Nixon and Ford's Policies: Vietnamisation, Peace and Communist Victory, 1969-75 » The Fall of Saigon, 1973-75
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 2 Section A, Investigation A4, Key topic 4
- Why the North Vietnamese attacked again after 1973
- How Ford and Congress reacted, and why Congress refused more aid
- The final offensive of March-April 1975 and the fall of Saigon
- How to answer a 16-mark 'How far do you agree with this interpretation?' question
🔒 Unlock Full Course Content
Sign up to access the complete lesson and track your progress!
Unlock This CourseThe war goes on after the peace
The Paris Peace Accords of January 1973 did not end the fighting. North Vietnamese troops stayed in the South, and both sides went on attacking each other. President Thieu of South Vietnam relied on the USA to keep the North in check. Nixon had privately promised that America would respond strongly if the North broke the deal.
That promise quickly lost its value. Congress was tired of the war. In 1973 it passed the Case-Church Amendment, which banned American military action in Indochina. Nixon was then ruined by the Watergate scandal and resigned in August 1974. His successor, Gerald Ford, was a President with little power over Congress.
Key terms:
- Case-Church Amendment: a law passed by Congress in 1973 that stopped the USA using its armed forces in and over Indochina.
- Ho Chi Minh Campaign: the name given to the North's final attack on Saigon in April 1975.
- Operation Frequent Wind: the American helicopter evacuation from Saigon on 29-30 April 1975.
Testing America, 1974-75
Congress also cut the money it gave to South Vietnam. Its army, the ARVN, had been built to depend on American supplies, so less aid meant less ammunition, fuel and spare parts for the fighting. At the same time the North kept the supply route through Laos and Cambodia open and moved in more tanks and troops, helped by arms from the USSR and China.
In January 1975 the North attacked Phuoc Long, a province north of Saigon, and captured it. This was a test. Ford sent no help, and Hanoi saw that America would not return. The leaders had expected a long campaign over two years, but they now decided to strike harder.
Ford, Congress and the final offensive
On 10 March 1975 North Vietnamese forces attacked Ban Me Thuot in the Central Highlands and took it within days. Thieu then made a fateful choice. He ordered his army to pull out of the Highlands and the northern provinces, to save troops for the more important south. The retreat was badly planned. Soldiers and thousands of refugees jammed the roads, and the ARVN began to fall apart. Hue fell in late March, and Da Nang on 29 March.
Ford's response was diplomatic, not military. The law banned bombing, so on 10 April he asked Congress for $722 million in emergency military aid and $250 million in economic and humanitarian aid. Congress refused. Many members felt that more money would only prolong a war that could not be won, and that it was not their duty to rescue South Vietnam. The effect was clear to Hanoi. No American help would come, and South Vietnam knew it. On 23 April, in a speech at Tulane University, Ford said the war was finished as far as America was concerned.
The fall of Saigon
The ARVN fought hard at Xuan Loc, east of Saigon, in April, but it was outnumbered and then forced back. On 21 April Thieu resigned. The North launched the Ho Chi Minh Campaign, a huge attack on Saigon, on 26 April. On 29 and 30 April the USA carried out Operation Frequent Wind, using helicopters to lift Americans and thousands of South Vietnamese from the US embassy and other sites in the city. Many who had worked with the Americans were left behind.
On 30 April 1975 North Vietnamese tanks smashed through the gates of the Independence Palace. General Duong Van Minh, the last President of South Vietnam, surrendered. The war was over, and South Vietnam had ceased to exist as a separate state.
Common mistakes
- Saying the USA was fighting in 1975. Its combat troops left in 1973; in 1975 it only evacuated people.
- Blaming Congress for everything. South Vietnam also had a poor retreat, a weak army and a strong enemy.
- Saying Ford refused to help. He asked Congress for aid, but it said no.
- Writing about the sources without using them. Quote them, and say whether each supports or challenges the extract.
