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In 1968 Americans learned that an American Platoon under command of Lieutenant William Calley had massacred unarmed civilians from South Vietnam in the My Lai hamlet. Many of the victims were old men, women, and children. Calley went to prison for his involvement and killings of many South Vietnamese. -
Nixon began Vietnamization. This is the process in which a gradual amount of U.S. troops are withdrawn. He withdrew a massive amount of 25,000 soldiers on June 8, 1969.
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Nixon had announced that troops were invading Cambodia which many believed to be an expansion of the war. College students did not like this expansion and as a result, started protesting. During the protests on May 4, tear gas was thrown and rifles were fired, injuring many and killing 4 students at Kent State University. -
The Pentagon Papers were leaked to the New York Times. They contained information about the decisions to expand the war and confirmed the dishonesty the government had with the Americans. -
In December of 1972, the Nixon administration began to use very destructive air raids to force the North Vietnamese to resume negotiations. These became known as the "Christmas Bombings" from which American B-52's dropped tons of thousands of bombs onto North Vietnam for 11 straight days.
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Congress had passed the War Powers Act to reestablish some limits on executive power. It required the president to tell Congress troops abroad in 48 hours and that they had to be withdrawn in 60-90 days unless Congress had approved the troop's commitment.
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The North Vietnamese had captured Saigon in 1975. U.S marine and air forces had transported more than 1,000 American civilians and almost 7,000 South Vietnamese refugees out of Saigon in a number of 18 hours due to the massive evacuation.
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On January 27, 1973, an agreement was signed to "end the war and restore the peace in Vietnam" (Paris Peace Accords). With that, the U.S. promised to withdraw its troops and both sides agreed to exchange prisoners of war.
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Throughout 1975 many things began to fall into occurrence. The domino effect would suggest that a communist government in one nation would quickly lead to communist takeovers in other neighboring states each then falling perfectly aligned.
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The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was built in Washington D.C. A wall had been inscribed with the names of the people killed or missing in action from the war.