0 - The Black Vault

THE BDM CORPORATION
Mr,. Kissinger, feeling that "peace was at hand", traveled to
SSaigcn to gain the concurrence of President Thieu.. Thieu, strengthened by
recent country-wide elections, scuttled the proposed agreements. He
accused the US of "conniving to sell him out.i"137_/ Mr. Kissinger, forced
to return to Washington empty-handed, was barely back when thp DRV, hoping
to force Mr. Nixon's hand,
proposal,
went public and broadcast the terms of the new
They then accused the US of stalling on its implementation.
Mr, Kissinger held a press conference shortly thereafter in
order to state the American position, He also used the conference as I
forum to let Hanoi know the US was still standing Dy 0he basic understanding,
and to let Saigon know that the US
was determined to proceed on
its course, An unfortunate display of optimism by Kissinger at the news
briefing caused the administration some embarrassment. Some accused the
Nixon people of playing politics with the peace negotiations;138/ others
complained that the terms had been available four years before but were not
acceptable to the US at that time,
The President found himself in a bind.
He was reluctant to
impose terms on President Thieu, but he did not want to lose the concessions
gained through long hard talks with the DRV. Mr, Kissinger returned
to Paris in November 1972, and found the DRV less eager fo' an agreement
when President Thieu's reservations were brought up. Meetings in November
and December led nowhere, and on December 13th a discouraged (issinger
returned to the US, He was convinced that the DRV had been determniiod not
to allow the agreement to be completed.139/
Administration advisers recommended a military response tc
the DRV's new intransigence. President Nixon ordered a resumption of the
bombing (known
as the Christmas bombing) on December 18th, which lasted for
twelve days. On the day the bombing was resumed, the US proposed that
talks be reasumed,
Hanoi agreed on December 30th to begin again on January
8, 1973. Kissinger was positive "we had won our gamble and the the next
round of negotiations would succeed,"140/
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