Exam-style question
This question has two real sources from the time and an extract written for this lesson. Study Extract C and Sources A and B.
Extract C
(a practice extract written for this lesson, in the style of a modern history book)
South Vietnam fell because America abandoned it. After 1973 Congress cut aid and banned any return of American forces, leaving the ARVN short of supplies. When the North attacked in 1975, no help came, and the country collapsed within weeks.
Source A
From a speech by President Ford to a joint session of Congress, 10 April 1975
Assistance to South Vietnam at this stage must be swift and adequate. Drift and indecision invite far deeper disaster. ... I am therefore asking the Congress to appropriate without delay $722 million for emergency military assistance and an initial sum of $250 million for economic and humanitarian aid for South Vietnam.
Source B
From a speech by President Ford at Tulane University, New Orleans, 23 April 1975
Today, America can regain the sense of pride that existed before Vietnam. But it cannot be achieved by refighting a war that is finished as far as America is concerned. As I see it, the time has come to look forward to an agenda for the future, to unify, to bind up the Nation's wounds ...
Extract C suggests that South Vietnam fell because America abandoned it. How far do you agree with this interpretation? Use Extract C, Sources A and B and your own knowledge to explain your answer. [16 marks]
Model answer
I agree with Extract C to a large extent, because the lack of American help made defeat very likely, but South Vietnam's own weaknesses and the North's strength also mattered.
Source A supports the extract. Ford asks Congress for '$722 million for emergency military assistance' and warns that 'drift and indecision invite far deeper disaster'. This shows that the President himself thought South Vietnam could not survive without American supplies. My own knowledge agrees with the extract's point about Congress. The Case-Church Amendment of 1973 banned American military action in Indochina, aid was cut in the following years, and on 10 April 1975 Congress refused Ford's request. The North knew this. It had tested America by taking Phuoc Long in January 1975, and Ford sent no help.
Source B also supports the extract, in a different way. Ford tells Americans that the war is 'finished as far as America is concerned' and that they should 'bind up the Nation's wounds'. Within a fortnight of asking for aid, the President accepted that America would not return. This fits the extract's claim of abandonment, though Ford presents it as a fresh start, not a desertion.
However, the extract leaves out other causes. The collapse began with the ARVN's own mistake. After Ban Me Thuot fell on 10 March, Thieu ordered a hurried retreat from the Highlands, and the roads clogged with soldiers and refugees. That was a decision by South Vietnam's leaders, not the USA. Source A also needs care, because Ford wants aid from Congress and has a reason to present it as the key to survival. And the Paris Accords had let North Vietnamese troops stay in the South, while the North kept its supply route open and had Soviet and Chinese arms.
Overall, Extract C is right that America's decision not to help was decisive, as Sources A and B show. But it goes too far in making this the only cause. South Vietnam fell quickly because the loss of aid met a badly handled retreat and a stronger enemy. I therefore agree to a large extent, but not entirely.
What lifts it to the top level: it uses the extract and both sources with short quotes, adds precise own knowledge, weighs support against challenge, and gives a judgement justified by comparing the American cause with the South's own mistakes.
Exam tip
A source can support the extract in one way and challenge it in another. Quote the words that matter, then say what the source shows about the extract's claim, and finish with a judgement on how far you agree and why.
Recap
- After the Paris Peace Accords of 1973 the fighting continued. Congress banned American military action (the Case-Church Amendment) and cut aid, and Nixon's Watergate resignation in 1974 left Ford weak.
- The North took Phuoc Long in January 1975, saw that America would not respond, and attacked Ban Me Thuot on 10 March.
- Thieu's hurried retreat from the Highlands turned into chaos. Hue and Da Nang fell in late March.
- On 10 April Ford asked Congress for $722 million in military aid. Congress refused, and on 23 April Ford said the war was finished for America.
- The Ho Chi Minh Campaign began on 26 April. The Americans left by helicopter on 29-30 April, and Saigon fell on 30 April 1975.