Throughout his campaign President Nixon promised the American people that he would withdraw the troops in Vietnam and achieve ‘peace with honor’. He didn’t want to withdraw from the conflict immediately because he wanted to leave honorably. Because this was the issue that the most people were interested in he put all other, and perhaps more important, issues on hold while he figured out how he was going to get the US out of Vietnam while not surrendering to the communists. In March of 1969, US Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird used the term Vietnamization. This was a plan that called for gradual removal of troops from Vietnam and a greater effort to modernize South Vietnam so they would be able to protect themselves when the US left. This idea contrasted with the idea of Americanization that was implemented during Johnson’s presidency. Americanization was the idea that US should send more troops into Vietnam while not necessarily strengthening the South Vietnamese army. This idea appealed to many citizens because it signaled an end of the war. In 1973 the Nixon administration negotiated with North Vietnamese leaders and came up with a treaty that promised all US troops would be removed from Vietnam within sixty days, all POWs would be returned, and North Vietnam would recognize the legitimacy of South Vietnam’s government. With the treaty signed and the troops returning home the government declared Vietnamization had concluded. However this plan did not end up working as only two years later South Vietnam fell to the communists.
Video of Nixon's televised address to the nation about Vietnamization: