President Johnson Suspends Bombing and Invites Peace Negotiations

March 31, 1968

President Johnson (leaning over) meets with Generals Wheeler and Creighton Abrams, 26 Mar 1968.

Overview

In a nationally televised speech, President Johnson announces that the United States will suspend bombing of North Vietnam north of the 19th parallel on April 1. He invites North Vietnam to agree to negotiations to end the conflict. With this speech, Johnson signals the end of his administration’s willingness to support the demands of field commanders in Vietnam for additional troops. Johnson then surprises the nation by announcing that he will not seek a second term as President of the United States.¹

¹Graham A. Cosmas, MACV: The Joint Command in the Years of Withdrawal, 1968–1973, United States Army in Vietnam (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 2006), 102–103; George C. Herring, America’s Longest War: The United States and Vietnam, 1950–1975, (4th edition; New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002), 248–251; John Schlight, A War Too Long: The USAF in Southeast Asia, 1961–1975, (Washington, D.C.: Air Force History and Museums Program, 1996), 52; Edward J. Drea, McNamara, Clifford, and the Burdens of Vietnam, 1965–1969, Secretaries of Defense Historical Series Volume VI (Washington, D.C.: Historical Office, Office of the Secretary of Defense, 2011), 190. Johnson ended bombing north of the 19th parallel on April 1, 1968 and ended it altogether on November 1, 1968.