April 23, 1975 - Vietnam Wars Ends - a podcast by Stephen Hammond

U.S. President Gerald Ford declares Vietnam War over.The Vietnamese War, a war that defined a generation, was coming to an end in the early 1970s. As casualties mounted, so did pressure on Nixon’s Republican administration. Following Nixon’s resignation, President Gerald Ford and U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger brokered deals with North Vietnamese Foreign Secretary Le Duc Tho in 1972 and 1973, for the return of American prisoners and to allow the South Vietnamese government to stay in some kind of power. As American troops withdrew, however, the NorthVietnamese ignored their promises and sent troops to fill their places. On April 23, 1975, President Gerald Ford gave a speech at Tulane University, New Orleans, in which he said that from an American perspective, the Vietnam War was finished. "Today, Americans can regain the sense of pride that existed before Vietnam. But it cannot be achieved by re-fighting a war." Within days, the North Vietnamese Army took control of most of the South. On April 30th, the last 10 Marines were evacuated from the American embassy in Saigon, soon renamed Ho Chi Minh City. More than 50,000 American soldiers had been killed and six times that many wounded, while Vietnam itself lost an estimated one million soldiers and civilians.

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