Nixon’s Vietnamization Plan
April 1, 1969
At the direction of President Nixon and with insights from Secretary of Defense Melvin R. Laird, who has recently returned from a visit to Vietnam, National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger issues a memo instructing the Department of Defense, the State Department, and the CIA to formulate “a specific timetable for Vietnamizing the war.” The goal of Vietnamization is to gradually turn the conduct of the war over to the South Vietnamese and begin the incremental withdrawal of American troops.
The notion of “de-Americanizing” the war extends back to President Kennedy’s administration, but the Nixon administration formalizes it as policy. In addition to significantly expanding and training the South Vietnamese military, the plan involves attempting to improve security for the rural population, disrupting Viet Cong activities in the countryside, and helping the South Vietnamese government institute needed reforms.1