefore devised an intricate strategy directed at Hanoi and the National Liberation Front. By meeting with South Viet Nam's President Nguyen Van Thieu and spelling out the common ground between Washington and Saigon, he tried to underline the solidarity of the two governments in the face of Communist efforts to divide and conquer. In giving more combat responsibility to the South Vietnamese, Nixon advertised U.S. confidence?such as it is?in the combat readiness of Saigon's forces. He aims to convince the Communists that they must negotiate with Thieu and not hold out in the expectation...
...experts in Washington and Saigon agreed that the change was not without point. The N.L.F. is plainly trying to upgrade its status from revolutionary cabal to one of parity in the world's eyes with the existing Saigon government. Instant diplomatic recognition came from 15 countries?including North Viet Nam, Cuba, North Korea, Algeria and the U.S.S.R...
This maneuver may strengthen the N.L.F.'s bid for a role in a coalition government in South Viet Nam before elections are held?one of the ten N.L.F, points announced May 8. Creation of the provisional government may also embarrass Thieu. He has reluctantly offered to talk with the N L.F , but he might renege if it meant dealing with a self-proclaimed regime that purports to be more legitimate than his own. Thieu denounced the N.L.F, move as "a fabrication concocted by a group of people who take cover in jungles without daring to disclose their location...
...some influential Vietnamese feel that Nixon's action will help Thieu. "It shows that the U.S. commitment here is not unlimited," says Tran Ngoc Chau, secretary of the lower house of the National Assembly, and therefore it should encourage greater political unity in South Viet Nam. While Thieu faces new opposition from a neutralist group of intellectuals formed two weeks ago, he nonetheless demonstrated refreshing flexibility on several sticky points when he returned from Midway...