Nixon Orders Additional Troop Withdrawals

President Nixon orders the withdrawal of an additional 40,500 U.S. troops from Vietnam by mid-December. The Joint Chiefs of Staff argue to Nixon that such a withdrawal is risky and without military justification. The designated units are among the remainder of the 3d Marine Division—part of which redeployed in June—and the 3d Brigade of the Army’s 82d Airborne Division.¹